Creating the Top 100 Games of All Time list back in March highlighted how I’ve never really covered some of my favourite games. I’m slowly working through that backlog by creating a review as I play these games again.
In Flamme Rogue by designer Asger Harding Granerud, you run a team of cyclists, a Rouleur and a Sprinteur. Your goal is to get one of your cyclists over the finish line first, doesn’t matter which one claims the victory as long as the win goes to one of your characters. The game is played simply, draw four cards from one of your characters decks, each card depicting a number of spaces to move, and set it aside. Put your cards on the bottom of your deck face up, then do the same with your second character. Once all players have committed their cards, they’re all revealed simultaneously. Then, starting from the racer currently in first, they move those spaces. After everyone has moved, slip streaming occurs. Starting from the racer in last place, every racer who has one space between them and the next racer gets one free movement to ‘catch up’ to the rest of the pack. Then, anyone at the front of the pack takes an exhaustion card into their deck. After that, everyone draws more cards and keep repeating this process until someone passes the finish line.
There are some tricks to the track. Downhill sections will automatically boost your low cards to be a 5, while uphill sections don’t let you move any more than 5 at a time. Usually the track has enough space for 2 riders to sit side by side, but in certain points it’ll choke down to 1, potentially forcing players in the rear to lose movement if they can’t fully surpass the leaders.
The Rouleur and Sprinteur decks have some differences. The Sprinteur has cards ranging from 2 to 9, while the Rouleur has a much more moderate spread from 3 to 7. Something that may not have been clear from the above paragraph, is that as you use your cards, they aren’t returned to your deck. Your sprinter only has three 9 cards in their whole deck. Once they’re spent, he loses a lot of his edge. Flamme Rouge is a deck deconstruction game where you need to manage your resources carefully to come out ahead.
Unlike many race games, there’s no engine building, or sense of acceleration in Flamme Rouge. Instead, it’s an endurance grind. Spending all of your best cards, leaving it all out on the track in the hopes that you’ll be the first player to cross that finish line. In the game I played last night, my Rouleur had 12 cards in their deck at the end of the game. One 4, one 6, and ten 2’s. The finish line was 3 spaces away, and I had a two space lead from the rest of the pack. I shuffled the deck, drew my cards, and managed to pull a 4 to win the race.
Flamme Rouge is a game about micro decisions and opportunities. You won’t always have the right cards at the right time, but rarely are you left without something to consider. Ideally, you want your racers together, so you can draft and slipstream. Let one character take the exhaustion for the first half of the race, so the second racer is fresh for the last half. Being ahead early is exciting, because you’re first to move and no one can block your path, but being in front fills your deck with exhaustion, so there’s quite a lot of risk there.
While it can feel like a lot of luck, I feel that there is quite a bit of skill involved in winning Flamme Rouge. Being able to accurately read your opponent’s intensions, knowing when they’re going to try to overtake, so you can keep the gap close. It is frustrating when you can see that you have the perfect opportunity to overtake, but you only draw a handful of low cards, but that’s life sometimes. Sometimes you step on your pedal and your chain skips a link.
Thematically, everyone can relate to riding a bike, or the concept of a bicycle race. Having a relatable theme makes it incredibly easy to get people who may otherwise be uninterested in board games to the table. The aesthetic is sufficiently goofy as well, with the riders all sporting thick french moustaches and making exaggerated faces in the card art. Flamme Rouge is a good-looking game!
I really like the variety of the tracks in Flamme Rouge. Each section of track is double-sided and fit together like a puzzle. The game comes with a small deck of cards emulating specific races, and depending on how the track is set up, the way the game feels can change drastically. One track we played on had 2 downhill sections that let those early leaders shed their exhaustion and run away with the race. Another game had 3 uphill sections leading right up to the finish line, making the final push an utter grind. The winner ended up being one of the players who was near the back during the final assent, as they had burned all their real low cards early on and managed to play three 5’s in a row while everyone else was struggling with 2’s and 3’s.
Flamme Rouge is simple to play, yet it’s eminently satisfying. Races are always exciting, and controlling two characters lets you play with the system in a fun and interesting way that lends to satisfying, clever plays. I love the variability of the track, and how different setups ensure each game feels fresh. Flamme Rouge shines as a game that balances short-term tactics with long-term strategy, and is a game that deserves its high spot in my top 100 games of all time.
