Flash Point Fire Rescue first play

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Work is really heavy on my mind at the moment. I don't have the mental energy to set up something heavier like a wargame. Even light wargames are far heavier than most other games.

Today I decided to break out Flash Point, one of the first (if not the first) "real" game I purchase a couple of years ago. I wanted to get Pandemic as I had just played it at the time, but the game store didn't have it in stock. They recommended Flash Point.

I took it home, but did no more than rip the shrink off. Didn't even punch the pieces. Hence, a perfect game for today. While I'd prefer to play this with other people, I do like learning the rules on my own in advance. Just seems to work out better that way.

Per the rules recommendation, I set up the "Family Game" to teach myself. This is a simpler stripped down scenario. I decided not to take copious notes on this game, instead, just focus on the game play and understanding how the rules work. To keep it simple, I chose to use 1 firefighter, the red one of course.

A surprise win for Game 1

Given that I wasn't "playing for a win" it's a bit surprising that a single firefighter was able to win it. The results:

  • 14 damage markers placed,
  • 25 fires on the board,
  • 7 rescued,
  • 1 lost on a flashover, which turned out to be a false alarm victim.

Here's what it looked like at the end of the game:

Flash Point 1 firefighter win

I'd say I got pretty lucky on this game. The fire advances and POI placements all turned out to be pretty convenient for my firefighter running around. The dice could have just as easily knocked me off the board 2 or 3 times. It feels like the board was 2 or 3 turns away from going totally nuts.

The new iPhone 6+ takes much better pictures than the old 3G I used to have.

Upshot

Flash Point "Family Game" plays fast and easy. I can see the appeal. The basic mechanics admit a lot of chrome, that's evident from even a single play. I'll definitely be playing this again, and hopefully with some others for coop play.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.