I have been told there is an expansion coming out soon and I would very much like to see what that adds to an already great game.

Flamme Rouge was released in 2016, so it is a slightly older game. The question now is how well does it hold up to the designer’s most recent racing game, Heat: Pedal to the Metal. So in this review, I’ll tell you what I think of Flamme Rouge in its own right, and also, compare it to Heat. How To Play Place all the Sprinter and Rouleur “exhaustion” cards in their two separate piles in the middle of the table. Mountain Descents – If you start on a descent square (marked in blue) then the rider will move a minimum of five, even if you play a lower number. Mountain Ascents– If you start on, enter, or move through and ascent square (marked in red) movement is capped at five.Adding to this is the fact that you want your sprinteur to at least get some slipstreaming action from your rouleur so generally you want your sprinteur to have a value one less than your rouleur. But yet again, you may not get the cards you need.

Each player chooses a colour and takes a pair of bike and rider miniatures, the player board, and the set of energy cards in that colour. Flamme Rouge is a hand management, racing game designed by Asger Harding Granerud and publish by Lautapelit.fi. Flamme Rouge is very thematic and definitely feels like a race. You want your rouleur to be out in front of your sprinteur to let them benefit from slipstreaming. Then you have to time your final sprint to crush your opponents. How Does It Compare To HeatI am by no means at all interested in bike racing (I can’t even ride a bike!) but as a fan of board games I felt like the theme could be put to the side and I could just enjoy the mechanics of Flamme Rouge.

As a more strategic alternative to a roll and move game, Flamme Rouge is all about pacing your team and knowing when to gamble on a big card play. In Flamme Rouge, 2-4 players control a team of bicycle racers competing to be the first rider across the line as they wind through the streets and country roads of France. Flamme Rouge is a cycling game for 2-4 players, and is not to be confused with Flan Rogue, a game where an egg and cheese-filled pastry crawls through a dungeon fighting other evil pastries such as croissants, Gregg’s sausage rolls, and the 70s favourite hors d’ouvre, vol-au-vents.

TOP TIP: You will notice that the two riders in your team have different movement cards. The sprinter has lots of long and short distance cards, the rouleur as lots of medium distance cards. Use this to your advantage when you can. Separate your Sprinter “S” and Rouleur “R” energy cards, shuffle, and place them face down on the spaces on your player board. I think Flamme Rouge and Heat both have a place in someone’s collection. Heat is a masterpiece. It plays well at all player counts and has a tonne of replayability. But it isn’t the simplest of games. It’s not that heavy, but I know which of these games I would teach to smaller children or to my in-laws. Flamme Rouge is a much simpler game and if you play without hills, it’s pretty much appropriate for anyone. Even with the addition of the hills, it’s not that complicated. Riders can jump over other riders and also change lanes. Where possible, your rider should finish their turn in the right-hand lane, marked by a double white line. For the purpose of movement and winning, the right-hand lane is deemed to be in the lead. In the end everyone who has played this game has enjoyed it. Flamme Rouge is a game I hope to get to the table often as its very fun and easy to teach with added depth that can be included if needed. I would say this sits in between the games I mentioned above and has a place in my collection.