Lautapelit LAU00077 Flamme Rouge Peloton Exp Board Game

Product Information

Even while justifying it in my mind as a balancing mechanism when playing with new players, no one wants to start at a perceived (or real) disadvantage. Expansion, base game needed Language: finnish swedish english Amount of players: 1-12 Age recommendation: 8+ Publisher: Lautapelit.

In my experience, the struggle of flamme rouge lies in positioning yourself within the pack to have the optimal set-up to break free at the end. Starting any game of Flamme Rouge at the back of the pack has always left a bitter taste in my mouth.Once again, these new tiles add a little strategy as you think about how to enter and leave the supply zones to maximize the benefit.

The setup and race maintenance for either team is incredibly easy and doesn’t interrupt the excitement of the race.The brilliant mechanic of your riders becoming more and more exhausted as the race continues combined with the slipstreaming, all with just a deck of cards, elevates this game to the top of my racing game list. While the Cobblestones can funnel things to a crawl, Supply zones (a necessity if adding the fifth and sixth player), opens things up by giving a speed boost (every card played is counted as at least a four) and provides three lanes for possible move making. And as the racers pass the Flamme Rouge it is clear the Peloton is working hard to reel in the small breakaway that has formed! The fact that the usefulness of winning the Breakaway variant is,and will be, constantly debated makes me feel that it is perfectly balanced.

Full disclosure: I can’t say I’ve had the opportunity to play with such a large group, but I imagine it would be entertaining – even if putting each individual player into the hands of fate more than the standard game. Sometimes there will be more players and the ability to accommodate them is something that will get Flamme Rouge more table time. In addition, you can use the new breakaway tiles which add a variant to the game that allows for 2 riders, in a 5 to 6 player game, or 1 rider, in a 1 to 4 player game, to get a head start by bidding for a better starting position 1 tile further up the track. Each player essentially bids two cards for one of their riders, and the highest total gets to jump ahead (With 5-6 players, two riders get the jump). Now it’s the last leg of the race, the ride home, and you’re up front with the best riders of the best.It's one of the more ironic names for this bicycle race expansion, since some of the core improvements are about breaking from the pack.