Disclaimer: I played a friends copy of the game, and the opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Overview: From BGG
Artisan dragons, the smaller and magically talented versions of their larger (and destructive) cousins, are sought by shopkeepers so that they may delight customers with their flamecraft. You are a Flamekeeper, skilled in the art of conversing with dragons, placing them in their ideal home and using enchantments to entice them to produce wondrous things. Your reputation will grow as you aid the dragons and shopkeepers, and the Flamekeeper with the most reputation will be known as the Master of Flamecraft.
In Flamecraft, 1-5 players take on the role of Flamekeepers, gathering items, placing dragons and casting enchantments to enhance the shops of the town. Dragons are specialized (bread, meat, iron, crystal, plant and potion) and the Flamekeepers know which shops are the best home for each. Visit a shop to gain items and a favor from one of the dragons there. Gathered items can be used to enchant a shop, gaining reputation and the favors of all the dragons in the shop. If you are fortunate enough to attract fancy dragons then you will have opportunities to secure even more reputation.
Rules & Setup:
Set up takes around 10-15 minutes as there is quite a lot to sort out for both general set up and for the players themselves, lots of different tokens, dragon cards and shop cards to lay out.
The rules are very well laid out, and are easy to follow and each player gets a handy ‘how to’ card that details actions and card explanations.
The rulebook has lots of pictures / examples of play, and gives an extensive list of all the abilities of the dragons available within the game itself, meaning you will never have to guess exactly what a specific card / dragon does.
It is one of the better rulebooks for games I’ve seen.
Theme & Gameplay:
The theme is one where you are sending your Artisan dragons to the different starting shops, and those that are revealed during gameplay, to gather resources which can then be used to purchase enchantments and gain points during the game and at the end of it. You will start with three Artisan dragon cards and one Fancy dragon card picked from the two you are delivered before the game starts. Artisan dragons are played into the shops, and each shop can hold a maximum of 3 dragons, whilst fancy dragons are either scored during your turn, or at the end of the game depending on whether they show the sun or moon symbol on the card. The sun symbol is in game scoring, and the moon is end game. These cards can greatly boost your scoring at both points in the game and getting the right ones can be the difference between winning and losing.
On your turn you move your dragon meeple from the shop it is on to one of the other shops available in play, and if it’s empty you pay nothing, but if anyone else’s Dragon meeple is at the same shop then you must pay a resource of your choice from your own supply to each player there, and if you can’t do this then you can’t go to that particular shop.
The 3 spaces within each shop have a series of symbols on them and any dragon you wish to place must match that symbol, and you then gain a reward shown at the end of the row of symbols for placing that particular dragon.
You collect resources for all the dragons present prior to you placing your own new dragon into the shop, and you can also fire up one of the dragons to use the ability shown at the bottom of their card, and again all these are explained in the rulebook, and on the back of the player aid cards.
The other action you can take when you move to a new shop is called ‘Enchantment@ which means you can pay the correct resources from your supply back to the main supply area, and take an Enchantment card from those available and then you score points, and may gain other benefits which again are all shown on the card itself, for example you might pay 4 potions, 1 meat and 1 leaf to gain a specific card and you could gain points as well as other stuff like new dragon cards or coins.
Lastly, after doing the Enchantment action you can also fire up dragons at the shop you are now located at.
You keep taking turns in clockwise order until one of the end game triggers are met, and then after playing one final turn each, you add on any additional points gained by scoring cards and coins in your supply and the winner is the one with the most points. If tied, players then count up how many resources they have and agin the player with the most wins. If tied again, players share the win.
Artwork and Components:
The artwork and components for Flamecraft are of excellent quality, and even the base game comes with a beautiful neoprene mat for the main play area.
The pictures on the card are very well done and will appeal to players of all ages.
The Good:
The game is very well thought out, and the quality is better than some games costing a lot more than this does, so kudos to Cardboard Alchemy for what they have done with this.
The Other:
For the cost of the game, there aren’t any negatives for me with Flamecraft.
Final Thoughts:
Flamecraft is a game you could teach to non-gamers fairly easily and one that younger gamers I think will really like, and want to play again and again. There is now at least one expansion that adds new elements to this wonderful game.
In conclusion this is a game that takes around an hour or so to play, but you won’t notice this as your time certainly won’t be Dragon you down…
