Well. Let's see if I can remember how to do this. It's been two years since I've written anything here, but when Jackson Pope, the nice designer of FlickFleet reached out to the wider community asking for reviewers that like dexterity games, my name came up. (Apparently I haven't done a good enough job convincing everyone else in the world, and thus new reviewers, that dexterity games are truly the greatest kind of game there is. (Well. I mean, I guess if you consider sports to be dexterity games, then I'm in the vast majority of the population as a whole in thinking that dexterity games are the best.)) And then I started hearing things like "new dexterity game" and "flick pieces for movement" and all of the normal things that immediately gather my attention. So here I am. Wow, that was a long winded way to say, "Hi, I'm back for now, but don't expect this to be a regular thing."
So, what is FlickFleet? It's a game. There's flicking and stuff. The end. Free game acquired. Obligation fulfilled. *Boom*
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A tricked out Destroyer lives up to its name |
Okay, so I've said there's flicking of ships and dice. Is there anything different about this one, or is it basically just a clone of all the other flicking games? Well, there are a few differences that I can point out compared to your standard flicking game. First, there is the dice flicking element. The only other game I know of that has dice flicking is Tumblin Dice, but that one is (at least pretends to be) a bit more strategic about it. In FlickFleet, the dice flicking is meant to be a bit more random; basically, it's meant to be a combination of flicking and die rolling in a single element, where the die roll affects the outcome of the attack. (That's at least my opinion on it.) Another difference between FlickFleet and other dexterity games is that there is a strategic component to it in action selection for your (capital) ships. Deploying fighters at the right time, and balancing when to move, attack, and heal can affect the outcome of the game (though this element isn't as crucial as being good at the dexterity element of it, as you probably would have assumed).
A heated battle in the works. |
So, for the part you actually care about. Who would enjoy FlickFleet?
- Flicking fans that want to add a random factor into the game. Specifically, if you enjoy dexterity, but want the ability to blame the game if you lose, then this game gives you that scapegoat option by blaming the die flicks. ("Well, if I hadn't kept hitting you with 9's, I would have clearly won!")
- Dexterity fans that like to be able to customize their game from play to play. You can customize the setup with scenarios and with building custom fleets (there is a costing system provided for figuring out how to balance the number of ships in each fleet).
- People who want decision flexibility in their turns beyond only moving and/or attacking. (I've played a game where I decided to never spend an action on movement, because I just fired my weapons the entire game. And I won. Take that however you would like. For added clarity, it was during a scenario where there was a black hole pulling the ships towards the center of the board after each turn, so I was slowly moving - just not using actions for it.)
- Dexterity fans in general. Let's be honest. This is who the game is meant for.
- People who hate dexterity games. But, if you hate dexterity games (the best genre of games as we've discussed earlier), did you really get this far in the post?
- People who want instant setup of their dexterity games. This one takes a couple minutes to find the pieces and get the fleets prepared. That's the cost of the customizability. (Basically, the setup is more like Catacombs, where you have to grab all the pieces you'll need for the scenario you're playing, and not like Crokinole, where you put the board on the table and immediately start playing.)
- People who want the person who is better at dexterity games to win every time. If you are just plain better at flicking than your opponent, then yeah, you'll win most of your games of FlickFleet. But if you hit them with a 7-10 every time you flick the die, you'll lose.
- People who believe "when it's dead, it's dead" about destroying their opponent. Since I only briefly mentioned this earlier, I should elaborate now. The capital ships have shields. One of the actions you can take with them is to repair your shields. This can lead to situations where a ship keeps healing all of it's damage, and their opponent feels like they can't finish it off. More specifically, it can also lead to situations where their opponent can't finish it off (if they are only firing a single shot each round; just concede, my friend). Not everyone will love the ability to repair the shields. Though, frankly, its easy enough to create a scenario where there's some kind of "spatial anomaly" that prevents shields from being repaired, if you really hate shields coming back.
Overall, I enjoyed my plays of FlickFleet. That shouldn't surprise anyone. If I find a lot of dexterity gamers in my gaming group, then I could see it continuing to hit the table, but for people that aren't partial to dexterity games, I typically go with goofier ones like Coconuts when I occasionally convince them to dip their toe in the beautiful waters of dexterity. So my continued play of it will depend pretty heavily on who I am playing with.
If FlickFleet sounds like something you'd like, then check it out on Kickstarter.
I would like to thank Jackson Pope of Eurydice Games for sending me a preview copy of FlickFleet.