Flash Point : Fire Rescue 10 years on

"It's time to take on the role of the brave men and women of the fire fighting services all around the world that put their lives on the line to saves ours"

It's our latest game highlight episode and Ian & Jason are taking a jump in the time machine back to 2011 for the release of Flash Point: Fire Rescue. As this game celebrates its 10th birthday this year we take a look to see if it has indeed stood the test of time, and whether it still see's the table as much as it did a decade ago.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a cooperative game of fire rescue for 2-6 players aged 10+ with a low complexity, medium difficulty play time of 45 minuets.

There are two versions of game play in the base game of Flash Point, a basic/family game and expert/advanced game.
In both variants, players are attempting to rescue 7 out of 10 victims from a burning building.

Find out what comes in the box, how it plays and what they boys really think of it!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++  NEWS  +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Paul is also back with his faithful rubber duck Brian in the news shed to bring you all the news, crowdfunding campaigns & event information we think you need to know about. including but not limited too.

• CoraQuest signs a retail deal with Bright Eye Games
• Vivid & Segrada  by Floodgate Games
• Monster Hunter World: Board Game by SteamForged Games and Capcom
• Gift of Tulips by Wierd Giraffe Games
• Caper: Europe & PARKS by Keymaster Games
• Silverwood Grove, Lost in Jurassica, Lost in Valhalla, Lost in Straya, Fairy God Plumber by Sam Milham

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Transcript

Jason: 0:17

What's up guys, welcome to the Meeple Minded podcast, the podcast where we talk all things tabletop gaming. My name is Jason, and my name is Ian,

Ian: 0:26

and along with Paul in the newsroom, join us as we Bumble our way through this lovely hobby. so popular cat long grab a brew, and let's get on with this week's episode.

Jason: 0:35

Another week another podcast. How are you today?

Ian: 0:38

Yeah, I'm not too bad. A little bit tired. For other than that. Oh, good.

Jason: 0:43

Good to hear. Good to hear mate. Yeah, I think we've both been exceptionally busy this weekend. Yeah, you were I'm guessing this work thing for you.

Ian: 0:54

Work locked down painting of rooms in the house that I'm in. So lots of small little tasks that are only doing

Jason: 1:03

god. I hate those tasks, man. Good. I hate him. I've been lucky I'm not doing those particular tasks. But I've been exceptionally busy behind the scenes doing all the transcribing of our back podcast episodes that was requested of us. So that's kept me pretty busy typing out our entire conversations. And yeah, God do we Bumble on of you. Other than that, have you been up too much recently, I've had so much going on anything fun.

Ian: 1:37

I spent some time with my girlfriend as it was her birthday. went for a few walks. But there's not a lot else we can do at the moment.

Jason: 1:47

Very true. You managed to get any gaming in between you either digital or

Ian: 1:52

started playing Valheim on the PC quite a lot. I don't think there's been many board games I've had the chance to play much. Still waiting on a few kickstarters to arrive as well that get continuously delayed.

Jason: 2:07

Yeah, have a excute the ever amazing excuses that you see coming out on Kickstarter? With obviously COVID being everyone's favourite at the moment. Yeah. But it's good to you. You managed to spend some time with your partner for her birthday. Did she enjoy it? She haven't been nice.

Ian: 2:28

Yeah, she really did. It's a shame we couldn't go out and do anything. That's on hold until everything back open again. So I think it's gonna be one of those weird years where everyone celebrates their but like, does the queen and has two birthdays?

Jason: 2:43

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've been pretty jealous of that every year. So I think that should be a standard thing going forward. I might be alright, you know, my birthday is towards the end of the year anyway. So fingers crossed down for? Well, yeah, let's not, let's not Jinx that just yet. We have we have plans going forward. Let's, let's do our best to stick to them. But I've been asked to get back to some form of normality, and more importantly, to play games physically, to be honest. But yeah, anyway, let's, let's crack on. This is a tabletop gaming podcast about tabletop games. So let's stop talking about our normal lives and you know, crack on with that. But just quickly, before we do, I would love to take a few seconds to, to Firstly, thank all of you guys out there that have, in recent times, done the big follow or subscribe to this podcast shared it or even those of you that have taken the time to review it on Apple podcast. It really does mean the world to all three of us here at the Meeple Minded and it really does help. I know, every podcaster says it. But you know, we don't do this as a monetary thing we don't earn from this in any way, shape, or form. So we just do this for the sheer love of the hobby. So yeah, it really does mean the world to us as well. And as an extension of that is my second point. I want to say thank you to the people that have been over to our brand new YouTube channel and subscribed over there liked and commented on all the videos we've been doing. It's a learning process for me. I think I'm getting a little bit better in every episode, but I can only go on all your feedback. So once again, thank you very much for that. Anyway, that that's done. All my yo sapi thank yous are done. And it's now time for us to jump into our game highlight of the week. And for this one, we're going to jump in our DeLorean accelerate to 88 miles an hour and go back to the year 2011. I believe Ian has a description of the game he would like to use to see us into This

Ian: 5:02

call comes in. No, no nine, what's your emergency. On the other end is a panic response of fire. Moments later, you've done a protective suits, they'll keep you alive, gather your equipment and rushed to the scene, the blazing Inferno. The team has only seconds to assess the situation and devise a plan of attack, then you spring into action like to train professionals that you are, you must face your fears never give up. And above all else work as a team. Because the fire is raging, the building is threatening to collapse and lives are in danger. You must succeed you as a brave men and women of the fire rescue people are depending on you. And this is what you do every day.

Jason: 5:38

That actually is a really, really good description of the game that we are going to be talking about. And if you haven't guessed it, from the title of this podcast, we're going to be talking about Flashpoint fire rescue. It's a game by indie boards and cards is a cooperative game for two to six players ages 10 and up. It's a sort of light to mid weight complexity game with a playtime of about 45 minutes. It's an old game, as we said it's now 10 years old, which is why we thought we'd revisit it and actually see has it stood the test of time. And spoiler, it probably has. This is

Ian: 6:17

one of my absolute favourites sees a lot of players a lot of wear and tear on the parts pieces and boxes have been used over and over again.

Jason: 6:27

But we'll get into that very soon, I think is that that comes under the quality of it doesn't. So I mean, the first question is, Can you believe this game is actually 10 years old? It really does not seem like it's 10 years old.

Ian: 6:43

It makes me feel old. I remember this being one of the early games I picked up i don't i didn't kickstart the original game. I didn't get it on deadline relief. This is definitely one of the early points of my collection is slowly expand as time has gone on.

Jason: 6:58

Yeah, yeah, I think this was one of the first few games that I played there once I transitioned over to, to playing board games. But I will say like, before we even jump into this, this game is a true favourite amongst so many of both of our club members. It's one of the staples that comes along to us with every club that we run. I personally don't have my own copy as of yet. I'm not going to lie, it has been ordered.

Ian: 7:30

So that's why you fail.

Jason: 7:33

So it will be with me very soon. This game has been expanded throughout the years as well. I think we were talking beforehand. And if it's is it eight or nine expansions at this point?

Ian: 7:42

Crikey, I'd have to go back and have a look. I own them all. That tells you something.

Jason: 7:47

I believe I believe it's eight but it could possibly be nine but either way eight or nine expansions is impressive, you know, especially in a 10 year span. The game gets so much praise, there's millions of reviews out there, which is why this is kind of more of a revisiting because you know, this has been reviewed left right and centre. But yeah, we're gonna give give it the 10 year old review. And yeah, go from there. You know, I'll do things as we usually do. I'll give him his chance to do his rules junky section to tell you how to play the game. And then we'll come back and we'll talk about the stuff that you get in the base game. So yeah, over to you and your favourite bit.

Ian: 8:31

So I'm going to start with a really basic way of how to play the game. So there's two versions of the game in the base game, you have a basic game and an expert game. The basic game is like a family friendly one to introduce you into the rules. Expert game just starts to expand the rules slightly and give you a bit more variation on how to play. In both variants, the players are attempting to rescue seven of the 10 victims from a raging building fire. In the game, there are question mark tokens of which there are some blanks and some victims, as opposed attempt to rescue the victims to fire or spread throughout the building causing structural damage and possibly blocking off pathways through the building. Each turn a player may spend action points that they acquire from the specialist cards, trying to extinguish fire move through the building move victims in and out of the buildings and perform various special actions such as moving emergency vehicles. If for victims perish in the Blaze, or the building collapses from taking too much damage the players lose otherwise the players instantly when when the seventh victim is rescued. The expert Varian included with the game and thematic elements such as a flashover, which is where the fire suddenly spreads on uncontrollably, combustible materials random setup and variations on the game difficulty from novice to heroic game includes double sided board to different building plans and several expansion maps are available.

Jason: 9:53

Nice that is pretty basic. But yeah, it gives you a rough idea of what what the idea of the game match Two years. So

Ian: 10:01

yeah, just just to expand on that a bit. So, at the start of the game, you're the map is divided into one to eight and one to six along squares along the board. You use D sixes and d h to determine which space is events happening. Every time you roll five dice at the end of the turn to see where from new fire spreads by rolling both those dice. If you roll a hotspot marker, you roll again and place a new hotspot marker as well on the new the new space. So more and more Spotfire can spawn and if you happen to roll somewhere where there already is fire, you cause explosions, which cause damage and more fire. Otherwise, you know, each character has certain amount of actions and special actions they can do. You use all of these to try and get to the question mark tokens which automatically flip once you reach them. And if they are people you have to rescue them is also a cat and a dog. They classes people.

Jason: 11:01

Of course they do cats and dogs are people on it.

Ian: 11:04

They are. To quote The Muppets a celebrity is not a people. Hey,

Jason: 11:13

God bless the Muppets before it was Disney FIDE.

Ian: 11:17

I think that one was after it was Disney fied record. Well, yeah,

Jason: 11:22

I take back my claim. Okay, so that's how the game is played two very different types of play style. In that game, I must admit, I prefer playing the advanced side of things. And as Ian will probably attest to we both prefer playing with certain expansions. But we are focusing on the base game of Flashpoint today. We will however, be going into some of the expansions in a bit more detail in the coming weeks.

Ian: 11:49

Yeah, we decided there's enough content in the expansions that they weren't their own, their own looking at another day. The only thing I will say without any em going into any detail. The latest expansion tragic tragic events is a must have for this game.

Jason: 12:06

Yeah, I haven't I don't is that one that I've played

Ian: 12:10

to this belief? So it's the one with the it changes a mechanic in the game, the hotspots and events?

Jason: 12:16

Oh, yes, I think I have Yeah. So yeah, it I mean, there's enough one, there's enough content to warrant more than one episode. But more importantly, a game to still be popular and talks about after 10 years is no small feat. So yeah, it's worthy of the celebration. Going back to the base game, what is it that you get in the board. Now, before we do this, I am actually going to say, this game I have. I've actually purchased this game today. And I paid 30 pounds 30 pounds for this game. Now let's talk about the components that come in the box. Get ready. This is a long list. So first off, you have a double sided game board. Then you have six plastic firefighter tokens, which are miniatures noted that the original release of these did not have miniatures, they were the basic old school pawns that used to get with board games, you get 33 double sided threat markers. We fire on one side and smoke on the other 18 you get 18 double sided points of interest markers with a question mark on one side or victims or nothing on the other side 24 black wooden damage cubes, eight double sided door markers. One side showing open one side chain closed 21 Action Point trackers, six player cards, eight player aid cards two days one of which is d six. The other is a D eight. And then the rest of them is basically stuff that you would use in the advanced versions, which is 24. hotspot markers, six hazmat markers, three heel tokens, three vehicle markers, eight specialist cards and instruction. This game costs 30 pounds people 30 pounds, I mean, value for money. This game is crazy. Absolutely amazing. I'm blown away by the sheer volume of stuff you get in this box for the money. So the real question is have they skimped out on the quality? We're going to go into that now in your game. I'll let you start. How do you feel is the quality for those components,

Ian: 14:34

I think is really good. It survived the test of time of being carted around to ballgame groups for I think my copies are like six, seven years old. artwork on it is really really good. plastic models are really really good. One day I'll actually get around to painting them.

Jason: 14:54

I think mine's gonna be painted before yours.

Ian: 14:57

Probably that yeah, it's here. As I said, it's one of my favourite games and get used a lot. And the cardstocks Nice. tokens are good. My only qualm is always mixing both the expansions and the base game. There were some tokens that had different coloured backing from different print runs, rather disappointing. To have a negative in there,

Jason: 15:26

well, I think it's going to be one of those that we actually struggle to get negative. So it's time to get pretty persnickety about the the negatives, I think, yeah, for like I said, I don't personally own this game, as of yet. I have purchased it, I'm waiting for it to turn up. But I have obviously played this game many, many times. Now. The quality of the stuff is pretty damn good. It's not cheap. It's not nasty. It has a, it has stood the test of time, which I can't say that about a lot of games that cost a lot more to be honest. So yeah, quality of those components is fantastic. And Ian has obviously got the second print round, because he has the miniatures. So it does show that even though it wasn't their first print run, they didn't skimp on that on the quality on the second run. So yeah, I don't think we can say anything more about the quality really, because there's nothing really to pick out other than what you've already said. Yeah, the quality is good. But what about our opinions of the game? What are your opinions of the game other than the fact that

Ian: 16:35

it's really good? As said, I absolutely love it is a lot of it's a really good standard Co Op game. There's a lot of strategy involved, you're limited by what actions you can do you have no idea what the random elements of the game are going to do to you in between each player's turn. You know, and it's one of those games where, like, just the base game comes with eight different specialists, you only can have a maximum of six players, but you kind of feel like you need all eight of those specialists in the game regardless, you know, you always feel something's missing. Yeah, in a good way. Yeah. You know, you're penalised for not having a particular person out in the field. But at the same time, you know, if you can crew change as well, one of the actions we haven't mentioned is an option cost a hell of a lot of action points to do. And you know, damn well, the moment you change your crew, you need the one that you got rid of.

Jason: 17:25

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Obviously, that's, that's all part of the advanced. The advanced game, as we said, we have focused our attention is a bit more on the Advanced because it's what we like to play. But the family version as well is just as fun and it's something this is another reason why I was able to justify actually purchasing this this is the kind of game that my little one is going to absolutely love. So, yeah, can't wait to really hit that up as well. It's going to be hard, I think playing the family version when I'm so used to the advanced. But I would say like, my opinions, the gameplay, it's so easy. It's it's quite pandemic esque. I don't know if anyone if you feel that way as well.

Ian: 18:09

I don't know. It is in the way that the board is always changing itself. And you always feel like you're on the backfoot you know, with the fire continuously raging in different ways trying to manage damage. If you leave things alone too often to focus on your main target, you'll get overrun. So in that respect, yes, but I think it's a lot more visual and a lot more dynamic than pandemic is.

Jason: 18:35

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay. I can agree with that. It has got some similarities as I said, but I think theme wise I actually I think I prefer this to to pandemic itself. And it is I find it it although it can be pretty brutal especially in the advanced game where you know certain things and you can lose in a couple of turns. But I do think for the most part, it's a little bit more easy going. Then pandemic but can be just as as brutal as the likes of pandemic. This to me is another one of these fantastic games that is his gateway. I would actually put this as a gateway game although it's not billed as a gateway game like Ticket to Ride. I you could get you could get non gamers playing this and they would easily be able to follow on But yeah, I I'm not gonna lie. I think this is gonna be our first really high ranked game. For our votes. I don't know what Ian's gonna vote for this. I know what I'm voting for it. But yeah, I think our Maple rating for this one's gonna be it's gonna be a high one isn't it? So, as as it's your game. Let's let's go to our final pros and cons our final thoughts and yeah, your your summary. Flashpoint Fire Rescue, the base game froze.

Ian: 20:03

It's just it's one of the best Co Op games out there. I said, Is it always ever changing? No two games ever feel the same. The artwork range is really good on it, you know, the fun thing for a lot of us is we always love to try and rescue the dog and the cat over everyone else. I have a reputation now for trying to rescue the sled dog and it dying every single time that I do. So it's got the mean potential in there as well. For another funny story with this games, one of the maps on this has a door next to a kitchen, we had someone playing the fire captain who can usability their abilities to move other players. And literally the whole game, all they did was come in the door, put out the fruit freezer, stand back outside and boss everyone else around. So we said they just came in to rescue the ice cream and then keep everyone else alive.

Jason: 20:54

Sounds like something I would do

Ian: 20:57

that you know there's a lot to this game, you can have a good laugh. And you know the word potential, especially when you start adding expansions in. However, my negative to this is to do with the expansions is I can't play this game without some of the expansions now, the characters that get added in and the tragic events completely changing the dynamic of the game, which is slightly flawed. The hotspot mechanic in this game is you start the game with three hotspots. And every time fire or smoke spawns on a hotspot, you have to roll the fire dice again. Yeah, if you're unlucky with the dice, because he's very luck based at that point, you can have absolute horrendous games or you know, due to just bad luck. And you know, and every time a fire explodes by rolling on the same thing you're damaging, so you can go from like four damage cubes on the board through it nearly collapsing in one turn. Yeah. That gets tweaked slightly with the tragic events expansion. But, you know, again, that's that's a conversation for the expansions part as well. So I just find it very hard to shift back to the base game now I've had that experience with the options available from it. Yeah, wouldn't mean I wouldn't play it. It's just I prefer it with

Jason: 22:13

Yeah, I think i think i agree i def as Bruce already said, so I think both of us prefer this game without so with the expansions. However, if those expansions didn't exist, I would have no problem playing this game at all.

Ian: 22:31

It's, it's,

Jason: 22:33

it's great. It's so fun. And thematic. It's great for the family, as well as established gamers that just want a really hard time, you know, some of those advanced rules where you get to have a bigger fire at the start because we're insane. You know, it's it's really, really cool. I love I love how the game mechanics work. For my my final summaries of it, like Flashpoint is incredibly immersive, it's very thematic, it's quite tense at times, because of the way the game is and how tense it can be. The forced cooperative aspect of it is it really does make you work as a team in some court games, you work with other people, but you don't feel like I had to do it. Whereas this you really are forced into becoming essentially one of the heroic firefighters out there, you know, where everything is about teamwork. If you are a firefighter, and you're not a team player, then you're probably not actually a firefighter. You know, they trust each other with their lives. And they work exceptionally well as in a team. So this game does a really good job of actually doing that I would love to get around a table with a load of firefighters and actually play a game and and actually their opinions as to just how realistic they've managed to make this while keeping it. You know, family friendly, because bad things do happen in burning buildings. And I think that's definitely something that is replicated in this game. And if you've got children that are easily upset by, say, a pet cat being burned alive. Yeah, maybe come up with a little story like it found an open hole and jumped out of it instead of dying. But yes, I I am so so happy with this game. Yeah, I love the mechanics of it as well. I love how I'm not usually a huge fan of like pure luck based or, you know, randomness of or too much randomness in the game, but the two dice thing basically determine how the fire is going to go. At the end of every turn is amazing because it really does replicate how unpredictable A fire actually is, how do you I mean, does that? Is that a mechanic you like about it? Or would you prefer it to be a bit more uniform spawn X amount of fires at the end of the term?

Ian: 25:10

I like it the way it is, as I said, there is a better way of doing this that they cover with the expansions. The problem I have with the randomness they have in the base game is it can be too random to be like, it'd be like playing pandemic, if you didn't split the deck up of having all of the outbreak cards separated into quarters in the deck. So you could have eight in a row. Yeah, you know, you would just lose the game at that point. And this game, unfortunately has that as a mechanic built in in the base game. And you can't stop it because it's all done with dice rolls. Yeah, if you're unlucky and just keep rolling hotspots, so you keep churning onto another hotspot and causing explosions everywhere. You just can't stop it, which they do address. You know, it's a problem that obviously, I'm not the only one that's felt like it's an issue that they do cover. But that would be my only negative to the base games. randomness is sometimes it's too random.

Jason: 26:05

I think the description I gave once of how random the fires are in the game was one one turn, you get a small boy scouts fire. And then the following turn. It's a village fete bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night. You know, it's it's night and day, sort of different. So, yeah, I have one of my it's not an issue with the game, really. But one of the things that I have for this is because of how much team aspect is required in this game. It does lend itself a lot to, you know, those quarterbacking players. But I think as long as you've got a good group of players, and especially if you're playing with the advanced rules, where essentially everyone is required to work together, that will help with regards to you know, players trying to take over, but yeah, the theme, absolutely love it. I watched firemen samas when I was a kid, as did my son. And at one point or another, I'm sure everyone has said I want to be a firefighter when I grow up. I think it's great actually to for the kids as well, because it actually shows them just how important fire safety is as well. So there's a little bit of educational thing here. Because any parent can actually play this with this child and actually demonstrate just how dangerous a fire could be and why fire safety is so important. I don't know if again, I don't know if that's something anyone else has really thought about when when they think about the game, but it's definitely something I thought about. What about you?

Ian: 27:43

Yeah, is such a good theme on it. Oh, and it's a good sim game really, isn't it? When you think about it. It's not just a cold game. It's a sim game as well.

Jason: 27:53

So whenever I think about fire and Sims I think about, you know, the PC game Sims and how I deliberately set my Sims on fire.

Ian: 28:01

This is why I should have used the word simulation. Nice things.

Jason: 28:08

But no, I know exactly where you're coming from on that.

Ian: 28:11

That's where the thematic sort of comes through is, you are simulating how well you know this sort of does is like working together as part of a team to achieve the goals with all your strengths and weaknesses playing in just what a good car game should do. Yeah,

Jason: 28:26

yeah. Come complete, completely agree on that one. If you've got any other any other thoughts that you want to add at this point in a final summary?

Ian: 28:37

No, as I said, I think it's up there. I don't have many folks at all. And thinking hurts my brain?

Jason: 28:46

Has has it stood the test of time for you at 10 years old. Do you think this is going to survive and still be talked about in another 10 years?

Ian: 28:53

There is no way that this game won't be part of my collection forever. It's it sees the table more than often enough. It's just it's easy to pick up. It's easy to play that difficult to win. That's, you know, you can't ask for much more from again,

Jason: 29:08

a real collection keeper then. Yeah, I hope that they continue to support it, releasing more expansions. As he said the last one they released was a massive game changer. So providing they keep that kind of trend going. I can see this game being around for a long time. But yeah, 10 years, man, I I couldn't believe it when I realised that this game was 10 years old. And yeah, it puts a smile on my face To be honest, because this is a staple. I think this game needs to be more well known that it is. I know they went through a production issue a little while ago where they couldn't keep up with demand, which I think is a great sign actually of a game especially when we're talking about a game that's that old and to constantly be going through. You know, still being productive. And after 10 years is fantastic. So the all important people rating, I don't know where to go first because I'm excited to announce it, but I'm gonna let you go first because it is your game still. What is your Maple rating out of 10 for Flashpoint Fire Rescue,

Ian: 30:19

nine and a half.

Jason: 30:21

Oh, definitely the highest for Ian so far.

Ian: 30:26

If we were including expansions, it's a perfect 10

Jason: 30:29

I am actually going to come in and join you at nine and a half. I am so happy with this game. It is one of my favourite games. I'm It's a strange one, because it never hits my sort of top 10 games of all time. And I don't know why. Because it really is one of them. Yeah, I think it's just because of how basic The game is. It's not a really in depth game. But yeah, it's so so good. If you haven't played it, guys, I urge you go out, play it, if you don't own it, go out and buy it. It's dirt cheap. It's, you know, it's Monopoly money. That's how good this is. It's Monopoly money. And you heard how long it took me to go through those damn components. So I can't recommend this game highly enough, and I think is exactly the same. I have not got all of the expansions coming. I have one expansion coming with it. I am going to get every expansion I possibly can. And I will do what I can to get the one that came up with the original Kickstarter as well.

Ian: 31:35

Yep. But we will save going through the expansions for another day. Because there's so many things I could say about so many of them that are just awesome.

Jason: 31:43

But I don't want to spoil things. No, I think what we'll probably do guys is we might do that as our next game highlight, but it will be a game, rather than than being an actual game highlight is going to be just purely based on the expansions of this. And if you have enjoyed this, you will 100% enjoy that. If you think we've been passionate about this one you haven't seen nothing yet is a lot more to come a lot more for us to talk about in this game and where we think the game could go in the future, I think as well. Yep. So yes, Any further comments before we start closing this bit down? No,

Ian: 32:21

I think we've saved the rest for the next time.

Jason: 32:23

Well, guys, yes. As we said, we are going to close this section down. We'll hand over to our man in the new shed. Thank you very much for listening to this but if you have enjoyed it, you know give it a like or dislike if you can on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. Let us know your thoughts and feelings about one this podcast to me three and four, Paul, and more importantly, what we really want to know is your thoughts on this game. You can let us know about any of that on any of the social media sites Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, search for Meeple Minded media you will find us we are there. We read pretty much every single comment that we get, and we reply to it as and when we can.

Ian: 33:06

And now over to our resident fire safety hazard Paul.

Paul: 33:12

Following intro has been written and scripted by Brian badly acted equally badly by ourselves. It also contains product placement. See if you know is it. Hello, Brian. Hello Darcy. How are you both? That's fabulous to hear. I'm great. As always even greater for seeing you both greater your English needs some work, Brian. Okay, okay, I'll stick to the script. Why? What fantastic boardgame inspired t shirts you have on, they look amazing. I'd love to own a T shirt like that. Where did you pick them up from? Wow, an Amazon merge store. What is the Amazon merch store called? made by maples? Fantastic. I'm going to pop on now. Amazon search made by meeples. I'm amazed. There are lots of great designs on here. You say you know the designer and he's a real class act. My friends around the world would love these two. Are they available anywhere else? So my friends in America, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and here in the UK can all get hold of these t shirts from their respective Amazon stores. What the hell? I'm going to order a few designs including the new Meeple Minded t shirts. They are one hell of a podcast. That's right. The T shirts are so well priced to Why thank you my handsome bestest friend in the entire world and universe Brian are telling me about made by meatballs t shirts on Amazon. I can't wait for them to arrive so I can show my love of tabletop gaming. So how was that? Yeah, I thought it was pretty subtle too. Can I get on and read the news now? Thank you very much. With core requests critical success on Kickstarter for the father and daughter team of Dan and Cora us, I'm happy to announce that they have found themselves and publisher to bring the game to a full market release. Bright eye games won out over many interested parties, including some top name publishers to secure the publishing rights brighter games is very new on the scene, but it has a pedigree behind it as it's run by the same people behind PSZ games a local publisher for us here in Sussex in a new venture for them to expand into the family games market. Mark cook, the third member of the core quest team will be heading up right I games have to be involved from the offset in core quest because he and the new company understand the game from conception to reality. The team behind core quest and bright our games are keen to express that those who backed the game on Kickstarter have nothing to fear in regards to the deal that's been struck and have enforced the following agreements within the deal. Firstly, the retail release of the game will be priced higher than its Kickstarter variant Kickstarter backers will receive their games a good couple of months before the retail versions hit the shelves. And lastly, the retail versions will be void of vinyl stickers as well as a few of the dice that would be included in the Kickstarter back games. I understand that some backers may be unhappy with this. So the no quibbles refund policy remains in place, if backers want to take them up on it, which will see a 90% return on your pledge with Kickstarter retaining the other 10% dan Cora and the team have always said that without the support of everyone who backed the campaign, we wouldn't be in a position to sign a publishing deal at all. It was only the success of the Kickstarter that drew various publishers attention, core quest has always been a community driven grassroots project and all the exciting things that have been happening to us is down to the enthusiasm and the kindness of yourselves. floodgate games responsible for the abstract stained glass pattern building games, the grada have just announced their new game vivid back in the day when every stick you picked up was a sword and every bike you rode was your trusty steed with every memory becoming a possibility. vivid is a drafting game of building a network of connected memories formed by threads of coloured tokens. Throwing a touch of engine building and a lot of character is completely language independent experience invokes a wonder of childhood memories. With immersive art and fluid, deceptively simple gameplay that creates big moments and satisfying payoffs. During the game, players take turns collecting fragments of childhood memories, weaving a tapestry of coloured threads in their mind. By cleverly creating connections players are rewarded for how they store memory fragments while working toward completing core memories which give repeated benefits each round. Through their journey. Players store important moments in their memory bank choosing to remember the moment as it happened gaining new abilities or as it was imagined giving new opportunities to score all while working to meet the objective of what they aspire to be when they grow up. vivid was co created by Matthew Dunston the designer behind set collection archaeology game relic runners and co designer of escape room title adventure games the dungeon and Brett J. Gilbert, famous for games like dice heist, and Elysium vivid is set to be released sometime this spring, with a retail price yet to be confirmed. Following on from last week's escapade of video games jumping up onto the table comes a confirmation of the launch date and pledge levels for Monster Hunter world. The board game on Kickstarter, April 20 sees the many heavy title come to the crowdfunding platform, a game being developed by steam forged games alongside Capcom has been teasing elements of the game and its mechanics over on the steam forged website. Together with a scopes of many of the games not so many miniatures. One of them is over a foot tall sisters and brothers of the Fifth Fleet it's time to take your first step into uncharted lands where you follow the scout flies on a Choose Your Own Adventure style journey. trekking through the steamy jungles of the ancient forests or the festering swamps are the wild spire wastes to gather resources and search for a monster that could appear at any moment. pledge levels announced include the entry level pledge at 51% Or $70 includes the ancient forests setting and includes for extra large monsters for hunters 600 plus cars, and a double sided game board. The next is the core pledge, which includes the ancient forest setting together with a Wilds bio waste sets. This adds another three extra large monsters three extra large monsters, one large monster and one double XL monster with another 600 cards and an additional double sided gameboard and all unlocked stretch goals this purchase 102 pounds or $140. Finally, all in baggers can expect to receive one large seven extra large three double XL and a triple XL monster 12 hunters to choose from over 1800 cards or two double sided game boards and all unlocked stretch goals. This Blitz however, comes in at a hefty 203 pounds or $279. For more information and continued designer blogs, head on over to the steam forged website along with pretty pictures of the bigger Jews or huge Jews. They're big. If you have any other names for not so many minis then please put your answers on a postcard. Talking to Kickstarter. Let's go and find some projects that are live now. First up is a gift of tulips from a weird draft games. This is their ninth game to release on the platform is for two to six players is for ages eight and over takes about 20 minutes to complete and the project closes on Friday, March the 26. Explore Amsterdam's tulip festival to build your bouquets give tulips to your friends and create a beautiful display in this gorgeous card game for two to six players. players choose between building up their bouquets to try to score major points in the end game Juliet festival giving to lips to other players bouquets for immediate points and placing tulips in the tunic festival to adjust each types ranking. Each turn players draw one chulip card, take an action then draw another tulip guard and take a different action give the juleps features artwork inspired by the blue and white delftware pattern that is unique to the Netherlands, the wind Wales waterways of the countryside the flower fields of goofing off and the buildings of Amsterdam. And the pledge levels include a high quality print and play for just four pounds or $5. And the game including the print and play is 14 pounds or $19. Other pledge levels available can include other weird draft games. Our next game is caper Europe from a key master games, and it's their eighth game and they're famous for producing the game parks is a two player game is for ages 10 and over and it will take you about 25 to 35 minutes to play and the project closes on Saturday the 27th of March. Your role as criminal mastermind is to recruit a crew of thieves send them to locations across Europe and provide them with their gear. It's your job to utilise the resources efficiently to steal goods. But being a great mastermind is about more than the things you walk away with. It's the thrill of a well thought out plan coming together the setup and the stain properly deploy your themes and gear to dominate locations outmanoeuvre your opponent's plans and win the night. You've got six rounds to plan and play your car's nothing like a tight timeline to up the stakes. The drawing the locations isn't everything because priceless stolen goods await the thief who's clever enough to snatch them first. Your goal is to score the most points by winning locations collecting stolen goods and equipping thieves with their preferred gear. The mastermind with the most points tallied at the end of six rounds wins this game can be demo right now on tabletop simulator if you so wish, with only one pledge level at 29 pounds of that you know dollars is a bit of a steal. Lastly, up is a silver word Grove and it's self published by Sam Milam is for one to six players ages eight and over and it takes about 14 minutes to play and this project closes on Tuesday the 23rd of March. beyond the borders of humanity lies hidden Glen silver would grow a place where every tree rock and plant has a purpose. silverwood Grove is a one to six player game of action selection and action rotation using an innovative term phase token that requires you to decide when to take the token as it costs an action point to change sides. By turning the turn phase token players can collect and trade resources and use these resources to fuel their further action. By synergizing their strategy players can hire and promote employees build and upgrade locations, providing victory points and access to further strategies. Civil Woodgrove takes place over 10 rounds with five actions per round. Players score their victory points, and the player with the most is considered the winner, and the creator of the greatest region of silver Woodgrove. Patch levels for the base game are at 22 pounds with a collector's edition including two expansions and additional playable characters at just 33 pounds again, another game that certainly won't break the bank options to include more of Sam's games are there too, including the last in series as well as fairy god Plummer and heading to events, the strange Games Festival formerly the wilderness Games Festival runs a fabulous weekend of board gaming role playing a werewolf in a secluded campsite in Sussex for a number of years now, the latest posts on their Facebook page was in regards to their latest measures put in place by the government as we emerged from not them, usually set for a little earlier in the year the organisers are hoping to push the event back slightly to late August, maybe September, in a bid to give the easement of restrictions a chance to fully take place. So if you're interested in attending, then please go and join the strange Games Festival Facebook page and show your interest. As always, you should know the rest. Thursday's is worrying board gamers are Lewis board gaming clubs night online gaming, head on over to their respective Facebook pages for more information, with Monday's being open for you to join the Crawley gaming community via discord, either gaming or having a tremendous laugh. Whatever it ends up being. Look after yourselves. meeples stay safe. Keep those dice rolling, card shuffling. And we'll be right here for you next week. Say goodbye, Brian. And it's goodbye from me. bye

Jason: 46:57

thank you very much for that, Paul. And thank you guys for joining us once again for our discussion about Flashpoint Fire Rescue, as I'm sure you have figured we were incredibly passionate about this game. How did you enjoy talking about Flashpoint?

Ian: 47:13

As you can tell, I'm very tired at the moment. But I can always talk about games that I love. And this is a fine example of that. absolutely adore this game. It's always been a big part of my collection, and will continue to do so.

Jason: 47:26

Yes, definitely. We are going to close off there guys. We will be back talking about this game. In about two weeks. Next week. We are going to be talking continuing our topical discussions series if you like. But yeah, short of that. Thank you very much for joining us. It's been a pleasure. And we will see you then.

Ian: 47:47

Bye for now.

Jason: 47:48

Bye bye