Carcassonne Central

This looks like it could be a really fun game.  It's cooperative and seems to work somewhat like Pandemic.  You should definitely give it a gander.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2012515236/flash-point-fire-rescue)
This link is for the kickstarter fundraiser site.  Pre-orders will get you several promo items including Fireman meeples!  :D

Less than 36 hours to go.  Over $42,000 raised.  The goal was $5000 and special promos were added at $15,000 and $30,000.  It's been hinted that there might be another promo added if it reaches$45,000 before the end.  Go check it out.

It's a very good co-op. I have a copy Kickstarted, although my copy is being picked up for me at Essen by someone else. Looking forward to this - less than 24 hours to go.

Looks like there is not an option to ship to Canada on the Kickstarter. :(

Actually there is.  You just have to add $5 for shipping.  They talk about it in the discussion thread.  {up

Awesome. Thanks. I will give it a solid look tonight!!!

It's back up now. 

If you are in Canada, you add $5 to your Kickstarter pledge. If you pledge at the $45 level (which would get you the actual game, extra promo role card, Scenario Book, double sided mounted extra board and Firemeeples), you should pledge $50 and select the $45 reward on the Kickstarter pledging page. If you are in rest of the world (other than the US or Canada) shipping is $15 on top of the $45 level (thus $60 total). Remember that shipping is calculated per Flash Point game and so if you are pledging for a level that includes 2 copies of the game, shipping will be double (i.e. $10 for shipping to Canada). There is a FAQ list for shipping options at the bottom of the main Flash Point Kickstarter page, which tells the user exactly how much needs to be pledged to ship the game to their country. Also, pick up at Essen is free.

We don't have money sitting around in buckets in our house, but I managed to dig through the couch cushions to come up with $45 or this game right after it hit $45K.  What is particularly painful was the deal I had to make with my wife to get the thumbs-up to set that $45 free.  I have to give up soda (pop, or whatever you want to call it) as well as only order water any time we eat out (sweet iced tea is very popular in the southern US) until after Christmas.  In addition to this, I will not make any video game purchase until after the new year and I will sell my dusty golf clubs (which will likely go toward payment for a few Munchkin sets).  I think the joy of holding fire meeples in my hand will make it all worth while!  ;D

Looks like the fire meeples have run out  :'(
Unless I'm missing it on the page somewhere...

No, the Firemeeples have not run out... they haven't even been made yet!

ALL those who pledge at least $45 (but not the $65 level) will get the Firemeeples along with the other extra stuff.

Ok, I am not big on Co-op games, but I signed up for this. It just looks like it will be too cool for school. Thanks for the info and heads up.

I pledged the $70 - to get the game plus a copy of Resistance and a copy of Haggis. How can you argue $23 per game? It was not too difficult to sell to my wife - since I didn't ask her it's alway easier to beg forgiveness  ;D

We really enjoy Pandemic so I think this will go over well.

CK - how/what do you know about the firemen meeples? I didn't see it anywhere on there?

If I had $70, I might have done the same thing except that I've seen The Resistance for around $12.  Regardless, they are on my list too.

I did that last week with $50 worth of Munchkin.  I thought I'd better not repeat this soon!  ;)

HERE (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/682544/kickstarter-the-s30k-challenge) is the link for the Fire meeples.

Yeah man!  {up

It reached 1000%!  {gh

$50K now :)

Sorry, didn't mean to cause a panic...just didn't notice the "Updates" link at the top of the page, where the firemeeples are discussed.

So how many people ended up getting this?  I hope it doesn't take too long to get here.

I did. :D

Do you mean in general or just from here?

I got a copy, although my copy is being brought back from Essen by a fellow gamer.

From the numbers on Kickstarter (bearing in mind that pledges were made for multiple games, going to different parties) I would say in the region of 900-1000 copies.

Reading a thread on BGG, I found out that Flash Point was one of the three board and card games ever to go over $35,000 on Kickstarter. The others being Eminent Domain and Glory to Rome (Black Box).

I did.  :D

Can't wait now!

I meant just from here.

Man, I really need to go to Essen!

Hey I received an email from Kickstarter regarding Flash Point: Fire Rescue - confirming my shipping address. Anyone else receive such an email?

I did as well.

Yep, it's the one they told us to expect.

Cool...I feel like I'm waiting for Christmas.  :-\

Got another good email update on this. Looks like we should have them in our hands by mid November or so. I'm on the edge of my seat!

Me too.  Can't wait!

Well, my copy safely arrived back in the country (brought back from Essen for me) and should be forwarded on to me this week.

I think they ship on the 7th here in the U.S.

Sweet! You'll have to give us a review.  :D

I had confirmation that my copy of Flash Point is now in the hands of my friend and will be forwarded to me by the end of the week. Not only have we got the game, expansion and firemeeples, but the person who picked up the games for us in Essen was prudent to get each copy signed by the designer - an extra bonus for us :)

I joined with another gamer and we pledged for 3 copies to be picked up at Essen - our 'courier' gained a copy for free (as he was doing the fetching for us) and we both got a copy. It works out at £28 ($44) including all postage charges within the UK (to get the game to me) for the game and expansion. This saved on the customs charges we would have been hit with and was the cheapest way to get hold of the game. If we would have pledged for an individual game to be shipped it would have cost $45 (pledge) +$20 (shipping) +$13 (customs) +$13 (handling fee) =$91 (about £60).

Yikes!  That's a lot of cash for a game.  I'm glad you got such a good deal.  Signed is even better!

This is one of the major problems that we in the UK have, especially with Kickstarter projects. Because all KS projects are usually US based (as you need a US bank account to run a Kickstarter campaign), backing a game is usually a no-go (for me, anyway). This is because once you have factored in the postage costs, customs charges, and handling fees the games are just too expensive - this is why I am against game changing exclusives being offered to Kickstarter backers.

Take the current D-Day Dice. International shipping for this project is $50 and the cost of the lowest KS level (for a copy of the game and no expansions) is $35. Customs charges $17 and handling fees of $12. This amounts to a game that will cost me $114 (or £70). That is simply ridiculous. However, it is a game that I have been waiting for and so I have gone in again with a 'Line for Life' group purchase which will get me the game and all expansions/promos forever at only £10 extra over pledging for just the base game (as above).

Well, the postman delivered my copy of Flash Point on Friday morning. Upon opening I saw Kevin Lanzing's autograph on the front cover - it was nicely positioned on the cover as well. Anyway this is not much of a review but my first comments. If you have Pandemic then the board is the same finish as the Pandemic board. The cardboard chits are good quality, although not linen finished. The specialist cards are massive, measuring about 79mm x 120mm. I will be sleeving my set. I also received the Urban Structures expansion, which features another double sided board and a Structural Engineer specialist. The board is the same quality as that of the base game. A nice touch is that the game comes with extra components than is actually required for you to have a go at your own scenarios. Of course, for pre-ordering I also got a set of the Firefighter meeples, which are really nice, although my orange meeple has a thin leg, so we've nicknamed him 'Hobley'. It's nice to see the finished meeple knowing that you had some input into the final design - I added the slight curvature of the axe blade; in the original design it was flat and looked a little like a gun. So, as far as components go, this gets a thumbs up - no complaints here!

We played a 3 player introductory family game this afternoon. I have played the PC game quite a bit, but my other two players (my dad and my son) had not played before. The game plays really well and is a lot of fun, the tension being felt as we rolled the dice to advance the fire. Sadly we lost the game. With 6 people safely out of the house and just requiring one more to be rescued in order to win, the house collapsed into a pile of rubble taking with it our brave firefighters and 2 victims.

Looking forward to playing this again.

I'm just a little jealous, but mine should be here in a week or so.  It's funny because I do a lot of driving at my job and I drive by the local fire station a few times a day usually.  Every time I drive by it I think of the game and I've noticed that as time passes, I start thinking about when I turn onto the street before I even see the fire station.  Funny how the mind works sometimes.  Thanks for the "review".

Thanks for the review Joff - you have re-whetted my appetite! Can't wait but it shouldn't be long now. It'll be awesome having it for Thanksgiving - I'll be able to introduce it to a lot of the family. The day usually boils down to board games after the dishes are done - with football playing in the background. Makes for a very comfortable day.  {ch

My son and I played once more this afternoon. Again we played the introductory game rules and this time we had a comfortable win. My son chose a different tactic to what we felt went wrong in the game yesterday and it paid off. I think we'll play one more game with the introductory rules (hopefully next time my daughter will play) and then move on to the advanced rules. At the moment, I feel that this is a better co-op than Pandemic, which I also enjoy immensely.

That is encouraging being that we really enjoy Pandemic.  :)

I may have to pick this up, love Pandemic and I am happy to see more games like it!

Recieved my shipping notification email today.  I was hoping it would arrive by Thursday when we have some friends coming over, but I don't think it will make it.  I'm probably a little too excited about it though.  I've been axiously waiting for a while now!

You have only received the shipping notification because they have just been printed to save time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have been following the threads on BGG you will see that the games have not actually yet arrived. They are scheduled to arrive on Thursday, and begin to be mailed on Friday (http://boardgamegeek.com/article/7808849#7808849 (http://boardgamegeek.com/article/7808849#7808849))

I actually remembered reading that a little while later.  Trying to be patient...

I got my shipping notice too - but now you've burst my bubble.  :'(

Still hope it gets here before Thanksgiving.

It's here!  I received it today and I'm a little more giddy about than I ought to be.  Tried three solo games.  Lost first two and one third with perfect victory.  I'll post my session report later (when it's not the middle of the night...).

Mine arrived too! My wife and I opened it and played/learned the basic game last night. Tonight we are going to add in the experienced game levels. I really enjoyed the very cursory experience last night. I think this will be a lot of fun with 4 to 6 people. Just what we're looking for on Thanksgiving so the timing is perfect. The Fire Meeple really are a cool bonus. They are much deeper than just using pawns! Also, I like the expansion board and expansion specialist card.

This will provide many fun hours of gaming!  ;D

Ok, I need to get this! Is it available outside of the Kickstarter or did I miss something?
okay found it at indie games...kicking myself for not getting in early for the fire meeple  :(

Sorry for the delay.  I posted a review and a session report on BGG.  Here they are:

Review: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7907033#7907033

Session report: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/728161/third-times-the-charm

We played this quite a bit on Thanksgiving day and through the weekend - finally working up to including all the advanced levels of play by Saturday (we went slow because we had some 11 and 12 year-olds on Tday). What a lot of fun this game is. The mechanic is very similar to Pandemic (which is not a bad thing) but plays much faster and is more involved. The women enjoyed this more than Pandemic.

In the advanced levels we found that the water gun is a must - in the scenarios where you draw random specialists if you don't draw the engine driver it's tough going. We had about a 50/50 split of wins to losses - but we all won because it's a lot of fun!  :D

We must be doing something wrong.  We have not won an advanced game yet.  I'm not sure where the disconnect is.  We use the deck gun operator at lot too.  It seems like we have a lot of explosions and we spend a lot of time trying to control the fire, but victory escapes us.  I guess we'll keep working on it.  Congrats on your positive percentage.  ;)

My wife and I played again yesterday. We each played two characters so basically a four player game. We lost two POI and got the last of our seven out to win the game with three damage cubes left. One more explosion would have done us in for sure. We find that the the deck gun is a must for knocking down the fire (probably true to life) but it seems really powerful when the engine driver is in play. He can fire the gun for only 2AP and he gets to re-roll if he doesn't like the first roll. He is very powerful. We actually have not tired the adavanced level of play without him. I think we'll have to do that to see how it affects our success rate. Also, we have not attempted the high rise expansion challenge yet but I can't wait to.

In the - the wheels are always turning category - my brother and I have thought out how to play the game as though the building has multiple stories by using a third die to designate which floor the smoke roll hits ("smoke roll" is already out shortcut term for "advance fire"). Also, in this case explosions will travel three dimensionally instead of just two. We haven't attempted it yet and would possibly need more pieces added to make it work (fire, doors and POI, etc) but it could become extremely challenging to rescue POI on upper floors.

I've been seeing a lot about this game and I'm now mad at myself for not getting in on it during the Kickstarter campaign. Fortunately the only exclusives are the fire meeples and the Fire Academy scenario book, which I can live without. I just bought the base game plus the Urban Structures expansion from the Indie Game web site.

http://www.indieboardsandcards.com/fpfr.php (http://www.indieboardsandcards.com/fpfr.php)

Scott, we love this game and have played many times. We've got ourselves worked up to the Urban Structures but haven't tried any of the scenarios yet. By the way, the scenarios "booklet" is part of the instructions that come with Urban Structures. So all you will be missing is the firemen meeples. I'm sure they will be available from somewhere before long, if not already.

Received this in the mail today, and was very surprised to see that Travis had included a set of fireman meeples. I am so impressed that I sent him an e-mail to tell him he is awesome.

Cool, they are a nice treat.

Just played two games with my brother. First game we played Family Rules on the first side of the original map, and then second game we played Experienced Rules on the second side of the original map. I spent the entire second game driving around in the fire truck using the deck gun to put out large fires. My brother drove around in the ambulance as Rescue Specialist saving all the victims. Hot spots were slightly annoying, considering it's already difficult to keep the fire under control. My brother is feeling a bit disappointed that putting the fire out is basically impossible, but he is interested to try the Urban Structures expansion. Having more players would be nicer; although the fire would spread faster, there would be more people to help put it out with additional specialties. We won both games with 9 victims saved, and in the second game we cleaned up one of the three hazmats (the other two exploded). In both games, we played until the building collapsed.

It's a pretty fun game.  Playing with more people does spread the fire quickly, but it can be invaluable to have another player on the other side of the board to get to that POI.  I've found that controlling the fire is a must.  If it gets out of hand early, explosions will wipe you out before you know it.  If I were you, I'd try playing with two roles a piece (4 players) and see how it goes.  Many of the roles work well in cooperation with each other.

I think we might have to try that. My brother picked Rescue Specialist based on my picking the Driver. There are several roles that we were interested to try but didn't make sense to have with only two players.