Flash Point: Fire Rescue

[Carcking]

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

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

[Joff]

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).

[CKorfmann]

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!

[Joff]

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).

[Joff]

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

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.

[CKorfmann]

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".

[Carcking]

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. 

[Joff]

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.

[Carcking]

That is encouraging being that we really enjoy Pandemic. 

[Carcatronn]

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

[CKorfmann]

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!

[Joff]

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)

[CKorfmann]

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)

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

[Carcking]

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

Still hope it gets here before Thanksgiving.

[CKorfmann]

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...).