Flamme Rouge: Peloton Review

“And as the racers pass the Flamme Rouge it is clear the Peloton is working hard to reel in the small breakaway that has formed!”

“That’s right.”

“Well they’d better catch them before they reach the narrow cobblestones of Bourghelles! Excited for a big chase, Sean?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks Sean.”
Players: 1-6
Time: 30-60 mins
Ages: 8+
Designer: Asger Harding Granerud
Artist: Ossi Hiekkala, Jere Kasanen
Publisher: Lautapelit.fi, Stronghold Games

I reviewed Flamme Rouge in the dim and distant past of 2016 and loved it. While on the face of things a race game, Flamme Rouge is not simply about going fastest, it’s about timing, positioning, and managing your energy. Only two decks of movement cards stand between you and glory… well, plus the other racers and a couple of mountains, but who’s counting hey?

These movement cards are discarded as you move but only playing your highest cards will get you into trouble: being at the front is, as in real cycling, exhausting and you’ll gain rubbish slow cards that clog up your deck. Worse, or better if you’re doing it right, racers who find themselves with a single space between them and the rider in front after all the movement is resolved get a free move, closing the gap with the help of the slipstream.

These two simple rules give rise to wonderful moments of glee as you get a slipstream bonus, anguish as someone slips into a gap in front of you, and an overwhelming urge to facepalm when you find yourself at the front too early on. But don’t fall off your bike when you do. It is an ingeniously clever system as you bide your time to breakaway from the pack, the tension building, always leading to an exhilarating finish. All in an hour of play. It is absolutely recommended.

Back to the races

The Peloton expansion adds a generous collection of new elements without overwhelming the game, a genuinely impressive achievement. Firstly it adds two new teams to extend your races up to 6 players, and some wider stretches of track to accommodate these extra riders. Whereas most games would buckle under 2 extra players, in Flamme Rouge players make all their decisions simultaneously, and so this expanded roster doesn’t noticeably increase game length. But it does make things that much harder: the distance from back of the pack to the front is now that much longer and the previously comfortable two lane roads can become choke points, especially when you come out of one of the new wider stretches.

But they have nothing on the cobblestones.

My God… the cobblestones.

Bumps in the night

I now have nightmares about cobblestones and I don’t even ride a bike any more. The cobblestone sections are brilliantly cruel. Representing the narrow streets of European villages, these track sections are mostly only a single lane wide with extra spaces dotted here or there, tempting you AND EVERYONE ELSE APPARENTLY to aim for them. To make matters worse there’s no slipstreaming, like a mountain climb, and these factors have a similar effect on the game as a mountain.

Their presence on the track affects you for entire turns running towards them, trying to judge how to position yourself going into them. They act as focal points on the track, end of act climaxes to your race long story. And while mountains represent a challenge, the shear likelihood of “crashing” into someone and having precious movement points wasted makes cobblestones particularly thrilling. But that just makes the payoff greater when you clear it perfectly!

I want to break free

Another new feature is an opening breakaway: an opportunity for two riders to start the game several spaces ahead of the pack. In this variant the second tile of the race has a special space or two (according to player count) where riders can start the race from. This is a huge advantage in terms of distance moved but they’ll be taking a monstrous number of exhaustion cards if they manage to stay in the lead. This is an exciting prospect both for the breakaway riders wondering whether they’ll make it, and for the main Peloton behind them attempting to chase them down across the entire race. It launches a game into a frenetic pace akin to the excitement of the final phases of the base game.

This module also makes set up a process as sexy as pulling on that spandex racing gear I insist on wearing for every game of Flamme Rouge. Being part of the breakaway is decided by a step of blind bidding with your cyclists cards. The winners of the blind bid will lose those cards from their deck, so they don’t want to lose their best cards, but likewise no one wants the breakaway riders to get those prime spots too easily. To add a little subtlety to things, the first bid card is revealed before a second is selected so you can see roughly how the bids are playing out.

You think that might be enough for an expansion? Think again! There are supply zones where you can get a refreshing bottle of water (move a minimum of 4 spaces) letting your sprinteurs (bad french accent compulsory) catch their breath a bit. There are, of course, a set of new tracks to showcase all these new elements. And there are a set of bot cards to allow you to add some AI opponents to your races for those sad days when it’s just too wet for all your friends to cycle over. Those lazy good for nothings.

Flamme Rouge: Peloton is an excellent first expansion to an excellent game, giving you a plentiful heap of lovely new options and extending the player size without over complicating the game. If you haven’t got Flamme Rouge then, why not? Go get it now! Then, once you’ve experienced it, go get this expansion, because it only makes it better.