by william4192

Please check out my other reviews at:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/145695/item/2728438#it...


Conclusion:

Fire Tower is an abstract board game about trying to burn down the forest to burn down the Fire Towers of the other players.

This expansion adds a lot of tweaks and wrinkles to the game play. There is the standard expansion content which is really just more action cards and the inclusion of the Fire Hawks. I like the Fire Hawks as they allow you to move the fire around. This helps a lot when someone is just getting pounded by bad luck and bad draws.

The additional content is going to be player specific. How do you like to play? You can add in events, new seasonal cards, and new powers to the Shadow Power. Instead of player elimination, the game now gives you something to do when you lose. You no longer have to sit around and watch the other players play the game. This is an excellent inclusion to the game.
If you want to play with 5 players or even solo that is included. I think 5 players is fine and some people will want to play this when they do not have anyone coming over. This will give you extra plays with the game after you have spent so much money on.

I am purging it only because I am not keeping the base game. If I were keeping the base game, I would 100% get this and add it in. I think this completes the game for sure.


Purge.


Components:

The components are really, really good. This box is full of good new components and they really upped the ante with this expansion. The firehawks are really cool to see. The flame centerpiece looks great on the table. The cards, new tokens, and die are all top quality. I should note that I have the Super Deluxe edition of the game.

Rule Book:

The rules are much thicker than I thought they would be. A lot of the game is module based so you do not need to know all of the new rules at the start of the game. You can slowly add in these new wrinkles as your group is ready. The rules are good and takes its time with each new module. There are plenty of pictures and examples included.

Flow of the Game:

1. You get new action cards. Except for a few, you can generally just shuffle in all the new cards.

2. Firehawks - These are birds that will spread the fire. In the base game, I felt like one area could be hit hard and you lost control. These help spread the fire even when you are getting beat down.

3. New Action cards: There are quite a few of these. Of course they have all different things they do:

a. Blackburns: this makes a spot on the board that cannot be burned
b. Helitack: new helicopters to reach fires at a fast pace
c. Creeping fires: These place out fires in new areas and slowly move up on you

4. Shadow of the Wood: After your tower is burned, you will roll this die and take actions based on your roll. You now win by making all other players lose

5. Extreme Weather: These are one time use abilities. This helps with the random drawing of the cards and helps mitigate luck in the game.

6. Seasonal Cards: These are added into the new event deck.

7. There are now rules to play with 5 players and solo.

Should I buy this game?:

If you like the base game, I think you will want to add this in after a few plays. The base game could easily feel same-y after a while. This will give you a lot of different wrinkles and ways to play. I highly recommend this for players of the base game.

Purge.

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