Review: One Night Revolution

One Night Revolution

Players: 3 – 10

Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards

Year: 2015
A copy of this game was distributed by the publisher in exchange for this review

The Dystopian Universe is large and in turmoil. As always, this opens opportunities for different factions as well, as they try to seize the means of production, err, power. In this game, the struggle is boiled down to a single one night revolution.

 

Two ID cards, a rebel and an informant

The goal of the game is for the rebels to identify a singly informant. There are rebels and informants, basically the resistance and the spies from the Resistance, and the informants win if they remain hidden. To help with this, there are specialists, which are special roles that players can use to acquire more information. 

               At the beginning of the game, everyone closes their eyes, and the informants get to know one another. Afterwards, beginning with the starting player, clockwise everyone performs a certain action during the night-phase. After the night-phase, during the day, all players take a specialist token, based upon the action that they claim to have performed, debate about the information they have and eventually cast a vote. If an informant is correctly identified, the rebels win, but if a rebel is picked, the informants win.

The headquarters, where three random ID's are placed.

The night action is interesting, as various things can happen, including re-assigning your loyalty. There’s a specialist/role that allows you to swap to people’s IDs, while another one allows you to reveal a person’s ID. This gives the information used in the debate during the day. These actions can also change depending upon your personal loyalty.

               The debate, is short and fueled by the role that everyone claims to have. Eventually the starting player counts down and a vote is cast. If the vote singled out an informant, the rebels win, or vice versa. There’s some information to go on, but it takes a bit of expertise in order to successfully conceal your role. You need to be familiar with the rules and the specialist actions in order to hide or grasp what is going on.

The components are superb quality. The ID cards are small tiles and very sturdy! The only thing that could have been better would be the reference cards, as they are a bit flimsy. The artwork is good and familiar to people that played the Resistance.

While there is concrete information to go on, things have an unexpected twist due to the abilities. People might know more than they are willing to share, but then again, they might also not be who they think they are! It’s a bit of a bummer if you think you’re one side and suddenly discover you’re another. A fun twist is that the amount of informants is unknown, which can range from 0 – 3, depending on the group. Unlike the Resistance you don’t know how many enemies there are and it adds extra paranoia! There are always three more ID's in the game than players and they are placed in the Headquarters. Another benefit is that this game goes quick, so another round can easily be started or if there's limited time.

Most outstanding feature?

I’d say that the components are great! They are sturdy, nicely-finished, and informative. Indie Boards & Cards often has high quality components and they again meet their own standards.

Overall, this game contains elements that appeal to me and others that I’m not such a fan of. I’m a huge fan of social deduction games and this game fits in a familiar spot. I like that the information is pushed forward and that the game is fast. However, I’m not a huge fan of the concept of swapping sides or that it’s so hard to hide. As an informant you need to know the rules and be familiar with them in order to not be revealed. There’s a steep learning curve. However, once you grasp it, you can certainly have a great game.

Review: Veteran and Dog, an expansion of Flash Point: Fire Rescue

Veteran and dog, expansion of Flashpoint: Fire Rescue
Players: 2 – 6
Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards
Year: 2013
A copy of this expansion was made available by the publisher in exchange for this review.

On this blog, we’ve reviewed Flash Point Fire Rescue in the past and it’s a great game. For the continuation of this review, we assume you’re familiar with the game Fire Rescue. If not, check it out here. It was one of the first reviews on this blog!

The dog and the veteran

Another one of the expansions from Flash Point: Fire Rescue and it features two additional roles, a role card, and twp miniatures. These roles can be selected at the beginning of the game or if people wish to change crewmembers later. The new roles add more diversity, as each character brings a unique skillset to the game. And you can now play as a non-human companion!

The veteran has 4 AP per turn and has the ability to dodge explosions. He doesn’t just grant himself this boost, but also affects the other characters around him. The other characters can benefit from his experience, as they have an additional Action Point to spend. As a result, the gameplay changes, and people tend to move and work more as a team, in order to receive the extra point. As some characters have 3 or 4 AP to spend every turn, they benefit more from this than characters that have more AP to spend every turn.

The dog is the most unique character in the game so far. The dog has 12 AP and can save up to 6 of them per turn. The dog moves as a normal character, but can also reveal POI in adjacent spaces, drag people (for 4 AP) or squeeze through damaged walls if no victim is dragged along. However, these are also the only actions a dog can take. For example, the dog cannot drive the vehicles or chop walls. So the dog is used only for saving victims, but has a huge energy boost in order to do so. The 12 AP is a lot and can navigate most of the map in a single turn. Even moving victims goes faster than with a regular character. The dog is geared towards a certain task and does that extremely well. And everyone loves to play as the dog!

The dog is most unique in their skillset compared to the other characters released so far. The veteran is most unique in terms of gameplay, as he alters the way other characters interact and behave as the game progresses. It’s a small expansion, and adds only characters to the game. It increases the replay ability of the game, although not as much as one of the maps expansions. If you’re looking for additional roles, or miniatures, for the game, then certainly consider this expansion.

Review: Urban Structures, expansion of Flashpoint: Fire Rescue

Urban Structures, expansion of Flashpoint: Fire Rescue

Players: 2 – 6

Publisher: Indie Boards & Cards

Year: 2011

A copy of this expansion was made available by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

On this blog, we’ve reviewed Flash Point Fire Rescue in the past and it’s a great game. For the continuation of this review, we assume you’re familiar with the game Fire Rescue. If not, check it out here.

Urban Structures was one of the first (of many!) expansions released for Flash Point: Fire Rescue. It features a new role, two new maps and new rules. I’ll examine them all in detail and how they change the flow of the game.

The new role that has been added to the game is the structural engineer, who can repair the house. The primary reason people lose this game, is because they run out of cubes to put on the board. This indicates that the house has taken too much damage and has collapsed. Now you have the possibility to repair the house, or remove hotspots, while trying to rescue people. The downside is that this character can’t extinguish fire. This character isn’t chosen a lot in smaller groups, as we need everyone to help, but in larger groups he’s often present as allows the other players to stay longer in the house. While not the best character, he prolongs the time that the groups have before the house collapses.

 

The apartments, note the dividing wall in the middle.

The apartments is one of the two maps that comes with this expansion. It represents two buildings in a row, which can only be assessed from the front or back, but not from the sides. The main twist of the game is that the map is divided in half and you either need to move around it, or create another opening to move through. Since you can’t easily get from one side to another you need to think ahead and move accordingly. Personally, this is one of my favorite maps and a great way to look for a new challenge.

The office building is another map, printed on the other side of the board. It’s supposed to be an office above ground level, and includes flimsy walls that are destroyed with a single cube. Other walls still need two cubes in order to allow someone to safely move through. Instead of dragging the people outside, they need to be evacuated through the elevator or with the help of the fire truck. Entering is a bit more difficult, as people leave and enter through the elevator, or use the ladder from the fire truck. The structural engineer is a great addition here. On this board there’s light wall, shaded in a different color, that collapse more easily. A few bad explosions can really eat up a lot of the damage counters and thus might need to be addressed. At least with the structural engineer you can reverse some of the damage. 

Overall, this expansion strikes a fine balance, but they’ve managed to achieve it. Gameplay isn’t really changed, but it provides more of a similar taste. The variety in maps, while also having an additional role, is nice and breathes new life in a game that can feel bland after repeated plays. If you wish to drastically alter your gameplay, you might look for another expansion, such as tragic events. In other words, this expansion adds more of the base-game to your game, while keeping the game the same.