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.