Flamme Rouge – Bicycle Racing??

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In between official racing seasons, I like to introduce new racing games to our group.  After announcing I planned to host a bicycle racing game, the group expressed a high level of skepticism.  The hardened group of wargamers I play with barely tolerate our once a month excursions into racing games.  But, bicycle racing…yikes!

On game night, I setup Flamme Rouge including its Peleton expansion; got odd stares from other folks at the game shop.  Are those bicycles?  Is that a French game?  Are you serious?

We had had seven players.  Two players had to share a team.  By the end of the first stage all skepticism seemed to melt away.  We finished a second stage and then everyone insisted we run a third.  Everyone had fun and seemed impressed with the game.

The game mechanics are very simple to learn and provide a good balance of luck and strategy.  Flamme Rouge may not be a bicycle racing sim like Racer One, but it is thematically spot on and very fun to play.