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.