Control The Wildfires In Hotshots By Fireside Games

January 13, 2017 by deltagamegirl22

I've gotten to be a huge fan of games that can be played solo as well as with friends, and the latest from Fireside Games has gotten my attention. Hotshots is a unique game where one to four players take on the roles of wildfire fighters.

This is a press your luck style dice game where you try to score the most combos to extinguish the wildfires. The more faces you roll, the better. The tiles are labelled with different dice symbols and your rolls dictate the activity of the fire.

You can choose to cut Firebreaks, which prevent fires from being spread by wind gusts, or push your luck to reduce Flames and possibly even generate Reward Tokens. If you bust and fail to match at least three of the six symbols on the tile, the fire grows.

Another option is to manoeuvre Vehicles (Air Tanker, Helicopter, and Brush Rig) to save the forest.

Time is of the essence as each turn adds anxiety to the game by increasing the stress and making things more chaotic. Flame tokens are added at the end of each player’s turn by the draw of a Fire card, which can bring about light or strong wind gusts, increase the strength of the flames on certain tiles, and start fires.

Too many Flame tokens will cause a tile to Scorch and be lost. Losing a terrain tile could also affect the game play. Some tiles are tied to crew members’ special abilities, while others help the firefighters and still others cause the fire to spread in unique ways.

If eight tiles or the Fire Camp Scorches, the game is over and the forest is lost. But if your intrepid crew can extinguish the fire, your team wins together.