Matthew BaileyGame 25# of the “Now & Then Summer Marathon 2024” is “Flick Fleet” played with Jack(9).
“Flick Fleet” is a charming indie space skirmish game where two players set out a fleet of ships, usually asymmetrically, and attack by flicking dice to determine damage and results.
The game comes with a number of scenarios, and the expansion I have includes even more. These scenarios essentially set up different ways to play the game, but you can also create your own scenarios quite happily. The game is generally designed to be fairly asymmetrical, using a “Star Wars”-inspired idea where rebel ships are called Uprising, and imperial ships are called Imperium. The Uprising fleet consists of smaller ships, but more of them, while the Imperium fleet has fewer but larger and potentially more powerful, ships.
Using a play area of about 90 cm is really handy, as my space play mat is exactly 90 cm squared, and I have a funny feeling it is the exact same mat used in the promotional material. Jack and I set up our game with all our various pieces.
Each capital ship has its own dashboard, which includes shield spaces, hull spaces on some ships, and more importantly, discs and targeting numbers. These dictate what happens when a ship gets hit and how damaged it is. In addition to capital ships, there are also wings, which can be bombers or fighters. These are smaller squadrons that can perform various tasks but are not the main focus of destruction.
You start by placing activation cubes on each of your ships. During each round, players take turns activating a ship by removing a cube and performing two actions, such as movement, combat, or repairs. Once these two actions are complete, it is the opponent’s turn to activate one of their ships. This continues until all units have been activated. At this point, the round ends, all the cubes are placed back on the ships, and the next round begins.
Combat involves flicking either a D10 or a D6, depending on the ship. A D10 represents gunfire, and a D6 represents a bomb. D6s always hit, with the number rolled indicating what part of the ship is destroyed. This means capital ships can lose propulsion, the ability to launch more wings, or the ability to re-engage shields. Some capital ships even have a weak spot that, if hit with a roll of four, results in instant destruction—much to Jack’s misery and my elation at a point in the game where it looked like I was about to lose. If you use a D10, anything above six misses, meaning even if you hit, it might not do any damage.
A key aspect of the game is the physical act of flicking the dice to hit the opponent. If the dice rolls off the play mat or table, it doesn’t count, so you can’t just flick it as hard as possible—you have to do it gently enough to hit the ship without the dice rolling off the table.
When ships are depleted in terms of their remaining systems, they can also ram other ships, a mechanic where capital ships can ram another capital ship to potentially knock it off the table or at least do significant damage, again determined by a D6 roll.
The game continues until one player loses all their ships. Besides the scenarios, there is also the concept of fair battles, where ships are given a point value and you can set up a battle in a similar way to “Warhammer.”
The expansion adds several nice features, such as asteroids that provide cover, civilian ships that can be targets or objectives, mines, and a number of new objectives allowing for more complex scenarios. It also adds new ships with interesting mechanics, such as one designed specifically to ram other ships.
I have really enjoyed playing “Flick Fleet,” and Jack is keen to continue playing regularly. We have set aside an evening this weekend to play more scenarios. The component quality is good, with everything nicely laser-cut and edged. As a design technology teacher by trade, I find it interesting to see products made using laser cutting, which is not an exotic process to me but is almost impossible for most people to access easily. The pieces also flick well, but I recommend playing on a play mat rather than a bare table. The boxes the game comes in are nice, with a handwritten message inside that I really appreciated.
“Flick Fleet” is a quality product that brings the feeling of epic space battles from games like “Battlefleet Gothic,” but with a nice degree of simplicity and a cool dexterity aspect. It is clear that a massive amount of love and care has been poured into this by the designers, and the breadth of scenarios available really shows. The asymmetrical nature is intriguing, and the mix of dexterity and dice luck works well. There is nothing more heartbreaking than hitting a long dice flick, only to have it land on an 8 and miss, or flicking the dice and having it stop a millimetre away from a target that would have been instantly destroyed. See pic below!
The game is quite simple once you get your head around it. However, the layout of the rulebook could be better, and I would suggest adding turn assists or at least a crib sheet that breaks all the rules down onto one page.
The basic unetched version of “Flick Fleet” costs a reasonable £35, with higher prices for expansions and deluxe versions with etched writing and ship names. While the etchings are nice, I would prefer the standard version with extra scenarios if it were a choice between the two.
“Flick Fleet” is a wonderful space-based skirmish game that both Jack and I really enjoyed. I thoroughly recommend it if you are looking to get into these types of games but want a smaller box experience and a great entry point.
Top Stuff!
Disclaimer: A copy of “Flick Fleet” and the first expansion was provided by Eury Dice Games for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own, and the price has been taken into account when making recommendations.
