"We will all burn together!" (Playthrough of Hotshots)

"If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together!" - Thorin Oakenshield

This game has absolutely nothing to do with The Hobbit, but it is all about fire!  Last night Logan invited me to over to play his brand new game Hotshots (which, coincidentally, comes from the same people who brought us Castle Panic), a forest fire fighting game.  Castle Panic is a solid game and I really enjoy Flash Point: Fire Rescue, another fire fighting game, so I was pretty excited for this one!

The premise of the game is pretty simple.  You are firefighters (four to choose from with different abilities) trying to put out a forest fire.  The hexagonal tiles are set up randomly and each tile is a different location with unique abilities.  If certain locations get "scorched" your firefighter might lose his ability.  Each location has a unique set of dice rolls that you need to get in order to put out fires and build fire breaks.  There is also an airplane, helicopter, and off road fire truck that you can put to use once per game.  The wind changes direction and spreads the fire and you need to keep it under control before eight locations get scorched!

We played two games and here is my playthrough of the first.  I apologize for the tiles being upside down.  It was at Logan's house and Logan's new game so he wanted the tiles to be facing him.  So selfish, right?

But before we begin - look at these amazing fire miniatures!  I want these for Flash Point!

"Help!  I need back up!  We've got a big fire break out in the rocky terrain next to base camp!"

Support arrived quickly but by that time the fire had grown larger.

A third fire fighter (Logan's wife) headed towards the power lines to extinguish a large fire there.

All alone, she got the job done!

The fire had managed to spread to both sides of the forest, causing the firefighters to have to split up to battle the blazes.

After a long and tiring battle, the rocky terrain's fire was finally extinguished.

However, before the fire was fully extinguished, flames licked the sides of the control tower and it quickly caught on fire.  If we lose this tower, our captain can't send us directions anymore.

Across the forest, our lone fighter took the helicopter over top of a particularly dangerous location, a location that just so happened to house her emergency vehicle.  The helicopter dumped a load of water and doused all the flames.

No time to celebrate this small victory - an enormous blaze was burning across the forest near the propane tank.  The fire fighters had to race over and work together to put out the inferno.

Then things took a drastic turn for the worst.  Sparks from a nearby fire caught the propane tank on fire and it exploded.  One of the firefighters, trying to control the blaze before it was too late, was in the explosion.

Luckily, he had a fireproof blank he was able to hide under and he escaped any serious damage.  The same cannot be said for the surrounding locations as a giant gust of wind quickly spread the flames across the forest, quickly scorching many locations.

Although the damage was terrible, the upside was that the scorched remains of trees around the forest left little for the fire to devour.  The ruins of buildings and vehicles became a firebreak that slowed the spread of the flames.

The heroine of the fire fighting team (the one who put out the most fires, by far) took it upon her self to extinguish the rest of the fires.  The power lines were ablaze again and all on her own she extinguished the flames there.

There was only one area of the forest left in flames and smoke.  Two fire fighters parachuted in, putting their safety aside to save what was left of the forest.

Together, they put out the last of the licking flames.

Finally, the fire was completely under control.  It was undeniable that there was extensive damage, but at least now the forest and its inhabitants had a chance to recover.

Wow!  What a game!  We put out the fire with seven scorched tiles - one more and we would have lost!  We only played it twice, but I really enjoyed this game!  There are lots of ways to configure the board as well, so replayability seems pretty high.  Can't wait to get this to the table again.  Once I've played it enough I'll put together a real review.

Watch for Logan's post for game two.  Hopefully he'll be honest with the fact that he almost lost the game for us...