Game: Feurio!

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Toynan — 2008-06-04T23:48:23+00:00

All the firemen

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Friendless — 2008-03-19T13:12:44+00:00

Completed 3 player game

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GeoMan — 2007-07-01T23:36:27+00:00

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GeoMan — 2007-07-01T20:51:37+00:00

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GeoMan — 2007-07-01T20:41:32+00:00

3 player game

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GeoMan — 2007-07-01T20:38:33+00:00

Yellow expansion

Thread: English Rules Translation

1000rpm — 2007-05-29T10:34:53+00:00

In addition to the file on this site, there is a full colour english version of the rules on the game's website:

http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/website/home/receiver.php?do=Sh...

Thread: Review

Shade_Jon — 2007-03-26T14:58:36+00:00

This is a hex tile laying game with a forest fire theme.

The game consists of hexes numbered 1 through 6. Each turn, you flip over a tile and must place it at any location that has the highest numbered surrounding hexes. So where you can place the tiles is very limited, and sometimes gives no choice at all.

Then you choose to put some of your meeples onto any one piece on the board that still has available space. Since you have a limited (but not very) number of meeples, you have to decided where to put them. Also, you may only put onto a hex the maximum of a) the number on the hex, or b) the number of free edges the hex has remaining. If a hex becomes surrounded, it does not lose the meeples it has already acquired.

That's it. At the end of the game, you score the numbers on the tiles under each of your herds divided by the number of the lowest tile that is not entirely surrounded by other hexes.

While not entirely free of any tactics altogether (although entirely free of strategy), the barest amount that you have under your control is so pitiful, and your moves so forced, and the results so luck-dependent, that I literally stopped caring by the last third of the game, and couldn't even be bothered to count, let alone record, the scores.

It's just dull, and what decisions there are are effectively meaningless. The possibility that one could actually block your opponent, as opposed to simply taking the maximum score on each play, is a non-starter, and if it occurs was also beyond your control.

The only thing nice I have to say about the game is as follows: it's quick and easy to learn. The mechanic of how the hexes spread is a neat mechanic and fits the theme, but entirely doesn't work in this game.

Update: Using the same pieces, you can play the game Vulkan. The rules are available from the author's website. Vulkan, while not amazing, is a much better game.

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volnon — 2007-03-04T20:03:27+00:00

The firefighters race toward the blaze...

Thread: Re: 3 player co-op game

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-28T05:31:36+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
Don't forget that those tiles with more than one space may have pawns of multiple colours on them. Its the chains that score, not regions.Yeah, that certainly came in handy. We found that it was easy for a color to start getting boxed in unless we shared regions.

Thread: Re: 3 player co-op game

clearclaw — 2006-12-25T05:49:57+00:00

Don't forget that those tiles with more than one space may have pawns of multiple colours on them. Its the chains that score, not regions.

Thread: 3 player co-op game

mitnachtKAUBO-I — 2006-12-25T04:55:30+00:00

Just to clarify the rules for the three player co-op version, we are actually forming four regions: one in each player color and one region of the neutral color, right?

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chaosbreaker — 2006-12-17T04:23:06+00:00

Feurio! Solitaire Online http://www.erlkoenig.ws/hrrg/receiver.php?do=StartGameInput&...

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SkiBoy — 2006-11-17T00:51:16+00:00

Thread: Re: Question re 2 person cooperative game

smithhemb — 2006-03-06T15:40:48+00:00

Thanks! Sounds as if we played it according to the rules then. I like the idea that the cooperative game gets progressively harder when more players (brains!) are involved.

My 8 year-old daughter enjoys cooperative games and, while it took a bit of cajoling to get her to try this one for the first time, she demanded 2 instant replays!

Thread: Re: Question re 2 person cooperative game

nosferrari — 2006-03-06T14:07:04+00:00

According to the rules a player will place a tile only if she has no pawns left - this does in no way hinder other players to place their pawns in their turn.

In the competitive version this is an intentionally designed balance issue - you *could* save your pawns for the end game, but this is not effective in all situations since in most cases there aren't a lot of spots left to place pawns in the end.

You are right about the distribution of colors in the cooperative play. It is indeed challenging especially in the four-player-game since all colors have to be placed in strict order (or not be placed at all).

This challenge is not so high in the two player game.

On the other side - a lot of variants are possible to use in Feurio! and if you indeed found one which suits your taste I would be happy if this increases your joy playing my game :-)

Best Regards
Heinrich

Thread: Question re 2 person cooperative game

smithhemb — 2006-03-06T11:38:12+00:00

So what happens when one player has placed all of his or her firefighters, the other hasn't, and a few tiles remain? The game's not over, of course, but does the player who still has firefighters get to place them with each addition of a tile or is there still turn-taking that would limit the placement of firefighters to every other turn (i.e. player without firefighters lays tile, has nothing to place, end of turn; player w/firefighters remaining lays tile and places, etc.)? We had a game yesterday where whether or not we could win came down to that issue. We chose to declare ourselves defeated (it was only our second game, but we were intrigued to find a different way to lose, LOL!), but wondered what the rules were/should be in this situation.

On the one hand, because this is a cooperative game (and because in the solitaire version this issue wouldn't arise -- any color would be placeable on any turn until the end of the game), it seems as if firefighters of whatever color should be placeable in each of the remaining turns. On the other hand, colors have been distributed among players and that provides a certain kind of challenge even in earlier turns, so why suspend that restriction at the end?

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Goodsound — 2005-06-16T13:16:55+00:00

Thread: User Review

quarks — 2004-07-09T20:23:32+00:00

Feurio is a neat little tile laying game in which 1 - 4 players direct a team of firefighters battling a raging forest fire. While essentially an abstract, a neat mechanism for growing the fire organically manages to evoke the theme as well as lightweight Euro.

Gameplay is simple. Each hex tile is printed with a number from 1 - 6 indicating the ferocity of the fire and from one to three circles indicating the maximum number of firefighter pawns the tile can accomodate. The fire start with a number of tiles equal to the number of players lain out together in the tightest possible configuration (i.e. a trinagle for three and a rhombus for four). On his turn a player adds a random tile to the growing fire and adds from one to three of his pawns to any allowable tile (not just the one most recently played). The new tile must be added to the "hottest" part of the fire, that is the edge space where the sum of the adjoining fire tiles is greatest; the player may choose freely among tied locations. When adding firefighters to a tile, the player is limited not only by the number of circles on the tile but by the number of "open" (i.e. not touching another tile) edges. Pawns cannot be added when the number of pawns already on the tile is equal to or greater than its number of open edges.

Play proceeds until all the tiles have been placed, then continues with players having the option to add remaining pawns to legal locations until all plays are exhausted or all players pass. Then the game is scored. Players score separately for each contiguous region of tiles occupied by at least one of their pwans. The score for such a region is the sum of the values of all the tiles (regardless of number of pawns), divided by the value of the smallest tile that is in the region and that touches the edge of fire; regions with no edge tiles score zero. A players score is the sum of the scores of all of his regions.

Because of the division mechanic, having a "1" edge tile as part of most of your big regions is quite important, and some have argued that because bad luck with the tile draw might deny you such, this is a flaw in the game. The proposed fix is to treat 1's as 2's when used as divisors, thus creating a larger pool of the most advantageous edge pieces. I've played both ways and prefer the original rules (1's count as 1's), but I could imagine a couple of unlucky games might cause me to change my mind. Another variant allows a player to play the drawn tile with the reverse, zero-valued, firebreak side side showing. The player cannot play a pawn on the firebreak tile or any other, and in fact must sacrifice (remove from the game) one of his unplayed pawns. Though costly, playing a firebreak does provide an additional mechanism for directing the growth of the fire. Many players use this variant but without the pawn sacrifice.

Components are unremarkable, but perfectly adequate for the game. The tiles are smallish and sturdy, with simple, almost Impressionistic art depicting the burning forest. The numbers and pawn spaces are easy to read and identify. The pawns themselves are well molded and brightly colored, and stand out nicely against the rather dark tiles. The box is square and compact, approximately 9" x 9" x 2". Instructions are only in German, but fully illustrated English instructions with examples are available on the designer's website.

Feurio is not deepest, nor the most thematic, nor the most fun game I know, but it is short and elegant, and no doubt has subtleties I have not found yet. It is a terrific example of a game in an underpopulated niche: the non-card game filler.

Thread: The 'Ones for all' variant

Steve Cox — 2004-06-30T11:32:55+00:00

It seems to be generally agreed that the player who is lucky enough to draw more of the '1' tiles in Feurio! than anyone else has the best chance of winning. It ought to be possible to reduce this chance, if everyone who doesn't draw a '1' on his turn places his firefighters so as to minimise the scoring opportunities for the player on his left if that player should turn over a '1', but I suspect that this is not a complete solution, and it fails if one player is only out to 'do the best for myself' (yeugh!).
So here is an idea I had to even things up a bit without having to ditch the '1's altogether. I call it the 'Ones for all' variant.
First, note that a player must place a tile on his turn in Feurio! This feature of the game enables us to give each player his own stack of face down tiles without affecting the outcome, and it is just a short step from here to the idea that we could give each player the same number of '1's in his stack. However, there are six of each tile number, so what do we do if there are four players, since 4 into 6 doesn't go? My suggestion here is that the extra two '1' tiles are placed aside temporarily (together with the other two tiles that are left over), and are given to the first two players to turn over the '1' tile in their personal stack. This is because these players are likely to be targeted by the rest, in an attempt to surround their '1's or to isolate the firefighters on them, and giving them a second '1' might serve as compensation. If you think this is too much compensation, then just target them some more! If you think it's not enough compensation, then let these players choose whether to take a second '1' or to take one of the other two tiles that were set aside instead.
The following is a formal description of these ideas, incorporated into the relevant sections of the standard rules (which, being a German reader, I have taken the opportunity to amend slightly):

Set-up
Each player takes all the firefighters of one color.
The six forest tiles numbered '1' are separated out and issued to the players - one each in a 4 player game, two each in a 3 player game, and three each in a 2 player game. Any unissued tiles are put to one side.
The other forest tiles are shuffled with the back (0) side face-up.
The oldest player turns over as many forest tiles as there are players and arranges them how he likes in a diamond pattern (in the example 3, 6, 5, 4).
Next, the remaining forest tiles are distributed evenly among the players, face down. In a 4 player game, two tiles will be left over; these are placed face down beside the two '1' tiles that were set aside earlier. Each player now shuffles all of his forest tiles together, face down, and places them in a stack in front of him. This is his draw pile.
The player on the oldest player's left then executes the first game turn. After this, play continues clockwise.

A game turn
On his turn, a player must first turn over the top tile of his draw pile and place it against the existing forest tiles according to the rules described below under 'The fire spreads'.
Afterwards, he may play from 0 to 3 of his firefighters on any one forest tile.
In a 4 player game, if the tile turned over was a '1', the player then takes one of the four tiles that were put aside at the beginning of the game. He may take one of the face up '1' tiles, if any remain, or one of the two face down tiles (without looking at it). He shuffles the selected tile face down into his draw pile. Exception: the player does not do this if he has already taken one of these four tiles earlier in the game.

Firebreak
[Note that this rule is always used with the 'Ones for all' variant. Note also that it does not cost a firefighter to place a firebreak, as per Greg Schloesser's earlier suggestion.]
Through the use of firebreaks, players can direct the spread of the fire. To do this, on his turn a player places the new forest tile face-down - only he knows the number shown on the front side.
On his turn, a player may draw a forest tile, secretly look at the number, and then place the tile face-down at the hottest position. He may not place any firefighters that turn. If a player doesn't have any more firefighters, he may not use this action.
A firebreak shows the number '0', i.e. the fire is less likely to spread in the proximity of this tile. A firebreak tile locks the edges of other tiles exactly the same as a tile placed in the normal manner [ie other tiles do not count edges that are next to a firebreak as free edges]. No firefighters may be placed on a firebreak tile.

Thread: Session Report

Eric Brosius — 2004-05-12T13:35:43+00:00

FEURIO!
(Anton, Dan, Eric)

There were 6 gamers present soon after our 7pm starting time, so we split into two groups of 3 and sat down to play. Eric explained the rules to Feurio! ("Fire!") to Anton and Dan. Feurio! is a game about fighting a forest fire. The game includes 36 hexagonal tiles, six each numbered 1 to 6. The higher-numbered tiles are worth more, but only if you can connect them to a good water source, i.e., a low-numbered tile that is not completely surrounded by other tiles. Each player has a set of 12 pawns in a color, and in the 3-player game each player has 4 pawns in a fourth color that can be used to block the other players. Each player scores for each connected "wooded area" of pawns in his or her color. The score for a wooded area is the sum of the numbers on all tiles divided by the single lowest edge tile (if it has no edge tile the score is zero, reflecting the fact that your firefighters have been trapped.) This makes control of the "1" tiles potentially important, and some groups have begun to use a variant that turns all "1" tiles into "2" tiles for divisor purposes.

In this game there was no immediate issue with the "1" tiles, because Anton, Dan and Eric each drew one in the early going and placed a pawn on it. Unfortunately for Dan, however, the fire soon veered off toward the area controlled by Eric and Anton, depriving Dan of the intense heat he needed to score big by battling the worst of the blaze. There is only limited opportunity to choose where to place a tile; you must place each newly drawn tile where the fire is hottest, and you have a choice only if there is a tie for hottest location. Thus, Dan was forced to start a second and then a third wooded area, and he did not draw the low divisors he needed for these areas.

As Dan chased the action, Eric and Anton steadily extended their initial wooded areas, and indeed each finished the game with just a single wooded area. Anton placed some firefighters on tiles numbered "2" and "3", while Eric held out for higher numbered tiles, and this gave him a narrow victory when the tiles he needed showed up where he could connect to them.

Final scores: Eric 45, Anton 42, Dan 31.

Eric's rating: 7. This game flows along pleasantly. When you draw a tile, all the players help you find the place or places where it must be placed. You then select a place to put your pawn (or should it be more than one to block someone?) This is a game that will work well as a filler, and will go over well with non-gamers.

Thread: Session Report

daw65 — 2004-04-08T14:44:36+00:00

Five of us turned out for tonight's session, including Helen, making her second appearance, and a couple of guests from Dave and Helen's workplace, Susy and Ed. Ed actually ended up coming a little late, so while the rest of us waited, Rich set us up to play a game of Feurio!

In a string of bad luck, Susy wound up drawing four of the six "1" tiles, which make great divisors when counting up the final scores. But having four such tiles in your string is going to make for a pretty low scoring string. And for the most part, those "1" tiles caused the fire to burn away from Susy's and Dave's positions on the board. It eventually came back around toward Dave, but until then Rich and Helen were expanding their firefighters.

Rich was able to land himself a "1" tile, which meant he would definitely be among the leaders. Dave had a "2" tile early, and grew out his string of tiles pretty well, collecting "5" and "6" tiles. Helen, too, had a good sized string, but never got smaller than a "3" tile. And when the game ended, the division was too much for Helen, and Dave, as Rich scored 30 points, divided by 1, while Dave's 42 got split in half, and Helen's 28 was hacked back to 10. Adding up other stray strings here and there, and Rich came out the winner with 30 points, to Dave's 21, Susy's 18, and Helen's 14.

Thread: Re:A couple questions before I buy

sodaklady — 2004-03-29T13:38:37+00:00

nosferrari (#31738),
Heinrich,

I apologize if I have offended you by second-guessing your rules. I have now played your game and I like it very much just as it is, at least as a beginner. We found that there are times when that "1" you drew will do you no good and so it is left for someone else.

I think that with more play it will be easier to manipulate the direction of the fire a bit and give you more control. And I've also played the solitaire version and found it to be an interesting exercise for the brain.

So I applaud you for designing an innovative game that is also fun to play.

Mary

Thread: Re:A couple questions before I buy

nosferrari — 2004-03-29T08:09:37+00:00

sodaklady (#31599),

Hi - this would create a new game and I am loath to give any opinions about it withouth extensive testing - the Feurio! rules were tested extensively (about one year).
I think the game will be quite pointless when not using the divisor because the player will simply occupy the highest valued tiles - the divisor will favor the player who is able to hold his men together in one area (especially if the extended rule "hot game" is used where all results are rounded down).
I still would like to recommend the fire break as standard rule (without "paying" a men) - and convert all "1"s to "2"s for a more tactical play (when scoring).

Thread: Session Report

sodaklady — 2004-03-28T18:17:21+00:00

Richard and I tried this as a 3-player game with Blue being manipulated by concensus because I like using 4 neutral fighters each. This was our first playing so we felt our way around the rules, looking for tactics, watching how the board grew as the strength of the fire moved. Unfortunately, Blue was too sharp for us and won by 4 points!

A second game was called for and this time we had a better feel for where the fire would grow, when to use more firefighters to block opponents and how to use the neutral men to be an annoyance to other players. Richard won by a large margin: R-40 Mary-27 Blue got cut off from the edge and ended with a pitiful 10.

I think people looking for a good game for 3 players should check this out. Yes, there is a lot of randomness (the draw of the tile and many times it can be placed in only 1 place) but you also have choices in the placement of your fighters, the use of the neutral minions at your disposal and sometimes we had as many as 5 places to place the new tile. This is FUN. It isn't going to set your brain on fire. (Oops, a pun)

Thread: Re:A couple questions before I buy

sodaklady — 2004-03-27T15:30:07+00:00

nosferrari (#31584),
Thank you for checking this again and answering my questions.

I have also seen comments that suggested giving a "1" tile to everyone at the beginning of the game which gives one a choice of drawing a tile or using his "1". This sounds an interesting variation. I would think that you should have to use it before your last turn, maybe even last 2 turns. Opinions on this?

Also, how badly would the play be compromised if you did not figure in a divisor at all? Just straight tile numbers. Would this lessen the strategy of the game?

Thread: Re:A couple questions before I buy

nosferrari — 2004-03-27T09:20:48+00:00

sodaklady (#31506),

Oh - sorry - I answered question 2) in a hurry - in fact I did not answer it at all...

Apart from changing "1"s to "2"s - yes, it is possible to win, even if you never draw a "1", because a player who already has drawn a "1" (and placed a firefighter on it), will normally not be interested to place a firefighter on the *second* (or third) "1" he draws - so this one will be open to players who did not draw a "1" themselves.

This argumentation is especially valid in the two player and three player game - in the four player game it is better to cooperate (temporarily!!) to block the leading player.

Thread: Re:A couple questions before I buy

nosferrari — 2004-03-26T19:14:03+00:00

sodaklady (#31506),

Hi,

concerning question 1) - yes
You may never place a firefighter on a forest tile, if - afterwards - the total number of firefighters on this forest tile (this includes firefighters already placed on the tile plus the newly placed firefighters) exceeds the number of free edges this tile have.

If - for example - you have tile having left two free edges and there are already two firefighters sitting on it - you may not place a firefighter there.

concering question 2) - yes, there are variants and although I only tested these variants marginally I would like to recommend them to players who are interested in a more tactical play:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/viewarticle.php3?articleid=3150...

Thread: A couple questions before I buy

sodaklady — 2004-03-26T15:39:40+00:00

This sounds like a game we would like but I have a couple of questions on the rules and tactics:

1) The rule which says you can only place a number of firefighters equal to the number of free sides. Does this mean that if a tile has 3 spaces, 1 of which has a firefighter already, and the fire spreads which closes off all the free sides, you can no longer place firefighters?

2) It sounds like the bad luck to draw no "1" may be a serious handicap. Is there tactics that can counteract that, barring the variant which changes all 1's to 2's? I hate to think that you have no chance of winning if you draw no 1.

Thread: Feurio Variant Ideas

David Vander Ark — 2004-03-26T13:27:11+00:00

In order to balance out the luck of the draw a little bit, I've been using two variant rules suggested to me by Greg Schloesser.

First, treat all "1" tiles as if they said "2." This prevents a runaway leader who happens to draw a "1" tile at the right time.

Second, when playing a tile as a fire break, you do not need to discard a pawn. This makes the fire break option a bit stronger, increasing the strategy just a bit.

Thread: Session Report

garrylloyd — 2004-03-26T05:30:22+00:00

I've heard quite a few good things about Feurio, a game by Heinrich Glumpler that was released last year, and at last managed to get the game to the table. John had to leave early so just three of us set out to battle the forest fires. The rules are very simple. The fire is represented by hex tiles on which there is a number between 1 and 6 showing how fierce the fire is burning at that location, and 1 to 3 spaces on which firefighters can be placed. Each player on his turn has to expand the area of the fire by playing a hex tile adjacent to the tile or tiles with the highest number (where the fire is hottest) and then can place up to three firefighters in his colour on one of the tiles already placed. However, after placing the men, there must be at least the same number of free hex edges on the tile as there are men on that tile. Also men have to be linked to the edge of the fire, otherwise they do not score. Providing you are connected to the edge of the fire, you score points at the end of the game equal to the value of the tiles in your chain and divided by the lowest value tile in your chain which is at the edge of the fire (ideally one with a value of 1). Once all the tiles have been placed and everyone does not wish to add any more firefighters, whoever has the highest total from any scoring chains of firefighters they have is the winner.

Being able to draw a value 1 tile early on is quite nice as you can then try to develop points around it. I managed this in our game and was happy to see the fire spreading away from this tile initially. However, the wind obviously changed direction because the fire managed to race back and completely surround this tile. Although I still managed to keep connected to the edge of the fire, I had to settle for a '2' divisor, thus cutting my score considerably. Mark G managed to place men on lots of high value tiles and had just one big chain of 38 points but, like me could only get a '2' tile at the edge. Nige, however, claimed three smaller areas, two of which had '1' tiles at the edge. This enabled him to secure the victory.

I quite enjoyed Feurio and the way in which the tiles develop nicely fits the theme of a fire spreading. There are some interesting choices to be made and you need to watch what others can do as much as what you would like to do. Sometimes it's worth doing something to curb another player's expansion than doing something to maximise your own score. Nige was a bit less keen, probably because the luck in drawing or not drawing the '1' tiles can decide the result. However, it plays quickly (about 30 minutes) and providing you accept that there is a luck element, there is enough decision making and tactics involved to keep you thinking.

Players Result Ratings
Nige 29 5
Garry 22 7
Mark G 19 6

Thread: Session Report

RPardoe — 2004-03-18T23:45:15+00:00

As we both agreed that tile-laying games seem interesting, Rich brought out a new acquisition Feurio! to try. In the 2-player version of this game, each player has 2 teams of firefighters trying to contain a forest fire. The fire is simulated by a field of 36 hex tiles with various values on them ranging from 1 to 6. 1-tiles represent tiles with lots of water and little fire while 6 tiles represent tiles with no water and a large conflagration. A new tile is added at the "hottest" point of the fire, which is the location with the highest total on the bordering tiles. Firefighters (pawns) are played on the tiles and contiguous chains of firefighters are scored. The score of each chain is the total of the occupied hexes divided by the lowest number occupied. Therefore, it is worthwhile to have a 1-tile in the chain. We also played with the "firebreak" variant rule wherein a player can play a tile back-side up (this side has a 0 on it) at the cost of losing one firefighter to the box (instead of being played to the fire). The advantage of the firebreak is that it can deprive an opponent of a valuable tile that would be forced into a set location and it can also force the fire to spread elsewhere where it might be more advantageous. A simple variant listed in the rules that I think I will keep in future games as it is easier to have it as an option and not use it, than to be forced to never use it.

The first tiles were placed and the game began. The initial tiles say quite a few low numbered tiles. As a result, both Rich's and Sterling's initial squadrons were a bit too successful in controlling the fire as the fire spread away from them forcing both players to call on their second teams for the bulk of the fire-fighting effort. In a back and forth battle for supremacy, Sterling managed to join two branches of his green team which at the same time, kept Rich's two blue branches separated. As the fire continued to spread, Sterling was perfectly placed to continue building on his single team which resulted in a large continuous block of firefighters that also included a 1 tile for 38 points. Rich's fractured teams could come up with some points, but in the end, it wasn't enough to overcome Sterling's organized firefighting efforts. Final scores:

Rich's teams: Red: 1+1+11 = 13 points & Blue: 13 + 14 = 27 for a total of 40 points.
Sterling's teams: Yellow: 1+1+7 = 9 & Green: 38 for a total of 47 points.

In my opinion, a nice filler game. I would like to try it with 3 or 4 player as I suspect a bit more loss of control as more tiles and firefighters get placed between turns. One might be able to simulate this by forcing 2-players to play alternate colors on each turn. As it stands, this is a nice little addition to a game library looking for a simple filler game that appears to scale from 1 to 4 players.

Thread: Session Report

telbert — 2004-03-04T22:22:54+00:00

To continue the nights theme of small box games we went onto feurio. Players are firefighter trying to bring a forest fire under control and for a tile laying game the theme is very strong.

The game starts with a randomly drawn 4 tiles together in a group. Each tile is in the form of an hexagon and has a value from 1 to 6. On a players turn they draw a tile and place it at the hottest point of the fire. This is calcualted by adding the value of all adjacent tiles for each playable position, and whichever has the highest value is deemed to be the hotspot and hence where the fire will spread next. Once a tile is placed the player can add 1-3 tokens on any one tile as long as there are enough free spots on that tile; the total number of fireman on the tile does not exceed the number of free sides to the tile. Play then continues clockwise. Once all the tiles are played players continue playing firemen. The game ends when no-one can play a fireman token. Scoring is performed per chain of linked tiles for each player. Any chain that does not touch the edge of the fire is immediately discarded without scoring. All other chains score for the total of all tiles in the chain divided by the value of the lowest tile in the chain. Highest score wins.

The board started with a raging fire, and we all dove straight into the hotspots. The fire quickly spread in all directions and the firefighters seemed to form up into 2 halves. Tel was lucky to find the first water reserve (1) and was even luckier to be able to place it to cool down the end of one of his chains into the heart of the fire. Everyone had split their firemen into a couple of groups of firefighters, both Oggie and Andy managed to get one of their crews to a 1 valued tile. Paul was still searching out the low valued tiles when Tel drew 2 on the trot, immediately populating them both to ensure a high score for himself and in the process effectively halving the value of Pauls big chains. Tels successful action of connecting both his big chains to "1" tiles paid dividends big time as he claimed a comprehensive victory. Andy and Oggie tied for second with Paul suffering due the the lack of access to "1" tiles coming last.

This one totally slid under the radar in the run up to Essen last year, and may have been missed altogether by the group had it not been for Oggies policy of buying everything he sees in the small size boxes. The game plays in 30 mins, which is always a bonus, and provides a great strategic game. Paul voiced concerns at the end that the "luck" of the draw of the tiles could, in certain circumstances, be crucial in deciding the winner. His misfortune in this game of not drawing or being able to access a 1 tile displayed this, as acces to just one of these tiles would've increased his score by an additional 50% and given him a comfortable 2nd instead of the 4th he managed.

Final Scores
Tel 42, Oggie 27, Andy 27, Paul 22

Ratings / 10
Tel 8, Oggie 7, Andy 7, Paul 7

Thread: Session Report

jaywowzer — 2004-02-29T19:47:22+00:00

GamesDay 15, January 31, 2004: FEURIO

The one tiles certainly decided the game this time. Winton got three
(or was it four) while I had none and the final score reflected that.
We played with the alternate fire stop rule, which was an improvement
from my past playings without it.

Thread: Session Report

PBrennan — 2004-02-18T22:28:17+00:00

Delivered 3 days ago and 4 plays already. Yep, dominated by the luck of the tiles and if you keep your '1' tiles alive, you'll win, but great 20 minute fun as an opener, especially with 3 players where each has a third chance of getting those 1's. Living in Australia which is wracked by bush fires every summer, the theme of Feurio brings the game especially alive. Watching how the fire shifts and spreads with the changing winds, getting an escape route for your firefighters, very cool, er hot, er, a 7 after 4 plays so far.

Thread: Session Report

Jonathan Degann — 2004-01-21T21:35:58+00:00

Played By: John M. Jonathan D. Mike M.

I've come to like this game, even though its' kind of silly. In many ways it plays itself, and maybe I just like the break. I do believe that too much is dependent on getting a "1" tile in your group. Mike disagreed - but he never got a "1" and came in last.

Ultimately, I think that this is an interesting system that was underdeveloped. More ability to control the new tile placement would be a boon, as would improved, more strategic scoring. At very least, I think that the divisor tiles should be changed so that, perhaps a "1" is more like a "1.5". This would make it closer to a "2", and would make getting one less of a do-or-die proposition.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2003-12-18T23:02:51+00:00

As mentioned in a previous report, this was my surprise “find” of the Essen show. I am not tiring of the game’s nuances and strategies, and the 30 minute playing time will likely keep it coming to the table again and again.

Keith, Jim, Michael Aucoin and I sent forth our firefighters in attempts to protect the most valuable areas. Several firebreaks were placed during the game in attempts to redirect the blaze and prevent players from expanding their controlled regions. Both Keith and I managed to score region worth 21 points, but I scored a miniscule 2 points in another region, which was enough to capture a narrow victory.

Finals: Greg 23, Keith 21, Jim 15, Michael 12

Ratings: Greg 8, Michael 7, Jim 7, Keith 6.5

Thread: Session Report

telbert — 2003-12-10T14:24:35+00:00

This is a Tile laying game, where hexagons tiles, are placed to expand a forest fire. Each Hex is valued from 1 to 6, with 6 being the more ferocious fire. On his turn each player takes a random tile and places it face up at the current hot spot of the fire. To find the hot spot consider all possible placements and it is the place that has the highest sum of all adjacent tiles. If there are multiple hotspots the player can choose between them. After placing a tile the player gets to optionally populate any tile with up to 3 of his firefighter tokens. Rules of placement is that after placement there must be no more tokens on the tile then the lower of: the number of grey circles on the tile and the number of free edges on the tile. Once all the tiles are played players can still place tokens or pass. The Games ends once everyone has passed. Scoring is for each contiguos block of tokens in each colour where at least 1 of the tiles must have a free edge. The score is calculated as the sum of all tiles divided by the lowest numbered tile with a free edge.

The fire started as a fairly cool affair with 4 low numbers, however it soon caught as a run of 5 and 6s soon turned up. As should've been predicted the fire immediately headed for the nearest edge of the table, but luckily didn't expand off the table. Andy and Oggie claimed the centre (hottest part) of the fire whilst Tell and Paul seemed to be content to pick up the edges. Everyone managed to get 1 fairly large area with 1 or 2 smaller regions. As the game neared its conclusion Paul pointed out that Andy needed to connect two of his regions to connect his large area to a 1 divisor, but then decided to place his piece elsewhere forcing Tel to block Andy. Of course this being the Piddinghoe Gamers, Tel refused to be backed into a corner and played his own piece to advance his score allowing Andy to connect his 2 areas. This turned out to give the game to Andy.

This was an interesting game that played very quickly. Everyone was looking out for themselves with only a couple of placements made as blocking moves. I suspect as we play more of this there will be considerably more blocking making this a more strategic game. Certainly a game with a lot of potential. There is a "firebreak" variant that also looks intriguing.

Final Scores
Andy 38, Paul 36, Tel 35, Oggie 28

Ratings / 10
Andy 7, Paul 8, Tel 8, Oggie 7

Thread: Re:Feurio Preview

nosferrari — 2003-12-09T17:46:40+00:00

Glamorous Mucus (#22290),

Hi
for your information:
we are doing a second print run of Feurio in december 2003. So there should be no hurry.

If the second print run is sold as fast as the first - maybe some company in the states will be willing to get a license from us :-)

Best Regards
Heinrich (Edition Erlkoenig)

Thread: Session Report

Glamorous Mucus — 2003-12-04T02:11:52+00:00

*FEURIO
(Dale Yu, Mike Herms, Josh Miller)

Another round of Feurio, this time with Dale Yu and Mike Herms. I did much better than in yesterday's game, securing a number of high-valued tiles with a '1' tile on the perimeter, and winning by a large margin. The '1' tile was sitting there for a while before I jumped on it, and no one was willing to take the time to grab it and hose me.

We played with the firebreak rule, which we had not used in yesterday's game. It's a good addition and there's no reason not to use it. I never played a firebreak, but someone else (Mike?) played one fairly early in the game. A couple times I placed multiple firefighters on a tile to keep others out. Whether to do this is often a tough decision. It can be a powerful tactic, but it can also burn through your men in a hurry (if I'm allowed to be a bit punny).

The second session of Feurio confirmed my initial opinions. I think it will prove to be one of the best light, quick games of recent years. The forced tile placement can feel a little mechanical, perhaps, but that's also what keeps the game on track.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2003-11-17T14:40:49+00:00

Earlier I spoke of pleasant discoveries to be found at the Spiele Faire. This year, Atta Ants was one such discovery. My biggest “find”, however, was a game of fighting forest fires in medieval times: Feurio. Feurio is designed by Heinrich Glumpler, who also created last year’s Fette Autos, a game I still have yet to play.

I didn’t know much about Feurio beyond the early descriptions found on a few websites. However, it was one of the games on my list to try during the convention. The opportunity arose late during the week, and I am so happy I didn’t miss it. After Warfrog’s Princes of the Renaissance, Feurio was my favorite game of the show.

Players send forth a team of firefighters into a forest in attempts to reach the hot spots and control the conflagration. The fire will spread and players must attempt to arrange their firefighters so that they are not cut-off from the edge of the forest and their water supply. Positioning of firefighters is of utmost importance and victory will go to the player who is able to get his fighters into the hottest areas.

The game is a quasi tile-laying game, as well as a piece positioning game. In that respect, it is similar to games such as Carcassonne. However, the similarities blur after this and the game has a unique and fresh feel.

During the course of the game, 36 tiles will be placed by the players. Each tile depicts from 1 – 6 fires burning in a lush forest. There are also from 1 – 3 spaces on each tile where firefighters may be positioned. The pawns themselves are very basic, not unlike you will find in many traditional American games. Functional, but not thematic.

After setting out four tiles to begin the game, the turn sequence is quite simple. Each turn, a player places a tile, then positions from 1 – 3 pawns onto any one tile.

The placement of the tile follows the rules (as far as I understand) of a real forest fire – the fire will spread most rapidly from the hottest spot. A tile must be placed adjacent to the tiles whose numbers have the greatest cumulative total. Once placed, the player then has the option of placing 1 – 3 pawns onto any one tile. This does not have to be the tile just placed, but rather any one tile. There is a restriction, however: a tile can only contain as many firefighters as it has exterior edges. Thus, if a tile only has one exterior edge, then it can only contain one firefighter. However, if a tile ultimately has its number of free edges reduced, existing firefighters on that tile are NOT removed.

This placement rule allows for placements that will block opponents from placing onto a particular tile and may cut-off their contiguous fire lines … and perhaps even isolate their firefighters from the exterior of the forest. This will doom that group and yield zero points.

The game ends when all 36 tiles have been placed. At that point, each player may place any remaining firefighters if they are able. The forest areas are then scored to determine the victor.

The ultimate objective of the game is to form your firefighters into a contiguous grouping on as many tiles as possible. Ultimately, points will be scored for each area a player has firefighters on … provided the area also contains at least one tile located on the exterior of the forest and has at least one tile containing a lake. If these criteria are met, the area will score as follows:

Total the numbers on all of the tiles, then divide that number by the lowest number on the tiles. Example: An area contains the following tiles: 6, 4, 3, 3, 2. The total is 18/2 = 9 points. It is readily apparent that one of the key tactics is to attempt to incorporate at least one low-valued tile into a group containing several high-valued tiles. That is certainly easier said than done.

While attempting to extend a forest area and incorporate both high-value and at least one low-value tile, one must constantly keep an eye on the possibility of being cut-off from the exterior of the forest. This would render all of your efforts fruitless. So while you are seeking opportunities to advance your positions, you must also be wary of possibilities that could occur to foil your plans. Of course, you must also seek opportunities to interfere with your opponent’s aims and to cut them off at every opportunity. No doubt, there are lots of things to watch for in this brilliant little game.

But it doesn’t stop there. Several optional rules are included to add even further spark to the raging fire. One of these is the “Fire Line” option. The reverse side of each tile contains a firebreak with a value of zero. When placing a tile, the player has the option of placing it as normal, or placing it with the firebreak side face-up. This has the effect of “cooling” the hot spot and likely directing the fire in a different direction. This is one way to get the fire moving in a direction you may desire … or away from a direction that favors your opponents. The cost of doing this, however, is high. The player may not place any firefighters that turn and must discard one from his supply. Still, the advantages occasionally outweigh these costs.

I’ve played Feurio numerous times and it is always exciting, tense and filled with options. An added bonus is that the game plays in 30 or so minutes, which practically insures that it will see regular playing time for a long, long time. Finding games such as this makes the Essen experience even sweeter.

Willerd, Liz, Steve and I headed into the blaze with our water buckets, attempting to quell the raging fire. Steve managed to piece together a large area with a ‘1’ divisor to capture the victory.

Finals: Steve 31, Liz 21, Willerd 19, Greg 15

Ratings: Steve 8, Greg 8, Liz 7, Willerd 6.5

Thread: Feurio Preview

Glamorous Mucus — 2003-11-17T10:17:49+00:00

Feurio preview after two plays

I recently had a chance to play Feurio a couple of times at our four-day Great Lakes Games event, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts. Many of the folks I talked to thought that Feurio was the hit of Great Lakes Games. As the weekend went on, I saw it being played again and again.

Feurio is a very simple, 20-minute game themed around fighting a forest fire. Each player starts the game with 12 firefighters in his color. There is no board, only hexagonal tiles. A few of the tiles start in a cluster in the center of the table, and another will be added during each player's turn. Each tile shows a part of the blazing forest, and is numbered from 1 to 6. The higher the number, the hotter the fire. Each tile also has spaces printed on it for one or more firefighters. The coolest tiles have space for only one firefighter, and the hottest tiles can support as many as three.

On his turn, a player flips a tile and places it on the hottest spot of the fire. The hottest spot is the place where the sum of the numbers on all adjacent tiles is the highest. If there is a tie for the hottest spot, the player may place the tile in any of those spots. After placing a tile, the player may then play any number of firefighters from 0 to 3. All of the firefighters must be placed on the same tile, although it does not have to be the tile that was just placed. Two or three players are allowed to coexist on the same tile. However, the maximum number of firefighters that can be placed on a tile is limited by (1) the number of spaces printed on the tile, as well as (2) the number of free (exposed) edges on the tile.

Play continues until all the tiles have been played and all players are unable or unwilling to play additional firefighters. The game is then scored. Each group of connected tiles containing one or more of a player's firefighters is called a region. A region's score is equal to the total value of all tiles in the region, divided by the divisor. The divisor for a region is the lowest-numbered tile in that region, but only if the tile has at least one free edge. If a region's lowest-numbered tile is completely enclosed, you must use another tile for the divisor. There is no limit to the number of regions one player can score.

There is a variant rule that allows you to play any tile on it's reverse side as a firebreak (value zero, with no spots for firefighters) if you pay one token and also forfeit your placement for the round. I recommend that the firebreak rule should always be used; it is considered by the designer to be an essential part of the game. The firebreaks allow players some small degree of control on the spread of the fire, although the opportunity cost of using a tile as a firebreak is quite high.

Everyone I played with was pretty impressed with this clever little game. I can see Feurio becoming a very popular filler in our Grand Rapids Area Boardgamers group. It moves right along at a snappy pace, but still lets you make some important decisions. Do I need to place a firebreak? Where should I place my firefighter this turn? Should I place more than one in order to shut out the other players? How quickly do I have to jump on that '1' tile in order to get a good divisor for my region? Which direction is the fire likely to spread, and how can I take advantage of that? None of these decisions are difficult enough to cause the game to bog down in analysis. My one concern so far is that players can't usually choose where to place their tile, and so they have little control over the spread of the fire. But the chaos of the spreading fire is thematically appropriate, and should be viewed as an intentional feature rather than a drawback. Highly recommended.

This was a limited edition release at Essen 2003, and if you are interested in acquiring a copy, I recommend you act quickly. Adam-Spielt has been selling it, and other online stores may have copies, but I don't expect their stock will last long.