Ice Flow is the next game by Ludorum Games whose previous game Fagin's Gang was very well recieved at UK Games Expo In June. I was keen to see this new game and get an over view. I should emphasize that I only saw the demo version and not yet the full release version. However the game looks well advanced and developed.

The Game is due out in the Spring with UK Games Expo being its first showing. From my first viewing I would say it is one to look forward to.

Overview
Ice flow is inspired by an explorer who crossed the Barring Straits from Alaska to Siberia. Perils include shifting ice and Polar bears. The first player to get 3 explorers across wins.

IN the Box
What the game will have is a board with large hexes on. There will be plastic hexes to overlay on this grid that represent ice chunks with ragged sides (not crossable) and plain sides. There are nice woodern explorers, fish symbols, polar bears and ropes. There are little cards that carry the synopsis of the rules and options. The demo version looks attractive and it will have a nice feel to it.

The Gameplay
The game turn involves a phase when you choose an action which affects the conditions. That is you can move ice flows, rotate them, introduce new ones and also bring in fish and ropes that can be picked up.
There is also a player move phase when you move explorers from hex to hex hoping from ice flow to ice flow. You cannot normally cross open sea but you can use ropes to do this. Fish are used in getting polar bears to move out of the way. Ropes can also be used to move two explorers at the same time.

Summary
This a light to medium complexity game which is easy to learn and will not need lots of reading of rules. There is a high degree of player interaction with your actions affecting others players. The game will involve a certain ammount of back stabbling and getting one over on other players. There is almost no luck as all actions are chosen and there is little random element in the game.

To me the games seems quite original and I think one that should do well. It is quite playable with older children as well.
The theme is strong in this game and seeing a few sample turns I can see that you would get into the feeling of being a artic explorer daring the ice.

I am looking forward to playing the release in the spring. AS it is a not released game I would not rank it till I see the full version but I do feel it will rate well.

Time to rate?