Fire Tower: Rising Flames is live
The Rising Flames expansion for the pattern building game Fire Tower is live on Kickstarter, and the campaign will run for 30 days. The expansion comes in a standard and a deluxe edition, and in a bundle with the base game. There are also two mini expansions (Megahawk and Wooden Buckets) that you can add to your pledge.
Rising Flames adds a solo mode to Fire Tower. It consists of 8 Challenge cards that pit you against the three other Fire Towers on the board, while you try to protect your own Tower. The level of difficulty is adjustable.
To play the game, you take control of the Red Tower (or choose another colour by making a few changes in the Enemy deck) and shuffle the deck of Challenge cards. You create the Enemy deck by mixing specific cards from the base game and the expansion (Burning Snag, Flareup, Explosion, East and West Wind). You also create your Player Deck by removing cards according to the rules, and start with a hand of 6 cards. All sides take one Bucket, and you roll the Wind die to determine the wind direction.
The Enemies start first. You draw a card from the Enemy deck and execute its action. These usually force you to place fire inside your quadrant. On your turn, you place a fire gem in the direction of the wind, and then play one of your cards. When the Enemy deck runs out, the round ends and you draw a solo Challenge card. This gives you a new task for the following round.
If you are ever forced to place fire in the back corner of your Tower, you lose the game. You also lose if you fail to complete some of the Challenges. You win if you set the other Towers on fire, and may count your score and try to beat it next time.