Red Flag Over Paris

After the series’ poor start with Fort Sumter, I approached Red Flag Over Paris expecting an improved version. It also had the relevant “influencer seal of approval,” so I put it on the table during an extra matchday instead of playing yet another game of Ascension Tactics. It was not a disaster, but it also gave me no reason to celebrate making the switch.

The system is fairly simple and, overall, the rules make sense. Still, they are too compressed for how quickly they seem to expect you to learn them: no, these are not rules you read in ten minutes and then jump straight into a game without questions.

At the table, the flow I felt was mostly that we played cards and saw which events would have the greater impact at that particular moment. The interaction between us did not leave me with a particularly interesting impression; in our game, it felt fairly situational which card would come up and which events would favour one of the two players more.

My final feeling is one big “meh.” I would not rule it out completely, because I would like to try it once more with someone who has already played plenty of games and might be able to show me what I am missing. But based on this first experience, I did not find anything in the gameplay that pulled me in.