If I had to prioritise what makes a truly brilliant board game, deluxe components would be near to the bottom of my list. Not for me the siren song of metal coins, bonus miniatures, and all-in Kickstarter pledges - I'll take the rules raw and the components 'serviceable'. So imagine my surprise when a friend lent me his recently delivered copy of Flamecraft Duals Deluxe, and I found myself in awe of just how beautiful it is.
Flamecraft Duals is an abstract two player strategy game that uses the same incredibly cheerful dragon art as the original Flamecraft. While I have yet to play enough to determine if it deserves a spot on Wargamer's guide to the best couples' board games, it has been very popular in my friendship circle - it's quick to play and upbeat, if simple.
Shrinking the rules down to the bare minimum, each turn sees you draw a colored dragon tile from a bag, place it onto a hex grid, and 'fire' its color-specific ability, which might be to swap two dragons' positions or take another turn.
Your objective cards ask you to create specific patterns of dragons to score points - two reds and a dark blue dragon in a line, or a triangle of three green dragons, for example. And you have a small stash of coins which you can hold onto for VP, or spend to replace your objective cards or use special abilities in the optional expanded version of the game.
The gameplay is fun if a little lightweight. The component quality, though, is a step above. Duals is like a physical inventory of deluxe production treatments that board game factories have developed since Kickstarter launched.
First off, Duals doesn't actually come in a box - it's a hinged case, with the two halves secured by a locket clasp. Opening the case turns it into the playing board. Then under each half of the playing board - the lids secured by magnets - is storage space for all the game components.
The dragon tiles clack together with a profoundly satisfying 'clink' that I associate with bakelite (it's probably not bakelite, but I like to imagine the 1950s as an acoustically satisfying era). They come in a velvet effect bag.
The objective cards are impregnated with plastic, like waterproof Australian dollars only more rigid, while the coins are metal. Simple wooden card holders - like scrabble racks - keep your objectives visible to you and hidden from your opponent whenever you need to handle dragons.
This isn't just bling for the sake of bling, like a gold-plated chess set or a strategy board game bursting with miniatures that could have just been meeples or counters. This is bling that enhances one of the most charming things about board games - a whole magical experience packed into one little box. It reminds me of a music box, a pocket watch, or a dollhouse - or perhaps a very expensive box of chocolates.
At the moment there is no standard edition of Flamecraft Duals, and your only way to get a copy of the Deluxe edition now is to find a retailer who backed the Kickstarter, so I may not write a full review. But I can say that publisher Cardboard Alchemy's Kickstarter claim that "We like to deluxify games" is absolutely accurate.
Do you like to trick out your board games with premium components and optional extras? Or do you prefer to play games stripped back to the bare cardboard? Share some tales of your favorite games - whether they're deluxe or hideous - in the Wargamer Discord community. To stay up to date with the best articles from Wargamer each week, subscribe to our newsletter.