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Quick Look: Flockers
Designer: Mark K. Swanson
Artist: Matt Emmons
Publisher: Odd Bird Games
Year Published: (Currently on Gamefound for 6 more days! Link at bottom of review!)
No. of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+ 7+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes.
Foreword:
I was sent a copy of this game as the campaign was launching on Gamefound (link below). I seem to be drawn to themes of games lately and this one is no exception. A multi-layered puzzle about geese migration? Yeah, that sounds interesting! So, when Mark, the designer, reached out, I accepted a copy to take a look at what it played like. I had previously enountered a title of theirs,
Fled: A Gripping Game of Gutsy Escape, which was another challenging puzzle of a game that I enjoyed, but before I go off on a tangent, let’s jump into Flockers!
From the Publisher:
In this tactical card game, you will build a flock of snow geese that is best suited to swiftly navigate the terrain below.
Playing cards might add to the flight path, advance your flock token, or allow geese to graze so they have the vitality to continue south.
Fly south the furthest and the fastest to win. Let’s fly!
Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of FLOCKERS. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Review:
Initial Impression/Components:
From the box and tray to the geese minis (player tokens) there is a high level of detail here that you’d expect from a repeat publisher and designer. The cards in the game are industry standard quality and the other items feel premium. The art and graphic design come from a notable artist whose work lends its weight to this uplifting title.
Favorite:
There are a few neat mechanics that I enjoyed about the game but I’ll pick one. On some terrain cards you encounter obstacles or interactions, for quick explanation a cloud can push you onward, a decoy scrambles your flock, a fox takes a goose from your flock, and an eagle takes all young geese from your flock. Out of these I thought the fox was the coolest, cause hey, foxes are cool but also it gave a very precise ability to make a small adjustment to your flock. Have to say that it was a close call with the eagle though, if you plan it correctly, the eagle opens up the most opportunity for a big moment or amazing play.
Least Favorite:
I had messaged the designer on this who said some small tweaks had been made since I received my copy that addressed this. They explained what they adjusted and even without testing those small adjustments, I know it would have made enough difference that this point is now resolved. However for the sake of being thorough, I’ll say that some players I had played with, including me on one occasion, were unable to trim their flock and were removed from the game. You must keep your flock below seven at the end of your turn but only certain abilities can do that. Even though this is adjusted so it shouldn’t happen if you are paying attention, I do feel a penalty other than being kicked out of the game should exist. For example lose your turn but perform the graze action.
Mechanics:
– Solo Game (optional but I feel 2+ are needed for me to get the excitement of a race)
– Network and route building
– Set collection
– Track movement
– Hand management
– Race
Rules:
This rulebook was thicker than I expected, but on review, held mostly art and graphic design with lots of open space making for an easy read and rule digestion.
A summary of the rules would be: each turn you lay a goose to your flock and do their action(s) as applicable and then draw a card. You want to have less than 7 geese in your flock at the end of your turn and build it up one at a time in a V formation. Your goal is to move 10+ terrain with your flock before your opponents. You will trim your flock along the way in various ways but want to have a “graze” ability on hand when needed as that’s the main way to do so.
Check out the current ruleset via the link below.
Areas they did well:
– quick set up and packing
– quality components
– thematic tie-in
– well balanced abilities and frequency
– replayability: game experience will continue to change due to number of cards and the way players choose to use them (including how they place terrain cards to make what I considered their flight path)
– geese abilities were neat and the crown ability being able to activate the lead goose was a nice choice
– the set collection aspect was a fun layer to the puzzle. It’s not necessary for you to do so to win in any way but it certainly can give you advantages if you do.
Areas they could have improved:
– one player didn’t prefer that cards that weren’t intended as water terrain had rivers. I had correctly assumed rivers did not count as lakes (checked with designer) but they said there shouldn’t be water at all if water was a terrain type. I get their point but I do feel it helped the graphic designer break up land types on multi-terrain cards. This was shared with the designer so it may change.
– as mentioned, I feel any penalty of ending your game (for just a player) is too harsh. If your flock stays at 7 at the end of your turn I feel there should be a penalty of trimming it by one next turn but that’s all you get to do.
Interesting moment:
There’s real big feel good moments when you travel 3+ cards in a turn. It’s not the easiest to pull off, but when you can make such a leap in one turn it feels rewarding. There was a time in one game that we only had down 5 terrain cards, a player was on the 1st, got to move 3 cards and landed on a cloud moving them the the 5th card (moved 4 cards total). What made the move more impressive was how early in the game it happened and we all knew that was a massive head start to the race. We ultimately tried to lay less terrain to give them runway but they did in fact win that game – but it was closer than we thought it would be!
Overall:
This game was another success from Odd Bird Games. It’s already funded on Gamefound and will be published and that’s so exciting to see. I know many people who would enjoy this game and I think it’s an easy title to introduce to just about anyone. I do disagree with the 14+ rating. My two girls (now 7 and 10) could easily play this – mind you they do already have several years of playing games with me under their belt.
Final Thoughts:
I had to send off my review copy for further use, so I am hoping to get a final copy of this one. I encourage you to check out their Gamefound page for more information and see if it looks as good to you as it did for me. Flockers was enjoyed by all who tested it out with me, a flying success!
I’ll see you next time, back here at The Game Table,
Brad Hiscock, aka Zerility
…
After reading Brad’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting FLOCKERS will be live on GAMEFOUND until 6/5/2026, 3:00:00 PM, and has surpassed its funding goal of $25,000(by almost 300%!!). Check it out and back it HERE.
🎁 Already backed FLOCKERS?
That’s right – you could end up with a copy of the game just for participating!
