First in Flight Review

Push your luck or fly straight into the ground.

First in Flight has players competing to fly their aircraft the furthest after 4 years. Players will each control an early aviation pioneer. On their turns, they'll place their pilot meeple on one of the available spots on the board. These can give you upgrades, abilities, better flight cards, or fix your plane. The player furthest back will be the next to go and will repeat until they are in front of another player. Any time all players have made a full loop around the board, the year will end and time will advance. This will continue until a player reaches 40 on the flight track or the 4th year ends. Then players will take one final flight and whoever makes it the furthest will win the esteemed Michelin Cup.

When you take a flight action, you'll pick up your deck and shuffle it. Then you'll begin drawing cards. Most cards will be distance ones that will contribute to your overall flight distance, but some will also be mechanical issues. If you draw too many of these, you crash and need to spend time or money repairing your plane. If you feel like you've made it far enough, you can play your descend card to draw two more and (hopefully) land your plane safely. Then you'll advance your plane on the flight track if it was a personal record and move any design flaws to your player board.

The Good: The overall push your luck to fly aspect is thematically perfect. Each time you fly you don't know if it's going to go well for you or if you'll crash immediately just like the early days of flight. There's plenty of cards you can pick up to upgrade your plane to mitigate some of the bad luck you may have but that tension is always there throughout each flight. Having the ability to pay for actions with money or time is unique. If you're short on cash, you can move yourself forward on the time tracks instead. This may limit actions you can perform in the round but it doesn't outright stop you from being able to do things. I loved the use of historically accurate people and the rulebook even provides historical context for each of them.

The Okay: The overall rondel system did not do anything to reinvent the wheel. It doesn't need to because we're all here for the flight system but I felt like I was working my way around just so I can fly. There didn't feel like there was ever any real tension while moving around it. For such a simplistic game, there are a shocking amount of nuances involved. Especially with the design flaws.

Final Thoughts: First in Flight does two things really well. It creates a wonderful sense of tension while flying and it also provides a unique history lesson with the pioneers of aviation. Obviously it's a board game so you're only going to learn so much. Go to the library for more information or Google it but I'm never opposed to learning something while playing a game. Artana specialized in games based on educational topics and First in Flight delivered.

Thanks to Artana for providing a review copy.