Front Page

Content

Authors

Game Index

Forums

Site Tools

Submissions

About

You May Also Like...

O
oliverkinne
December 14, 2023
Hot

Mycelia Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 07, 2023

River Wild Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
November 30, 2023
J
Jackwraith
November 29, 2023
Hot
O
oliverkinne
October 09, 2023
O
oliverkinne
October 06, 2023

Outback Crossing Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
October 05, 2023
O
oliverkinne
October 02, 2023

Forests of Pangaia Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
September 29, 2023

Bagh Chal Review

Board Game Reviews
AL
Andi Lennon
September 28, 2023
O
oliverkinne
September 25, 2023

Castle Panic Review

Board Game Reviews
GS
Gary Sax
June 21, 2023
Hot
O
oliverkinne
June 09, 2023
Hot
O
oliverkinne
June 02, 2023
Hot

Ahoy Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
May 26, 2023

Village Rails Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
May 19, 2023

The Spill Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews

Letters from Sag -- Seal Team Flix Review

Hot
S Updated July 16, 2019
 
4.0
 
0.0 (0)
6639 0
Letters from Sag -- Seal Team Flix

Game Information

Publisher
There Will Be Games

It’s pretty rare that I’m jonesing to play a game these days.

There’s plenty of games that I’d play on a moment’s notice, but it’s been years since I’ve had a game, even a brand new one, that has me thinking about it, has me wanting to crack it open and underway.  Seal Team Flix is that game.  It’s getting attention from the back of my brain even when the front of it is working on other things.  This is a good game because I’m finding it compelling as much as I’m finding it particularly intriguing.

One of the things games can do is provide an opportunity to step outside of our own lives, to pretend to do (of be) something else.  Sure I can pretend to be a medieval farmer or captain of industry.  But Seal Team Flix is giving me the opportunity to be a hero, and to have a bunch of hero buddies.  This is a campaign game, so our success in the first session was rewarding, but by no means complete.  It was just a taste.  That’s what campaign games do when they’re hitting on all eight – they leave you happy with what you’ve done but eager for more and Seal Team Flix did this for me.  So the second scenario was a must-play when we made the trip down to the beach for three days of non-stop gaming.

Seal Team Flix is a game that fuses tactical thinking with physical skill.  You’re part of an elite team of Navy specialists saving the world, and shooting is done via flicking disks.  I’ve played an awful lot of PitchCar, so I have the flicking thing pretty down pat.  In our first play, with a bit of aggressive movement, we were able to press deep into the building  and I set myself up to get good shooting opportunities.  I capitalized on them.  A bit of luck worked into the mix as well, and I was promoted afterwards due to exceptionally good shooting.  I’ll be honest, I was feeling like pretty hot shit coming out of that first run so play #2 was tops on my list.  I mentioned my enjoyment on ThereWillBe.Games where one of the authors of the games hangs out, and he gave me the official warning – scenario 2 is a lot tougher, even tougher than the ones that follow.  So now I was getting pulled in two directions – eager to play again, but worried that this could bring us to a screeching halt.

But jeeze, now I HAD to play the second scenario!  Do you walk away from the challenge?  It’s a frikkin’ board game for God’s sake, no one is actually dying and “the challenge” is why we sit down to play.  I told my buddies the next one was supposed to be tough and they were all-in too.  The game’s got game.

The designers of Seal Team Flix did something that added value to the game for me personally.  I’m in my fifth decade of role-playing, so the idea of playing the big tough guy named Deke doesn’t catch my attention.  I’ve played Deke a dozen times.  When I pulled out one of Seal Team Flix’s character cards I found Melissa “Shooter” Rustico written across the top and a hometown of Monterrey Nuevo Leon, Mexico in her flavor text.  That lifted an eyebrow.  I’ve never played a Melissa before, and the fact that she’s a Mexican in the U.S. Navy got the gears turning a bit.  Are there Mexicans in the American Armed Forces?  I hadn’t considered it before.  The answer is yes, and you can decide for yourself if the designers were looking to make a political statement by having a Mexican, a woman no less, serving on an elite unit in the U.S. military.  I don’t care much either way.  But stumbling across her made me think, made me consider how I was going to play her, what kind of soldier I was going to be.  If I’m going to play a character in a game I’m going to go all-in, and Melissa was a new skin to try on.  This was an opportunity to escape the same-old same old, so Melissa it was.  She’s quiet, to the point, and when she speaks it means something.  With the nickname “shooter” I planned to be out in front. 

Seal Team Flix Melissa

For me personally this was a big draw to the game.  My character was interesting; my buddies’ characters were interesting.  These impressions are based on just a few lines of text, some simple photos and a couple of equipment selections.  But in this game it works, when in others it hasn’t.  I can’t explain why, but there it is.  I feel invested in the woman on the piece of cardboard in front of me in spite of nothing but a shadowed photo and a hometown.

The big challenge in scenario 2 is that you step into a wide open room to start the action.  There are sentries already present and more due to arrive when you make noise, and you’re going to make noise.  The goal of scenario 2 is to kidnap the enemy’s financier, bringing her back alive if possible.  If you can’t bring her back alive kill her, but she has intel value. 

It’s more or less impossible to make a quiet entrance into the building in scenario 2 which became obvious to us right away.  An “I go left you go right” entrance made the most sense, with concussion grenades first (flicks again) to suppress the guards.  In this scenario the location of the financier is random.  She could be deep in the back of the building, or right up front.  We got a break – she was right up front.  But what became apparent early was that right up front had its own drawback, because you can’t travel through the room to cover.  You have to loiter to get a hold of your target and drag her out, and loitering in a combat zone is ill-advised.  On our entrance I got gut-shot twice and was more or less out of the picture.  (Remember that planning to be out in front?)  But my team was still in the hunt and I had a med kit to hold me together.  When we flipped the random token in the room and found the financier nearby the question was obvious – we could kill her easily, but she had value.  Do we risk all four of us to take her alive?  The other three players looked at me and said, “congrats on your promotion ma’am, it’s your call.”  Well shit.  With everyone looking at me, I gritted my teeth for a moment then told them we didn’t come to do half a job.  “Get her, I’ll cover you from the door if things go south.”  Another concussion grenade (flick!) and two doses of fire (flick flick!) and the target was unconscious, a second guy on the team shot up but still mobile.  The team dragged the financier out and completed the mission without my help with everyone still breathing.  Not breathing comfortably, but breathing.  Even after catching a break it was a short, tough scenario.

That was kind of a killer moment.  This wasn’t optimizing points, this wasn’t drawing three cards and discarding two.  This was deciding how much risk you wanted to take and then hoping your ability to flick a disk into the right place on the map will come through to have your concussion grenade or bullet go where you wanted.  You verbally walk through the action with your fellow players before the team moves, saying things like, “you have to take out both of those guys” knowing that if he doesn’t it’s you that will pay, not him.  This isn’t just a “we all win or we all lose” kind of co-op game.  Your miss can mean he’s dead and you’re not, so there’s more than a bit of pressure to pull off the trick you’re going for.  If you don’t you’re a dog.  If you do, you’re the shit.  You’re the hero, or heroine if you’re named Melissa.  That adds drama to the game.

Seal Team Flix pulls off a neat trick by putting the majority of your random results in your grasp, whether you want them there or not.  You define the action you’re going to go after and then complete it by flicking, not by rolling dice or drawing cards.  That optimize-your-result bullshit that is so common in modern games isn’t available to you here.  You need to look at the map and ask yourself a harder, less quantifiable question – can I hit the cubes in the middle of the room hard enough to knock out ALL the bad guys in one turn?  Tell me how you calculate the odds on that one.  Showing up on game night with cold hands makes a difference in a flicking game, so there’s no figuring out the chances by how many cards are left or knowing how easy it is to roll an eight.  It’s on you, mentally and physically, to define your task and then do it.  Don’t miss.  People are depending on you.

So damn, I want to play Seal Team Flix again.  It may be that the game becomes less compelling after half a dozen sessions.  But for the moment this one is on the top of the short list, which is pretty rare air for an old boardgame player like me.  I need to get back with my buddies, and we have to get back to this game.  Lives are in the balance.

Seal Team Flix is currently available at your dependable online retailers for somewhere between $40 and $50.  Games like this often show up used for less because owners play through all the scenarios and look to move them on for other things.  But the used market for the game currently has higher prices than new, so it appears that people are holding onto it for the time being.  This is a game that requires some assembly when you first crack it open, and that’s something you want to tend to prior to your friends showing up to play.  But after that the game is quick to learn and easy to play.  Well, ok, easy to understand.  Bouncing that grenade off the wall into the next room beyond the desk – that’s a little tougher.  You might want to practice that before going in!


Editor reviews

1 reviews

Rating 
 
4.0
John "Sagrilarus" Edwards (He/Him)
Associate Writer

John aka Sagrilarus is an old boardgame player. He has no qualifications to write on the subject, and will issue a stern denial of his articles' contents on short notice if pressed.

Articles by Sagrilarus

User reviews

There are no user reviews for this listing.
Already have an account? or Create an account
Log in to comment

hotseatgames's Avatar
hotseatgames replied the topic: #299674 16 Jul 2019 00:19
A fantastic review, thank you! I'm so thrilled that you are getting a kick out of it.
Dr. Mabuse's Avatar
Dr. Mabuse replied the topic: #299681 16 Jul 2019 03:01
Great review, Sag! That second mission is a freaking killer. I have yet to get pass that first room.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #299686 16 Jul 2019 10:18
Wow. This was such a great read! Loved it.
WadeMonnig's Avatar
WadeMonnig replied the topic: #299695 16 Jul 2019 13:05
This is exactly the same feeling it gave me and you did a fantastic job of putting it into words. Thanks for a fantastic read and review.
Sagrilarus's Avatar
Sagrilarus replied the topic: #299700 16 Jul 2019 13:37
An odd turn of events on the timing of this article. When I wrote it a few weeks back the team was all-systems-go for the next session, so it was just a matter of all being at the same place at the same time to do it. None of us want to miss a session, so we've held off and told the other folks in our group that they should assemble another team to play.

Shortly after submitting the article Cody, one of my fellow players, dove too deeply into a pool and hit his head hard on the concrete bottom. As luck would have it someone saw it happen and had the presence of mind to get him to the surface and pull him from the water on a backboard. Cody had broken his neck and had no movement in his body.

But this is a good news story, because the right doctor was available (University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, one of three stellar facilities in the Baltimore/DC area) and was wise enough to hold off on surgery, confident that the damage would repair itself in the next few days and he would regain motion in his arms and legs over time. That is exactly what happened and Cody is on the road to recovery. His legs are more or less back and the coordination in his arms is coming around slowly.

But, as good friends do, a visit to the hospital was in the offing shortly after the accident. My buddy Chris sent a text saying "you know what we should bring?" Yep. Tucked under my buddy's arm -- Seal Team Flix! Nothing like a flicking game to make a paralysis victim feel better!
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #299702 16 Jul 2019 13:56
OMG! Cody! That's terrible. I'm so thankful to whomever got him out of the pool safely, and the doctors who treated him. So relieved to hear he is on the path to recovery.

And you all have a sick sense of humor, but I am sure Cody laughed too.
engineer Al's Avatar
engineer Al replied the topic: #299703 16 Jul 2019 14:00
Holy Crap! My heart was in my throat as I read what happened to Cody. So incredibly glad that it turned out OK. Geez. Please pass on my best wishes. . .
hotseatgames's Avatar
hotseatgames replied the topic: #299733 17 Jul 2019 09:04
Wow! That's quite a story. I'm glad he's okay. Perhaps I'll try to work his name into *the next thing.*
Sagrilarus's Avatar
Sagrilarus replied the topic: #301593 10 Sep 2019 10:48
A quick update -- I saw Cody last night and he's in remarkably good shape, ready to sit down to our next session of Seal Team Flix.

The whole team was there last night but Lazer Ryderz got out on the table first. So likely we'll be going back after this in the next week or two. Very much looking forward to it!
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #301596 10 Sep 2019 11:32
That's great news.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #301600 10 Sep 2019 13:24
I need to restart a solo campaign of this. I got 3-4 missions in before I had killed all of the operators.