Disclosure: Meeple Mountain received a free copy of this product in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This review is not intended to be an endorsement.
Disclosure: Meeple Mountain was provided a pre-production copy of the game. It is this copy of the game that this review is based upon. As such, this review is not necessarily representative of the final product. All photographs, components, and rules described herein are subject to change.
In Lev Grossman’s novel The Magicians, young Quentin Coldwater and his classmates are transformed into geese as part of a graduation trial. The description of their journey from New England, all the way to the South Pole makes for good reading. But it also helps remind us of the effort that geese make in their instinctive need to fly thousands of miles, through perilous landscapes, only to turn around and do the trip in reverse just months later.
But we’re talking about board games right?
In the tableau building card game Flockers, from Mark Swanson, players take the part of a flock of geese making a similar journey, albeit one which takes just 30-45 minutes instead of months.
Geese is the Word
Gorgeous graphics and amazing components aside, Flockers is a racing game; the goal is to be the first to travel across 10 landscape cards arranged in a central tableau, called the flight path. These cards consist of one or more terrain types (mountain, forest, field, and lake). Some cards have only one terrain, while others can have all four terrain types.
In order to do this, players play flock cards from their hand into a traditional V formation. The first card is the lead goose, while subsequent cards must be placed into one of the arms of the V, up to a maximum of 7 cards.
Flock cards have several distinct characteristics: the goose type, a main action, terrain icons, and a bonus action; although not every card has every feature.
Main actions include abilities like
- Fly – allows you to move your flock token across one or more terrain cards, based on the icons on your flock cards).
- Navigate – take a terrain card from the public display and add it to the end of the flight path
- Graze – prune your flock by removing birds which no longer help you meet your goals.
- Swap – rearrange the position of any two birds in your flock
When sending your flock traversing across the flight path with the Fly action, you also need to be on the lookout for encounter icons. These appear on terrain cards and can be beneficial (the north wind pushes you to the next terrain card), or perilous (foxes eat one of your flock, eagles can eat multiple birds, hunters can cause you to randomly shuffle your flock, potentially breaking up multiple rounds of planning).
‘Silly Goose? Geese aren’t silly. They are bullies.”
To use a sports metaphor, Mark Swanson really swings for the bleachers. While this is the first game of his that I’ve played, his past efforts have been ambitious (2018’s Feudum) or sprawling (2024’s Fled). So it was with a bit of hesitation that I accepted a review copy of Flockers. It seemed both more limited in scope, and more approachable (no imaginary fantasy land or prison here).
But during our first play we chose to end the game halfway due to a number of questions which seemed to be unanswered in the rulebook—not a good sign. I fired off an email with our concerns and received a prompt reply, which helped sooth my concerns about the game itself, although the rulebook, and some of the cards, could benefit from a bit of rearranging.
Armed with my updated knowledge I played several more games, all of which went much more smoothly and seamlessly. My takeaway is that Flockers is also ambitious, but in a more achievable and approachable way. Mark’s goal was to design a racing game using the migratory patterns of geese as the central premise. When viewed from that perspective, I believe Mark nailed it. But knowing when to balance the theme against gameplay is the challenge; and there I think lies the rub.
Flockers is a race to the 10th card, and a racing game gives players an expectation of speed. However in this game, your flock token might be stuck for several turns because you’re setting the stage for a sprint. When using the Fly action you start with the lead bird and select one of the arms. Using terrain icons on each bird card, you can move to the next terrain card only if the icons match. If you get even a single icon out of order, you’re blocked. This means that you might need to spend several turns rearranging your flock, or even removing birds with the Graze action, in order to respond to the landscape in front of you.
In one game I didn’t move for a number of turns, but when I did move, boy did I fly, zooming through 5 cards in one go. That felt really good, but I didn’t love the time it took to get me there. As with any game with a shared card tableau you might simply never get the cards you need. In another game an opponent needed a mountain icon to progress through the very first terrain card, and it took him close to 7 turns before one popped up that he could select.
Before I wrap up this review, I’d like to take a moment to gush; and Flockers’ artwork is a good place to start. Matt Emmons’ illustrations are wonderfully evocative, you can practically see the expressions on the faces of the geese; the determination and the grit. Matt’s iconography is easy to read and understand as well. But the star of the show are the metal enameled flock tokens; they’re simply wonderful. Each bird has a weighted and color-coded base, with a slender but sturdy shaft that suspends a bird in flight. Truly one of the coolest components I’ve ever seen.
My original sentiments about the game after our first play felt dire. Had we made mistakes? Had Mark? But after more plays, including a solo play where I could focus on movement, I began to feel a bit more optimistic. I don’t think that Flockers is a game for everyone—the slow pace and methodical planning can seem at odds with the “light card game” vibe. But for people who enjoy solving puzzles, or games where they can take their time making the right decisions, Flockers might just take flight.
