If you enjoy playing Flamme Rouge (solo), especially with the Grand Tour expansion, you have likely come across the Specialist Bots variant published on BoardGameGeek by Fredrik Stahre. Fredrik designed a system to make the automated riders use all the new specialist powers. However, playing this solo variant requires printing and cutting out a large number of cards. It takes up significant table space and adds a layer of administrative overhead that can distract from the actual race.
To solve this, I developed a web-based companion app*. It digitally simulates the drawing and playing of Energy Cards for the Specialist Bots, allowing you to compete against up to five automated teams without the clutter of physical card decks.
The Concept and Development Process
My approach to building this app was highly pragmatic: I wanted to eliminate the deck management while keeping the tactile joy of the board game intact. I designed the application strictly as a client-side tool using HTML, CSS, and native JavaScript. The app runs entirely in your browser. It performs no server-side calculations and requires no database. Instead, it saves your ongoing stage or tour directly to your browser’s local storage. This lightweight architecture guarantees fast performance, respects your privacy, and keeps the technical footprint incredibly small.
Screenshots: Specialist Bots App
Over several development iterations, I refined the features to support the nuanced solo rules. I added a dedicated Breakaway Phase logic for the first round of a race, an optional extended stage and integrated manual reshuffling options. Finally, I added three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, Hard) to properly scale the challenge, carefully tweaking the bots‘ abilities to ensure they push you to your limits throughout the entire stage.
What the App Can Do
The app takes over the complete card management for all available specialist types. Before you hit the starting line, you set up your race:
- Choose between a Single Race or a Grand Tour.
- Draft up to five bot teams, assigning exactly one Rouleur and one Sprinteur to each.
- Assign team colors to match your plastic cyclists.
Once the race begins, the app handles the heavy lifting. It simulates the draw decks, manages the discard and recycle piles, and automatically shuffles in Exhaustion Cards when necessary. If you ride a Grand Tour, the app calculates the carry-over at the end of a stage and keeps exactly half of each bot’s Exhaustion Cards for the next race.
How to Use the App at the Table
This digital tool does not replace the physical board game. You still build the track, place your riders, and move the plastic figures by hand. The app strictly replaces the paper decks of your automated opponents.
During a round, you simply call up the active bot riders in turn order on your screen and draw their virtual cards. You use the solo rules‘ color logic (green, yellow, red) to determine if the bot moves immediately or draws a second card to weigh its options. Once you resolve the movement on the physical board, you click „Done“ in the app. The system automatically sorts the used and unused cards into the correct virtual piles.
This hybrid approach keeps your focus exactly where it belongs: on the race track and your own tactical decisions, rather than on shuffling tiny stacks of paper.
Enhance the Code:
The code for this app is licensed under Creative Commons and is available on GitHub. Feel free to adopt or contribute suggestions to this project.
This is an unofficial, fan-made web app intended strictly for private, non-commercial use. I am not commercially associated with the game’s author or publisher. All credits for the Flamme Rouge board game belong to designer Asger Aleksandrov Granerud and publisher Lautapelit.
Credits & Disclaimer
This web app is based on a fan-made solo version published on BoardGameGeek by Fredrik Stahre. Fredrik’s aim was to make the Flamme Rouge Bots use all the new rules included in the Grand Tour expansion (specialist powers).
* developed with the assistance of AI to help streamline the coding and bring the project to life.
