I feel like recommending PnP games again

 I’ve written about essential PnP libraries and PnP games that I feel would be good for budget gaming more than once. Unfortunately, I still think there is a real, possibly growing, need for that, although the very concept of PnP games comes with the assumption that people have access to printers, which feels like an arrogant assumption. Still, PnP games is one of my hobbies so that’s what I am working with.

Few disclaimers:

- If you this blog on the regular, there will be no surprises. 

- I’m focusing on games that just require printing. There’s a lot of good PnP games that involve cards and tiles and boards and such but I’m focusing on accessible games. If you’re already making cards and chits and tiles, you don’t need my advice.

I have said more than once that, if you are completely new to Print and Play, a good place to start is to go to Postmark Games and buy their whole catalog. Which I think is currently eight games so it’s not unreasonable. And if that’s as far as you go, you will still do well.

With that said, I want to highlight their first three games: Voyages, Aquamarine and Waypoints. Lots of content, solid mechanics and aimed at the general gamer audience. Accessible but full of interesting choices. Great examples of what you can do with Roll and Write.

All three of those games are multi-player solitaires, which is pretty common in the print-and-go niche of PnP. My next recommendation, on the other hand, is totally in your face.

Beards and Booty from Shiny Pigeon Games  is possibly the best Beer and Pretzels PnP game I’ve found. Pirates with special abilities beating the tar out of each other. Plenty of room for smack talk and other good fun. I do recommend always playing with sea monsters. They mix things up and make sure things keep happening.

Around the World in 10-15 Minutes also from Shiny Pigeon Games gets an honorable mention. It has a strong Ticket to Ride and a Roll and Write vibe and I really enjoy it but I also think it is very forgiving. When I play, it’s less of a question of will I do well, but how will I do well this time? That keeps me from giving it a wholehearted recommendation.

My last recommendation (at least for now) is Chateau from Rolling Rhino Games. It’s also the game that made me decide that I should post yet another blog like this. It’s a fill-in-the-grid Roll and Write, which is a ridiculously common mechanic. However, it has a bunch of different maps, each with their own special power. And it has interaction, letting you actively mess up other players’s plans. That’s when I said. ‘People can use this in their libraries’ 

This is far, far from a full list of PnP games that are out there that are worth your time playing. I will also admit that every last game on the list is definitely on the light side. And there are heavier PnP games out there, including ones that don’t require any construction. And I keep meaning to find the time to look at them :)

Still, like I said at the top, I think there is a real need for budget gaming. And this is my way of trying to help people find a way to do that. At the very least, I think I’ve put together enough for a few good family game nights here.

Looking at the second maps of both Voyages and Aquamarine

After I played the second map of Voyages, I really wanted to blog about it. However, I didn’t want to go down the road of writing about every single map in the series. Pretty sure I’d really start boring people.

So I decided to wait until I played the second map in Aquamarine and compare the two. Same publisher, same designers, both R&Ws  I think that’s fair.

Voyages - Marauder’s Reef

Ho boy. I quite liked the learner map, Trade Winds Blow. But Marauder’s Reef takes the core concepts you learn in Trade Winds Blow and makes them razor focused on one concept. Beating people up.

Trade Winds Blow did have one hex that involved combat but Marauder’s Reef adds fuller (but still very simple) combat rules and makes them the centerpiece of the game.

The other major change is the duty chart. In Trade Winds Blow, you filled lines to get bonus items. In Marauder’s Reef, it’s a flatout tech tree that lets you get permanent upgrades. This is a literal game changer.

I have been playing Voyages as a solitaire where games are only 16 turns and if you don’t earn three stars, you automatically lose. It is definitely harder to earn stars in Marauder's Reef, creating a more tense game.

Marauder's Reef isn’t a more advanced Trade Winds Blow. It is a different experience.

Aquamarine - Apex Predators

This map makes two meaningful mechanical changes to Aquamarine’s first map, Exploratory Expeditions. It replaces the shipwreck and their bonuses with research magnifying glasses and it adds in caves.

The research tracks are a very nice addition. Filling out a complete track gives you points but certain spaces give you special moves. Unlike the wrecked ships, you have more choices in how you use the research check marks.

Plus, most of them are in caves with the new giant squids, tying almost all the new elements together. 

Caves are special spaces that are restricted. You can have them in a box if it’s daytime or if you use a torch. And you have a very limited number of torches. Between the sharks (which take up more space than map one’s jellyfish) and caves, this map has more bottlenecks and tough choices.

Apex Predators isn’t just map one with a new arrangement. It’s a definite step up. With this one provision, I think you do have the focus on the giant squids to get the best results.

Overall Conclusions

When I first played both Voyages and Aquamarine, I was really impressed. I mean, it’s one thing for a Roll and Write to work for me since I’m kind of an R&W addict.  But I think anyone would have fun with both of them.

I felt that Marauder’s Reef definitely affirmed my feeling that Voyages is a game system. I was working with new goals and new mechanics. It could have been marketed as a different game. On the other hand, while Apex Predators definitely showed new things Aquamarine could do, it didn’t push it to that extent. And it doesn’t have to.

The second maps in both games affirm my first impressions.

Aquamarine - Postmark Games knocks it out of the park again

Yes, if I was going to learn Poatmark Games’ Voyages, I was going to learn Aquamarine as well. (And, yes, Waypoints and Battle Card are also on the list)

Aquamarine is a Print-and-Play Roll-and-Write that is designed to be a multiplayer solitaire. Which means you can shove in as many players as you want without slowing the game down. That seems to have been Postmark Games general model, making games that are Covid friendly. 

 

(Meaning low-cost-point games you make yourself and play via video conferencing or solo. Games you never have to leave the house for, as long as you have a printer)

In Aquamarine, you are diving and looking at marine life. The board is a grid with features like fish and rocks and beacons. It also has layers. The deeper you go, the more oxygen you need to use. You get three dives per game but you are limited by both turns and oxygen.

Here’s the core mechanic. Each turn, you roll two dice.  You’re going to draw a shape that’s as many squares as one of the dice. But, if you pick the larger number, you have to pay the difference in oxygen. The first shape has to touch one of the boats at the top of the board. Every following shape has to touch at least one side of the last shape you drew.

So you aee drawing a path of odd-shaped boxes. And you score points for the sea life you enclose inside the boxes.

Other tidbits: there’s a day cycle and a night cycle, which affects some of the scoring. If you roll doubles, you not only don’t have an oxygen penalty, you draw a shape with two extra squares. 

There are four official maps, including one that takes up two sheets of paper. Each one has its own tweaks and there are fanmade maps as well. I’ve only been playing the first one so far but I’m already planning on laminating _at least_ all of the official maps.

The core idea, drawing in a path of boxes, is very simple but works very well. I have seen the mechanic of being able to adjust the shape of the boxes before but very rarely. It’s easy to understand and intuitive but it also gives you a lot of interesting choices.

The end result is a really good game.

I can’t help but compare Aquamarine to Voyages. Same designers, same publisher, same mission statement. And I think Voyages is a little stronger. The duties charts allow for greater customization of boards and I find the game play more tense. Voyages feels like a game system to me while Aquamarine has, so far, felt like a game with multiple boards.

With that said, Aquamarine is still an amazing game. It’s really fun and the mechanics are really flexible. There are times when the more relaxing game play is what you are looking for. And there are definitely people who I’d recommend Aquamarine over Voyages to.

 

Between Voyages and Aquamarine, Postmark games has hit  it out of the park twice for me.