by sam__th

I'm going to offer you this - probably too long - review of Postcard, the game from Fenrir Games.

Components
What I currently have is a prototype. Even so, the prototype is a version that I feel is very close to the final version, at least in terms of material, so I think it could be a good basis for judging the content.

The material is really good, whether it's the game board, the cards or the punchboards, there's nothing to complain about. A nice touch is that the postcards are of a standard size, by which I mean you'll be able to find them in the souvenir store on your next vacation. The same goes for the stamps, which are quite iconic, at least as seen from my window, and feature the classic stamp with the red Marianne, which, it seems to me, also mimics the size of the actual stamp.

These are details, of course, but I think they add to the overall ambience, and the art direction is truly qualitative, with superb illustrations. Each postcard is beautifully illustrated, depicting places or local specialities that I'm sure you'll recognize.

The set is perhaps a step down. Not that it's horrible and indigestible, but let's just say that the illustrations are simpler, more uncluttered and, I think, stand out from the postcards. We have, soberly, a map of France divided into regions, all in pastel colors. This at least has the merit of being legible and, don't get me wrong, it's still very pretty and the art direction is totally uniform throughout the game. No false notes for me here.

Youtube Video
The unboxing is in French, but you can see the components in detail.

I could perhaps find fault with the number of activity tokens. Again, I'm quick to blame it on the prototype, but it turns out that there are 13 tokens per player, the exact number required for a game. This means that if you lose one... you get the idea.

Turning now to the rules, they're really simple, taking up 8 pages, including covers and single-player mode, they're clear and precise, nothing special to say, you won't find any micro-rules, no exceptions, we're straight to the point and straight to the point.

How to play ?
It's pretty straightforward. You start with your game board, your 13 activity tokens, a postcard drawn at random, an objective card, 5 action cards and your standee representing your character, on a bicycle, which you will place on the starting region indicated on your objective card.

Each player around the table plays three cards from his or her hand. You have a hand of 5 cards, each representing a possible activity via a central icon. There are 3 of them: movement, camping and postcards.

Movement allows you, naturally, to get back on your bike and move to another region. Of course, this requires that the region you're heading for shares a border with the region you're currently in, otherwise, it's as simple as that.

Camping allows you to put down your luggage and take part in an activity in the region you're in. There are a series of dots here and there, representing what you can do in the area. There's plenty to choose from, including visits to museums, libraries, beaches, water sports, mountaineering, culinary delights and architectural heritage.

Once you've chosen your activity, you'll mark it with one of the tokens on your game board. An activity can only be done once, so it's first come, first served for each player.

These activities can potentially earn you victory points later on, but they can also give you a bonus. Remember that you have a postcard at your disposal from the start of the game. This card, on its back, offers a series of slots - three to be precise - ready to receive tokens, and each slot is also linked to an activity. If the activity you've just done corresponds to one of the unoccupied slots, you'll place a token on it - the reverse side of a stamp token - and you'll be able to directly receive the related bonus. These bonuses are basically a copy of the actions proposed on the cards, the stamp action, an additional action or victory points.

For example, camping and thus performing an activity may allow you to camp a second time, and thus activate another bonus, such as free movements that will allow you to move and arrive at the right place to send your postcard. As you can see, it's all about combos and linking different actions to optimize your turn.

The postcard allows you to obtain a new card from the river, made up of 3 cards plus the one at the top of the deck. If you're not interested in any of the cards, you can discard all three, replace them and finally choose one. Postcards are of course very important, and we'll come back to them soon enough.
In addition, you can perform extra actions during your turn.

The first is the stamp. It's an action that also uses the action cards, the one with the symbols, but this time for the color of the card. Each postcard has several stamp slots, in different colors. The more stamps a card requires, the more victory points it will earn you. By spending an action card for its color, you can place a stamp of that color on any of your cards.

The second is the postcard action. This action can only be used once per turn, and allows you to send one of your cards free of charge, provided it has the correct postage. Another small subtlety is that a postcard can only be sent to the corresponding region. You can't send a postcard from Normandy to Haut de Seine, for example.

Sending a postcard also allows you to receive a gift, such as a charm you can buy in a souvenir store, a small key-ring or a snow globe, allowing you to score victory points at the end of the game, or more practical items, such as maps or other point collections, allowing more direct bonuses, such as free travel or additional stamps.

At the end of your turn, you replenish your hand by drawing as many action cards as you need to have 5, either blind from the deck or from the river.
Then, turn by turn, you take the action that triggers the end of the game, when one of the players sends his 4th postcard. Once this has been done, the round ends and the points are counted, between those already obtained and those resulting from bonuses. The player who has accumulated the most points will be declared the best tourist.

Youtube Video
This Gameplay video is in French, but you can see the game in action and the auto-translate tool from Youtube is working well 😉

And what do we think of all this?
First and foremost, the game is very pretty - I'd dare use the word poetic, since the postcards clearly invite you to take a stroll, that's a fact - but above all, because the whole thing is standardized, there's no fault of taste, really. Mind you, the game does take up a bit of space on the table, not because of the large quantity of material, but because of the size of the postcards, for example.

The mechanics are simple, too, since the number of actions is limited and logical, with icons on the board that are clear, sober and logical. The simple mechanics and limited number of actions don't necessarily mean simplicity in the game, or at least simplicity in the race to victory, since there are several things to bear in mind.

The first is that speed is not the best solution. It would allow you to end the game as quickly as possible, giving you a small bonus of three points, but it wouldn't necessarily mean victory in your favor.

There are other ways to score victory points. You can score them by completing a certain number of activities, by buying souvenirs, by sending postcards or by using your objective card, which requires you to send specific cards.

And this is where things can go wrong. If you send cards randomly, end the game, scoring points for each card, and your opponent takes the time to choose and send the cards corresponding to the objectives, you'll have little chance of winning the game.

If, on the other hand, you try to optimize each turn, choosing activities carefully so as to draw bonuses that allow you to bounce back and optimize your turn, enabling you to perform more actions than planned, for example, then the odds will be in your favor.

Even so, don't expect to control the game from start to finish. It's perfectly possible to control your game and optimize your turns, but it's worth remembering that there's a significant element of luck involved, between the postcards and the action cards available at any given moment.

Action cards allow you to optimize your turn. Without them, or at least without the right cards at the right time, your turn will be lost, at least in terms of optimization. You can still use the cards to stick stamps, but if it's important to you to get a specific camping action, it's sometimes a good idea to get it before your opponent, so if you can't trigger the precise chain of actions to get there, it can slip right under your nose.

Of course, it's possible to compensate by using two action cards to replace a card you don't have, but given that you can only use three cards per turn, this too can quickly become a problem.

Postcards, too, can be a problem. As I've already mentioned, it's a good idea to try and post the cards according to the recommendations on the objective card, which will bring you more or less victory points at the end of the game.

Let's imagine a situation where two of you are playing, and you finish the game at the same time, with 4 postcards each, each of the same value. The winner will be the one who, setting aside all bonuses, has sent the cards corresponding to his objective, since this will earn him the decisive victory points.
This deck is therefore really important, and if you're slow to receive the cards you need, despite the river's eventual renewal, turn after turn, it can quickly become frustrating, especially if your opponents manage to get what they need.

Another concern is that if you wait to get the right cards, your opponents may not wait, and this can lead to the end of the game, with too few cards sent your way. Remember, too, that stamps are to be used directly: you can't use shares to buy one stamp, or even several, and hope to stick them all at once on a card, as soon as you've found what you're looking for.

The same goes for souvenirs. These are bound to appear one after the other, and each souvenir can grant you bonuses of varying importance, either directly or at the end of the game.

In a two-player game, this is quite manageable, since you can still hope to put in place a strategy to, for example, begin fulfilling a specific objective on one of the bonus cards, and then arrange, as quickly as possible, to obtain this card and thus ensure a more or less comfortable manna of victory points.
It's less manageable with three or four players, since you're much more likely to lose the card in question if the other players post their card before you, so it's another aspect of the game that's linked to luck, and time being against you, changing your objective in the middle of the game is almost impossible.

One last thing: bonus actions linked to camp actions on postcards are invisible until you draw the card in question. If your objective is to visit all the belfries to obtain bonuses linked to a souvenir, but none of the postcards you've drawn offers a bonus linked to this activity... I think you've understood.
What you have to understand is that there's an undeniable, omnipresent luck factor that you'll find hard to control, and sometimes even have to put up with.
Does this make it a bad game? Of course not, as long as you know exactly what the odds are: it's impossible to hope to totally counterbalance luck. Note also that it is possible to counterbalance all the “worries” I've mentioned: adjusted victory conditions (closing the game after turn XXX, for example, forcing each player to play differently), or unlimited activities for players and the obligation to do ALL the activities on the game board.

And so, if you don't mind the odds, if dice have never scared you, then clearly you'll find a game that's fun, really enjoyable, thanks above all to the quality of the illustrations and the material in general, a game that's also very easy to take out with any audience, a family game, a nice stroll around France, discovering the different regions, something I'd even describe as poetic in the end. All the games we played, with my wife or friends, ended in the same way: everyone had a smile on their face, because the games were enjoyable and, inevitably, each postcard, or at least most of them, was accompanied by a “Ho, do you remember?” and an unpacking of the most pleasant memories. And after all, isn't that what we want from a game? To spend a pleasant evening? Clearly, the game does just that, and more than well.

A game that's more than enjoyable, that's a clear change from dungeons and other treasure-keeper monsters, an ode to travel and discovery.

Youtube Video
The review is basicaly the same as the text you've just read. Again, in French, but the auto-translate tools is working well.

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