Penguin Brawl Review – Heroes of Pentarctica

This is a game I bought completely on a whim a few years ago, and I’ve had no regrets since. I saw an advert for it online, right around the time I was focused on building my board games collection, and it felt like a sign. I loved the idea of supporting an independent publisher, so I gave it a shot. It’s one of the most unique games in my collection, so I knew I wanted to write this Penguin Brawl review for you all.

I must admit, the box was a little smaller than I’d imagined, but that just means it’s more convenient. It’s also one of those games that literally nobody I know owns, so it makes me feel special. It was just a relatively limited run by a small publisher, so I always have something unique to bring to the table. Penguins are one of my absolute favourite animals, too.

But what’s it actually like to play? Is it worth a purchase? Let’s find out!

Basic Info

• Number of Players – 2 – 8 players
• Time to Play – 30 – 45 minutes
• Time to Learn – 5 – 10 minutes
• Time to Master – 20 – 30 minutes
• Age Range – 10+
• Price – £14.95
• Size – Small
• Publisher – Team Custard Kraken
• Type – Competitive card game

Theme – Chaos Meets Cuteness

Do you like penguins? I sure hope you do, or the charm of Penguin Brawl is gonna be lost on you! You can still play it, of course, but you’ll be missing half the joy. As well as just leaning into penguins, this game goes hard on the humour. All the heroes have funny names, and I love seeing the silly puns the creators came up with. For example, there’s Arthur Pengdragon, Penghis Khan, Merguin, and many more.

The concept is that all these penguin heroes live in the harsh environment of Pentarctica, and they have to battle it out to reign supreme. They have access to a range of weapons and armour, and they fight to kill!

However, even though they are all technically murderers, this doesn’t feel like a violent game. The cheesy humour, the cute artwork, and the simple nature of the gameplay make for a very light-hearted gaming experience.

Gameplay – Simple Yet Deadly

So, I’m not gonna rehash the entire rulebook, but this Penguin Brawl review wouldn’t make much sense if you didn’t have a rough idea of how to play. Essentially, players draw cards at the start of the turn and then take it in turns to draw and play cards. Interestingly, you’re not limited in how many actions you can take in your turn, which is pretty refreshing. It allows you to save up cards for awesome combos, which can make some turns feel just so satisfying.

Speaking of combos, Team Custard Kraken seem to have thought pretty much everything through. Occasionally, you’ll find two cards that are very confusing when they interact with each other. They might have conflicting effects, or just otherwise not make much sense. In pretty much all cases, the publisher’s website will have info on how to resolve that specific interaction. In all my times of playing Penguin Brawl (which is a lot), I’ve only ever found one interaction that wasn’t clarified on the website.

You also have action cards which have effects that can help you. These could mean drawing extra cards, defeating an opponent’s penguin outside of combat, stealing one of their cards, and more. Using these along with your combat will help you get a resounding victory.

The aim of the game is to deplete your opponent’s health points down to 0 before they deplete yours. A simple objective, and yet achieving it is a wacky, strategic feat.

Combat Mechanics

I really like the combat mechanics in Penguin Brawl. They’re relatively simple, and sure, there’s room for improvement, but they’re fun to work with. They scale well, but only in terms of cards working well with each other to create synergy. Because whilst the scale is great on an individual level, it often leads to a mismatch between players. Taking an early lead can leave your opponent on the back foot for the entire game. I’ve very rarely played games where someone has been able to make a comeback after falling behind at the start.

To battle, you must put out penguin heroes. These will have an attack score and a defence score. These numbers can then be boosted with armour or weapons that you attach to your heroes. Deciding which of your penguins to equip your items to is a crucial part of the strategy.

On your turn, you can choose for any of your penguins to make an attack, and you also choose the target. Penguins don’t have to attack, and you may prefer to keep them to defend you next turn. When you attack, you want your attack score to be higher than the opposing penguin’s defence score. Any damage done reduces that penguin’s number (you need to remember it, there aren’t tracking tokens). You may need to attack with two or more penguins to reduce it to zero, and it resets at the start of the turn.

I like that the combat is so intuitive and simple, it makes it easy to learn, and saves your brain space for coming up with clever combos.

Win Conditions

To win the game, you simply need to reduce your opponent’s health points to zero. Now, defeating their penguins doesn’t affect their health points. You need to directly attack your opponent, and they’ll lose one health point for each penguin you attack them with, regardless of that penguin’s attack score.

There are some action cards which deplete your opponent’s health points, but you need to win on an attack. So you can’t steal/ remove a health point from them with a card when it’s their last remaining one. I like this rule, as I think it would feel really unfair to lose a game based off of luck of the draw.

The winner of the game is the last player standing. This is really simple in two-player made, not so much when playing with multiple players. You see, when a player is defeated, they’re not technically out of the game. They can still draw and play cards, they just can’t keep a hand as everything they draw is played automatically. They can’t use action cards, but they can attack with their penguins. So if you take someone out, they might bear a grudge and help your other opponents to defeat you. So you have to consider the social aspect of the game as well as just the combat!

I must admit, I’m very ruthless in Penguin Brawl, so I much prefer playing with just two players, as there’s less risk of being hoisted by my own petard.

Complexity

I read a few comments online complaining about Penguin Brawl being too complex, and I absolutely cannot fathom this. I think when it comes to modern board games, it’s pretty rules-light, and I really don’t think it’s difficult by any stretch of the imagination. The rulebook is really clear, and it honestly only takes about 5-10 minutes to read through the basics and get everything set up. You may need to check the rules a few times during your first game, but after that, you’re golden. It’s incredibly intuitive, and there’s a reason that the publisher recommends it even for kids as young as 10.

The only real complexity comes from achieving combos. Deciding when and how to play your cards, especially your action cards, takes strategy. You don’t need to be a super genius, though, and you should pick it up pretty quickly. Even on your first game, you’d be able to make some clever plays, which feel really satisfying. Weapons, armour, and trinkets all perform better when used alongside a specific penguin, so it’s sometimes worth holding out for that penguin.

I feel that when it comes to complexity, Penguin Brawl is a perfect introduction to action card games. It’s almost like a gateway drug. You can get used to the mechanics, have a lot of fun, and then later move on to more complex titles in the genre.

Components – Quality Without Extravagance

The game is really compact, and only has the following components:

• A 17-Page Rulebook
• 60 Penguin Cards
• 60 Action Cards

With the rulebook, only 15 pages are actually game-related, and and the last 2 pages are advertising the expansions. The cards are high quality with slightly rounded edges, and they’re really pleasant to the touch.

The Penguin cards are split into 4 categories:

• Trinket – You can hold multiple of these, but you can only have one in play at a time. These are one-use-per-turn abilities that give you a competitive edge.
• Penguin Heroes – These are the actual penguins you attack with. You need these both to defeat your opponents, and to defend yourself on their turns.
• Armour – These up your defence score, and also give your penguins an extra life, as instead of dying first time, the armour gets discarded instead.
• Weapon – These up your attack score. Also, just as with armour, they get discarded when your penguin receives fatal damage, giving your penguin an extra life.

The action cards are split into 3 categories:

• Curse – These cards lurk in wait in the action deck! When you draw them, they immediately get played, and will stay in play until it’s your turn again or they’re defeated (if they’re also penguin cards). If they’re not defeated by the time your turn comes around, a deadly effect will occur to all players. I like that it encourages everyone to work together, whilst leaving room for betrayals.
• Spell – These are useful cards that have special effects to boost your position in the game. You can play them at any time during your own turn.
• Instant – Like spells, you play these directly from your hand to gain an effect. However, these can be played at any point, even during an opponent’s turn, so they’re great for screwing up plans!

Artwork – Behold, Adorable Penguins!

I really enjoy the artwork for Penguin Brawl. It’s got such a fun, cartoony aesthetic, and it helps enhance the general atmosphere of the game. I love that each of the penguins has its own distinct look, and there’s plenty of attention to detail. Despite them all being penguins, you can easily tell them apart on looks alone. And yet, it’s also clear from the vibe that they were all created by the same artist. This cohesion helps the game feel immersive.

Another really cool factor of the artwork is the interaction between penguins. Many of the trinkets and action cards depict the penguins engaging in various activities with each other, and that’s really funny to see. I love how Team Custard Kraken have created this vibrant world full of captivating penguin personalities, and it shines through their artwork.

The only slight negative in terms of the visuals is that the font isn’t always to see. It’s a little blurry, possibly a printing quality issue. It’s still easy enough to read, but I just feel that the writing could be that much cleaner.

Verdict

Hopefully this Penguin Brawl review has shown you just what a fun and unique game this is. I love supporting indie publishers, and Team Custard Kraken created something truly special here. Although it’s unfortunately sold out on their website, and they’re not planning any future reprints, don’t despair if this is something you want to play! It’s easy enough to find (even brand new) on sites like eBay, and I’m sure there are also physical shops that may stock it. It’s one to watch out for.

I fully recommend this game, and it’s so fun for just a quick and casual gaming session with a partner or a few friends. It can get a little convoluted with more than 4 players, though, so even though it allows for up to 8, I wouldn’t recommend doing that.

Have you played Penguin Brawl? Do you have any other fun animal-based tabletop games? Join the discussion over in our Facebook community!