Pax Pamini

Pax Pamini is an 18-card version of Pax Pamir Second Edition. It is a print-and-play game for free download. Thank you to Wehrlegig Games for generously granting me permission to create and post this game. Pax Pamini is a two-player game, but a solo mode is also provided in which you play against a crafty bot named Mikhran.

In Pax Pamini, players assume the role of nineteenth-century Afghan leaders attempting to forge a new state after the collapse of the Durrani Empire. Western histories often call this period "The Great Game" because of the role played by the Europeans who attempted to use central Asia as a theater for their own rivalries. In this game, those empires are viewed strictly from the perspective of the Afghans who sought to manipulate the interloping ferengi (foreigners) for their own purposes.

In terms of gameplay, Pax Pamini is a fairly complex tableau builder. Players spend most of their turns purchasing cards from a central market and playing those cards in front of them in their court. Playing cards grants access to additional actions that can be taken to disrupt other players and influence the course of the game. That last point is worth emphasizing. Though everyone is building their own tableau of cards, the game offers many ways for players to interfere with each other directly and indirectly.

The big twist with Pax Pamini is there is no physical board. Player tableaus are organized into four columns, with each column representing one of four regions. Thus cards are in two places at once: the player's court and a location on the abstracted map. A card in your Kabul column, for example, is considered in your court. But any roads, armies and tribes on the card are also considered to be in Kabul, and can interact with your opponent's game pieces in Kabul.

To survive, players will organize into coalitions. Throughout the game, the dominance of the different coalitions will be evaluated by the players when a special card, called a Dominance Check, is resolved. If a single coalition has a commanding lead during one of these checks, those players loyal to that coalition will receive victory points based on their influence in their coalition. However, if Afghanistan remains fragmented during one of these checks, players instead will receive victory points based on their personal power base.

After each Dominance Check, victory is checked and the game will be partially reset, offering players a fresh attempt to realize their ambitions. The game ends when a single player is able to achieve a lead of four or more victory points or after the fourth and final Dominance Check is resolved.

A note about Pax Pamini's components: there are 18 cards at the base game. The game is playable at 18 cards, but I recommend also using the bonus cards provided for a more streamlined experience.

—description from the designer