I dunno, the paper's not great but it works for experimenting on.

As for grids, if you color digitally it's very easy to remove light blue if you drew in black. So no harm in using a grid paper. I use programs and hotkeys to shortcut digitally having a ruler but I don't know how to do some results traditionally without rulers. So yeah, a lot more work. But it can still be eyeballed. Also both maps are delightful, you have lucky players.