OK. So I've been looking at getting a board game or two to get back into tabletop gaming. What are some of the board games you gents recommend for the solo player?
Two caveats:
First, this isn't literally a boardgame, it's a card-driven game.
Second, I own it but have never played it.
Death Angel.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=118&enmi=Death%20Angel
I have heard from a number of gamers whom I highly respect that this is the bees' knees.
I have found that MMP's Storm over Stalingrad is quite good solo, although not designed as such, there is an obvious emphasis on the German player to achieve objectives, but you can play a quite rational Russian response.
I've played it several times this way and enjoyed it.
What type of games do you want to play?
Some games I have:
LnL's Band of Heroes series plays very well solo. Tactical leve, squads and individual vehicles.
DVG's U-boat Leader is a solo only game. Control a bunch of subs as they try to sink lots of cargo.
LnL's Dawns Early Light also plays well solo. WWIII operational level game of Russian invasion of West Germany in 1985.
Well I spent sometime looking over LnL, but honestly I was overwhelmed by all the expansions and what not. I like the squad level tactical concept. Band of Heroes that the first in the series?
I also was looking at SPQR (not really a solo game I know). It was the one of the two last boardgames I owned and played. It's no longer in my possession.
As far as what? Honestly I don't really know. There are so many sites and games that it's not really an easy thing to get back into especially since most games aren't listed on sites as solo friendly.
I do like the look of Death Angel. A card based game might be more friendly in a limit space shared with cats.
Cats! The bane of all board war games.......
Band of Heroes is the first of the WWII part of the series. US paras vs Herr and para and SS in Normandy. There is a free print and play demo available to try out the system.
See here:
http://www.locknloadgame.com/_store/download.asp?Category=11
Death Angel is fantastic. Simple (despite what the horrendous rulebook might make you think) little card implementation of Space Hulk. There are currently 4 little mini expansions available as well, all of which are solid. The first 2 were quite small 0 one added a couple of new 2 man Space Marine teams, and the other a few new mission cards. The other 2 are more substantial. the Tyranid expansion added more variety to the enemy decks, with various Tyranid forms joining the Genestealers. The second, DeathWing, adds a whole new set of Dark Angel squads to join the Blood Angels.
Lock n' Load's Heroes series are all branches of the same base system. So if you learn Band of Heroes (WW2 - US airborne vs. Germans after D-Day), you know the basics of how to play any of the others games. Each module then has specific rules to cover era-specific things like helicopters, anti tank missiles and the like. I actually prefer the more modern iterations of it. Day of Heroes is you playing the events around Black Hawk Down. Heroes of the Gap is a Cold War gone Hot set up in the Eisenbach Gap in 1985. The 2nd Edition of Forgotten Heroes (Vietnam. 1st Edition of this was the first game in the series) just came out as well.
Pretty much any game from DVG is a solo affair. And actually, any co-op game you see that looks interesting is going to be easily solo playable...so Pandemic, Defenders of the Realm, Arkham Horror, all that sort of thing.
Quote from: LongBlade on March 29, 2012, 03:16:35 PM
Death Angel.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=118&enmi=Death%20Angel
I have heard from a number of gamers whom I highly respect that this is the bees' knees.
I've played it, but only co-operatively with my son. It was an enjoyable game of space marines against the genestealers, the mechanics seemed to work very well, and the interaction between the different Marine personalities was refreshing. One marine can boost the other type thing.
If you like Warhammer 40k, or Aliens, you'll like this survivor-style card battler.
Marco does a video review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdCglQgH98 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdCglQgH98)
Or heres a Tom Vasel vid review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFk3aNtpndI&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFk3aNtpndI&feature=related)
The solo games I have played are the second in the States of Siege games from Victory Point Games, namely the Zulus on the Ramparts.
I did an AAR of this boardgame (still got the last few turns to document) - but it should give you an idea of how it plays.
http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=895.0
Quote from: Bison on March 29, 2012, 04:17:41 PM
Well I spent sometime looking over LnL, but honestly I was overwhelmed by all the expansions and what not. I like the squad level tactical concept. Band of Heroes that the first in the series?
There's 2 things to know about LNLP.
1. There's Lock'n'Load Publishing, and there's the Lock'n'Load series of tactical wargames, a subset of what's available. For instance, Dawn's Early Light is a standalone, single game from LNLP, but is *not* a part of the LNL games.
2. Within the Lock'n'Load tactical games themselves, the base games all have the word "Heroes" in them: Band of Heroes, Forgotten Heroes, Heroes of the Gap, Day of Heroes, etc.
The stuff w/o "Heroes" in the title are all expansions: Ring of Hills, Swift & Bold, etc.
The base games have plenty of game in them that you almost don't need to sweat the expansions to have plenty to play.
So there's no really "series" per se, but there are dependencies for certain expansions. Ring of Hills (Falklands) requires Band of Heroes (WWII) - which is annoying - b/c you need the skill cards and some other components from BoH.
The upcoming Honor et Patrie is an expansion for Heroes of the Gap that introduces the French into the WWIII-era games, but only requires HotG to play.
the Victory Point Games States of Siege series is getting a lot of love out there.
Talking LnL games, rather than LnL the game, the WaW series are pretty playable solo, as is White Star Rising.
Also the 3 CoH games do have a set of 'rules' for solo play, although as games, they aint the cheapest tp buy.
If the Eastern Front is any interest to you, No Retreat! from Victory Point Games & GMT Games has a solitaire expansion that plays well to an already fantastic game.
Forgot about Nemo's War from Victory Point! you're Capt. Nemo on the Nautilus. Choose how you want to fight the imperial powers and what sorts of goals you're working towards and go to town. Gets harder and harder as you play...warships tend to start flooding the sea zones.
Bison, are you only wanting wargames or any sort of games?
My favorite solo games are the Dungeons & Dragons board games -
Castle Ravenloft,
Wrath of Ashardalon, and
Legend of Drizzt. If you get one, go for Wrath of Ashardalon or Drizzt. Obviously these are fantasy RPG-lite games, but they have a nice "tactical minis" feel to them. They are fairly light-weight games and not at all wargames. If you want something a bit "grittier" with guns and ammo, take a look at
Gears of War (I have a video review coming for this one) by Fantasy Flight Games. Again, it plays a bit like a solo-able tactical minis game, much lighter than Warhammer 40K but mission-based and fairly complex (has rules for cover, grenades, many different weapons to pick up and use, etc.).
If you are looking for something "grand fantasy" that has been described as "the board game version of Heroes of Might and Magic" then you should look into
Mage Knight: The Board Game. The second printing is coming out in April (probably 18th) and it was heralded as the best fantasy exploration game to come out in a long time. Several people I respect also said it was the best solo game they have ever played. It is expensive, however, and it apparently takes a good long time to play (1-3 hours even solo).
Lastly, check out my video review of
Space Empires 4X (http://grogheads.com/articles/vid-spaceempires.html). It really IS a wargame that you can solo very well and when you get some gaming buds you can effectively open this up to 2-4 players.
QuoteMarco does a video review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdCglQgH98
Spelk, total side note, but I actually know Marco. I have yet to meet up with him to play a game (he lives in the same town as I do) but we keep trying to get together and wargame.
I haven't had the chance to play my copy yet, but GMT's "Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001 - ?" has a solitaire version added.
See: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/62227/labyrinth-the-war-on-terror-2001
Really leaning toward lock and load band of heroes. I've had it in my nws online cart 3 times now. Nervous pulling the trigger.
^ I think it's a great game. The only thing I didn't like was the organization of the 2d ed rulebook, but it seems that the 3d ed rulebook has cleaned up many of the issues.
Quote from: bayonetbrant on April 04, 2012, 06:39:29 AM
^ I think it's a great game. The only thing I didn't like was the organization of the 2d ed rulebook, but it seems that the 3d ed rulebook has cleaned up many of the issues.
Agreed the ver 3.1 rules are much easier to find rules with. Still not up to the ASL rulebook... but not as many rules either. 8)
Is the version 3 rulebook sold seperately? I've only seen the 2nd editon LnL box.
Nevermind. I see what I was missing the 2nd Edition uses Version 3 ruleset.
2nd ed BoH contains the ver 3 rules... confusing yes but that's the way it is.
Not a war game but fantasyflights elder sign in superb fun, i have both board/card/dice game and the android version eldar sign omens. Which i might add has a upgrade and new expantion on the way.
Quote from: GJK on April 01, 2012, 09:17:54 PM
I haven't had the chance to play my copy yet, but GMT's "Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001 - ?" has a solitaire version added.
See: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/62227/labyrinth-the-war-on-terror-2001
The solitaire version of Labyrinth plays more like a math test than a game. I really disliked it (and it's Byzantine flow chart). I wasn't a huge fan of the game in general, but the solo game was monstrous.
Well I pulled the trigger on LnL Band of Heroes in addition to ASLSK Expansion #1. I've also downloaded the LnL demo to try and familiarize myself before I get a chance to break open the real deal in a few weeks.
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 08:02:37 AM
Well I pulled the trigger on LnL Band of Heroes in addition to ASLSK Expansion #1. I've also downloaded the LnL demo to try and familiarize myself before I get a chance to break open the real deal in a few weeks.
Both are very enjoyable ways to play tactical fire fights. Have fun.
If you have questions for BoH just post and I'll help as I can.
I watched several LnL youtubes videos over the last few days where the game was played through vassal/skype. That is something I'd like to look at doing in the future.
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 08:16:19 AM
I watched several LnL youtubes videos over the last few days where the game was played through vassal/skype. That is something I'd like to look at doing in the future.
Sure, any time. I think CharlesCab made those vids and they are good learning tools. I'm playing him in some of those.
Your world famous man!
For something Napoleon (and free) you can look through this...
http://www.labataille.me/Recession_Series_Games.html
I'm in the process of reading up on it and printing off the counters/maps. Looks very promising.
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 08:02:37 AM
Well I pulled the trigger on LnL Band of Heroes in addition to ASLSK Expansion #1. I've also downloaded the LnL demo to try and familiarize myself before I get a chance to break open the real deal in a few weeks.
Bison, I'll be interested in what you think about LnL system, as I'm pretty tempted as well.
I do have the CoH games, but I want something on a similar game scale but with more scope, which LnL seems to provide, and I'm too old and decrepit to think about going down the ASL route.
I'm going to tackle scenario #3 of VG Carrier tonight. Not sure why I'm making such painfully slow progress with learning this one. The rulebook is nice and meaty to be sure. Still feeling confident that this will develop into one of my favorite solo games.
In other news, I ordered a copy of Field Commander: Napoleon with some b-day cash last weekend. Lots of great reviews on the web for this one. Another good reason to get through the Carrier rulebook.
Quote from: bob48 on April 05, 2012, 01:13:05 PM
Quote from: Bison on April 05, 2012, 08:02:37 AM
Well I pulled the trigger on LnL Band of Heroes in addition to ASLSK Expansion #1. I've also downloaded the LnL demo to try and familiarize myself before I get a chance to break open the real deal in a few weeks.
Bison, I'll be interested in what you think about LnL system, as I'm pretty tempted as well.
I do have the CoH games, but I want something on a similar game scale but with more scope, which LnL seems to provide, and I'm too old and decrepit to think about going down the ASL route.
Well I'll be happy to give my perspective, but beware that I am an idiot. So that may slant my take on the game. Well that and these are my first boardgame purchases in over 25 years. OK. That's a lie too. I've bought Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Hungry Hungry Hippos and some freaky Elephant that blows butterflies out of it's nose in the past 3 years. But these are the first board and counter wargames I've bought, since the 1980's.
I would take Barth's recommendation and download the LnL demo. It's like 31 pages or so with a map, counters, action card and 20 pages of rules. All you need is 2d6 and you can test out the game too.
Huh - bet i'm a bigger idiot than you are - I've had more practice.
Good advice though, I'll try it and we can compare notes if you like - its a popular enough system, and I like LnL's products.
I have all the WaW and NaW stuff and they get lots of table time, both solo and with my 2 wargames buddies.
Well if I can figure out this whole Vassal thingy and you decide to pick it up, you have an open invite to my intrawebs gaming table.
Cool, although I must admit, my experience with Vassal has not been all that good, what with me being an accidental Ludite and all that.
I have no experience outside of my musing with the interworking of Vassal today, which I've basically somehow managed I think to download install all ASL maps, an overlay, some extensions and the new discovery that the ASL starter kit I decided to buy apperantly hasn't had it's scenarios ported to VASL.
See my post in the ASL thread - I just posted some screenshots and advice on how to join a network game. It's applicable to any VASSAL module (of which VASL is one).
I have some wiki info for playing via VASSAL online and pbem on the VASSAL website as well:
http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Getting_Started
I wrote that some time ago, so some of it may be a little bit outdated.
Flipped through the rulebook last night that came out of a newly open LnL Band of Heroes box. The counters are very nice. I was surprised that the map boards were as small as they are. Not a bad thing at all. I guess in my mind I was thinking they would be larger. The smaller size will work out better for me in the long run I think.
Quote from: son_of_montfort on March 31, 2012, 10:10:57 AM
Bison, are you only wanting wargames or any sort of games?
My favorite solo games are the Dungeons & Dragons board games - Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon, and Legend of Drizzt. If you get one, go for Wrath of Ashardalon or Drizzt. Obviously these are fantasy RPG-lite games, but they have a nice "tactical minis" feel to them. They are fairly light-weight games and not at all wargames. If you want something a bit "grittier" with guns and ammo, take a look at Gears of War (I have a video review coming for this one) by Fantasy Flight Games. Again, it plays a bit like a solo-able tactical minis game, much lighter than Warhammer 40K but mission-based and fairly complex (has rules for cover, grenades, many different weapons to pick up and use, etc.).
If you are looking for something "grand fantasy" that has been described as "the board game version of Heroes of Might and Magic" then you should look into Mage Knight: The Board Game. The second printing is coming out in April (probably 18th) and it was heralded as the best fantasy exploration game to come out in a long time. Several people I respect also said it was the best solo game they have ever played. It is expensive, however, and it apparently takes a good long time to play (1-3 hours even solo).
Lastly, check out my video review of Space Empires 4X (http://grogheads.com/articles/vid-spaceempires.html). It really IS a wargame that you can solo very well and when you get some gaming buds you can effectively open this up to 2-4 players.
QuoteMarco does a video review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUdCglQgH98
Spelk, total side note, but I actually know Marco. I have yet to meet up with him to play a game (he lives in the same town as I do) but we keep trying to get together and wargame.
SoM, I am thrilled to discover that you are doing reviews. You have a very similar taste in games to me. I'll be checking your material frequently. Your Space Empires video may be the ticket to convince some friends to dive back into 4x pbems.