Small Scale Solitaire Infantry Boardgames?

[Arctic Blast]

JD, do yourself a favor and download some of the game guide sheets on BGG. I couldn't make heads or tails of half the rules in the game just because of how the rulebook is written, but a few pages later I was good to go.


Here's an example of play that looks pretty good : http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/68920/lnl-ewells-charge-example-of-play

Here's a Terrain Effects Chart that I use : http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/33862/terrain-effects-chart

A 1 page reference that covers fire modifiers and everything of that sort : http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/33861/reference-chart

And actually, here's a two pager that covers the above 2 for the newest rule set. Hmm...I need to download this!  ;D http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/33703/band-of-heroes-summary-card


This at least makes it easier to find fire/cover modifiers and understand how combat actually works.

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks for those links

I'm sure they will help hugely - but - I still feel I need to read the manual through.

I do have the 2nd Edition which comes with the v3 rules - which are apparently better laid out...and they may well be - but all I can say is they are considerably more diificult (or at least there's alot more to take in) than the Leader games or even Conflict of Heroes

But I'll stick with it - it looks a fantastic game.

Thanks again

[Arctic Blast]

Yeah, you do need to read through it once.

My issue wasn't with the initial read through, it was with finding information in there once I was playing. Conversational style rulebooks are HORRENDOUS for in game reference. I'm really not a fan.

[Jack Nastyface]

I would also recommend downloading some of the player aids, etc, from boardgamegeek (the 5 minute guide to LnL, etc).  Once you "get it" the system makes sense...but as Arctic B. mentions, the lack of structure in the rule book makes things unnecessarily difficult.  It took me about 4 re-reads to figure out basic combat...

[Arctic Blast]

I couldn't figure out the damn spotting rules, and it isn't as if they turn out to be all that difficult.  ;D

[MikeGER]

on CoH 2nd edition solo play add-on
JD, i had a chance at the Spiel in Essen to sit down with Uwe Eickert, who invented the Conflict of Heroes series and he gave me a deep preview/introduction -still on preliminary sheets- of the upcoming solitaire-rules-add-on for CoH 2nd edition game.  ...and it was estimated for a release in Feb.   

I searched BGG for some news and found this:   

info from Oct.
The solo module will most likely include 3 solo firefights. But they are very re-playable and each is almost like a stand alone game. A firefight has no set number of turns, but follows a historical story board. Once the story is finished, the firefight ends. (It takes a tremendous amount of time to build each solo firefight, MUCH more effort than an regular firefight.)

The rule system has been finished for almost a year and we have been tweaking it ever since. It is very tight and wonderful to play. I have been hesitant to give out more information, since we have had some intellectual property issues in the past year and want to have this system in print and protected. 

The module will include a deck of cards that drive the unit activation and game, extra counters for 'rumored enemy' and stray cows, etc., Story board layouts for each firefight, rules, AI map movement priorities, and the box.
from: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/936530/guadalcanal-or-this-for-solitaire

and from yesterday
...we will be including 3 solo firefight storyboards in the AtB Solo expansion box, but are already working on more. The box includes everything needed for playing solo, including counters and solo card deck. We will be creating more story boards for additional AtB firefights.

Guadalcanal's Solo expansion will also be sold separately (and included for pre-order customers.) We just add too much extra stuff in the solo expansions to be able to include them in the game itself.
from http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/936530/guadalcanal-or-this-for-solitaire

[jomni]

Check out DVG games. They have a card based game like Up Front but caters to solitaire play. It's called Front line DDay. But links in the DVG site are dead. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/39383/frontline-d-day

I'm now looking at a game called Phantom Fury. A solitaire game about 2nd Fallujah.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/91010/phantom-fury

[GJK]

Phantom Fury was on my radar but I'm reading that it gets too repetitive and the replayability is limited once you've gone through the puzzle.  If I find a cheap enough copy though I'll probably spring for it.

I also had a look at Frontline: D-Day and I would love to watch someone give that a play.  I'm a huge fan of Up Front (can't wait for the new KS release to come out!) so I feel that I may be disappointed by Frontline but I'd still like to see a playing before just ruling it out.

Speaking of solitaire games - and it's been mentioned - but who's the big Carrier player here?  I believe he uses VASSAL.  I'd love to get some of his VASSAL logs so that I can jog my memory on how to play it again.  That is one fun game but very rules heavy.s

[JudgeDredd]

I'm not into card based games - thanks though and Phantom Fury looks like it falls short of my requirements.

Personal preferences that I don't want to forfiet

• Mounted game play surface
• Chits/counters (whatever they are called in your neck of the woods
• Absorbing art - it has to "look" the part

Clearly I've left gameplay out - goes without saying - but I wouldn't take a game without the 3 above regardless of how it played.

The DVG Leader games are right up there with my personal favourite. Great rules, great gameplay, mixture of card based and chit based and easy rules.

Conflict of Heroes is a fantastic looking game, rules were a bit more complicated (but I should expect that from the small unit action type game) but were easy to lookup for refresh. Beautiful mounted board and chits.

LnL Band of Heroes. Again beautiful chits and mounted boards. Rules look considerably more complicated than either of the above - but hopefully that will transpire to great gameplay.

I'm not a fast reader. Takes me about 2 or 3 months to read a 300 page book - mainly because I generally tend to read at night in bed. I haven't touched a computer game since getting LnL and I still have only read a dozen pages!

I downloaded the docs for gameplay and reference cards - thanks for the links - and hopefully I might just play through the example this weekend.

Not only does time seem to be running out as you get older - but it doesn't seem to last as long!  :)

[bayonetbrant]

Boots on the Ground?

http://www.worthingtongames.com/detailbotg.html

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68876/boots-on-the-ground

[Bison]

Worthington's Band of Brothers looks pretty good too.
http://www.worthingtongames.com/detailbob.html

[JudgeDredd]

Thanks for the heads up on Band of Brothers - I'll keep that in mind (although it does say 2 players)

[Barthheart]

JD, check out this blog on BGG. Jonathan has done a really good job of laying out what happens in a game of LnL's Band of Heroes. Down to writing down his plans and all the number crunching and die rolls for all the combat.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/16497/carentan-illustrated-session-report-rules-primer

[JudgeDredd]

Nice one - thanks

I guess if I utilised my membership over there, I might find some of this stuff!

[JudgeDredd]

I'm a bit disappointed with the print work. It seems there's considerable run on some counters (below are only the worst I've found). Whilst some are cosmetic, others are just missing parameters.

I don't know if I've just been spoiled by the other games I've bought and it's the norm to have overprint? But it seems a waste to me for Mark to go to all the trouble of making a beautiful game only to have a printer screw his work up.