Solo Boardgames

Started by Bison, March 29, 2012, 03:08:26 PM

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Bison

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? 

LongBlade

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.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

bob48

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.
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

Barthheart

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.

Bison

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.

Barthheart

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


Arctic Blast

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.

spelk

#7
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

Or heres a Tom Vasel vid review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFk3aNtpndI&feature=related

spelk

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

bayonetbrant

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.
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bayonetbrant

the Victory Point Games States of Siege series is getting a lot of love out there.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

bob48

#11
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.
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

GroggyGrognard

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.
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Arctic Blast

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.

son_of_montfort

#14
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. 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.
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