Best Solitaire Games

[Nefaro]

I was able to spend a little time with Darkest Night base game, expansions are setting to the side for now.... and I like it over all.  I need to play through some more, but the solitaire aspect of it is perfect and the footprint is relatively small.  I wish there were a little more places on the map, however I need a proper play through instead of a ..... err can I do that.  So far though so good.


PE

Yeah, the game board initially seems rather small and limited but after you've played it for awhile, you will see that there are still plenty of difficult decisions to be made (even regarding movement).  The extra 'guerrilla war' theme, most notably represented by each character's Secrecy value, makes such movement decisions difficult quite often.  While you're out and about, it inevitably drops and your risk goes up in all facets of the game as it does so.  But raising it back up can take valuable time moving back to the safe zone and hiding there for a bit - you aren't searching for goodies and keys.  Even just avoiding the Necromancer when you've been exposed, later in the game, will burn up valuable time while moving.  The Risk vs Reward of it is pervasive and challenging.

I don't think I've quite figured out a preferred strategy for winning and my second game was won only by a slim margin.  One of my characters had actually been killed and the soft cap on the end of the time limit was coming soon.  It came down to a desperate gamble at low odds, which ended up working.  Fun stuff.   ;D

[PanzersEast]

I was able to spend a little time with Darkest Night base game, expansions are setting to the side for now.... and I like it over all.  I need to play through some more, but the solitaire aspect of it is perfect and the footprint is relatively small.  I wish there were a little more places on the map, however I need a proper play through instead of a ..... err can I do that.  So far though so good.


PE

Yeah, the game board initially seems rather small and limited but after you've played it for awhile, you will see that there are still plenty of difficult decisions to be made (even regarding movement).  The extra 'guerrilla war' theme, most notably represented by each character's Secrecy value, makes such movement decisions difficult quite often.  While you're out and about, it inevitably drops and your risk goes up in all facets of the game as it does so.  But raising it back up can take valuable time moving back to the safe zone and hiding there for a bit - you aren't searching for goodies and keys.  Even just avoiding the Necromancer when you've been exposed, later in the game, will burn up valuable time while moving.  The Risk vs Reward of it is pervasive and challenging.

I don't think I've quite figured out a preferred strategy for winning and my second game was won only by a slim margin.  One of my characters had actually been killed and the soft cap on the end of the time limit was coming soon.  It came down to a desperate gamble at low odds, which ended up working.  Fun stuff.   ;D

I see they are testing another expansion.... man those things are rolling out.  Overall I really like the game, very thematic as I really love the artwork.

PE

[PanzersEast]

After spending some more time with Darkest Night I do not have a issue with the game board.  The game is quit interesting and fun.  So far I really enjoy it.  I have the expansions, however will give it another play-through before diving into those.  Thumbs up to VPG for this one, maybe my favorite game from them replacing Cruel Necessity.


PE

[PanzersEast]

Did a play-through lastnight of Darkest Night and won the game.  Either I was very luck, or the game is somewhat easy to beat.... but in the end I won fairly comfortably.  Will have to play through again and see if it was just a fluke.


PE

[Nefaro]

Did a play-through lastnight of Darkest Night and won the game.  Either I was very luck, or the game is somewhat easy to beat.... but in the end I won fairly comfortably.  Will have to play through again and see if it was just a fluke.


PE

My first game ended in defeat and my second was a win but it was pretty shaky and down to the wire.

Perhaps you just got a good combo of ability cards or something?  I find it challenging because you tend to steadily lose 'Secrecy' while out and about and the lower that is, the more damage you take.  The card draws often steadily wear me down once that gets started, too, and I have to risk getting characters killed or sending them back to the monastery to hide & heal a few turns.  While you get to replace a dead character with a new one, you end up losing a turn or two and the new character is gimped due to lowered maximum stats. 

Then it gets even nastier once the Darkness track has advanced so much that it's penalties are being factored in more & more.  Ultimately, it's the advancing Darkness track (or whatever it's called) that really puts the hurt on, later in the game.   Between that and my characters being exposed and clinging to life at that point, it gets dicey unless I have some killer ability combo on some of them.  That's what helped me win the last game. 

For these two games, I had just picked out some classes that sounded interesting without checking out their abilities.  I think the manual says to choose randomly (?) so I'll probably do it completely randomly now that I know how some of the classes work.  This should keep the challenge up.

[Nefaro]

I may have built up enough courage to start learning The Republic Of Rome.

I had picked up the Valley Games reprint awhile back.  The components look great.  However, learning the manual looks like a real bitch.  I'm a bit familiar with the basics of how the Roman Republican senate worked, so hopefully that will make it easier.  There are some basic summaries of how the game flows so I'm priming before doing the reading.

[Nefaro]

Well.. the basic rules for The Republic Of Rome weren't a bad read, it's mostly about getting the large turn sequence and phases down.  However the Solitaire/2-player rules are what will obviously take some learning-while-doing.  It has pretty much a programmed set of "neutral" players (4 of them in solitaire) and there are a lot of calculations and comparisons in each part of the game turn to determine what they will do in any situation.  Unfortunately it doesn't have any flow charts, just the reading in the manual.  Maybe someone at the 'Geek created one I can download.  ???

I may hit the local game store tomorrow and see what's about.  I'm tempted to pick up Robinson Crusoe, although I was hoping not to spend that much.  I think that thing is about $80 isn't it?

[Arctic Blast]

I may hit the local game store tomorrow and see what's about.  I'm tempted to pick up Robinson Crusoe, although I was hoping not to spend that much.  I think that thing is about $80 isn't it?

Not really sure what the MSRP of that one is. I got it in a trade.  ;D

It is a very interesting solitaire game, though. Your first session will be something of a mess, with constant checking of rulebook/cheat sheets for reminders on how things work. The entire back cover of the rules is nothing but a symbols map explaining what they all mean, and we're talking small font to go with three columns of the damn things.

Once you get a game under your belt, though, it starts to make sense and 'work'.

[Nefaro]

I may hit the local game store tomorrow and see what's about.  I'm tempted to pick up Robinson Crusoe, although I was hoping not to spend that much.  I think that thing is about $80 isn't it?

Not really sure what the MSRP of that one is. I got it in a trade.  ;D

It is a very interesting solitaire game, though. Your first session will be something of a mess, with constant checking of rulebook/cheat sheets for reminders on how things work. The entire back cover of the rules is nothing but a symbols map explaining what they all mean, and we're talking small font to go with three columns of the damn things.

Once you get a game under your belt, though, it starts to make sense and 'work'.

I'm used to such a learning process anymore.  It will still probably be less rule referencing than Republic of Rome's solitaire system.

I did end up purchasing Robinson Crusoe today.  I was also eyeing a couple others - The Walking Dead game (the one based on the cartoon), a GMT game based on some battles of the Sengoku Jidai, and Race For The Galaxy with the Gathering Storm expansion (has an interesting programmed solitaire opponent). 

I've really been in the mood for some kind of medieval/samurai grand strategy type of solitaire-friendly game.  They had some grand strategy game for The War of the Roses there but I don't think it was very solo friendly.  The game with the sengoku battles was supposed to have high solitaire suitability but I think it was just a hex & counter battlefield game.

Anyone know of a good ancient/medieval/samurai grand strategy tabletop that has a lot of historical context?  It doesn't necessarily need to be solitaire but the closer the better.

[Nefaro]

Debating picking up the new version of Blackbeard.  It looks noticeably improved over the old 90s one.

I didn't realize it has solitaire rules, and it looks like the game isn't terribly expensive in comparison to many others. 

Has one of you played the newer one?

[Nefaro]

No?

Oh well.. I managed to buy the latest version of an unpunched Blackbeard on Ebay for ten bucks.  Cost less than the shipping.  ;)

[weateallthepies]

No?

Oh well.. I managed to buy the latest version of an unpunched Blackbeard on Ebay for ten bucks.  Cost less than the shipping.  ;)

Will be interested to hear how it goes, I've been thinking about picking it up. I have the old Avalon Hill version, but I just can't face that rulebook, it's pretty mindbending compared to the GMT one.

General feeling from other sources is the older version is better for solitaire play, but it's not exactly clear why. It certainly looks like it will be easier to learn.

[Nefaro]

I don't even recall how the old game played, as I've not owned it since the 90s.  I seem to remember the original being a bit of a letdown because I had expected it to be something a bit different at the time. 

I'm sure the situation is still the same, despite the new rules, but now I know what it is so I won't go in with much in the way of predetermined expectations.  Actually, I won't even have expectations based on the original game because it's been so long since I've had it, and I never really played it much at the time anyway.

[weateallthepies]

So a friend has a copy he doesn't want, so I'll have a copy soon. That was easy.

Last week I was mostly soloing:

Silent War - Trying a few patrols before starting a campaign in VASSAL I think. Rules are really quite good for this one, didn't have too much problem getting back into it since leaving it alone a few years ago.

Globul Mogul - Thinky, puzzly worker placement type game which I'm really enjoying.

Charioteer - from Two Hour Wargames. With all the Qvadriga talk, I thought I'd try some tabletop chariot racing. Going to start a campaign of this too I think.

[PanzersEast]

No?

Oh well.. I managed to buy the latest version of an unpunched Blackbeard on Ebay for ten bucks.  Cost less than the shipping.  ;)

Let us know how it is, I have seen mixed feedback on it.

Just traded  Dawn of the Zeds for Pathfinder....

PE