OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Aug 05, 2023 8:00 am

Finally won a game of Halls of Hegra on easy, and I think I may be done.

It’s a fun game in the early going, a very interesting game, but it’s just so brutal towards the end that I found myself not really enjoying the late turns. I know it’s designed to play out that way, but a bad start in the early turns can make it feel completely impossible to win.

I also found myself doing the same thing on the same turns because it was the best way to prep for x,y,z. So it was doing a lot of the same stuff over and over in turns 1-5, then slowly watching all that prep get randomly destroyed in the second half.

I really enjoy challenging games, but this one may have been a step too far for me. Even the victory on easy felt hollow, as if I had just gotten lucky more than I had outsmarted the game.

I don’t regret the purchase; it wasn’t that expensive and I was happy to get a bit of war game experience under my belt. It definitely made me want to try some other games in the same lane.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Tue Aug 08, 2023 10:15 am

YellowKing wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2023 9:10 pm I'll shift the Hall of Hegra discussion over here now that's out.

Fun story, this weekend I traveled through Dayton, OH, and met up with an old gaming friend. He is apparently friends with David Thompson, who designed Undaunted (and who also lives in Dayton). The designers of Hall of Hegra contacted Thomspon as they were getting things together to consult with him on the design, since they were so impressed with Undaunted.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Aug 08, 2023 8:44 pm

Oh wow, I did not realize he was an Ohioan too (although I’m a transplanted Ohioan). He’s one of my favorite designers right now. I just wish Blacklist Games would friggin’ ship Dire Alliance, his horror game.

Side story: Saturday at Gencon I came across another of my favorite game designers at the Mindclash booth. David Turczi. I stopped and told him it was to the point where his name on a game’s box would often result in my purchasing it. He gave me a fist bump and thanked me for the compliment. But it was sincere.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Aug 12, 2023 11:45 am

Could not stop playing The Lucky Seven earlier this week while on a short vacation. It's a lot deeper than you might think as you try to take out threat cards with your crew. I hesitate to compare it to Chess (as I know purists get twitchy) but each of your units has a special power or move so the rounds are very puzzle-like in trying to figure out how best to reposition them on the map grid to address new threats each round. I never actually won a game, but did get much better after half a dozen plays. For $10, it's a no-brainer recommendation from me. There are people posting on BGG saying it's too easy, so either I wasn't playing something correctly or they were missing some critically important rules as I did not find the game to be easy at all. BGG page here.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:15 am

I cannot recommend 2D6 Dungeon enough. I started playing last week and it's just a blast. The dungeon mapping on graph paper took some getting used to, but it's a pretty elegant system. I even went back and ordered a small expansion for lairs after playing for a bit.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:20 am

That's good to hear. I went all in during the KS so I'm waiting for my shipment as it included stuff that wasn't printed as quickly as the core book (the lairs you likely just ordered and some cards, I think).

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:26 am

I got the cards with my core pledge. So it must just be the lairs expansion that was holding things up.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:51 am

Nope, not clicking. Not clicking.

I've got too many other solo games on the shelf that I haven't played yet that I absolutely can't just justify spending money I don't have on others.

So not clicking.

Well, maybe clicking and bookmarking for later...

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:56 am

Unless the pdf version is free. That I'd click.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 12:36 pm

That only goes up to level 1 in the dungeon. The full game has 10 levels.

Archinerd ended up ordering a copy of the game and the cards after seeing it at my place week before last. I believe he said the pdf's will be up on rpgdrivethrough soon. That's really all you need, so you can get it fairly cheap when it does.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 1:05 pm

One day, I will learn how to avoid the forum effect, but today is not that day.
Luckily I can't actually find a place to laye pledge or order from.
I'll grab the free one for now but if anyone finds a biy link for physical products let me know.
It looks super complicated with having to draw maps but it might be good brain exercise for me.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 1:20 pm

It's a husband wife team in England doing all this personally. You can late pledge from their kickstarter page. When you order, the designer (Toby Lancaster) or his wife (Jo) will respond to you directly, that's how small they are. It's what Kickstarter should be, in my opinion. It feels like Kickstarter has become a giant pre ordering system for the large companies. This is a nice reminder it can be used to help a small business get an idea off the ground.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 2:06 pm

Thanks.
I went with paperback version so I could spend more on extras.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 3:03 pm

That's what I went with too. Although I may upgrade if they have a future kickstarter for expansions. I enjoy supporting such a small developer.

You should get the PDFs too with your paperback edition. So you can start playing!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 3:33 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2023 12:36 pm That only goes up to level 1 in the dungeon. The full game has 10 levels.

Well... well... fine then!

Ruin my day, will ya?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 6:17 pm

But you could still get an idea if it’s for you in one level. No harm in trying it.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 6:21 pm

No. I'm not talking to you. You ruined my fun.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2023 6:23 pm

That I wasn't actually planning on having - I figure it'll sit on my desktop for an extended period. Like I said, I have a number of other solo games I've collected that I haven't gotten around to playing, mostly because I've been more involved in some of my other interests over the past year or two.

But I'll get back to it.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Fri Sep 22, 2023 2:58 pm

I've been eyeing Mr. President from GMT games for a while. I was initially put off by the large table footprint but then I saw they had a Vassal module. So I was all set to buy but then the $100+ price tag was a bit too much for me. Then I saw that GMT was going to do a 2nd printing, which includes updating some balance issues and incorporating fixes that were in errata and the P500 price is $69. So I went in for that, and figured maybe other people were eyeing this game and hoping for a cheaper price as well.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 7:29 pm

It's that time of year when I try to figure out Apocrypha and usually get frustrated enough that I put it away. Been messing with this for the last few days and after getting the first scenario set up, I finally started playing again last night. I was expecting frustration, however, this time, I think I finally made progress; I think I am genuinely understanding it now!

I think it's closer to the Lord of the Rings card game by FFG than the Pathfinder card game that is actually based on these mechanics. I say that because it's not a straight line from when you try and resolve a card in front of you to a win/lose condition - there's lots of steps and sub-steps that can happen in between. Sometimes giving you more dice, sometimes letting you re-roll dice. Plus whatever the enemy is doing - forcing you to re-roll or trash dice you've already rolled. I think that's where I struggled. Between trying to puzzle out the game's weird syntax and thinking it was more like Pathfinder, I just couldn't process how to handle a turn. But for whatever reason, now it's starting to make sense. Maybe I've gone insane enough that it's getting clearer?

Regardless, once you can get that "flow" down (which for me was a matter of watching lots of tutorials and reading better documentation), I feel like it's starting to make sense and most importantly, I'm liking it. I'm still taking it insanely slow and only playing it two-handed (which is making it more difficult), but I've made it through a few rounds already and now I want to go back and re-read the manual to make sure I'm doing it all correctly, but it feels mostly right.

Given the game's theme and the time of year, I figured I'd give it a bump.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:11 pm

I have Apocrypha, plus some (or all?) of the expansions. I picked it up in a closeout somewhere. I tried to get into it once, but I've got enough other games that aren't so... like that.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:33 pm

I don't have many games that I've held on to this long after trying multiple times to figure it out. It's dense - not gonna lie. It also has a poorly written rule book, which is odd given the creator has given talks on writing rule books. It's not even intuitive (at first), but I do feel like it's finally starting to click into place. I'm overwhelmingly interested in the theme and the art which is one of the reasons I keep trying. It's not nearly as accessible as Arkham Horror the LCG or even Marvel Champions; it's very layered and I'm thinking my previous connection/experience with the Pathfinder card game was really messing with my ability to really understand how this works because it's both eerily familiar and yet so much more complicated at the same time.

Anyway, this was the most helpful video and there are two files on BGG that have been invaluable. The Junior Devil's Guidebook and his Chapter Mission Summaries. Once you can process the needlessly convoluted (but thematic) syntax, it really all starts to fall into place. There was an official rule book re-write in 2018 (2 years after the core game came out), but I honestly haven't looked at that yet; the above resources were good enough to get me started.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 8:58 pm

Apocrypha is one of my biggest Kickstarter disappointments. I simply could not find any fun in it whatsoever. I sold the whole thing for almost what I paid for it though.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 9:10 pm

I was right there with you. I mean, it's been sitting on my shelf sorted and mostly untouched for ~6 years. I don't get the sense it was ever really popular, but it's definitely a lot deeper and mechanically complex than I realized. That's not bad, I'm hoping it increases replay and/or variety for missions.

There are already so many "nested" conditions each turn - an overarching set of modular conditions that are always present for each scenario ("the structure"), modifications that happen has you play Omens and then additional modifications as you encounter and try to resolve tests that can happen at various steps. Once I realized that, it started to make a bit more sense and thematically it does work with what is happening on the cards / in the encounters.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 9:13 pm

I haven't played it in ages. But now I'm wondering if I was playing it correctly. I don't recall any of that...

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 9:35 pm

Well, as noted in the past, I own a digital copy of The Postman, so always take my critiques with that in mind.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Oct 20, 2023 9:43 pm

I totally get it - those three links above were so helpful in understanding everything I couldn't and/or was doing wrong.

So for example, I'm playing through the very first scenario ("Taking the Plunge"). As part of the setup, it says I must "Corner the Wendigo Along the Trail As the Hours Pass" and I'm thinking, ok, that's the thematic thing I'm trying to accomplish.

Nope. There's a deck of cards ("structures") with text at the top and I need to find "Corner", "Along the Trail" and "As the Hours Pass". Each card has a set of additional instructions on how to play the scenario. There's 13 in total and so every adventure (I think) will be some combo of three of those 13 with the potential for scenario specific rules then based on those cards. For these three it tells me I have 24 turns (the size of the Omen deck) and I'm going to draw one per turn. In addition, another card says the party can't move unless the Nexus (location we're at) is sanctified (i.e. "closed" from the Pathfinder language).

So right now we're stuck at the first location ("Motel") and the condition there is that when you start your turn you must recycle (bury in the draw pile) a card in your hand. In order to investigate (i.e. draw the top card from the Motel), I must play an Omen and depending on what Omen I play that card might not only impact the card that is revealed from the Motel location but it also might change the Motel from a "Doom" to a "Hope" location. If that happens, the nested benefit of having to recycle a card then changes to being able to draw one more card each round during the hand refresh.

Regardless, I play an Omen and then reveal the top card. I played a Doom omen so nothing changes, but the Omen prohibits me from using Rage cards. My character's Rage is his lowest score, so I feel that's a safe penalty to take in order to investigate. It's a threat - something I need to fight. I look at my hand and come up with being able to roll 2 dice based on my skills. I also have a matching keyword on my character ("Charm") that matches the same word on the threat, so that's one bonus die. I then decide to play a card that gives me another bonus die; I now roll 4. I can only use my highest three so that seems like a good plan. However, the enemy card says I must ignore the highest rolled die, which isn't great. So I get an ally at my location to help me - they can add cards or dice now to my roll. However, once they decide to help me, I now have to "mutate" the event by drawing *another* card and rolling a die. That outcome modifies the encounter *again* by forcing me to discard a card in my hand with the "gift" label - a card I was planning on using after the dice are rolled to re-roll the lowest die. That's not good. But with their help, I get two more bonus dice. Now I'm rolling two skill dice and four (the max in any one category) bonus dice.

It's at this point I roll them, discard the highest and count the highest 3 (of the 5 left). If it is higher than the target value, I won; if it's lower, I take damage (card loss) based on the difference between the target and what I rolled. The bad news is that because someone else helped me, they also take damage. Some enemy cards also add even more penalties.

Anyway, I know that's a bit much, but there's just so many things that go into each scenario, it can really change things. Hopefully that comes through with my ramblings and sounds familiar to what you remember?

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 12:59 pm

The setup, yes. I did understand that aspect. The specifics... are vague. I remember the Omens (counting the hours). And the good/bad. And rolling dice and being helped (I really vaguely recall having to roll to see if their help caused issues). I will grant that it seems confusing when written up like that.

But I don't remember it being too difficult when we played. I remember it more-or-less flowing. Though maybe I left out a part? Also, are they still doing the android app that adds an additional effect based on the day of the year?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 1:17 pm

It definitely flows once you understand it - the steps and when you can change/modify things. That's why I think it's more like the Lord of the Rings card game, which has an insane game flow. This isn't as crazy, but definitely not as easy to understand or explain. I didn't even include the specifics for modifying results - that you can change things before or sometimes after; there's multiple mitigation strategies and their associated costs. It can be a bit of a brain-melter to try and keep it all straight sometimes but if you like game where this modifies that which modifies this which will then change that (cascading decisions), this has plenty.

Unfortunately the app was yanked in June of 2022. I think there's a private Reddit page where they archived all the daily modifiers, but I'm not 100% sure on that. I guess because it was optional they felt they could just let it die, but for the "I won't play games that require an app" crowd it's just more supporting information for their beliefs.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:14 pm

Did you ever check out the app? I did a couple of times. But the daily 'event'? 'effect'? didn't apply to the scenario I was playing.

'"I won't play games that require an app" crowd' doesn't even compute. If there were folks like that, then they never actually looked at the app.

It simply offered one modifier per day. Often for regions (e.g. the Skinwalkers) that you weren't even likely to be playing. I'm sure there were people that used the app to determine which scenario to play. But it was definitely not required. And only offered a tiny bit of flavor and/or variety.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:15 pm

Also. People are weird.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:24 pm

Yeah, my preference is to not use apps as I'm trying to spend time "offline", enjoying the tactile experience of being in meatspace but I'm not militant against them - especially if they're done quite well and really add to the gaming experience. For solo gaming, some of the apps really do make a huge difference, imho.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 3:52 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 2:14 pm '"I won't play games that require an app" crowd' doesn't even compute.

I'm not in that crowd, but I'm next door in the "If it requires an app, I'm much, much less likely to buy it" crowd.

It isn't that the apps aren't good, it's that I don't trust that it will always be available. I can pull board games I bought 12 years ago in 2011 off the shelf and play them right now (and I periodically do.) Can I be sure that a required app will still be available 12 years from now in 2035, or that it will compatible with Android 26 (Gummi Aardvark)? The likely answer is that it won't, which means that any game that requires an app has a built-in expiration date, unless it's popular enough that a third party is able to recreate the app.

I'll still happily play them if someone else has them, and may even buy them if they are deeply discounted. But I'm unlikely to invest my very limited game budget in them.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 8:19 pm

Right. And that's fine. More or less my logic. But that's a reasoned approach.

Also, the app for this game was not one you had to keep open. It was literally open it up, see what the day's "tweak" is, then go play the game with that tweak in mind. I never got to use it because the daily tweak was never related to the scenario I was doing at the time.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Oct 21, 2023 8:51 pm

TheMix wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2023 8:19 pm Right. And that's fine. More or less my logic. But that's a reasoned approach.

Also, the app for this game was not one you had to keep open. It was literally open it up, see what the day's "tweak" is, then go play the game with that tweak in mind. I never got to use it because the daily tweak was never related to the scenario I was doing at the time.

It sounds like a list of the tweaks combined with a d100 would serve once the app dies.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:53 am

Yeah, I'm bit surprised they didn't release the list of optional changes as a set of tables in PDF form, but maybe it's just not a priority and/or there really aren't enough people playing that want it.

Fardaza · Post by **Fardaza** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 9:57 am

Been playing Oathsworn for the last few days. The app differs from the Story Book, but it's pretty well done. If the app ever goes offline, I still have the written story to follow.

Does anyone else feel that James Cosmo only does a half-ass job of reading the story in the Oathsworn app? I majored in theater during my first few years of college. His readings often sound rushed and unrehearsed. I get the impression that he's cold reading it. To be fair, it's a huge amount of voice acting that he's been asked to do. It is after all a 170 page Story Book. But it doesn't seem appropriate at times. It comes off as hurried and ... off.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 11:13 am

FWIW, most audiobook narrators don't rehearse, at least based on a few interviews/articles I've read. They usually read through it once so that they have a handle on the characters and don't discover that someone has an Eastern European accent 3/4 of the way though, but they then go back and just record it a few hours at a time. Based on what you said, I'd say it was more likely an issue of direction/editing (maybe they weren't experienced in the format and didn't give him enough time, forcing him to rush and do everything in one or two takes.)

Fardaza · Post by **Fardaza** » Sun Oct 22, 2023 12:10 pm

Right after posting the above, I did the story for chapter 3. It was very well done! I guess uneven readings are to be expected in voiceovers of this length.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Nov 02, 2023 11:42 am

My copy of The Gods Will Have Blood arrived over the weekend. I've been able to play it a few times already, since it's a very short game.

The premise is simple: you are a tribunal magistrate during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. Citizens from all walks of life are brought before you, charged with betraying the people, conspiring against the Revolution, or similar. You work through a deck of cards, each one representing a citizen at trial. You read the brief bio and description of charges on the card, then decide their fate - freedom or the guillotine.

Your goal is to curry favor with the ruling Jacobins, which generally means sending people to their deaths, regardless of their actual guilt. But you also have to uphold the legitimacy of the tribunal, which generally means finding people innocent. If you fail on either count, you will be sent to the guillotine yourself.

It's very thematic, in that you'll find yourself condemning others to death purely for your own self-interest. A great little historical game.