OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

[YellowKing]

I'm tempted, but having not completed Legends of Andor I hesitate to pull the trigger on another puzzle adventure. I just got the New California expansion in for Fallout so that should keep me busy for a bit.

[LordMortis]

Punching and sorting City of Kings wasn't as ridiculous as Gloomhaven, but it definitely took a lot longer than I anticipated.

When we talk about punching and sorting Gloomhaven is the first thing that comes to mind 2nd ed Descent is second.

I had Descent in three tackbleboxes and counting before they went 3rd edition and I looked at $800 in game I already spent that could be made kinda sorta but not really compatible moving forward if I spent even more money.

Sometimes I still think about going 3rd ed so I can play solo with the steam ap. Though, no one really talks about it after all of the initial hubub

[Smoove_B]

They're still doing expansions for the second edition, which amazed me.

Fundamentally, I just don't like the game's mechanics. But the app is great for solo playing (potentially) as it's handling all the heavy lifting. I like the app for Mansions of Madness so I'm not opposed to using it. But in terms of what I'd want to play solo it's just not a game I'd reach for.

[hepcat]

Descent 2nd edition without the app is annoying to me. I hate having one player play the enemy in my dungeon crawlers. But with the app? It's absolute gold for me. I'm looking forward to the upcoming small expansion as it will give me more variety in the classes you can play. Something I've been wanting for ages.

[TheMix]

Punching and sorting City of Kings wasn't as ridiculous as Gloomhaven, but it definitely took a lot longer than I anticipated.

When we talk about punching and sorting Gloomhaven is the first thing that comes to mind 2nd ed Descent is second.

I had Descent in three tackbleboxes and counting before they went 3rd edition and I looked at $800 in game I already spent that could be made kinda sorta but not really compatible moving forward if I spent even more money.

Sometimes I still think about going 3rd ed so I can play solo with the steam ap. Though, no one really talks about it after all of the initial hubub

Granted, I'm unfamiliar with Descent (any edition). However, I do have Gloomhaven. But it doesn't even hold a candle to the P.I.T.A. that is Shadows of Brimstone. Heck, I still have an add-on that I haven't even opened.

[LordMortis]

Have I messed up my Descent editions. I thought I had Descent 2nd edition. But from the way you talk I had Descent 1st edition and 2nd is what is current.

[AWS260]

I'm holding out for the release of Descent New Edition.

[Smoove_B]

You've got to cool it now (you're gonna lose control).

[Smoove_B]

For those that own The City of Kings and are looking for more, the designer just released over a dozen scenarios, a new campaign and two extended scenarios that are designed to be more open ended. All free, only the base game is required. Get them here.

[YellowKing]

I played a two character solo game of BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA the other night and won pretty handily.

It's an imperfect game, but I still have a blast playing it. The imperfectness comes from the pacing, in which Act 1 can seem to end right as you are hitting your stride, and Act 2 has the potential to be anti-climactic depending on how powerful you are when you face down Lo Pan.

In my game Act 1 was actually a lot of fun - I wound up completing all 3 main quests one turn before the Big Trouble track would have filled, so it was a nailbiter. Unfortunately that massive success made Act 2 a cakewalk that was over in about 20 minutes. Still, nice to come away with a victory.

The real test of the game will be tonight when we play a 4-player match with my regular gaming group. I've read that the game is only a true challenge at the four player count, so I'm hoping Lo Pan will put up a fight and give us a run for our money.

[hepcat]

For those that own The City of Kings and are looking for more, the designer just released over a dozen scenarios, a new campaign and two extended scenarios that are designed to be more open ended. All free, only the base game is required. Get them here.

I was grabbing those earlier. Looking forward to trying the larger ones. Which one is the campaign though?

[Smoove_B]

I think the last two -- Create Your Own Adventure and A Fool's Campaign are technically campaigns.

[hepcat]

ah, okay.

[Smoove_B]

Finally managed to set up a game of Rangers of Shadow Deep, cobbled together with any number of supplies on hand. Setup took me a bit (mostly because I had to dig stuff out of storage), but I did want to at least share a photo of what it looks like for the very first (hopefully easiest) scenario.

Going to try and play through it after dinner and get better (closer) pictures of the action with a bit of an AAR.

[Smoove_B]

So after setting all that up, I managed to play through the first two rounds. Setup and round one took me a really long time, mainly because I was digging stuff out of storage to figure out what to use. The first round took me quite a bit as well as I was flipping through the rules. They're not complicated, but because of the RPG-lite elements (mainly the skills), I wanted to make sure I was thinking through my options correctly. Thankfully there are plenty of summary sheets and print outs to help things speed along after you understand how it all works.

This is what the end of Round 1 looked like:



My ranger character managed to one-shot one of the zombies, which felt pretty good. However, after that all the companions rolled terrible attack values and only my barbarian companion scored a hit, killing a giant rat.

The wardog I'd sent to fight the other giant rat was knocked unconscious after the rat rolled an 18 to hit. For this game, once you score a hit (and the 18 did), you then subtract the defender's armor value from the attacker's hit number. The dog's armor was a 10 and with 8 hit points, it was one-shot city.

So yeah, potentially very, very swingy because everything is based off the roll of a d20. On the other hand, once you have the mechanic down, it's also rather fast to resolve.

At the end of the round, you draw a playing card (in this scenario, there are 9 red cards, A-9) and whatever card comes out, there's a table that tells you what the environmental effect is. In this case, a building collapsed and any character or enemy within 2" would have been hit for damage.

For Round 2 I had to scramble:



I moved my Conjurer out of the way and she fired off a "magic missile" spell at the zombie in front of my recruit and killed it. The barbarian took a swing, missed and then retreated away rather than attempting another shot. The zombie activated on it's turn and closed the distance, but missed during it's attack. My recruit then moved forward to attack.



Now, because the barbarian was engaged with the zombie, the recruit gets a +2 bonus to his attack roll. His skill at swords already gave him +2, so I was feeling pretty confident. Rolled a 14, which meant the zombie needed to roll better than an 18. Not surprisingly (dice hate me), the zombie rolled a 20 - automatic success and now it lives another round.

A disease card was pulled for my random event which means any character that goes to zero health needs to check for disease after completing the health check at the end of the scenario. So while they might survive, there's a chance they were injured and would suffer longer term effects - not just from being knocked unconscious, but also because of getting a disease.

Anyway, I really like how it plays. It has a simplified tabletop miniature combat system along with skills, stats, equipment and leveling up. When I play through this, I get to add up all the XP and potentially level up not only my ranger but her companions. Before going on to the next scenario, I can keep my companions or swamp them out for new ones. It's all point based and you just recruit new ones and figure out their stats, gear and skills accordingly. There's incentive to keep the same ones as they get better, but if they get injuries clearly their use diminishes.

There's general scenarios included in the rule book and then a campaign adventure with branching story elements that can change based on decisions you make or how events play out. Given that you use bits and pieces of stuff you likely already have sitting around, it's a relatively cheap way to get some of your unused stuff to the table. I'd absolutely recommend it, especially for solo goodness.

[hepcat]

I have the rules for this. I should raid Zarathud's extensive collection of fantasy minis that he buys "for his daughters" and set up a game.

[Smoove_B]

For me, half the fun was digging through stuff and then setting it all up. I have so many bits and pieces that just sit around. The idea that I could repurpose them for this generic rule system was great. There's HeroScape, D&D, Games Workshop and Bolt Action stuff all mixed in there.

The rules really aren't all that complex and if you have any familiarity with skirmish gaming I'm confident it's something that can be easily understood. To me it felt like it had just the right level of complexity for what it's trying to accomplish. It also made me realize that I like the idea of Frostgrave, but this is so much better. Same basic system but more melee/range weapon focused and not slinging crazy spells at each other.

[YellowKing]

Picked up City of Kings today. FLGS had one copy left, and my will is weak.

The lady working that day said she had been eyeing it as well after the store managers had all bought a copy. Apparently it's very popular among the staff.

I managed to eke out a win on the suggested first scenario by one turn. I was very pleased to determine I didn't screw up any rules after watching Frank's playthrough of the same scenario. The rulebook is very good, and while I had to look up a few little questions on BGG, it was very easy to learn and played very smoothly once I got going.

While I understood Tom Vasel's complaint about "fighting a spreadsheet" when I generated my first couple of monsters, my initial dismay quickly turned to delight when I realized how this randomization impacted the game. One monster I generated was very low health, but its wicked reflect ability stacked with a lightning bolt made it well nigh untouchable. I had to gingerly tiptoe around it early in the game. Contrast that with a later monster that had a ton of HP but whose abilities wound up being laughably ineffective. I really loved not knowing what the hell I was going to be dealing with every time a creature tile was revealed.

The game is absolutely a puzzle, but I think the key difference between City of Kings and something like Legends of Andor is that the puzzle is being organically generated as you play. Every turn is a problem solving exercise in reaction to some new bit of information, and I love that.

I'm definitely going to pimp the hell out of this one though. Screw the standees - I gots to have them hero minis! Thanks to Smoove and hep for "twisting my arm." It's great fun!

[Smoove_B]

Awesome and glad to hear it was a win. I've also learned over the last few years that if Tom Vasel hates it, I should probably give it another look. Seriously though, for me the theme just oozes out of the game; I have no idea how someone could think of this as a generic set of spreadsheets. Either way, with the core game, the newly released expansions and now all the free scenarios that Frank just published there is a *ton* of stuff for this game out there. I might consider the actual minis someday for sure as I already like the upgraded components much better than the stock chits.

[YellowKing]

I picked up the Side Quest pack and the Heroes Mini Pack yesterday. The former because it was so cheap, and the latter because I hate standees for main characters. Plus the mini sculpts are really cool. Now I need to grab some MeepleSource tokens to upgrade resources.

[hepcat]

Story two, chapter 2...I will defeat you someday. But for now, I surrender.

[hepcat]

I've got Space Empires: 4X sprawling across my dining room table. As God as my witness, I am going to finally play this game this weekend. A game for which I own EVERY DAMN EXPANSION, but still haven't played ONCE.

[$iljanus]

I've got Space Empires: 4X sprawling across my dining room table. As God as my witness, I am going to finally play this game this weekend. A game for which I own EVERY DAMN EXPANSION, but still haven't played ONCE.

Yea! Which solo scenario are you going to play? My first game was the planet killer scenario where I put up a good fight but my empire eventually ended up in the planet killer's belly. GMT recently charged my card for the Close Encounters expansion so I'm looking forward to studying then killing some space ameobas.

[hepcat]

I'll probably do the same. But I'm going to add in the large hex tiles from the Replicator expansion, and the race advantage and alien artifact cards from Close Encounters. Those are more cosmetic upgrades than they are game mechanic additions/changes.

[$iljanus]

I'll probably do the same. But I'm going to add in the large hex tiles from the Replicator expansion, and the race advantage and alien artifact cards from Close Encounters. Those are more cosmetic upgrades than they are game mechanic additions/changes.

I'm a pretty big fan of the large tiles because they do look quite pretty. Also, easier on my aging eyes. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing Talon due to the large hex counters. Also it's a pretty cool system.

[hepcat]

And that's another game I need to get to the table. I've played the base game of Talon a few times, but I got the expansion when it was released...then promptly forgot about it. I should make it a Jim Krohn weekend.

[$iljanus]

The Talon rulebook has rules for merging Talon and Space Empires together for one big monster game that just boggles my mind!

[hepcat]

Yeah, I looked that over, but there’s zero chance I’d have the focus to last what could literally be hundred of hours of the two games.

[YellowKing]

Beat Story 1 in CITY OF KINGS on my second attempt. Woo hoo!

I didn't get the Heroic Victory because I took quite awhile to beat the last boss, but that's OK. I'm thrilled just getting a win.

[hepcat]

Story 2, chapter 2. Let me know if you can beat it solo with 2 characters. I can’t see a way to do it yet.

I’ve got Space Empires: 4x set up and I’m a few turns into my weekend long solo attempt with the basic rules and the Doomsday Machines scenario. It’s an elegantly simple system that really affords the player some depth of choice. However, the record keeping can be daunting for some, I have to think.

[wonderpug]

Does anything carry over from one story to another in City of Kings, or do you start clean at level 1 again when you go to the next story?

[hepcat]

Each story has around 3 to 4 chapters, then one or two "heroic" challenges you can attempt. But each story resets your character. However, you start off with more experience to assign your characters in later stories.

[Zarathud]

The challenges scale up hard so you are better off at the earlier tier. There is a point leveling up gives diminishing returns.

[hepcat]

I'll probably do the same. But I'm going to add in the large hex tiles from the Replicator expansion, and the race advantage and alien artifact cards from Close Encounters. Those are more cosmetic upgrades than they are game mechanic additions/changes.

I'm a pretty big fan of the large tiles because they do look quite pretty. Also, easier on my aging eyes. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing Talon due to the large hex counters. Also it's a pretty cool system.

The very first doomsday machine that appeared tore through my colonies. And I’m playing the easy variant, for cryin’ out loud. Lesson learned though. Get a few fleets on the board as quickly as possible, and worry about exploring extensively only after researching explore tech. I lost 3 damn ships to danger tiles in deep space.

It’s much more fun than I had hoped. I was afraid it would be dry and mathematical, but the theme really shows through. I still would only recommend it to folks who played hex and chit games when they were younger, but I would do so wholeheartedly.

After one more try, it’s back to City of Kings.

[$iljanus]

I'll probably do the same. But I'm going to add in the large hex tiles from the Replicator expansion, and the race advantage and alien artifact cards from Close Encounters. Those are more cosmetic upgrades than they are game mechanic additions/changes.

I'm a pretty big fan of the large tiles because they do look quite pretty. Also, easier on my aging eyes. That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed playing Talon due to the large hex counters. Also it's a pretty cool system.

The very first doomsday machine that appeared tore through my colonies. And I’m playing the easy variant, for cryin’ out loud. Lesson learned though. Get a few fleets on the board as quickly as possible, and worry about exploring extensively only after researching explore tech. I lost 3 damn ships to danger tiles in deep space.

It’s much more fun than I had hoped. I was afraid it would be dry and mathematical, but the theme really shows through. I still would only recommend it to folks who played hex and chit games when they were younger, but I would do so wholeheartedly.

After one more try, it’s back to City of Kings.

I survived the first machine but at some point I fell behind the eight ball and even though I took out the second one it was a Pyrrhic victory because there wasn’t many effective ships left to stop the last one. In my mind I sent a colony ship into the black in the hope of having some of my people survive...

I think once I get the Close Encounters expansion I'll try my hand playing against the a solo AI empire. There's a bit of a flowchart that governs behavior but I'll use the Replicators in the third expansion as an opponent since the rules governing their AI behavior is easier to manage. The motivations of self-replicating intelligent machines are probably easier to model.

[Skinypupy]

Descent 2nd edition without the app is annoying to me. I hate having one player play the enemy in my dungeon crawlers. But with the app? It's absolute gold for me. I'm looking forward to the upcoming small expansion as it will give me more variety in the classes you can play. Something I've been wanting for ages.

I was killing time at the game store yesterday, and started looking at this box on whim. While I should be set for a while on new dungeon crawlers (having picked up LoD and ToEE in the past two weeks), I have to admit this looks pretty intriguing, especially with the companion app.

Gods, this hobby that I have a sudden interest in is getting expensive.

[Smoove_B]

Descent (IMHO) is a very different animal. Yes, it looks a lot like a dungeon crawler, but what I've always hated about it is the timer element. You're never really taking your own time and moving through the dungeon, it's always happening at a very specific pace. You need to [Do X] before a certain number of turns or you lose. I never enjoyed that - I always felt like I was rushing. The app is cool, but it doesn't change the feel of the game for me.

Solo dungeon crawl games are quite varied. I'd likely urge you to ask for recommendations, otherwise, yes, it can get expensive to learn what you like and don't like. That, unfortunately, was my problem.

[Skinypupy]

Hmmm...I’m not usually crazy about timers either. Will need to look into this one a little more.

I had originally targeted this as a co-op game for Little B 10.0 and I, with the added potential benefit of playing solo. She seems pretty interested in it (had her watch an overview video), so I may give it a shot anyways.

[Blackhawk]

Now that I've worked out long-term gaming space, and now that I've got my new glasses and can actually see the whole table, I'm planning to really dig in to some of the games I've got set aside for solo play. First up will be the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Since a friend gave me the whole series, including all expansions, for Christmas, I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with it.

[Smoove_B]

Hmmm...I’m not usually crazy about timers either. Will need to look into this one a little more.

I had originally targeted this as a co-op game for Little B 10.0 and I, with the added potential benefit of playing solo. She seems pretty interested in it (had her watch an overview video), so I may give it a shot anyways.

It might not be a problem for you - there's no substitute for actually playing it. Prior to the app, the biggest complaint (and reason it never hit the table) was because the person running the game (i.e. playing the bad guy) was at a huge disadvantage unless they knew the rules forwards and backwards and at the same exact time, could manage reacting to and plotting against the adventurers. They were big shoes to fill and I think if you did it all the time (like, this was the only game you ever played), it would be fine. However, for the way we play, the characters always ended up stomping the overlord because he was always forgetting to do something or not playing a card when he should have. The app? The app never forgets or misses out on punishing you.

Now that I've worked out long-term gaming space, and now that I've got my new glasses and can actually see the whole table, I'm planning to really dig in to some of the games I've got set aside for solo play. First up will be the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Since a friend gave me the whole series, including all expansions, for Christmas, I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with it.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. This was the first game of its type (that I'm aware of) and while I liked it, mechanically it just eventually stopped working for me. I think we finished the first three story decks. Aventuria is the RPG deck game I wanted the PACG to be. From what I understand, they really updated/changed/tweaked the PACG system in future releases, but I never went back after that first core set.