"Stuart Asquith's Guide to Solo Wargaming" Topic

Family and other circumstances make it likely I shall have to embark on solo wargaming for a while.
I have Featherstone's So;o War Gaming and have seen Asquith's book advertised for a fairly modest price. Is it worth having, if one is interested only in Horse & Musket solo games?

IMO no also I did not think much of Featherstone tomb ethier

the best set of solo rules I have come accross were on the net Free where you rolled a d6 and the result dictated the move ie to the left, to the right, forward half, move back, hold etc.

or more recently I have discovered Richard Borg's Command and Colours games which are card driven and easy to adapt to solo play. Of course it is a boardgame using blocks to represent troops but I use figs to represent the blocks

hope that helps

Once I will have the two armies painted, I will play solo games using only historic scenario and Might & Reason as rules.
Trying to do my best for each camp, it should work fine, as with M&R you're never sure you could move the Forces you want if you fail your activation test.

I did some solo ancient games with FOG and previously DBM. My main problems were not the moves for the armies but the set-up of the terrain and the deployement. So historic scenarios is the solution for solo games, and 18th century is a really great period for historic scenarios.

"I did not think much of Featherstone tomb"

Don, I am happy to say, is still with us! :)

But thanks for your advice.

Stuart Asquith did two solo wargaming books. The earlier Military Modelling version (ISBN 0852429347) is usually under a tenner second-hand. IMHO it is worth getting.

The later Partizan Press version, still in print, is more expensive and, unfortunately, badly proof-read and full of errors. It has some added material but I don't think it's worth the extra cost. The useful ideas can all be found in the first book.

Featherstone's book seems wordy and lacks substance. At least there are a few discrete scenarios in Asquith's book; the smaller skirmish ones are particularly worth a try. In both cases, some of the mechanics offered are pretty much tired out these days.

Featherstone tomb

Er…yeah. I am guessing you meant TOME!

Like others, I'm not fond of Featherstone's Solo Wargames. I just did not get much out of it. There are a few interesting nuggets in their but for the most part, I did not care for the book. Can't say about Stuart Asquith's book as I've never seen it. I think there is also a CS Grant book on the subject.

Hello arthur1815

Last month I sent Muskets and Mohawks off to the publisher where it is undergoing modification before release.

Although set in the French and Indian War I wrote it ground up as a solo/co-op game and you should find it most useful. Made sure to make it "forward compatible" in time as I play mostly Napoleonics these days.

The game is set up with players only controlling a company or so but you will find the solo mechanics useful and easily modifiable for larger games although I think using it to move corps around may be pushing it a bit!

Easy enough to take the solo bits and bolt them on to your chosen rules if you do not take to THW methods.

Game will be released by Two Hour Wargames in a couple of weeks or so I am told.

Also if you are looking for a solo play aid for a campaign game and do not mind a little role playing may I recommend Tom Pigeon's Mythic Game Master Emulator or even better the full Mythinc RPG. Tom gives you the tools to set up any environment you choose and then gives guidelines for plausible actions and reactions to occur mostly through the use of yes/no questions although there is more to it than that.

Getting back to Featherstone, I found his "Lost Tales", currently available from John Curry's History of Wargaming project much more useful for solo gaming than "Solo Wargames".

EDIT: Correction. "Advanced Wargames" has some very useful solo bits.

Always happy to talk solo/coop engines so keep posting as you progress!

Bob

No, SA's book from Partizan Press is not really worth it.

Look to the SoloWarGame forum on Yahoo and solo-oriented blogs for solo gaming mechanisms. It is cheaper.

Many years ago in Military Modelling they had a card based system for set up and method which takes away any 'favourtism' you may unwittingly display towards your much loved units.

You could try Piquet its great for solo play not cheap though.

Here's how I do it.

Run a couple of open book games where you look at all the decisions you would make as the commander of both sides. As you encounter decisions, document them into a table and assigned values using D6 or D10 or D20 or D100 (whatever is your preference). Try and think about every possible (realistic) option. Dont forget to add modifiers.

Over time and tweaking this will become a powerful AI on paper that you can fight against.

Moving forward and left and right is fine but can put units all over the place when normally they would move together to accomplish a goal.

Here's an example I have: If a Prussian element is on an Attack order and the target rolled from the table is the crossroads, then it will move full speed towards that objective. If it were to spot enemy at the crossroads, it may deploy and move differently to if no enemy exists. It may move slower again if it's neighbouring element is in contact with the enemy or has stalled with it's orders.

Think of cause and effect and also think that no unit acts alone.

David
wardepot.blogspot.com

I have both books.As already stated,they are more a collection of ideas rather than direct rules.The CS Grant "Programmed Scenarios" is more useful in that regard.However,you can pay through the nose for that one if youre not careful.I have always wanted to do sologaming,but I always wind up having a live opponent.My "alone time" is usually spent painting.

Thank you for all your helpful comments/ideas.

I'll give the Asquith book a miss. I purchased Grant's Programmed Scenarios when it was first published, and will certainly revisit it for my solo games.

I have both Asquith+Featherstone's books and was able to get some good ideas from both,even though I found I preferred Asquith's book more.

The Programmed Scenarios book i found to be invaluable for generating solo scenarios for whatever era (including future wars and sci-fi.)

Have used an adaptation of the Solitaire Advanced Squad Leader generation tables in many of my solo games.I posted a file online of the one I first created for Dirtside 2 if anyone interested in that link.

The best solo engine I saw for tactical gaming was one I was helping develop made by a guy named Leondus Hutchinson about 7-8 years ago.IIRC he has gotten out of wargaming but I still have the files.Will see if I can email him and ask for permission to post it online for gamers to use.

Mr. Thedrake, I would be grateful if you could share Leondus Hutchinson solo rules, if you would indulge me.