"100 % solitare games" Topic

There are many board solitaire wargames where the player only makes decisions for one side and the game system makes 100 % of enemy decisions, never asking the player to make decisions for the enemy, on any level.

What miniatures games are like that? With or without the help of a computer?

Two Hour Wargames for sure. Here are two freebies to give you an idea of how the games play. If you like total control it's definitely not for you.
Good luck!

link

link

There are a few print and play games. Pocket Civ is one: link

Of course for the tabletop, any of the Two Hour Wargames titles work. Full disclosure: I'm a 5150 fanboy :)

Alternative Armies has Solo rules for both the Flintloque and Use Me series of rules.

There are the 'programmed adventures' from Dark City Games
darkcitygames.com/index.php
They're like the old 'choose your path' books except the battles are fought out on a provided map with counters/miniatures.
The game system is a clone of the old Fantasy Trip system. There is a fantasy version, a scifi version and a Western version.
There are free rules and sample adventures on their site.

The new D&D Boardgames are that way (Wrath of Ashardalon, Castle Ravenloft, Legend of D'rizzt). You can play them solo or with friends, but the enemy is controlled by the game system, not a player.

Hi Pellen is there any way to see examples of these many board solitaire wargames systems?

It is late here now, but I can list a few quick examples:

Ambush! is my favorite, using paragraphs and look-up tables to drive game events, including the exact movement path (hex by hex) of every enemy unit. No enemy action is left to the player to decide (and this is made explicit in the rules). The first sequel Battle Hymn was also like that, but the second one, Open Fire, did not specify exact movement paths for enemy units (the player has to carry out instructions such as "move best possible path towards …" which is not what I would include in 100 % solitaire.

Two Strategy & Tactics games from the 90's, Red Beach One: Tarawa and Saipan use the same system. There are not even enemy units on the map, only fortifications (although some may briefly appear to counterattack, but are removed after resolving that). Obviously never a need for the player to make moves for the enemy, since there is nothing to move.

Two newer examples:
Fields of Fire (the system even makes some decisions for friendly units) and D-Day on Omaha Beach. The former use an abstract map with only a few areas, so enemy movement and orders can be specific without much difficulty. The latter has a hex map, but enemy units only move from one strongpoint to another (following arrows printed on the map), so they are in fact moving on a very simple point-2-point-map (unlike friendly units that move freely from hex to hex).

Many of the solitaire games from Minden Games. I only played 3, but read about a few more, and at least all those are 100 % solitaire. Typically enemy units do not move at all, or only rarely (triggered by random events).

… I think it is easier to list the solitaire boardgames that are not 100 % solitaire, but leave some decisions to the player. Can only think of Open Fire.

My hypothesis was that it is very difficult to construct such a system when you have no grid, since I can't think of ways to give exact movement instructions. But it looks like THW mentioend above do come pretty close, and it was interesting to see that (I'm sure there are a few other examples). But that trick in the D-Day game ought to work well in a free movement game too, if the situation is suitable for only allowing enemies to move from cover to cover, and you can set up some tables to decide when units run for the next cover. Maybe someone did something like that?

Personally I'm thinking of stealing some ideas from the boardgames to use in a grid-based solitaire wargame. But no very concrete plans yet.

Thanks for going to all that effort Pellen.
As far as table top rules I've tried different systems form books on Solo for horse and musket but a simple deployment by D6 worked the best for me.
Dice each unit. 1=left flank 2=centre 3=centre 4=right flank 5=reserve 6=off table.
If one Army had 25% more troops it was the attacker and the other the defender. If not they both were attackers.
If an attacker had more troops on a flank or in the center they attacked there.
No movement between zones was allowed unless there were no enemy forces in the zone and the unit started its move on the enemy side of the table.
The reserve was the key to the games. If any units/elements were lost from a flank or the centre the next turn you'd test to see if any reserves were released. D6 the number or less or 4+ if no line units left there. If a yes all reserve units were tested with 50% chance they would be transferred to the zones command.
The off table forces would be tested for each turn after the first. D6 less than the turn number for them to arrive. D6 for location 1 side of table left flank. 2. left flank 3,4 centre 5 right flank 6 side of table right flank.
These rules all work very well with the DBN rules we were using at the time for normal face to face games.
Now i just play both sides.
Another post on these boards have started me thinking of creating a solo campaign game for my Napoleonic minis. That's why I was interested in the board game systems. But now you've got me thinking about these old rules and that I could automate the entire thing.