"Solo Naval Gaming" Topic

As time goes by, more and more I'm becoming a solo gamer. Anyone here do solo WWII Naval gaming? If so what do you suggest for handling solo naval gaming?

Are you talking miniatures or board games?

For miniatures you could use Mal Wrights Journey to the End of the Earth, WWII combat in the Frozen northern waters.

For boardgaming you could do Steel Wolves by Compass Games or Picket Duty by Legion Games.

Miniatures.

I have soloed many sets of naval rules. You basically need to define what the non player fleet will fire at and what to do when a change in direction is called for.

As examples: What will a fleet do when the enemy is sighted:'
DR1-2 turn to port, DR 3-4 turn starboard, DR 5-6 continue on course; fleet ships will fire at the nearest ship of the same class or one class smaller.

If you haven't already, you should go to the Solo Wargamer's Assn website. I know they've had a number of WWII solo rules for naval warfare printed in their magazine, Lone Warrior. Tremendous resource for solo gaming. The blog is at:

lonewarriorswa.com

I edited and published a booklet, Solo Secrets of Wargame Design, Volume 3 in the Secrets of Wargame Design: A Tabletop Toolkit of Ideas, Analysis, and Rule Mechanics series based on Wally Simon's articles. I released Volume 7: WWII Secrets of Wargame Design earlier this year -- the May issue of Miniatures Wargames reviewed it. Volumes are $19 USD each from onmilitarymatters.com (US) and whatever the UK pound rate is from caliverbooks.com (UK).

Contents of Solo Secrets:

•Simple Solo Guidelines: Morale, Data Sheets, and a Napoleonic River Line Attack

•Good Morning Vietnam: Cards, Squares, and Sequences

•WWII Efficiency: Too Much Damage, Loss Points, Reaction Points, and Combat Points

•Napoleonic Equality of Inequality: Simon's Theory of Fire Power

•Scenario Generation: A Line in the Terrain

•Speedy Solo Siege: Zones, Building Points, and the Passage of Time

•Third Time's Charm: Modern Solo Squad Skirmish

•Renaissance Squared: Grids, Groups, and Grinds

•Bad Blood in the Balkans: WWII Command, Control, Activation, and Quality

•Rules are Greener: American Revolution Response Chart and Efficiency Levels

•Solo Hastings: Flights of Fancy?

•NATO Rescue in Serbia: Pop-Up Squads, Prisoners, and Running Battles

•BONUS: The Wally Quadfecta: Universal Guidelines for Good Game Design

All the articles highlight the nuts and bolts of rules mechanics to help you (in Wally's words) "produce a game which keeps all players continually busy and interested in what's going on."

As Major Mike mentioned, Mal Wright did a couple sets of rules covering convoy battles ( Deadly Waters and A Journey to the End of the Earth ) that could work for solo actions pretty easily.

Joe Legan was working on a set of rules called Release the Hounds ( based on his Squadron Forward rules ) for WWII MTBs and PT boats. But I'm not sure if it was ever published. He was also working on an Age of Sail version called Sails Forward. You could try contacting him through his blog ( platoonforward.blogspot.com ) .

There are a number of boardgames that cover this, such as Tokyo Express, Carrier, Silent Victory, and The Hunters.

I used to play an Avalon Hill game that simulated submarines going after convoys in WW2. Convoy movement was somewhat programmed, but the game was still very difficult. I probably still have it somewhere.

It's possible that it was an SPI game, but it came in a cardboard box, not the clear plastic things SPI used.

Allen & Russ, Very helpful input thank you. I have never heard of the Solo Wargamer's Assn website.

Carrier and Tokyo Express by Victory Games are probably the best WW2 Naval solo board games out there. They are both superb at creating a realistic fog of war experience.

PVT641 thanks for this: I was going to ask the same question. I have some ship miniatures left over from the 1990's and taking them out I find the need to game them. If I find any solo hints I'll post them here.

PVT641:

Go to Russ's Solo Wargamer page (lonewarriorswa.com) and click on sample articles. You'll find "Simple Solo Seafaring in the Second World War" by Paul Le Long. It's a 9 page set of rules that you might want to try out. I'm going to do the same.

Good luck!

Great find Asterix!

link