"So, as we stay at home..........." Topic

…..some of us might, for the first time, give solo gaming a go.

So the basic question is:
what would be good inexpensive(read free) begining solo rules for the various periods?

And you never know, some of us who have never tried solo gaming before might become converts.

So this is your opportunity to add to the ranks of solo gamers

1st up WW2 Tank combat with What a tanker.
Since the action of a tank is based on die roll it can easily be played Solo.

Nope – Vassal or Tabletop Simulator for me.

Nordic Weasel's Five Parsec from Home series of games are solitaire. The original Five Parsecs, Gang Warfare, Salvage Crew, Officer Down have slightly different slants on the games but they all come down to a skirmish miniatures game. Straight forward, not to complex and reasonably quick games.

Five Leagues from the Borderlands is a fantasy version.

Two Hour Wargames is more complex, more chrome, lots more die roles to run the bad guys than Five Parsecs et al. Crunchy. THW is more than a skirmish game, you can do investigations and stuff but die rolls.

Chain Reaction is the more simple version of THW and it's free. It is a skirmish game without the background setup die rolling.

Anything from TwoHourWargames. You can start with Chain Reaction for free. link

If you like the way they work, you can spread out into anything from ancients to sci fi.

Use this site, it covers many era's, you can print and play all the games, there is even an option to color your own troops after printing.

juniorgeneral.org

Nordic Weasel's Five Parsec from Home series of games are solitaire. The original Five Parsecs, Gang Warfare, Salvage Crew, Officer Down have slightly different slants on the games but they all come down to a skirmish miniatures game. Straight forward, not to complex and reasonably quick games.

Five Leagues from the Borderlands is a fantasy version.

Two Hour Wargames is more complex, more chrome, lots more die roles to run the bad guys than Five Parsecs et al. Crunchy. THW is more than a skirmish game, you can do investigations and stuff but die rolls.

There are lots of two player games you probably already have that are easily turned into a solo game. For example, any two-player card activation system should work well, especially if the cards are tied to specific units or areas of the battlefield (as C&C does for the latter). Just give the Invisible Opposition a hand of cards, randomly shuffled, and draw the top card, carrying out the orders shown as aggressively as possible for "his" side. Restock that hand by adding cards when the rules call for them to the bottom of the hand, etc.. Give the IO the most favorable side to control and the most easily obtained victory conditions. You play the side that is weakest and/or has the most difficult victory conditions.

And of course, any game with an asymmetric scenario, especially one where one side is essentially a "ravenous horde," is often easily played solo— just have the horde always attack everything in sight/reach, and you control the "organized" defenders/commando team— Space Hulk, The Awful Green Things From Outer Space, pretty much any zombie or space bug game should be solo playable in this way.

Similarly, any game that involves a singular "unstoppable" attacker vs. weaker yet more numerous intelligent defenders also can work well— you play the defenders, and the attacker takes the most aggressive approach possible whenever a decision has to be made. Ogre falls into this category.

Finally, if you have Wings of Glory, TMP's own Herkybird has an excellent solo system for it, based on the opponent's planes' maneuver ratings and the orientation of the enemy in a plane's "clock" direction (the classic "12 o'clock, 6 o'clock," etc..). Roll a die, compare to the clock orientation, and the maneuvers for the IO are set by chart. It plays extremely well, and you'll be surprised how often the enemy "cleans your clock!"
His rules and charts are available for free: link

Yes, none of the games I've mentioned are free, but there's a good chance you already have them, so taking them solo will be free to you.

I have been solo gaming for years. I will revise some old rules and board games. I will also complete and edit a few articles.

Nope, I'm still going to the gaming club.

I have 0 interest in solo gaming. I'd rather paint figures or read instead.

I did a lot of solo gaming a long time ago (I guess that was before the internet), but now I'm more likely to paint and prepare scenarios for miniatures and role-playing games.

Never saw the point of solo wargaming, because I know what the other side is planning.

I will spend more time taking the flash and mold lines off figures prior to painting.

I'm with EC.

I've used Song of Blades and Heroes for solo play a lot. I usually just play both sides, but it's not very difficult to whip up "true" solo rules. The activation system works well for solo play.

Theres also Sellswords and Spellslingers, a dedicated solo/co-op version of Song. I haven't played it myself, but I've heard good things.

Edit: I missed that you're looking for free, these are not. Very inexpensive PDFs though.

From Nordic Weasel:

Cheers gamers.

From my good friends around the world, I know things are pretty rough right now. Some places are in complete lock down, many places have kids out of school or curtailed activities.

I hope everyone stays safe and take reasonable precautions, including frequent hand washing and avoiding crowds whenever possible.

A few people asked if I was going to do any discounts, since solo gaming seems to be the ideal thing to do right now. I wasn't going to, since I thought it might come across as inappropriate. A friend of mine told me a lot of people have limited funds right now, due to work uncertainties, so saving a few bucks might actually be a nice thing.

So I put up a bundle deal with Five Parsecs and Five Leagues, both at a decent discount.

link

If your budget is empty right now, don't forget we have a few cool things as Pay What You Want too:

link

Squad Hammer is the perfect thing if you want to take the imposed vacation to teach a kid some simple wargaming.

link

Clash on the Fringe is a huge pack of sci-fi skirmish gaming, likewise available at whatever price you want to pay for it.

I hope you and yours stay safe. The community of gamers has meant a lot to myself and Miss Weasel.

Another with EC !

Hardwired (and the expansion) for some fast and violent cyberpunk action.

link

link

Check out the free Rules and Games section of the SWA's Lone Warrior Blog : link

Various variants of FUBAR, for Vietnam, Sci-Fi, RPG, etc..

Free and quite entertaining.

Currently playing the computer game "Bombing the Reich". Day to day operations. The AI does well. Started mid Aug 43 and now into late October.

Dear ED`s

In view of the present circumstances this could crossposted everywhere !

I want to know who has time to do this!!!!##% I am up to 15 hour days at the hospital now :(

Joe

Strike Legion: Platoon Leader. This is not a solo game, not specifically anyway. But I play it solo all the time and you can try it for free here:

link

Even the free version will keep you busy for a while. It's sort of the Advanced Squad Leader of minis gaming. You can use sci-fi figures, WWII/modern figures would work just as well.

(God bless us. V for Victory!)

@Joe Legan: You are the man, dude!!! Hope and pray you stay healthy as you keep doing your vital job. Please PM me when the current solo-gaming boom comes to an end, hopefully before the start of Summer, and a new game or unit of figures is on me!

mad g
thank you for your kind offer. I apologize for venting. i guess i am overtired, stressed and jealous. am making decisions in which there are no known answers. hope to only work 4 hours tomorrow so should feel better. thanks for letting me blow off steam

joe

Joe,

Just checking in. How's it going? Hope you're doing well and that the public health situation where you're at has improved. Any chance you've managed to fit in a little sliver of hobby time yet?