This week is the week of small yet enticing board games. At the moment, there are several quick and charming games that look like they would be quite enjoyable solo. Plus, the price is right—all of these campaigns offer a game for under $25, including shipping. 1. Fire in the Library Fire in the Library is a charming filler game that happens to be about my worst nightmare—a library in flames. Your job is to rescue as many books from the fire as possible, both to score points and to be a decent human being. This game has fun push-your-luck mechanics, in that the more you push when trying to rescue books on your turn, the more the fire can spread. You also have to make decisions about how and when to use tools to mitigate the fire. When will you push your luck? Which books will you ultimately save? Also, the solo mode will involve competition against AI players, which means that one-player games will be a bit more robust than the typical beat-your-own-score affair. 2. Songbirds They say that the early bird gets the worm. But in Songbirds, the loudest birds get the berries. In this beautifully illustrated card game, you are a forest spirit who prefers a particular color of songbird—and who will try to stack rows and columns with high-scoring birds of your preferred color to ensure that your beloved birdies are well fed. This game looks quick, simple, and charming—but also strategic enough to provide a challenge. The solo variant of this game involves a beat-your-high-score race for victory points, but I think it looks like a relaxing way to spend a few minutes on a busy evening. 3. Cat Rescue If hungry little birds weren't enough for you, then there is also Cat Rescue. This game is a cooperative effort to save and adopt adorable shelter cats. The draw deck represents cats you are pulling in from the street, and your "shelter" is a 4x4 grid on the game table. You can make cats eligible for adoption by arranging the grid to create rows or columns of matching cat cards. The game ends either when you empty the draw deck or when one foster home is overrun by more than three cats. This is another game where you are going for the most victory points, but again, it looks quick and relaxing—and really cute.
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Hey gamers! We are headed into the last couple of weeks of March, and as usual, there are some great-looking solo board games to be found on Kickstarter. Let's get down to business, shall we? 1) Dragon Keepers For solo gamers who also play with their families, Dragon Keepers looks like a solid choice. This game is about dragon keepers who train dragons and protect them from evil dragon hunters. It comes with several modes of play, including a cooperative mode in which dragon keepers train their dragons to attack the hunters who want to harm them. The art has a fun, whimsical style that is cute without being overly "for kids." The game is definitely not custom built for solo, and you'd have to play by controlling multiple hands, but based on a glance at the rules it looks very doable. 2) Dinosaur Island This is as close as you can get to "Jurassic Park: The Board Game" without paying licensing fees. Dinosaur Island is a worker placement game in which you build a dinosaur park exciting enough to attract a lot of visitors... while also trying to keep those visitors safe from rampaging dinosaurs. This campaign also allows you to pledge for expansions and for Duelosaur Island, a two-player dino-themed face-off. I'm not planning to back this myself—I played a friend's copy and thought the multiplayer game was fun, but not enough for me to pledge $85 to play it solo. If the theme appeals to you, though, you should give it a look. 3) Architects of the West Kingdom If you enjoyed the "North Sea" trilogy--Shipwrights of the North Sea, Raiders of the North Sea, and Explorers of the North Sea--then you might enjoy this one as it is designed to be the start of the next trilogy that follows up on those games. It's a worker placement game in which you are competing for glory while building a city, and there is some choice about whether you want to progress as a fine outstanding citizen or as someone who is willing to hire thieves to get things done. There is a fully-developed AI system for solo players to compete with, as well. I'm not planning to back this one, myself, because the North Sea games are now all available in retail stores, and my Kickstarter budget is very small right now. But if you love games in this overall series and you want to get the Kickstarter exclusives, it may be worth it for you. Kickstarter is never lacking in options for solo board games, and this week is no exception. There are two solo-playable board game campaigns that look particularly good at the moment: 1. Palm Island Palm Island is a game that is literally designed to be played in the palm of your hand. The art is tropically themed, but the name is also apt for the way you play it. No table necessary! It may have only 17 cards in a player deck, but you can manipulate them in a number of ways throughout the game to manage resources and develop your own village. In the solo game, feat cards add to the challenge of the game and keep things interesting. I'm excited about the possibilities of this one because of its portability and general cleverness. 2. Nights of Fire: Battle for Budapest This game is a follow up to Days of Ire, which was very well received. In Nights of Fire, you can battle the Soviets solo, cooperatively, or against a live player who controls the enemy. The solo mode was designed by the maker of Anachrony's Chronobot, which means that single player games should feel more like playing against a live opponent and less like trying to beat your own score. Days of Ire and Nights of Fire can also be played in succession as part of an overarching campaign, if you're into that. I am definitely interested in this one because of its interesting theme and its promise as an excellent solo game. I wish I had more money! We're well into 2018 now, and there are plenty of solo-playable Kickstarter games vying for a chunk of our attention—and our hard-earned cash! I am currently only backing Aeon's End: Legacy and Donning the Purple (both featured last week), but there's a lot of other intriguing stuff out there. 1. Argonauts The second edition of Argonauts is now on Kickstarter, and if you enjoy mythology, monsters, and ancient Greek heroes, it might be of interest to you! Argonauts is a cooperative game in which your heroes must obtain the Golden Fleece and get it safely back to Iolcus without losing too many crew members—or the Argo itself. Fight monsters, manage resources (heroes gotta eat!) and hope that the whims of the gods don't mess you up too badly... This one is on my "saved projects" list. 2. Robin Hood and the Merry Men This game doesn't technically have a solo mode yet, but one is included as a stretch goal and I think it's going to happen. If the campaign hits $200,000 (it's currently around $180,000 with 23 days to go), then Robin Hood will come with a solo variant. I do not entirely trust solo modes that are added as stretch goals because I am afraid they will be tacked on and that they'll feel that way, too. But the Robin Hood theme looks fun and there is clearly a lot of enthusiasm for this project. I like that the game includes mechanics like building traps and barricading the roads to slow down the planes of evil Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham, as well as straight up combat. The game looks like fun, and I hope the solo mode will be, too. 3. Laruna: Age of Kingdoms Its name isn't terribly evocative, but Age of Kingdoms is a high fantasy 4x game for 1–6 players. (If you're into Dreamscape, Laruna probably means more to you than it does to me!) Players can choose to play different kingdoms and rulers each time, for highly variable games involving different asymmetrical powers. There are also multiple paths to victory, so you can go the economic route, choose combat instead, etc. The game also, however, advertises "heavy social interaction," and I'm not sure what consequences that would have for the solo variant of the game. The art looks good, and the plans for the minis look good, But the rulebook is clearly still a work in progress, and as of today, I did not see any solo rules in there. I would personally feel more comfortable if the game were less aesthetically developed but had a complete and polished rulebook. After a sluggish start this year, Kickstarter campaigns are really starting to pick up! I'm still waiting on some specific projects to appear, so I am trying not to make pledges right now. But a few games have definitely caught my attention! 1. Isles of Terror This is a bright, colorful game that is available with or without miniatures. It's playable in either competitive or cooperative mode, which means that solo will be possible. Each game can be treated as part of an overarching campaign that will allow you to play through a broader story, but you will need victory points to win—victory points earned through in-game progress and completion of objectives. If you dig pirates, exploration, and miniatures, Isles of Terror looks like a possible game of interest for you. 2. Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star and Xia: Missions and Powers Xia is a sandbox space exploration game with an expansion that allows players to enjoy it solo. There is an all-in pledge available for those who do not have the game but are thinking about jumping on board now. The ultimate goal in Xia is to come out with the most victory points, but a lot can happen along the way. You have considerable flexibility: some players will choose to build a vast empire as space merchants, while others might become space pirates. I have not yet played Xia myself, but it gets a lot of love in the solo community. If it sounds like your sort of thing, you should look into it further. 3. Fields of Green: Grand Fair Fields of Green is a farming game in which players draft cards, then use those cards to build the most satisfying farming engines possible. Grand Fair is an expansion that allows farmers to enter into events at the state fair and grow their agribusinesses in new ways. It also adds solo rules, which were not included in the base game. If you like card drafting, engine building, and farming games, you can add Fields of Green to the list of games with official solo rules. You can pledge for both the base game and the expansion during the current Kickstarter campaign. I'm still holding out for a few upcoming Kickstarter campaigns, but as usual, there are campaigns of interest for solo gamers that are currently active. 1. Nemesis Nemesis has a sci-fi theme and involves surviving in a hostile, alien-infested ship. If you like survival horror games that conjure a persistent sense of dread, this might be a good one for you. One of the more interesting aspects of the game, to me, is that it's more about survival than about killing waves of aliens—and there is a noise mechanic to encourage stealth. Stealth in board games is a particular area of interest for me, so I'll be keeping an eye on this one. If you want to see the game in action, there is an extensive preview from Ant Lab Games: 2. Tiny Epic Zombies Survival horror seems to be a common theme right now, given that another hot Kickstarter of the moment is Tiny Epic Zombies from Gamelyn Games. I've never felt the call of the "Tiny Epic" games, but if they are your thing, Tiny Epic Zombies looks pretty good. This entry into the series will see the continuation of ITEMeeples, as well as vehicles that meeples can ride. It also includes five different playstyles, including cooperative, competitive, solo, and cooperative/competitive with a zombie player. If nothing else, that's a lot of stuff in a tiny box, and for a pretty good price ($25 for the deluxe version). That said, I still have TRULY mixed feelings about ITEMeeples: I've been on the road for the past week, but that hasn't stopped me from occasionally checking Kickstarter to look for upcoming solo-playable games. I haven't committed to backing anything at the moment—last year was financially draining and I'm feeling picky—but the new year has definitely brought some intriguing options: 1. Corsair Leader Another game in the Air Leader series, Corsair Leader will take players to WWII, You'll be able to choose to campaign as the Navy or as the Marines, and you will pilot different aircraft (and encounter different enemies) based on the year you are playing in. The combination of thrilling air combat with well-researched history will make this game a winner for a lot of solo gamers, especially those who are fans of the Air Leader series already. As for me, Thunderbolt: Apache Leader is on my shelf waiting to be played this year, so I'll wait on this one until I've had a chance to play the one I've already got. 2. Neanderthal and Greenland This Kickstarter campaign is for a reprint of two games by Phil Eklund that have been a bit difficult to find. Both are meant to simulate survival in difficult situations. I'm on the fence about these—some solo gamers, most notably Ricky Royal, love Phil Eklund games. But others have indicated that the games are clever and impressive but ultimately not that fun to play. Eklund is clearly a brilliant designer but perhaps also an acquired taste, so I'll be thinking about this one. 3. Everdell This campaign is ending soon (January 25) and has raised quite a bit of money. Everdell is a worker placement/tableau building game set in a beautiful world of woodland creatures, one that reminds me of the Redwall books by Brian Jacques. The art definitely attracts me, and I am also a huge sucker for stories about adorable critters. Redwall and Watership Down were key childhood reads, and I was delighted to discover Mouse Guard. Everdell looks like a worker placement implementation of that sort of world. That said, it's worker placement. Will the theme and the mechanics work in ways that are satisfying, or is this a dry game with amazing art and a great theme? I guess we'll find out! After a pretty punishing year for wallets on Kickstarter, things have slowed down for the holiday season. Nevertheless, there are a couple of active projects that offer options for solo play. My own dollars are tied up with Nemo's War at the moment, but maybe one of these projects is for you: Stalingrad: Inferno on the Volga If WWII is your thing, you may love Stalingrad: Inferno on the Volga. This project is very obviously a labor of love, with game maps based on actual photographs of the areas you encounter in the game. Stalingrad also started life as a solo game, which means that it is tailored to the single player experience rather than having a solo mode tacked on at the end. If you are both a gamer and a history buff, this might be a good choice for you. Postcard Dungeons It's simple, it's quick, and it fits on a game board the size of a large postcard. Postcard Dungeons is currently designed for 2–6 players, but solo play is possible if you don't mind trying to beat your own score. One of the later stretch goals is a co-op mode that would make more interesting solo play a possibility. I've already mentioned most of the solo-playable Kickstarters that have recently caught my eye, but last week we got a good one: Victory Point Games is doing a reprint of Nemo's War with a new expansion. I missed the boat (ha!) on Nemo's War the last time around, but reviewers I trust have generated so much positive buzz about it that I plan to pledge this time. Also, the price is right: For $59 plus shipping, you can get the game and its new expansion. One thing I find refreshing about this particular Kickstarter campaign is its simplicity. No complicated tiers, no stretch goals, no hype. It's just a straight-up pledge for a copy of the game. I know a lot of people feel uncomfortable with publishers using Kickstarter as a glorified pre-order system, but that ship has sailed. I'm just going to enjoy the fact that I can feel sure of getting a copy of Nemo's War with minimal drama and without inbox-clogging updates about endless stretch goals. I haven't played it yet, but Nemo's War is also important to me because it is a smash hit solitaire game. Supporting it is a way of communicating to publishers that solo-playable games—even games made just for solo play—are worth creating. Sail on, Nemo! Once again, I am pleased to see so many Kickstarter campaigns that cater to solo players. Here is a small selection of potentially interesting solo-playable games with active campaigns on Kickstarter. I am not currently backing any of them (not in the budget), but I am still happy that they exist. Book of Dragons Book of Dragons is a card game system that is designed to allow you to use the same set of cards to play several different games. The art in this card system is lovely, and if enough people invest, there will be essentially endless possibilities for gameplay. The open nature of the system, however, will probably lead to a mixed bag of gaming options. So far there is only one set of solitaire rules, but the design is by Daniel Solis, which is definitely a good sign. You can read the solo game rules here, if you're interested. Darien Apocalypse This game is based on an actual historical event—a failed attempt by the Scottish to build a trading colony in the Isthmus of Panama. In this fictional reenactment, colonists battle the elements as represented by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This worker placement and resource management game can be played either competitively or cooperatively, and is explicitly designed for 1–4 players. Darien Apocalypse caught my eye in part because Ricky Royal did a preview for it, and if anyone can be called a tastemaker in the world of solo gaming, it's Ricky Royal. However, I'm a bit unsure of the theme (in my mind, the apocalypse part doesn't totally hook up with Scottish colony worker placement). Also, the description on the campaign page asks, "How will you fair (sic) against these infernal forces?" Typos happen. Hell, there are probably several on my blog! But I'd say that they should not happen in your top-of-the-page Kickstarter copy. Simulacra Games: The Wilson Wolfe Affair This one seems like a lot of fun. The premise of this game, which can be played solo or cooperatively, is that you receive a seemingly-innocuous box of cartoon memorabilia. Not all is as it seems, however—hidden within all of that cartoon art are clues to a mystery of global proportions. I already love mystery games like Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, and it would be so much fun to get to sift through the evidence myself rather than simply read about it. It's likely that The Wilson Wolfe Affair is a game that I would really enjoy. I just wish it weren't so expensive! The base game is approximately $79 US, which is pretty steep given that a mystery game of this nature is unlikely to have a lot of replay value. I'm expecting a hundred or more hours of gameplay out of Gloomhaven, which I backed on Kickstarter for $99. Also, if you want a mystery puzzle, you can get a more bare-bones escape room game for $15 or less. If I were rolling in cash, though, I'd totally back this. |
AuthorMy name is Liz Davidson, and I play solo board games. A lot of solo board games... Archives
August 2021
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