OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

All discussions regarding Board, Card, and RPG Gaming, including industry discussion, that don't belong in one of the other gaming forums.

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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

No shame from me, my shelf is littered with games I like that others think are mediocre at best. I did pass on Massive Darkness due to the conventional wisdom that it was meh, but glad you like it.

As a huge Gloomhaven fan, I actually agree with you from a solo standpoint. Playing solo robs the game of the chaos factor in battle, which is IMO what makes the game interesting. Not to mention the fact that it's just too much setup and management for one person. I did enjoy GH: Jaws of the Lion solo, but that's primarily due to the smaller scale. And by that time I had around 300+ hours of Gloomhaven experience so running it was second nature.

I really need to get back to some of my dungeon crawlers I never finished, but I've found lately my interests are leaning towards euros and worker management. Kind of enjoying stepping outside of my comfort zone.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

As has been noted here (and in other threads), I'm like so many others. I really want to like dungeon crawl / rpg board games but the barrier to entry (and maintenance) is so high it just never seems to work out. I think if I could just dedicate myself to only playing one game and playing it 5 nights a week, maybe it would work...but my board gaming habits just aren't there. So what I want is a stand alone / quick dungeon crawl experience that's interesting enough to keep me playing but doesn't have such a high barrier of entry to play. So far Massive Darkness seems to hit that target. It doesn't take all that long to set up and it's action-focused. For me the biggest issue now is getting over playing with unpainted miniatures. That's really my only knock -- that its another "big box" game filled with miniatures that serve little to no purpose other than to look nice. It also feels a little swingy as true-solo experience - the fact that I died in my second turn, largely because of die rolling was a bit tough. I'm guessing at some point I'm going to need to get more comfortable with playing two characters, but it doesn't feel potentially overwhelming.

I guess my whole point with all this is that you should never say never. I'm guessing if I did play this back in 2017 I likely would have thought it was "meh". But right now (for whatever reason) it's exactly what I'm looking for.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Apr 13, 2022 10:57 amFor me the biggest issue now is getting over playing with unpainted miniatures.
I am having the same struggle. I want to play my shiny new copy of Conan (King and Conqueror pledge - what was I thinking?) But I know that if I wait until the ~250 miniatures are painted, I won't play. Ever.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

I'm trying something new. My old belief was that painting the miniatures would motivate me to play. I've flipped it - I'm hoping that playing (a whole bunch) will now motivate me to paint (and then get back to playing). It feels...uncomfortable, but in the end I enjoyed the game play - which was the goal.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

Which brings the dilemma - speed paint the masses of enemies and have the heroes gray, or detail paint the heroes and have the masses gray?
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

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Image
Last edited by Isgrimnur on Thu Apr 14, 2022 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

:D I had the same exact thought. I am leaning towards painting the hero first, using Contrast paints. Ideally I can just spend about an hour on each hour in total. Where I'm really considering making up time would be to only paint the enemies I need. If I'm going to play solo or 2-handed, I don't need to paint all the mob figures - just two. But then I think it might feel weird to only have ~1/3 of the minis overall painted.

Some of us manifest analysis paralysis in different way.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

I've taken to painting heroes first. That way the ones I constantly see will always be painted. Then I slowly add in the others. Of course, I paint like a drunken Stevie Wonder after a night in an opium den...so....
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Recently I've taken to just painting the bases if I want to play and know I'm going to get paralyzed by lack of paint. I did this with Zombicide - picked a different color for each zombie type and slapped it on their base. This took no time at all, but let me tell at a glance what was what on the table. It's a compromise that works for me, at least until I get the energy to paint them properly.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

When I am playing highly thematic miniature games (like Conan or Batman) I generally cut the miniatures off of their bases and rebase them on clear acrylic.

Letting the map show through really adds to the atmosphere for me.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Just completed my first session of the official solo mode for ABOMINATION: HEIR OF FRANKENSTEIN. This isn't a game I would have bought for the solo mode (which was added after release), but I found a copy on clearance at B&N so I figured it would be worth a try - particularly since the theme appealed to me so strongly.

ABOMINATION is very much a traditional worker placement game, wherein you play the role of a mad scientist trying to scrounge parts to build - and eventually bring alive - a monster. In the regular game, players are just competing for score over the course of 12 rounds. In the solo mode, you are attempting to bring a fully built creature to life before the game's AI investigators track you down and foil your plans.

The AI starts with on investigator on the board, and adds more as the game goes on. After each worker you place, you roll two dice for each investigator to determine if - and how many spaces - they move. They always follow the same circuit around the board, so you can somewhat predict their moves. However, due to the dice, there's always the chance they'll move farther than you expect.

If an investigator lands on your space, you can either try to escape them by rolling two dice and hoping to roll a life symbol. However, if you fail, you are interrogated and you lose a round. This is typically a last resort as it shortens the game. You may also murder the investigator, but this takes a toll on your humanity and raises your notoriety - preventing you from murdering more investigators until you pay to have that notoriety lowered. Lastly you can bribe investigators to leave you alone, but this cost steadily increases as you proceed through the game.

While this is going on, you're trying to raise your expertise and reputation enough through action spaces on the board to gain parts to build your creature. This is one of those games that starts very slowly as you try to build your scientist up enough to really do anything, and becomes a frantic race at the end as you try to throw resources at your Creature to bring him to life before the escalating threats of the Investigators pin you down.

I quite enjoyed it, and did pretty well for my first play. I was probably 2 rounds from victory, and learned enough to feel like trying some different strategies next time. The game does have a bit of a learning curve because you have so many options on placement, but by the end of my 2 hour-ish session I had a really firm grasp on what each location did and where I needed to focus per my needs at the time.

I really liked that the Investigators not only served as an AI block to your worker placement, but also posed a threat that needed to be avoided. It really felt like I was having to sneak around them to avoid getting caught. If I had one negative, it's that in the later stages rolling dice for every investigator move can get a bit tedious.

All that said, again it's not one I'd pay full price for to play solo, but if you can find it for cheap it's a fun time. And if you have a group that would play multi, it may be worth paying a bit more.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by LordMortis »

Skinypupy wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 5:13 pm Played Terraforming Mars for the first time this weekend. Really enjoyed it.

I know there’s a bunch of expansions. Any of them considered “must have" (or ones to avoid) for primarily solo play?
The big reason to play solo is to see the mechanics for playing with other better, so they're all good expansions in that respect. They all add something to the mulitplayer experience.

That said, Hellas and Ellysium would add nothing to the single player experience and Turmoil is the single most "this is not a multiplayer solitaire" expansion there is in the set. The point of this expansion, to exploit political gain of the other players while protecting against being exploited, would be totally lost in a solo game. Beyond that, Colonies would the last expansion I'd purchase for solo, as it is also proactively and reactively political in nature.

I guess by elimination that would leave Venus Next and Prelude as the best expansions for solo. They expand the core ideas of the game with more of this and more of that in a mostly competitively solo way.

...

TM is still the game we play almost exclusively. It's weird because much of the game is mapped out and it's a long game (about an hour per player) but we love the draft, I guess, and trying to win or concede the various elements of the game supported is still interesting.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

So...to keep the gaming going, I finally decided to get a copy of a game I've been seeing recommended for years but that I've actively avoided - Terminator Genisys - Rise of the Resistance.

The reason I'd avoided it is for the same reasons I'd avoided Massive Darkness - in hearing about the game play (back in 2018) it sounded simplistic, completely opposite of what I was trying to get into at the time. However, this is a game that I continue to see mentioned and given that it's out of print, I was afraid it would disappear and become too spendy to acquire (like Massive Darkness), so I found a copy at Stone Valley Games (as an aside, would recommend as an online FLGS) and was able to quickly jump in.

Enlarge Image

At first I was still a bit apprehensive as I couldn't really see why so many people seemed to like it, until I actually started playing. Even in looking at the shot I took above, it doesn't look special, but the magic happens in the mechanics. First, it's fast. The enemy AI - pathfinding, behavior, targeting, etc... is slick. This is an action game, first and foremost. But what I like - and what I didn't have an appreciation for until I played - is how the player turn works.

Instead of each character having a generic list of actions they can take per turn (move, search, attack, etc...) you have a D6 die pool. Every turn you roll your D6s and then place those individual dice on whatever it is you want to do. Here, you're only limited by the spaces on your character card, skill cards and/or gear. Sometimes the numbers matter but other times you're just "spending" a die for an action. So there's a little bit of strategy in how you spend them each turn. Sometimes you have an ability or skill that lets you re-roll. One of the characters lets you share one of your rolled dice each round - give it to another player. I don't think I have any other games like this, but I really like how it works. It adds some low-level decision making and variety. I'm not just doing the same thing every round - I'm looking at my die rolling results and deciding what makes sense.

Add in the theme (and honestly, if you don't like the Terminator theme, I'm at a loss) and you have a relatively quick playing action game that has just enough meat to keep it interesting.

For the bad there's really two things. First, the components (cardboard tokens, map tiles, miniatures) are...not great. The miniatures in particular are muddy and made of terrible soft bendy plastic. Second, there's an expansion that is completely unobtainable so if being a collection completionist is your thing, just keep going. In this case it bothers me only because the expansion apparently added a random mission generator that gives you what likely amounts to infinite replay options. I think this game comes with 7 scenarios that can be played in campaign or stand-alone skirmish mode and each has variables, but not having a mission generator kinda hurts.

Anyway, would recommend - especially if you're a Terminator fan. It's a lite game that plays great solo and I can also see busting this out with a group that is into the theme.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

- Just realized I posted this in wrong thread, so deleted and reposting an updated version:

My copy of Ark Nova arrived, and I've been able to get a few sessions in.

The first couple of sessions I lost by around 20 points, but realized I was shorting myself an entire round. Once I corrected that mistake, I won handily on the easy mode with the easy map. It's important to note that I played the TTS demo quite a bit, however, so I wasn't going in a complete novice.

To address a couple of the complaints I've seen others make about the game:

- Some say it takes too much time for what it is. I haven't found this to be the case. I can finish a full solo game in under an hour, which is perfect. And other than shuffling the massive deck of cards, setup and reset isn't bad either.

- The other complaint I've seen is that you're "at the mercy of the cards" and if you don't draw the right stuff you can get screwed. I guess that could be the case in extreme circumstances, but I disagree with the overall sentiment. The real joy of this game is in *not* getting the cards you need, and having to come up with creative alternatives. I had more fun in the session I had where I drew ZERO sponsorship cards the entire game (and lost) than I did the session where I just happened to fill my hand with cards that satisfied two conservation projects (and won handily). Part of the strategy of the game is figuring out when to go all in on a strategic path, and when to cut your losses and try something else.

I really only have one disappointment with the game, and it's that the components are rather cheap for the price. Player maps are paper thin, the cards feel thin, and resource cubes are just cheap wood. Other than the large number of cards, there's nothing in the game that feels like it justifies the $75 price point. In fact, I almost never sleeve my games, and I've already ordered sleeves for this one. As much as I dread the thought of figuring out how to shuffled 200+ sleeved cards, I have no confidence that these are going to hold up.

Otherwise, I absolutely love the theme, the card variety, and the mechanics. The lack of a true automa means the game runs extremely smooth for solo play, yet it still feels full of meaningful decisions.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Still going strong on Ark Nova, and with at least 10 sessions under my belt (physical, not counting the multiple I did on TTS), it may be my most played game of 2022.

So far I've beaten Maps A, 0, and 1. A and 0 being considered beginner maps, with 1-8 considered "regular." A go-to strategy for beginner maps is to support a conservation project at some minimum level as quickly as possible, then rely on a steady income of conservation point income to net you and extra 5 or 6 points over the course of the game. The regular maps don't offer conservation point incomes, so it's significantly harder to scrounge up those extras.

While my early win percentages were < 50%, I've noticed significant improvement with practice. Last night was only my second foray into a regular map, and I won with a score of +12 (anything 0 and above being considered a win). I was particularly pleased with that performance given that I drew an absolutely dreadful starting hand and display. However, some good sponsorship cards allowed me crank up my appeal to make up for my shortfall in conservation projects.

The cards aren't quite as bad quality as I iniitally perceived, though I'm still planning on sleeving them given the amount of time I'm handling them.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

Finally got around to adding the last kickstarter expansion stuff for Nemo's War to my 2nd edition base box. I have everything for it now. I was going to just combine them then play something else, but I couldn't resist and I'm close to the end of my first game with the new stuff.

One thing I found annoying though is that the card backs for the expansion stuff is EASILY recognizable. They're a different shade and slightly different in size. I've not memorized the cards or anything, so it's not a deal breaker for me. But I wish they'd had better quality control for this whole thing. I'll probably just buy some sleeves and call it a day though.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by tylertoo »

hepcat wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 10:17 am I'll probably just buy some sleeves and call it a day though.
Will the sleeves mask the issue?
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

opaque backs will. the size difference isn't really a big issue and will also be easily masked by sleeves.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

That's disappointing, but I've come to expect it with just about every expansion. We ran into the same issue with Summit.

I haven't broken into the Nemo's War stuff yet, as Ark Nova refuses to leave my table until I've beat it once on every map.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by baelthazar »

YellowKing wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 12:28 pm That's disappointing, but I've come to expect it with just about every expansion. We ran into the same issue with Summit.

I haven't broken into the Nemo's War stuff yet, as Ark Nova refuses to leave my table until I've beat it once on every map.
I just got Ark Nova for my birthday yesterday! Once I finish up my current mission in Core Space (a replay of a failed mission), I'm going to get it on the table.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

I ordered Waste Knights 2nd edition off gamenerdz after reading some favorable reviews. I'm about 4 turns into my first solo game and it's really fun. It's pure Ameritrash adventure game. It's got a little of Fallout the board game from FFG, some Fallen Earth and a bit of Arkham Horror 3rd edition.

In a Mad Max style Australia of the future, you are a "Knight" involved in numerous stories. The game comes with a large book of stories that you refer to as you play, so it's VERY narrative driven. Not sure how much replayability there is, but the folks on BGG seem to think it's not too bad in that regard. I know from what I've seen, there were multiple paths I could have taken already.

Combat is quick (even quicker than Fallout the board game) and the resource management is meaningful (you are given a vehicle and you need to keep it running with fuel, so you'll be doing some scavenging no matter what).

Two thumbs up so far.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

I'm going to restart Middara this week in prep for Acts 2 & 3 at the end of the year (maybe? Hopefully?) Rewatched the Succubus how to play videos and think I have a good enough grasp to jump back in. On my previous attempt a year and a half ago or so, I managed to get just past the first boss, so it's not a tremendous amount of replay. I don't mind so much as it will give me a chance to play around with some different builds.

This time my gaming setup is a bit more amenable to a lengthy campaign. I have it set up on my "permanent" gaming table which is a large folding table I set up upstairs out of the way where nobody bothers it. Even with as large a table as it is, however, this game is an absolute beast if you're using the player mats (which I am). I'm using every inch of table space on a table which in the past has easily accommodated even the most notorious table hogs.

On my previous run I used index cards to keep track of the ever-changing character stats, but this time around I'm using a large whiteboard that I bought specifically for situations like this. Now I've got that sitting in front of me with all relevant information I can check at a glance.

My only concern now is what I'm going to do when the inevitable other new game rolls around I want to try but don't have the room for. I'm guessing my wife is going to draw the line at two folding tables laid out with games. :lol:
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by EzeKieL »

I need to get it played as I need to decide if I want to buy Act 2 and 3. My reason for not playing was always a lack of an insert because without it it looked too intimidating, but now I finally have one!
Spoiler:
Hopefully I'll be able to give it a shot this week.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by baelthazar »

FYI - the solo-centric/co-op expansion for Viticulture, named Viticulture World, is up for pre-order from Stonemaier Games. They are also offering a one-box storage solution, for those of you, like me, who love good storage solutions.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by EzeKieL »

Hi, Hi
There has a SoloSundayChallenge series been going on on Instagram for a while now and this week it's my turn. I've chosen Set a Watch. If you're interested in joining, here are the details and a 2 round playthrough (due to camera issues):
Spoiler:
IG post:
Spoiler:
YT video:
Spoiler:
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Smoove_B »

Been playing a lot of Marvel Champions the last week - just going through the same scenario with different characters. When they announced the X-Men box set coming in the Fall, I felt inspired to play. :wink:

Still a great game - plays quick and is highly thematic. If you have any connection to the comics or the characters it's an enjoyable solo experience.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Fardaza »

Played my first solo conquest of Mage Knight. I won with Tovak and a score of 127! :D :dance:

I ended up with 4 turns left after defeating the second city. I think I managed to add about 8 fame to my final score. That was one cool game!

I thought for sure the game was not going to end well when I realized (too late to go back) that I should have beaten up on some more rampaging enemies in the early game. I was able to use my spell card about 4 or 5 times that let me use the skill of a unit in the offer. That really helped take down the 2 cities and a couple other tough battles. I don't think I messed up on the rules too many times. :)

Unfortunately, we've got guests coming to visit on Sunday that are staying for about 10 days. Looks like my next playthrough will be awhile. I really don't want to wait, but oh well.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Fardaza »

Guests postponed their visit to later this week... So,

Played another game of Mage Knight. After being so proud of myself and so happy that I won my first solo game, I got smoked on my second. :(

I only conquered one of the two cities and ended up with a score of 76. :oops: This time I used Goldyx. Next time I'll try Arythea.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Isgrimnur »

Storm Above the Reich came in this week.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

I impulse bought Batman: The Dark Knight Returns from my FLGS this weekend. I came super close to backing it on Kickstarter, but I wasn't sold on the mechanics and ultimately backed out. After seeing a couple of positive reviews posted, it went back on my radar.

I'm probably not going to be able to get to it this week, but will post impressions when I get a chance. The combination of solo game + Batman + one of my favorite Batman graphic novels was too great to resist.
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

And....I snuck in a session of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns!

Like I said before, I've never been sold on this game based on the playthroughs or the game board, which is quite frankly rather ugly and boring. However, sometimes you never really know until you get your hands on it and play it yourself.

First off, even though I went with the base retail version, the components are great. The game board is absolutely HYUGE, which ironically kind of helps the appeal. Even though it's still rather drab to look at, the sheer size of the thing on the table makes it kind of "fun" for some reason. I like having a lot of room on the board to stretch out and move pieces around, and you have PLENTY of real estate to look at as you're making decisions.

The rest of the components are pretty great as well. I went with the standees instead of the much more expensive minis version, and they're completely fine. Great artwork and the clips are not so tight that they damage the standees. Tons of unique dice including those ridiculously gimmicky (but fun) Batarang ones. Cards are good stock, and the rulebooks are massive (not # of pages, but sheer size). They're also full color and well laid out.

The game consists of playing through all four books of the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, which equates to four scenarios. Each scenario has some unique mechanics that you have to perform to get to the end boss, and certain things will carry over from scenario to scenario. The rulebook makes it abundantly clear that the campaign is one of attrition, so while there are upgrades you can earn that give you advantages, overall you're just trying to survive all four modules.

At its most basic level, this is a bit like Pandemic: Batman. You're moving around Gotham trying to clean up three different types of threat token before they trigger "Riots." You're also looking for clues that will trigger the end boss, so that you can go fight him. Cleaning up these tokens requires engaging in combat with them, which you do via pitting your dice pool against the enemy dice pool in a basic hits vs blocks dice combat. You also have at least one ally that can assist. (For example, in the first scenario Commissioner Gordon can help clean up Press tokens with his special ability).

However, there are a few mechanics that really elevate over this Pandemic feel. For starters, there's a ton of player agency you don't typically see in these games. You are given free reign (within certain parameters) on where to place enemies at the start of the game, as well as the distribution of those enemies as each round progresses. You also choose the four Events that will occur each round (though you don't know in which order), as Events you don't choose will become part of your Detective and Fight hands used to trigger special abilities. And finally you get to choose the makeup of your dice pool - total offense, total defense, or a mix.

The other fun gimmick is that the entire game board is dry erase. At the end of each round you can draw a new path between locations, which represents Batman finding a shortcut (maybe via gliding over rooftops) that isn't accessible to normal people. Or certain events may trigger modifiers that you write on the board, or remove a location that you cross out.

I really enjoyed it. I love Pandemic "outbreak management" type puzzles, and I like that they give the solo player so much control over the game parameters. It adds a layer of thought you have to put into it that really gives it some depth.

And despite that butt-ugly gameboard, I've actually found the game to be quite thematic. Looking at that giant map of Gotham with enemies everywhere, then swooping in at just the right spot to clean up the city feels very Batman-y.

I've seen two common criticisms that I haven't played enough to experience yet. 1. The game tends to be easy. Don't know yet on this one because even though I won the first scenario, I made a rules error that made it much easier on me so it may be harder when I replay correctly. There is a built-in Hard mode, however, so difficulty can easily be adjusted. I know for me it didn't *feel* easy 2. The game lacks replayability. This could be true from the story perspective, but for me personally I'll probably play the first scenario a few times to better understand the strategy involved. There's a LOT going on under the hood here in terms of enemy placement and what to focus on that I think is impossible to grasp on an initial playthrough.

So far, big thumbs up from this Batman fan.
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Blackhawk
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

YellowKing wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:55 pm And despite that butt-ugly gameboard, I've actually found the game to be quite thematic.
It sounds like they were true to the original comic! ;)
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Blackhawk wrote:It sounds like they were true to the original comic!
Ha! I actually almost mentioned that. It does use the original comic artwork for the tokens, characters, etc. So the map was obviously meant to evoke the same style.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Some additional quick Dark Knight Returns impressions after finishing Book 1 and about halfway through Book 2:

- I wasn't expecting how "legacy" the game actually is. A LOT carries over from Book to Book. Enemies on the board, your last position, the Doomsday track, your health (though you do get a slight heal between Books), available vehicles, in progress goals, etc. Unfortunately even though I won Book 1, I did so at great cost to the Doomsday track and my health. I started Book 2 really beat up and broken, and I'm going to be spending quite a bit of time trying to dig myself out of this hole. Technically you're supposed to start the entire game over from the beginning if you lose, but they do give instructions for saving your game status between Books just in case you want to start over from the current Book.

- On the flip side of that, there are a lot of differences between Books that keeps thing fresh. New bosses with new dice. The behavior of Batman changes. New allies. Enemy dice symbols may have different effects. New goal cards to complete. New mechanics on gaining clues and unlocking the final fight. Even the Round steps can slightly change (there is a Round Summary for every book!) The game does an excellent job of clearly marking all new components for each Book, which makes transitioning a breeze.

- There are goals each Book that allow you to gain upgrades to your Batarang dice. Part of the reason I got so beat up in Book 1 is I spent some time trying to complete the goals before moving on. This is a cool mechanic, as it really makes you consider how you place enemies and how you pick cards to best be able to knock out goals and get those precious upgrades.

- I rewatched The Dark Knight Returns animated movie just as a refresher on the comic, and it's really cool how faithfully the game adapts the story. For instance, there's a certain villain Batman fights twice in the story, and in the game you have to fight him twice as well. Allies from the story come in at the same points in the game. And the boss mechanics do a great job of mimicking how the story plays out.

On the criticisms side, I think if this was a co-op game, the mechanics might get a bit repetitive. This is offset in the solo game by the amount of player agency you have in essentially designing your own board and strategy. Even though you're essentially doing the same things over and over, there's a lot to think about from a larger perspective as you're doing it. I think that might get lost in a co-op implementation.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

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Got in another game of Mage Knight yesterday. I picked Tovak again. This game ended in another win for Tovak and my highest score so far of 190! I lowered the values of the 2 cities from 5/8 to 4/7, and that helped a bit. Looking forward to my next adventure now.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Skinypupy »

Sold Bardsung this morning. :( While it had lots of things I liked (I thought combat was a blast), the campaign only got more grindy instead of less. Ridiculously so, and it sucked out all the fun. The individual “Fable” scenarios were more fun, but you’re looking at at least 60-90 minutes of setup for each one. You have to both set up the game itself and create multiple high-level characters with stats and abilities. Interesting ideas, but not really what I was hoping for.

Picked up the new Sentinels of the Multiverse Definitive Edition. I had avoided it because comic books aren’t generally my thing, but read some really good reviews. Will be digging into that this morning.
When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by hepcat »

Sentinels is VERY influential. There are so many games that borrow from its mechanics, and there's a reason for that. You can't go wrong with it!
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YellowKing
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by YellowKing »

Skinypupy wrote:Picked up the new Sentinels of the Multiverse Definitive Edition. I had avoided it because comic books aren’t generally my thing, but read some really good reviews. Will be digging into that this morning.
I've been eyeing that one as well. I actually already own the original Sentinels, but there were two things I wasn't crazy about - the art and the fiddlyness. It sounds like they addressed both to some extent in the Definitive Edition.

Since I never bought any expansions for the original, it seems like a good time to just reboot with DE.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Skinypupy »

I never played the original, so I have no basis for comparison. It does feel surprisingly fiddly, considering how simple the basic game structure is. Lots and lots of "if/then" elements to puzzle out on each move as you consider what each character should do. That didn't bother me when we played yesterday, but we were using the most basic villain and heroes. If it gets insane with more complex hero/villain combos, it will likely turn me off.

One other thing I noticed. While the game is for 3-5 heroes (you can play multiple heroes solo), it does feel like playing with the full compliment of 5 heroes is almost always a very significant advantage. Maybe it's just the villain and environment decks I've played with, but there seemed to be very few cards that actually scaled damage for the number of players, which is what the games claims is it's balancing mechanism. Getting 1-2 more hero turns far offsets the rather rare "Do X damage, where X is the number of heroes" cards.
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Re: OO Solo Board Gamers Guild

Post by Blackhawk »

I have the new version Kickstarted (technically, it's the expansion I KSd, but I have the base game coming with it), but it hasn't shipped yet. The original was always very smooth early on, but got fiddly toward the end of a game when you'd have full decks, the villain, a villain's summons, and a location all fully in swing. Every card ended up interacting with multiple in-play cards, and every if/then had a dozen modifiers that had to be added up. It was hearing that they'd reduced that element that convinced me to back the new version - I really like the game.
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