A lot of people don’t understand what we’re talking about when we mention solo wargames.
Playing always has a social component, getting together with friends or acquaintances to have fun around a table, but we don’t always have opponents against whom to deploy our miniatures.
There can be several reasons why we end up turning to solo wargames or games with a solo option:
There are no players around you; nobody collects miniatures or loves rolling dice while making gunfire noises with their mouth… Pew, pew… (yes, we’ve all done it at some point).
No other player wants to play THAT particular wargame you love so much (“my My Little Pony skirmish battles… why on earth does no one want to play this?”).
You want to try new rules or variants in games and no one else seems to care (“Who says my paratroopers can’t fight werewolves? Okay, the stats aren’t in the Chain of Command rulebook, but…”).
To know a particular rulebook perfectly (“they’ve been playing Flames of War for two years, and I’m just starting now and haven’t even read the rules yet, but they’re not going to beat me”).
You don’t have time to meet up with friends because of real-life responsibilities (work, kids… damn real life).
You simply like playing solo; some may see it as odd, but we see plenty of people playing video games or computer games alone and no one finds it strange… Often we like to play our way, at our own pace, taking our time…
In fact, there’s currently a huge demand for miniature wargames that include solo rules, or at least an adaptation that allows it, and more and more games include rules that let you play and have fun deploying your miniatures on the table and playing alone.
I have to tell you that (for me) solo wargames aren’t about beating the enemy or preventing them from winning… Solo wargames are about IMAGINATION, about creating a story and watching it unfold through your actions. Many times, when you lose a game but the story has been great (or epic), you feel comforted. This isn’t about competing to win, it’s about creating a story.
You might think what I’m saying is a bit childlike, but… what can I say? I’m 47 years old and I enjoy playing with little toys on a table… Don’t tell me something can sound childlike…
What do we usually think of when we talk about solo miniature wargames? A player setting up the table and then playing both sides, unable to fully identify with either and trying not to cheat themselves?
A basic idea of solo play is splitting yourself and playing both sides… That might work for some, but it’s not common, because when you split yourself you can’t fully identify with either side, and it’s hard to make decisions without your past or future actions affecting those decisions.
There’s much more beyond that image; we really can play solo and make it a very fun experience.
For these reasons, we’ll avoid this solo play mode, because (from my point of view) it’s not entirely satisfying, since what we want is to choose a side and face the enemy, fully identifying with our side and doing everything possible to defeat the enemy. So let’s look at the possibilities we have…
Generally we find two types of games we can enjoy playing solo:
Narrative games based on scenarios or adventures with a plot. Each scenario sets the story we’re going to play, the table layout, where each side deploys, and the behavior/actions of the enemies. These games are the closest mix of skirmish wargames and role-playing games (75% and 25% respectively), giving great importance to the story behind the scenario.
Within the category of narrative skirmish miniature games we can include many available titles directly designed for solo play: Fear of the Dark, Rangers of Shadow Deep, Pulp Alley, Arkeo Obskura, Perilous Tales, Blood on the Blade / Blood in Space, The Walking Dead All Out War, Last Days, Battlespace…
In these games you’ll have a core game (a central book) with its rule system and many scenarios or missions, each with specific features (number of minis, deployment, table layout, enemy behavior, possible events…) so when you read the scenario you know the table layout and enemy deployment, but there are always points of interest, plot points, threat tokens or whatever you want to call them that are nothing more than random events making the game’s course random enough to surprise us when we play it.
In fact, you can replay these games and most of the time the results will be very different games.
Games designed for two players in which an artificial intelligence (AI) system has been created to decide the actions of the side we face. Generally, table layout, deployment, and everything related to the enemy side will have a fairly high element of randomness and luck. These games are classic miniature wargames that have had an AI system implemented to face us.
Within this category we can find books that offer us some tools that allow us to play as if we had a real enemy. What these tools provide is a multitude of possible confrontation scenarios, each with its own table layout (or totally random), deployment of different sides, structure and composition, possible events… Everything you need so you can face the enemy and give your best against an enemy that will act/react based on programmed decisions.
These systems have a solid base like one-hour wargames, one-hour skirmishes, or Platoon Forward (for WWII), although what we’ll easily find are adaptations or mods made by the player communities themselves.
And another important question is: of all the existing rulebooks available, which rules to use? And there’s a golden rule: play with the rules you’re most comfortable with.
The rules have to be simple and easy, since you’re alone to run both sides, and the more complicated they are, the easier it’ll be to get stuck in the mud and not be able to advance the story. We can complicate them as much as we want as long as we feel comfortable with them and can handle them smoothly.
Let’s list some of the existing rules for solo play:
Rangers of Shadow Deep. A perfect narrative skirmish wargame for solo play. 100% recommended. This is a fantastic game built around bite-sized quests that weave together into one epic tale. It's the perfect pick for fantasy fans who want to dive in solo or team up in co-op. The enemy AI is solid enough, but the story it spins makes this one a must-play.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Fear of the Dark is a solo (or full co-op) skirmish wargame set in the horror world created by H. P. Lovecraft. It’s a narrative skirmish wargame because it mixes classic skirmish wargaming with a light RPG system in a narrative setting.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
THW. Initials of TwoHourWargames, a classic of solo wargaming with many settings. Highly recommended although the stystem may be a bit confusing at the beginning.
Whatever setting you can imagine will be covered by one of the rulebooks written by its creator, Ed Texeira. Noteworthy is the 5150 sci-fi saga, which spans everything from a lone investigator in a cyberpunk city to intergalactic battles between massive fleets of starships.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Battlespace. A title designed for a modern warfare setting and intended for solo play. Through a random enemy deck, enemies and events appear randomly. This game is fast and lethal. And really fun, it’s a great game made by Robert Salters.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse. A game from Osprey Publishing with very good reviews, with a solo system created by its own author and published on his website for free. Zombie games have the advantage that zombies have a fairly simple AI, so in games where we face our side against zombie hordes, solo mode is perfect and works without problems with guaranteed fun.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
The Walking Dead: All Out War. It has a solo system that works really well, and like any other zombie game, it’s perfect for solo play. Essential if you’re a fan of the comic/series saga.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
County road Z. County Road Z is a solo board game (though it can also be played cooperatively), featuring tactical miniature combat and resource management, set in a world overrun by a zombie invasion.
Zombie-apocalypse games fit exceptionally well into solo gameplay, which is why these three titles with that theme are in this post.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Frontline Heroes features a complete rule system to play solo or multiplayer, the rules create a fast, easy-to-learn, and dynamic game.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Blood in the Blade (and its twin brother Blood in Space). This game is a set of rules for solo or cooperative skirmish games, set in a fantasy background, but it can also be used for non-fantasy games, as its twin brother Blood in Space is set in a sci-fi background.
This ruleset has a really good AI that controls the enemies, making it a real experience played alone. To have the option of chosing between two different settings makes it a must.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Pulp Alley. Created by David Phipps, it’s a pulp adventure game with a solo system created by its author based on a card deck that controls enemies and events that create uncertainty in games.
100% recommended with many different scenarios and campaigns. And an author and community with a great dedication to the game (the author has over 1300 videos on youtube about this game).
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Perilous tales. A game that has been in the gaming community for years, but continues to be played solo because of the advantages it has, as it even has an automatic scenario creator on its web page, you simply press the "create a scenario" button and a new scenario with enemies, objectives, a completely different story appears created. That´s simply awesome!!
The game has a pulp and noir setting, and its enhanced by simple and fast rules that help create stories that are more than just interesting and fun. Simply a must for those devoted to create stories rather than throw dice.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Zona Alfa (or Zona Alpha). This is a skirmish wargame designed by Patrick Todoroff and published by Osprey in its Osprey Wargames line. It is a fast-paced tactical game that recreates exploration and survival in a contaminated and hostile Exclusion Zone, with an atmosphere steeped in post-Soviet mood, urban desolation, and supernatural dangers, set in an Exclusion Zone inspired by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro 2033.
A very attractive and interesting post-apocalyptic game designed for two players to which its author created a solo game system available for free.
To get more information about this wargame visit this LINK
Frostgrave. A successful and well known game. Frostgrave, designed by Joseph A. McCullough and published by Osprey Games, is a skirmish wargame set in an ancient, frozen city. It's a tactical and narrative game where each player controls a wizard accompanied by their apprentice and a band of warriors, with the goal of recovering treasures and increasing their power.
In the Perilous dark supplement it includes some rules to play solo and a campaign of 10 scenarios. It is very interesting to read just for the ideas it generates when explaining how to play solo. Although apart from those 10 scenarios and a random system to create dungeons, it is a bit difficult to use it as a solo game itself.
After developing this game, the same author developed Stargrave, a sci-fi-themed game with added solo rules just like its sibling Frostgrave.
Space Station Zero. A miniature agnostic skirmish wargame where your crew explore the depths of an ancient space station.
Cooperative / solo game with linked missions, event table and character progression. The missions are organized so that you advance from one to another based on the choices you make as a player.
Really interesting to play with those sci-fi minis you had gathering dust.
For more information use this LINK.
Silver Bayonet. It's a gothic horror skirmish miniatures game set during the Napoleonic Wars, where players control bands of monster hunters who battle supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves.
If the background setting isn't enough to hook you, you can of course play solo, co-op, or player vs player.
For more information use this LINK
Horizon Wars: Zero Dark. It's a futuristic science-fiction skirmish miniatures game that supports solo, cooperative, and competitive play.
The solo-play component is handled by an artificial intelligence (AI) managed with a standard deck of cards, and the scenarios are varied and dynamic, objective-based.
For more information use the following LINK
Sellswords and Spellslingers. Cooperative/solo skirmish game with few minis per side, set in an old-school fantasy world.
You use cards to activate enemies and generate dangers. Very fluid and with little reliance on calculations (like the typical Ganesha Games in the purest "Songs of" style), in a system focused on the player characters. Really interesting for a game of just 65 pages.
For more information use the following LINK.
The Doomed. It is a skirmish horror and apocalyptic science-fiction miniatures game, focused on hunting monstrous horrors in a post-apocalyptic world. Players form small bands of hunters to face supernatural creatures.
The game has extremely light rules, is highly customizable, and emphasizes narrative and the creation of memorable stories.
For more information, use the following LINK.
Besides these rule sets, we also have some books that don’t give us a fixed set of rules to play by. Instead, we can think of them as tools for adapting our game to solo play, such as:
One hour wargames (and its little brother one hour skirmish wargames) that provides us with a large number of different scenarios specifying table layout, deployment, size of the opposing sides, events, possible options...
There are more books of this style (which we will mention below) but these two are the most current and most interesting that I have read, their information and tools being the most directly applicable to the game.
Platoon forward. This deserves a separate mention, since with this ruleset you will have a large number of possible combat scenarios based on the Second World War, and each one with its own random tables to generate the enemy troops and their deployment, this being hidden. This is a true hidden gem for any ww2 solo player.
And many more, that although they are older, provide us with ideas of different scenarios, events, displays, ways of arranging the game table...
Apart from these rulesets and reference books, there are another systems that can be found in the world of wargames. Those are autonomous decision-making systems applicable to enemy forces in games (no matter which ruleset or game you use).
These are systems or processes that will make decisions for the enemy side without the player having to intervene. Generally, each solo game brings its own system, but these are standalone systems created separately that can be applied to any game.
One of the greatest exponents of this type of system is the Threat Generation System, which generates enemy behavior in WW2 games, regardless of the rules or game being used.
For more information about this system, you can visit this LINK where a review of the system is provided.
And, of course, there are many more games, books and rulesets that I haven't mentioned either by oblivion or ignorance, although you already know that here below is the comments section in case you want to add any ruleset, specify any detail or whatever comes to your mind, that will surely help more people with doubts about the possibility of playing solo miniature wargames.
Believe it or not, the community of solo miniatures wargames players is quite big, so we can see a facebook group called SOLO wargaming with miniatures that has more than 20,000 members in which players post their battle reports, ruleset reviews or simply post their ideas regarding this style of play.
And now to end this post and as a final advice for those who want to get into the world of solo wargaming, I'm going to share what should be the ultimate goal of any solo player.
One thing a solo gamer must be clear about is that they are the only participant, so everything should revolve around enjoying themselves, having a good time.
When we play against a human opponent we usually have that competitive drive that pushes us to compete to win and eliminate the other player from the game board, but when playing solo the tables turn, and suddenly the only drive is to have fun, and generally having fun doesn't mean winning.
When playing alone we lose that competitive component, but suddenly what matters is having fun creating a story, enjoying the game without limits since we're the only participants, and even if we lose the game, if we've created a memorable story we'll store everything in the gaming table with the satisfaction of having had fun and having had a great time creating a story we'll remember.
I'll always remember a WW2 game where I was under siege by an enemy sniper and an LMG that were in better positions than my soldiers and I had to cross a street under enemy fire to advance and take positions knowing it could be a bloodbath or an epic victory.
I remember I spent 45 minutes evaluating possibilities, looking at every inch of that street, fearing my men would fall under enemy fire, looking from the sniper's position... but during those 45 minutes not a single figure was moved, it was just me walking around the table with the tension of a life or death situation for my soldiers.
And without rolling a single die or moving a single figure I managed to live a moment that I still remember today as one of the most tense of my wargaming life.
Probably if I had been playing against a real opponent they would have pressured me to make decisions sooner or to move, or I wouldn't have had the necessary time to despair seeing that any move I made would lead me to the abyss. I wouldn´t have enjoyed that moment as I did.
My best advice as a solo wargamer boils down to a single word: ENJOY.
PS: Those two cats in the pictures are my cats, the second one was Suki, who passed away three years ago, and the black cat is Kira, that is always around when I'm playing.
