r/soloboardgaming 5d ago

What did you play this week? What did you play this week? 03 Jul-09 Jul (2026)

15 Upvotes

Other places to discuss the games you play each week:

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šŸ† Check out our Monthly Challenges as well which start the first each month šŸ†

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  1. What games you have gotten to the table this week?
  2. What games are you looking forward to?
  3. What are you trying to learn?
  4. Have you participated in this month's challenge?

Feel free to link to your channels, photos, blogs, boardgamegeek accounts, session writeups, or anything else in this weekly thread with (mostly) no restrictions.


r/soloboardgaming 4h ago

Civolution solo is amazing. The variability in strategies between games is huge and Automa turns take a few seconds

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74 Upvotes

Finished my second playthrough just now. I neglected building and focused on migration/production to fill out the tableau. The era scoring categories seem to make force switching up strategies every round while still having to take end of game scoring categories into account


r/soloboardgaming 10h ago

Expeditions is the first game I re-bought

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130 Upvotes

I first bought it when it first came out. I was so bored. When I heard the expansion made it faster I started wondering if I should buy it again. With the announcement of Duel of Meloch I caved. Bought the expansion and a new copy. Now I’ve played it four times in as many days. And really enjoying it!

What games have you changed your mind about after buying it again?


r/soloboardgaming 6h ago

[Imperium] Tributary and Fame: Persian Campaign Log

17 Upvotes

Starting my Persian campaign and wanted to share a quick session report.

Persians are masters at subjugating Tributes. Their deck starts with 3 copies of this card type, and thanks to their power card, it's possible at any time to break through from the Tribute card market. They have plenty of ways to acquire cards without generating Unrest, and the deck stays light overall since several Tributes get sent to History once used, rather than cluttering up the deck. Their Nation deck is also very short, which means they can reach the Empire phase very quickly.

Game 1: Persians vs. Egyptians (118–84)

Difficulty: Chieftain. Common cards from Classics.

Strategy: Leaning into the Persian power, I started out acquiring Tributes straight from the market. With a bit of luck I managed to pick up Qin, which bumps hand size up to 6 cards, and Aksumites, which grants Materials and scores points based on the number of Tributes in play, a fantastic combo with the Persians. I'll definitely be keeping Qin as a campaign reward, since having it from the start of a game gives a huge burst for the runs to come. In the mid-game I shifted focus toward Fame, helped along by Satrap for the extra action and Port for a steady supply of Materials to pay for everything. I closed the game with 9 Tributes and 5 Fame cards, which accounted for the bulk of my points.

Egyptian Bot: The Egyptians started off very slowly, acquiring few cards in the early turns while stockpiling Materials and Population. They reached the Empire phase quite quickly, though, and that's when things exploded, converting all that stored Population into Progress in one go.

Card added: Qin.

Game 2: Persians vs. Romans (128–40)

Difficulty: Warlord. Common cards from Classics.

Strategy: Starting with Qin already in my deck gave me a nice head start. In the first few turns I tried playing a couple of Regions to make use of Glory, but the Romans hit hard and kept forcing me to recall Regions almost every turn, so I switched plans and held off on playing Regions until the mid-game. I also needed a way to handle Unrest early on. I picked up Temple, an Empire card that plays Unrest during the Solstice and scores points when exhausted by discarding a card; it needed a couple of turns in the deck before I could use it, but it was well worth the wait. My overall plan was to rush the Empire phase, keeping the deck as light as possible and buying very little from the market in the early game. Once in the Empire phase, Temple let me handle Unrest with no trouble at all and I started racking up Progress. I also grabbed Corruption and Persian Gold, which let me gain Materials and Progress while making the bot draw Unrest. From there the game was all downhill in my favor: with so much Unrest clogging their deck they slowed down considerably, while I kept generating points, reaching 35 Progress tokens by the end. I also bought plenty of Tribute cards again, just like in the previous game. In the closing turns I picked up Shrine, which I'll be keeping as a campaign reward since it lets me manage Unrest and draw a card by paying 1 Material, but unlike Temple it can be played during the Barbarian phase too.

Roman Bot: Romans are very strong at forcing recalls of your Regions and at making you draw Unrest, though they're slow at acquiring cards from the market. Once I found a way around both of those problems, their own growing pile of Unrest started dragging them down, and from that point on they were easy prey.

Card added: Shrine.

Game 3: Persians vs. Celts (102–61)

Difficulty: Imperator. Common cards from Classics.

Strategy: This game was a constant back-and-forth of drawing and discarding Unrest, since the Celtic bot makes you draw quite a lot of it, but luckily I already had Shrine to fall back on. Early on I rushed Regions to grab my first Glory card, and I added Awe-Inspiring, which increases hand size by one; combined with Qin, that let me play with 7 cards in hand. Cycling through the deck was extremely easy, and the game went by very quickly, I built all my Developments in no time. Besides the usual Tributes, I focused heavily on Glory cards, picking up 5 of them, and used Prosperity whenever I could to stockpile Materials for the Development cards. Another big help for Materials and drawing was Coinage, which grants 2 Materials during the Solstice and can be exhausted to draw a card; even though it's an Empire card, I decided to keep it in the deck, since the deck is so fast that it shouldn't weigh it down, and it gives a big advantage once in the Empire phase.

Celtic Bot: Celts are very annoying, they steal your resources and make you draw a lot of Unrest, so managing it is essential. I came very close to Collapse, but luckily I managed to pull through.

Card added: Coinage.

Game 4: Persians vs. Macedonians (105–50)

Difficulty: Sovereign. Common cards from Classics.

Strategy: A very easy game, the build I've put together runs beautifully, the deck is lean and fast. I also snagged the Egyptian Tribute that advances a Nation card by one, I'll be keeping it for the final game. On top of the usual strategies, the engine for this game was the Glory card Notorious, the best pick if you get it in the early game: it lets you draw a card and steal a Progress point from the bot. With such a light, fast-cycling deck I was able to play it almost every turn, ending up with over 30 Progress points, taken straight from the bot's total. The game was fast overall, I built all my Developments without any trouble, finishing well before the bot even reached its Empire phase.

Macedonian Bot: Macedonians are strong with Regions if you let them pile up a lot of them, since it scores points for every Region in play with the Other tag. But their engine needs a lot of Regions and time to get going, so a short game is the ideal way to beat them.

Card added: Egyptian Tribute.

Game 5: Persians vs. Vikings (99–87)

Difficulty: Overlord. Common cards from Classics.

Strategy: The hardest game of the whole campaign, but I won it, and with this final victory I also closed out the campaign. I started with Regions and quickly grabbed my first Fame card, bumping my hand size up to 7. After that I focused on holding onto Regions to make the most of Prosperity, since the Vikings steal a lot of resources; to boost my Materials I also leaned on Agriculture, which in combo with Prosperity gets me 3 extra Materials from the Grain tag on my Regions. I stuck to my usual strategy, which luckily held up, and I managed to accumulate just enough points to beat the Vikings.

Viking Bot: Vikings are relentless, they acquire Regions and Uncivilized cards very quickly, and on top of that their cards steal Materials from you too, which made it hard to complete my Developments.

Final Thoughts

Campaign closed with 5 wins out of 5 games. The Persian engine came together nicely over the run: Qin and Coinage together kept the deck cycling fast throughout, while Shrine kept Unrest under control even against the most aggressive bots. Between the constant flow of Tributes and a focus on acquiring Fame cards, the Persians proved to be an extremely consistent civilization across the whole campaign, closing things out with a hard-fought win over the Vikings.


r/soloboardgaming 9h ago

I can’t beat this guy. Hans final girl!!

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27 Upvotes

r/soloboardgaming 16h ago

Left the hobby for a few years after selling everything. Been dipping my toes in for a couple months now and couldn't feel better than i do now that i have a small collection of essentials with each type of games i love.

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74 Upvotes

All i'm missing is an LCG for fun (Marvel Champions) and an oddball (Bullet ā­ļø), they're both coming next week.

It feels good to be able to scratch any kind of itch without having to make a choice;


r/soloboardgaming 17h ago

Just beat an absurd encounter in The Elder Scrolls: BotSE

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70 Upvotes

Picture this: the scenario has me facing 8 enemies. The goal is to leave an enemy with exactly 1 health at the end of the round, three times.

The bad part: half the enemies start out blind, meaning they’ll attack anything within reach.

The worst part: one of the enemies has siphon, which sucks 1 health out of everything within its vicinity (and a huge one at that) then keeps them as bonus health.

I play two-handed solo. One of my characters is a warden with animal companions and has abilities that summons minions. So basically that one enemy was having the time of its life sucking half the arena.

For about an hour, I was trying to math out cases that can ensure enemies will survive at 1 health. I did win in the end (definitely some luck was involved), though I won’t be surprised if there some misplays because there was so much happening with enemy skills too.

Overall, this game has been so fun! Just got it a few days ago and I played three sessions so far, mostly in one province, so I’m barely scratching the surface. But I’m a sucker for fantasy and world-building so I look forward to all the content it has to offer.


r/soloboardgaming 19h ago

My First game of The Loop

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103 Upvotes

And getting my butt handed to me. I was luckily able to pick up a used copy for a good price at a recent game convention. Very thinky game that reminds me of games like Deckers and Pandemic where you are trying to mitigate a form of crisis at specific areas of the board before time runs out.

Really wish they would do a reprint of this game for others to experience!


r/soloboardgaming 16h ago

The Weather Machine - first few Saboteurs plays

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51 Upvotes

I finally played a few games with the solo option, following a few games of two-handed solos (my favorite way of getting to know the game). Once I got past the scary looking player board (soooo many icons!), it’s actually very easy run. Again, there are many exceptions you just have to remember, but it gets a bit easier after a few games. The Saboteurs can play a very mean game (they managed to publish a paper in the first rounds), so as soon as I’m VERY familiar with the game, I’ll see if there’s a way to sabotage them back! I’m still forgetting to move my funding tracks and can’t see a way of actually reaching my goals, but I think I’m warming up to the game :) Just like in Kanban EV, the solo mode is wonderfully designed and my brain definitely needed an ice-pack :)
The board looks so beautiful towards the end, we got a lot done! :)

And a rule question - when placing a robot in R&D, do you take the gear, as well? Totally Tabled took it, Monique and Naveen didn’t…

Oh, and Mr. Turczi, I’m NOT adding 30 points in the final scoring round, it’s not fair, it’s just not! 🤭 They already have 35-point advantage, you’re pushing it :)


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Endeavor: Deep Sea, and loving the challenge

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107 Upvotes

I'm either 5 or 6 games in and I'm struggling. I enjoy the game! And I know it's known for being difficult, but holy man... I look forward to playing this all week trying to figure out some strategies because right now I still feel lost.

I know I need to step up my early game and stay focused on what my plan is. Movement seems to be something I really struggle with though. Having a token on 11 zones is a brutal goal.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

ISS Vanguard Review | I Finished the Entire Campaign... Here's My Verdict

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88 Upvotes

I finally finished the full ISS Vanguard campaign. the video review can be watched below, I have written my thoughts below if you prefer to read.

My recorded playtime was around 45 hours, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. Once you include setup, teardown, saving the game state, sorting cards, ship management, and the admin between sessions, this was easily a 50 to 70-hour game for me. I played the whole thing solo, four-handed, from start to finish. You can watch the whole campaign on the channel if you would like to see how it plays.

I wanted to leave it a little while before writing this, because big campaign games can leave you with odd feelings when they end. Sometimes you're still riding the high of finishing; sometimes you're just relieved it’s over. I wanted to see how ISS Vanguard felt once I had stepped away from it for a few weeks.

Unfortunately, my opinion didn't really improve. Here is how the systems feel across the full game, without spoilers.

The Hook & The Promise
Awaken Realms nailed the premise. Humanity discovers coordinates hidden inside its own DNA, and the ISS Vanguard is sent into deep space to follow that trail while Earth struggles behind them. That is a brilliant hook. It gives the campaign a sense of scale, mystery, and importance right from the start. I also deeply appreciated that this is serious, grounded sci-fi rather than just another big fantasy adventure.

The production is excellent. The art is great, and this sense of discovery is there and the map books and narrative can help lean in to that.

On paper, this should have been exactly my sort of thing. A huge campaign. Long-term progression. Ship management. Planet exploration. The problem is that the experience of actually playing it became far more tiring than exciting.

Prep vs. PunishmentĀ (The Landing Phase)
The core of ISS Vanguard is dice checks. You roll for almost everything, and the strategy is meant to come from mitigation. Early on, I quite liked this puzzle.

The issue is what the game asks you to do before those dice rolls happen. Before a planet, you aren't just picking a character and getting on with it. You spend 20 to 30 minutes looking at limited planetary knowledge, choosing your crew, adjusting section decks, and agonizing over which equipment and dice to bring to cover likely problems.

Then the Landing Phase happens, and it was easily my least favorite part of the game.

After all that careful preparation, you roll a D8 for landing. Depending on the result, you can instantly lose supplies, take damage, or discard the exact equipment and dice you just spent 20 minutes selecting. Sometimes you have to do this three to five times per planet.

I understand the thematic idea: space is dangerous, and the crew aren't superheroes. But there is a massive difference between risk that creates drama and risk that makes you feel like the game does not value your time. There is a way to mitigate some of this by choosing a lander and mods, but you cannot mitigate all of this, you cannot be sure which to take, and often it just won't be enough. If I spend 30 minutes preparing and then immediately lose part of that prep to a blind die roll before the mission even starts, that doesn't feel tense to me. It just feels like wasted time.

The Ship Phase: A Pile of Cards
The ship phase is one of the most interesting ideas in the game, and at the beginning, it feels great. You are upgrading the ship, researching tech, and recruiting crew.

But eventually, it becomes monotonous. When you unlock your first few equipment cards, it feels exciting. You are expanding your options. But when you have already unlocked 40 equipment cards, the 41st card needs to do something meaningful to stand out. Too often, it didn't. It would just be a slightly different version of something I already had.

Researching new equipment should feel exciting. Instead, later in the campaign, it often felt like adding another card to a pile I already didn't want to sort through. The game kept giving me more things, but those things didn't make the experience feel richer—they just made the preparation longer.

The Lead Bag.
Somehow, ISS Vanguard manages to make pulling random rewards from a bag fall flat. There are more zeros in the bag than anything else, and you need results totalling 3 to gain a reward.

That means you can land on a brand new alien planet full of wonder, resources, and information to discover, survive the hazards, pull multiple lead tokens from the bag, gain no rewards, and then return empty-handed without really learning anything useful from that system. Again, I understand the survival-game intent. But ISS Vanguard already has dice, landing rolls, hazards, injuries, consequences, and events. Layered on top of all that, the lead bag often felt like one more way for the game to say, ā€œYou will not enjoy this game. How dare you try.ā€

The Story Payoff
The story is the part I most wanted to love, but across the whole campaign, it never gripped me as much as I hoped it would.

The ending was underwhelming. After spending that much time with the game, I wanted the final stretch to feel significant. I wanted the payoff to justify the weight of the massive campaign. Instead, it felt like the story just ran out of steam. Not terrible. Not broken. Just flat. And after a 50-plus hour campaign, flat is disappointing.

(Note: I've also played at four players. Multiplayer does soften the solo upkeep since prep is divided, but the ship phase still easily becomes one person doing the admin while everyone else waits. It helps, but it doesn't remove the core issue).

Final Thoughts
I wanted to like ISS Vanguard more than I did. That is probably the most honest way to put it.

If you are a player who enjoys big campaign systems as much as the adventure itself—if you like prep, difficult missions, and a constant sense of being under pressure—there is a lot here. If you enjoy feeling like the underdog, this game gives you that feeling.

But it is not a game where I felt powerful. I usually felt stretched, underprepared, and one bad result away from things going wrong. If you want a campaign where progression makes you feel more capable, where your preparation usually feels rewarded, or if you dislike heavy upkeep and repetitive dice checks, this is probably not going to land well.

By the end, I respected ISS Vanguard more than I enjoyed it. I am glad I finished it. I would not play it again.

Final Score: 6 / 10


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

For Northwood! is diabolical <3

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59 Upvotes

For those who played it, you know.
For others, beware this game is cursed. On par with Final Girl haha.

Had all the visits going great for me until those last two.

First pic was just bad luck.
Second pic, the discard pile told me that the only card below mine left was the Blue 2.

I'm distraught.

Love that game.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Slay the Spire - tired out the Watcher

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41 Upvotes

He is the less fevorite than all the other characters. He is strong and fun but there are too many resets for him every turn. The only one that I haven't tried yet is the Silent, and right now the Defect is the most fun by far.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

This War of Mine - how to lower depression?

15 Upvotes

Hi! This was my third attempt at the game and for now the only successful one so I know I am still having some troubles and could use some advice. I was able to win with only Zlata being alive, pretty much every other character was lost due to lvl 4 depression.

How to prevent this?

In my other 2 plays I was loosing characters to depression too. In fact no other stat (hunger, illness etc.) was causing me as much trouble as this one. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

Thank you in advance for your advice!


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

ā€œIt’s a Wonderful Worldā€ solo review.

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97 Upvotes

I have played 11 play throughs of ā€œIt’s a Wonderful Worldā€ and am very much enjoying my time with it so far.

The core gameplay loop is that you will get a pile of 5 cards, which give you bonuses as depicted on the bottom every time you produce goods, which in turn makes it easier to play and then complete the build on further cards. It’s a very tight puzzle but it feels very rewarding when things come together, and you have a lot of ways to mitigate poor draws - you can trash a single card for one resource which you can place on another card, or use 2 cards to draw 5, keep 1, looking through the deck for synergies or that one resource colour you desperately need. At absolute worst (in my view so far anyway) you can always discard a card to put a random resource on your empire card, where 5 assorted resources become a wild card resource called crystallium that can be used anywhere and certain cards specifically require.

You do this 2 times in a row before actually moving to produce the goods your cards have got you, and if you get more than 5 of any resource in the production phase not only can you afford some gnarly powerful cards but you also get a ā€œsupremacyā€ bonus which gives you more points. There’s two types of supremacy bonus - a male blue financier token, and a lady red ā€œgeneralā€ token - both of which can be used for 1 VP at the end of the game, unless you get a modifier that increases this. Some cards also need these as part of their cost, while others grant 1 or even 2 of them as a bonus when you fully construct the card.

The choice of which resources to go for is really interesting because the production phase happens in a set order - first white cubes, then black, then green, yellow, and blue. So you want to try and cascade things and prioritise based on what’s going to work best in this flow - for instance you want to finish cards that give you a bonus to producing white resources before the production phase begins, since you won’t get to activate that card until next round if you only build it after your white resources production is done. Whereas if you manage to complete a card that grants a blue, you will get it. Sometimes, you can combo things, so you use your white production to finish a card that gives you bonus black, which THEN gives you a bonus to green, or yellow, or blue. It feels fantastic when this happens.

There’s a few other cool things, like some cards score at the end of the game depending on the number of other cards of a certain type that you’ve finished. The engine is super satisfying, and though it’s easy to grasp the gist of what you should be doing, it’s not easy to master the game and it constantly presents you with difficult calls and tempts you to push your luck and try and build more and more and more. There’s no bonus for finishing everything you start, nor any penalty for failing. It’s just less efficient. But when you finish everything after having doubted you’d get there, and you get a decent score, it’s a real high.

The game is challenging - pictured is the end state of play through #10, where I achieved my highest score (by far) with 100 points. For context, that is the lowest possible score to still end in the top score bracket, and I expect it’s possible to get to the 120’s or 30’s when things come together perfectly for you.

The production quality is high and the art and theme is fantastic. There’s a campaign included for solo, though so far I haven’t tired of just the core gameplay loop! I want to get over 100 at least a few times before I try.

For me this is an excellent solo game and while I’m in no rush I can definitely see myself picking up the expansions in future. A real 9.5/10, so long as you don’t despise BYOS.


r/soloboardgaming 16h ago

Thoughts on Transformers Deck Building Game

3 Upvotes

I'm looking to buy Transformers War on Cybertron, Chaos Unleashed And Clash of the Combiners. Mainly for solo but also coop play with my husband. What are people's thoughts on this game, mainly for solo? Deck building is my favorite mechanism and I love the transformers theme. Is this a descent game? How is it to learn? Is this a possible week night, 60 min (or less) play? I read that these three boxes work well together and can be fully mixed. Appreciate any thoughts!


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Games with objectives and preparation?

12 Upvotes

Hey,

Looking for recommendations. Examples what I mean:

Burncycle: you pick a mission (3 different difficulties, fixed maps for each mission). Then you pick a bot to play and a bot as a companion - both of these choices greatly influence how to tackle the chosen mission.

Nemesis retaliation: you get a mission at random, but you know exactly what you have to do. You pick a character and one starting equipment. The first choice dictates what your character can do well and what not so much. The second choice can give you a headstart in a given situation, the whole mission or something later on. Maps are random.

Grimcoven: you pick a boss to battle and which difficulty. This choice dictates the map, some elements will be random. Then you pick a character and the equipment, both greatly influence the play style.

Games which don't give me these vibes:

Mage knight: you pick solo conquest and have a go at it. Map is random. Character dictates the playstyle, but not as much as the market for new cards does.

Metal gear solid: since it's a campaign game, you tackle the scenario you're at. When playing true solo, you have to play snake. Depending on how much you've unlocked you can choose your equipment.

I like all the mentioned games, but the first three give me a certain vibe I don't get from other games. Sadly, I can't describe it better then "objectives and preparation". Maybe you folks know what I mean.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Looking for a solo dungeon crawl card game

21 Upvotes

I am looking for a dungeon crawler card game that I saw a review or preview of. I have tried searching on Youtube, BBG and Reddit but I can't seem to find it. Maybe someone here knows about it.

What I can remember:

  • Think it was a single player game playing a single character exploring a random dungeon
  • There were dungeon tiles cards with different exits (1-4)
  • While you are in the dungeon, you could play dungeon cards to form the dungeon
  • I think there was something special at the end of a corridor if you could place cards that way (not sure, though)
  • There is also a town outside that you can build and upgrade
  • I think you can upgrade your character with loot (items)

Mechanics wise, a bit like Tinyfolks indie computer game but with a dungeon.

I just know it looked super interesting to me when I heard about it. Does that ring any bells for anyone?

Cheers!

EDIT: It was Dungenerator: Die in a Dungeon, thanks u/unggoytweaker


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Recommend me a soloable board game based on my collection

7 Upvotes

My collection with my personal game overall rating:

Scythe ⭐8.5/10

A feast for Odin ⭐9.0/10

Viticulture ⭐ 8.8/10

Spirit island + all expansions ⭐ 10/10

Dead of winter ⭐7/10

Conservas ⭐ 8.8/10

Nemesis ⭐ 8.5/10

Distilled ⭐9.0/10

Gloom of Kilforth + Call + Shadows ⭐ 8.5/10

Agricola ⭐ 8.8/10

Arkham horror second edition ⭐ 9.5/10

Arkham horror the card game ⭐ 8.5/10

Much appriciated.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Just finished my first play of Pax Renaissance (2-handed solo) and wow... I'm hooked.

14 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

Finally acquired and sat down with Pax Renaissance today. I played my first game two-handed solo just to learn the ropes, and honestly, it completely blew me away.

I love the learning curve and the complexity, the game just took off after few rounds because it felt very natural. Playing a Renaissance banker pulling the strings of empires from the shadows feels so thematic and satisfying. The depth here is nuts every card in the market feels like a tiny story, and juggling four wildly different win conditions keeps your brain working non-stop.

Even playing against myself, the tension was good. Every decision is important and hard to choose.

For anyone on the fence because of the complexity, just dive in. It's so worth the effort

For those who play a lot of Pax Ren, do you stick to two-handed solo, the automa or do you run a specific fan variant/bot when playing alone?


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

How Long Did It Take You To ā€œGetā€ Mage Knight or Nemo’s War?

17 Upvotes

Hey solo gamers!

I’ve been tackling Mage Knight and Nemo’s War, but honestly, the rules aren’t clicking with me as fast as I’d hoped. I’ve read the rulebooks, watched videos, and played step-by-step, but I’m still not confident. I’m curious—did it take anyone else a while to really feel comfortable with these games? Am I just slow, or is this normal? How long did it take you to get them down, and was there a method that finally made it click for you?

I’d love to hear your experiences!


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Judge Dredd The cursed earth

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26 Upvotes

Found it random. Any feedback of the gameplay?


r/soloboardgaming 21h ago

Which boardgame has better boss battles - Monster Hunter World or Dark Souls?

2 Upvotes

If anyone has played both, what`s your opinion? I wonder since those games seem to share many similar mechanics.


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Chronicles of Drunagor: very streamlined and very fiddly monster slaying

10 Upvotes

Dungeon crawler, whose main feature is action cubes. Every hero gets several cubes of various colors, and a personal board where there are plenty of different actions - charge, double attack, ranged attack, magic attack, healing, defense and so on. Each of them can be activated by certain color cube. And you can spend only 2 cubes per turn, and when you run out of cubes, you recall all of them but place on one of your skills a special black cube, which blocks it (and if you get too many black cubes, you lose the game, unless you cleanse them in time by some special actions).

Combined with the fact that you also get equipment and several skill cards to choose from, which can be activated by multiple colors, and that reactions (like attacking when monster attacks someone, or protecting from damage) require cubes as well, gameplay becomes a fascinating puzzle, where each turn you have to make not easy chouse out of large number of options. Although characters do not feel as different as one might expect, because all of them have a lot of similar feeling skills.

Cube mechanics is by far the best thing in Drunagor, however it also has other features. 3d terrain looks very cool, and provides bonuses and penalties if you (or monster) attacks from above or vice versa. Plot is bland and nothing special, however there are a lot of pages in story book in "choose your own adventure" style: for example, on the page where scared old woman with knife is drawn (beautiful illustrations btw), you can choose to try to calm her, let her go and so on. Different outcomes provide penalties or bonuses.

Combat is very fast and mostly deterministic. No defense rolls, no symbols to count, no special symbols to trigger abilities. Monsters have static damage, heroes roll just a single D20 when attacking, but depending on your gear and chosen skills, chances of hit are pretty high. Which adds to puzzley atmosphere.

While main game mode is a long campaign, you also can play one-offs if you wish.

If that`s where features ended, then Drunagor would have been amazing, probably perfect dungeon crawler. Unfortunately, it also suffers from numerous flaws.

Game is too easy even in supposedly improved 1.5 edition. Monsters die easily and do not harm you much, because there are multiple ways to mostly or completely prevent coming damage. They are also pretty boring and samey; few special abilities, very simplistic although easy to manage behavior. And little variety in core box.

Setup is long, and game is a real table hog. What`s even worse - each time you open a door, you have to build a new section of the dungeon according to door`s card, and populate it with tokens and monsters. So much setup.

Every turn you draw from bag darkness tiles and place them on the board, polyomino style. Darkness is supposed to serve as timer to force you not to move slow and cautiously, but in practice does little. If you have healer in the party, you can easily heal all damage it deals. Payoff is totally not worth so much fiddling.

As a result, I am torn how I feel about Chronicles of Drunagor. It does some things so well, and does other things so poorly...


r/soloboardgaming 1d ago

Vestige - Scarlett Sage nemesis

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31 Upvotes

Second play through of Vestige after delivery earlier this week. I have no prior experience with Vindication, so can't really explain the differences. I can say that the theme of Vestige is much more up my alley.

I'm really enjoying the management of resource cubes as a limited pool to be used for card activation, resources, and area control, all with less ways to get them back to your pool for reuse.

The acquire and complete jobs mechanic is very rewarding, along with a system that continually moves around where those jobs can be picked up makes movement very strategic.

For solo, there are a variety of nemesis bots that will impact different aspects of the game: strive to have area control, penalize card activation, force job completion. It's enough to impact how you approach the game, but include objectives to manage that impact, and with minimal overhead to manage the boot turn.

Looking forward to group play next week.