The Solitaire Wargames – genre which in the beginning of my tabletop journey was completely alien to me – are becoming more and more prominent in my overall boardgames passion. I really like all the types: the dedicated solo designs, positions with solo variant or simply solo-friendly titles (like with chit-pull mechanics). If I have a multiplayer game which I am going to bring to the table with my friends, almost always I first do a solo run and familiarize with it.
Without any doubt the the pandemic time contributed here greatly – except for occasional Digital or VASSAL/Tabletop Simulator assisted plays, I was back then mainly entertained by moving the chits alone on the map (or using my two sons s great bots).
If you read my blog regularly, you have probably seen that I already created some content on Solo Games. You can look up the fantastic (sorry for my hubris 🙂 ) Solitaire Wargames Series article from which I am extremely proud. Also, if you would like to look at my preference when it comes to classic solitaire wargames, have a look at article from three years ago – dedicated solitaire positions.
Today I would like to focus on solo games I had a chance – and pleasure – to play in last 12-14 months. In essence, this will be new, fresh designs – sometimes standalone, sometimes parts of the larger series. I hope they will work as an inspiration for you!
Other articles in the series:
Mr. President from GMT Games
Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 is a solitaire game about governing as the President of the United States. Important! It’s not an election game! It begins after you’ve been elected. It’s about sitting in The Chair and trying to advance your agenda while navigating ongoing crises, political enemies, public opinion, your relations with Congress and the press, and keeping your country secure in a world of rival nations and agendas that just seems to keep blowing up around you.
In essence, Mr. President is a resource management game, where you never have enough of them to achieve your entire agenda – which I really like as it clearly reflects the reality. The resources will be political capital, military power or simply time / actions you can devote to crises and opportunities.
Like the actual President, you’ll have an array of allies and resources to help you as you navigate both the corridors of power in the nation’s capital and the uncertainties of international relations. These allies and resources will vary from game to game, but you’ll always be able to rely on your Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense to help you with foreign policy and with the use, where you deem necessary, of the combat power of the U.S. military.
You’ll also have a group of domestic advisors and friends in Congress to help you navigate the many challenges in Congress and domestic life and politics. And you will always have access to at least one truly exceptional talent (chosen at random for each game – nice thing to differentiate between gameplays), someone who excels in their particular job and is a “force multiplier” for you in their own unique way. How you lead and utilize this mix of talents and experience at your disposal will go a long way toward determining your success or failure during your shot at being Mr. President.
Let us be clear – Mr. President is not a game for everybody. This is deep, multi-dimensional simulation, which portrays complex and mutually impacting processes and factors. It does it job splendidly but requires commitment – both in time, especially when you start with the game, but also in space – as you will require a decent-size table to be able to set it up. Still, this is investment worth making as the ultimate prize – a wonderful story unfolding during the gameplay – is worth it!
More about game:
Manila from Revolution Games
Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 is Volume 2 in Solitaire Area Movement Series. I had a pleasure to play extensively first game in series (Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942) and have a lot of fun with it. Thus it was a no-brainer to get Manila and bring this to the table.
This game puts the player in charge of the attacking and far more mobile American side while the game system handles the defending and largely static Japanese side. Each turn presents new challenges for the player in the form of random events, uncertain supply deliveries, and unknown Japanese area strengths and defensive strategies.
The primary game is a nine-turn campaign covering the American assault on the city during February and March 1945. The deeper American forces advance, from the city’s less developed periphery to its urban business district and fortress-like government buildings, the greater Japanese resistance becomes.
The number of American units fought to exhaustion, effectively out of action, mounts. American determination to secure a rapid victory for Supreme Allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur, represented as “morale” in the game, gradually decreases. The player wins by equaling or exceeding historical American gains and loses if they fail to do so, or if morale falls too low – and believe me, this is bound to happen if you attack too recklessly and too fast.
The game has very quick set-up which is different each time you play; there are several optional rules which can really spice-up the game – but also, most probably, make it more challenging. And what is important for wargamer who loves history, there is a lot of background information!
If you have not seen this system in action yet, give it a try. Both Manila and Stalingrad are great, choose whichever more appeals to you theme-wise. And one more good information: the third installment is already in the works!
More about game:
Global War by White Dog Games
Global War: World War II Worldwide 1939-1945 is a strategic solitaire game of the whole Second World War. You control the Allied Powers (Britain, France, USSR, USA, and their many allies), referred to in the rules as the “United Nations” or “UN”. The game’s automatic systems direct the efforts of the Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) who are trying to defeat you.
Global War made a great impression on me; it really touches all the crucial elements of World War II, while keeping it simple and on strategic level. We have six fronts, out of which some are active already in early 1939 (you remember, War in China?). The two pivotal moments of this struggle – Barbarossa and Pearl Harbor – are very naturally introduced; we have impact of US isolationism, Gandhi movement, carrier battles, Manhattan Project, Stalingrad & Guadalcanal battles and many, many more. All of this nicely connected, not too complex and naturally implemented in the mechanics.
What I would like to also underline, is that the gameplay feels just right; initially you struggle to survive as Axis overwhelm Poland, Western Europe and most of the South-East Asia. You grind slowly and steadily through Axis forces, gradually getting momentum up to the point when it is a matter not “if” but “when” you crash them. Still, this is not an easy task to finish it historically on time – and for this you would need to defeat all 6 fronts.
I really like and appreciate this game – theme, components, mechanics, initial struggle to survive and final push to win. I am sure I will be playing more and have already other Ben Madison creations on my radar.
More about game:
Honorable mention
Its a tradition that I add so called “honorable mention” to my lists – usually titles which does not fit the main theme but are worth presenting and stressing out. That is exactly the case with GMT’s CDG Solo System – as we do not have here a solo game per se, but a way to bring some of our beloved titles to the table in solitaire mode!
Oh, how happy I was that some of my long-term favorites got this treatment – and in last 12-14 months I tried many of them. This is enormous fun and I will definitely try more. What I played? Let us see!
Summary
The Solitaire Wargames are a great part and addition to our hobby; they allow players to digest the games on their own pace, familiarize with all details without time pressure and can be a great way to spend time when there are no other players handy. With each year I am discovering new titles and will definitely share my feedback on them.
And what are your favorite solitaire games – both recent ones as well as all-time-classics? Please let me know in comments!
The Boardgames Chronicle 
You should try some of Mike Lambo’s solitaire book games.
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I have just looked this up, seems to be a prolific author. I will definitely test some of his designs 🙂
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Manila!
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Of course!
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Tarawa 1943 should be on your list. I also enjoy the solo modes for Gettysburg: A Time for Heroes and Freeman’s Farm 1777, which share the same system. And the solo modes for Shores of Tripoli and WWII Commander: Battle of the Bulge and Battle of the Bulge: 1944 as well as Bitter Woods.
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It is sometimes hard to put all titles you like on the list; I agree, Tarawa 1943 is a great solo game!
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Check out Fortress Games – all 4 of their published games are solitaire, and get consistently high reviews. https://fortress-games.net/
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Thank you so much!
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I play Borg’s Red Alert occasionally solitaire. I can go with playing both players at the same time.
I always keep the opposing, eventually relevant, command cards and star tokens with me to use them when I find them appropriate to use for my opponent. While I switch between both sides of the board.
I find it comparable easy to play the game solo without dedicated system. It is not me against a solo system, but me against myself.
The randomness of command cards adds uncertainty, limiting the information horizon, that I just can plan roughly, more strategical than tactical, in long-term. Tactics are mostly about the current round. While I may have some ideas what to do for the next turns, I need appropriate command cards, enough star tokens and need to incorporate what my opponent did. Better I go for “by and large”, than being fooled by being to attached to a specific moves I want to execute, but can’t.
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I thought about this for a while. It’s the only C&C game I play, having currently 6 sessions. One solitaire in Battlelore 2nd. I read the manuals of Ancients and Samurai Battles.
I guess that multiple factors make the actions of units less predictable and which adds to plans being more on a general level then exact actions of units.
One factor is it’s lack of terrain, you try to avoid asteroids, as they are likely to damage you units, and planets aren’t that simple and not in every scenario. Therefore most hexes have the same value, being different only depending on you opponents units position, like in chess. But you don’t move to a hex to get some bonuses on actions.
Another factor is that and every unit has a treat range (movement + ranged combat) of 4-5 hexes. With Full Impulse you can add one more hex. In general many units have good ranged combat, compared to Ancients and Samurai Battles. And many units move at least 2 hexes, while even these with 1 by default can move 2 with Full Impulse, making the others moving 3. And moving doesn’t stops your from attacking. By this you have a big space you can cover with units, many hexes as potential targets for attacks.
It’s not about going for melee clash with slow moving units and/or keeping specific hexes. It’s way more unpredictable what you opponent will do and relies even more on their command and combat cards and their tokens.
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That is good analysis; I just hope that game got more traction among players as well as proper support from publisher (which seemingly abandoned it)
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Thanks.
I fear that it is too late for this game. They did nothing in the last years. Why (and what?) should they do something now? I wish they had supported the game better.
Also they have still hundreds of expansion boxes, but not the base game 🤷Go to https://www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/shop/boardgames/ and filter for Red Alter. On each item’s details you see the number they still have. It’s crazy.
Do you have any thoughts about my first comment of how I play Red Alter solitaire? I’m not sure of how this can be applied to other C&C’s, but it might be doable. No need do a solo system then.
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Thanks, will check the link.
Regarding the solitaire method for Red Alert – have you seen the GMT’s CDG Solo System? It can be used also for C&C system. I actually did two presentation:
Maybe that will help?
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The link is not the important. Is more about amusement.
I have the document of this solo system and 1-2 other solo systems too.
But while playing solo, didn’t felt the need to use any of them. That’s my point. You can play at least Red Alter very good solo without any solo system. When you can handle to play both sides at the same time.
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I love playing Commands & Colors by simply drawing the card and doing the optimal moves for the side. I probably played 10-15 times like this when Ancients were first published to just learn it. So yes, there is a way to do it and at least for me, a satisfactory one.
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Nice! For me too.
Looks like the whole C&C series can be easily played solo without further things.
How do you compare playing solo Ancients to Red Alert? What is different for Ancients by the analysis in my second comment?
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I believe Ancients are most straightforward to play as there is not second deck / no special tokens. The only thing you need to be wary of is First Strike; Other than that this is pretty straightforward play.
Red Alert will be more complex due to decision space, but not so much.
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Is this straightforward play maybe also a drawback when playing solo? You can predict more easily the next actions of your opponent. With 2 players both plan more ahead, even on tactic level / unit actions? Which might be hard to do when playing solo?
Is therefore a solo system more helpful for Ancients than Red Alert?
While I by myself sometimes struggle when soloing Red Alert with doing opponent’s actions right during my actual turn, I find the second deck and the special tokens elements which reduce the need for planning detailed ahead. These two are things you decided on the spot, often influenced by actions your opponent did in his last round. And also creating this type of actions for your opponent.
The create an information horizon. You can just roughly guess what is likely to happen in your opponents turn.
Do you know the Power of Three solo system created by Richard Borg himself vor CC Napoleonics?
https://gmtwebsiteassets.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ccn/2-1-21UpdatedSoloNapoleonicsupdate.pdf
There is also a fan version for Samurai Battles:
https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/226432/modified-solo-rules-based-on-power-of-three-varian
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Thanks for sharing those links; I heard about them but never really looked into them. I play C&C mostly 2-player or RPIC with 4-6 persons (be it live or via Vassal).
And I really hope we see more titles and expansions in the future!
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test if this works
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Do you mind answering my questions from my previous questions about Ancients? I’m interested in this information.
In regard to Red Alert created someone more units: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/250840/old-and-new-ideas-for-new-ships
And I’m working on my own to have variety beyond task force cards support vassal points by making units different in every session: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3436768/unit-modifications-for-more-diverse-fleets-and-ses
I’m not sure what you are looking for in regard to other titles. There are already 10+ C&C games with many expansions and Borg was born 1948. I would not expect him to make many more new games.
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Hi,
I believe the key problem with C&C games is not the number of games ready to be printed, but willingness of publishers to bring them to the broader public. I am not worried that Borg was born in 1948 – he has so much material which never was published, that we will easily get 3-4 more games with expansions out of it. But first we need somebody willing to go for it and publish.
I also see you are discussing your ideas regarding Red Alert with Mark, who created multitude of C&C scenarios. Good – I hope you guys will add to this game some interesting twists. I played only 4 or 5 scenarios so it is hard for me to contribute here.
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It was not a fair discussion with Mark, he rejected my idea completely. He showed no respect for me nor interested in my idea.
In the discussion with me he was a cunt.
I got you point about Borg. We will see what will come.
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