Halls of Hegra is published by Tompet Games and designed by Petter Schanke Olsen. It is a solitaire-only game built around the siege of Hegra Fortress in Norway in the opening weeks of the German invasion of Norway. A handful of Norwegian volunteers fell back into an abandoned mountain fort and held out for almost two weeks against a numerically overwhelming German force before finally being obliged to surrender. That is a small episode by the standards of the war, but it is exactly the kind of story I love to see on the table, and the design leans into it completely.
Mechanically this sits much closer to Robinson Crusoe, This War of Mine, or Dead of Winter than to a traditional hex-and-counter wargame, mixing worker placement, bag building, and area control with a strong tower defense flavor. The game runs through three stages. First, mobilization: you explore the fortress, dig through snow and broken equipment, take in new recruits, and plan the supply routes you will need. Then the first attack on the village below, which you defend while finishing your preparations and sending patrols behind enemy lines for supplies. Finally the siege itself, with constant bombardment and infantry assaults while you try to keep your men’s morale from collapsing. It plays in around 70 to 90 minutes and the tension is relentless, which for a solo design is a real achievement.
Below I am presenting the game components, giving also a quick overview of the rules and key design features:
Enjoy the material!