Kev’s Hobby Blog
Introduction
Solitaire Wargaming is as old as the hobby itself. Many gamers even in our connected world have gone without opponents for a variety of reasons too numerous to list here, but it happens to everyone. Most of my childhood gaming efforts were solitaire (When everyone else wants to play GI JOE and you want to do 6th Army at Stalingrad, it’s kind of hard-to-find people really into the subject matter as a ten-year-old.)
Solitaire Wargaming has really flourished over the last year or so due to the quarantine, and I suspect as gamers get older and we begin not to travel as much, we’ll probably fall back on solitaire games to get our gaming fix in.
My introduction to solitaire wargaming was often attempting to play both sides with a reasonable amount of “Forget what I just did and see if I can beat myself.” This can get boring, and from the earliest parts of the hobby, solitaire options began to be baked into many wargames. I’m going to go through some of my favorite purpose-built solitaire wargames and talk about what makes them really fun games, especially from a solitaire standpoint.
Board Wargaming
Board Game Geek
One of the first solitaire wargames I gave a try. I really liked
the premise of the game. You fly a B-17 over occupied Europe and attempt to
survive 25 missions. The game was structured to cover the period before the
Schweinfurt-Regensburg raids so as not to make the Luftwaffe challenging but
not difficult. As for atmosphere, the game has it in spades. There’s nothing
quite so disconcerting as bringing a bomber back from a run over Emden, with
two engines out, out of formation, and oops, 4 German fighters are setting up
to make runs on you! There are criticisms, such as the game is way too chart-heavy,
but I personally don’t think you could do this game any other way. The game has
a very dedicated following that’s spawned quite a few homegrown variants and
“sister” games such as B-29
Superfortress, Target
for Today, Target
for Tonight, and Amerika
Bomber. Sadly, while B-17
itself is out of print, the game can be had on Board
Game Geek, but it’s not as cheap
as it once was. I personally would probably get one of the other listed games,
especially Target for Today.
Board Game Geek
I found this game when at the hobby shop with my Grandfather. He had a soft spot for his old division, and I knew I wasn’t leaving the game store without buying it. I’m glad I did because this game is a gem, and while there are other solitaire tank games out there, this is one of the better ones. I especially liked the simple way the game presented itself. There are less charts than B-17, and much of the information is presented better, which I think is a function of advances in game design. The point of the game is that you control a single Sherman tank in the U.S. 4th Armored Division, and you’re trying to survive the war while losing as few crewmen as you can. Of course, if you the tank commander die, then it’s roll up a new crew.
The game itself is played as you move as part of a task force across an area map. When you run into resistance, the game switches to a battle map that looks like a radar display, and you make tactical decisions like where to drive the tank, what weapons to employ and when to fight, or when to run. The game does a particularly good job in reflecting the differences in the various marks of Shermans and, all in all, I really think the game did a good job of reflecting armored warfare at this level.
The game, like B-17, is also quite popular, and variants covered everything from additional tank types to different theatres of the war. The game is also out of print, sadly, but copies can be had from Board Game Geek. Trouble is, the game is not cheap to get your hands on.
Board Game Geek
Raid on St. Nazaire was a game I discovered at my local gaming club in my 20s. Boy, I loved this game and played it to death. The game is about the successful commando raid on the French port of St. Nazaire in 1942. The game is, to me, everything about a solitaire game done right. It picks something small with high replay value (a raid) and then makes a good, tense game out of it, with the player in the role of the guy planning and executing the raid. I really did have in my mind’s eye Richard Burton and Sean Connery shooting the crap all over the place and blowing stuff up!
The game runs the Germans and has a real “beat the clock” feel to it, as you must hit your targets, not lose too many people doing it, and then get back out. You can leave time delayed charges, especially HMS Cambeltown and her famous ramming of the drydock. Nothing like having a fairly good raid and then having the Campbeltown’s charges go “pfft” instead of “boom,” and you lose the game on points.
The game is available to play on Tabletop Simulator, but it’s a hard game to find a physical copy of. I’ve been trying for years.
Miniatures Gaming
Miniatures gaming is a little harder to do solitaire, of course, but many newer rules are coming up with all sorts of solitaire rules to help out those that want to play games solo. There are also all sorts of add-ons out there to give your “opponent” the AI they need to allow them to be a somewhat challenging opponent.
Sample card from the Hostile AI Deck | Printer’s Studio.
One of my recommended add-ons for this sort of thing is a little add-on called Hostile – Tactical A.I. Basically, it’s a deck of 79 cards designed to be the “A.I.” for the non-player side. The orders you execute depend on whether the enemy is alert or not. When activating a unit from said side, you pull a card for what the action will be, another for which direction the unit will move, and a third for how far they will move. A set of objectives for the A.I. serve to keep the A.I. focused and reacting in sensible ways to give the player a real challenge. I have tried the cards a few times and found they do a fine job of making a challenging opponent to play against.
Conclusion
There are a lot more solitaire games and resources out there than the ones I’ve mentioned here. I found this youtube video on Solitaire Wargaming by Little Wars.TV an exceptionally good resource to get you started. More assistance can be found on the Solitaire Wargamers Facebook Page, which is a whole community of solitaire wargames available for help, and to answer your questions.
Until then, good gaming, everyone!
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(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)