January & February are big “on the road” times for my job – which means less time for mid-week gaming with friends and family. On the other hand, it does mean I play a lot of solo games.

In the last month or so, I’ve written about two of those here on the OG: Arydia: The Paths We Dare Tread and Ascending Empires: Zenith Edition. Today, I’m going to add four more to the mix.

In the Ashes

The only one of the four that was truly designed as a solo game is this hardbound book/game designed by Pablo Aguilera. I’ve described In The Ashes to folks as a cross between the Choose Your Own Adventure/Fighting Fantasy books and a Gloomhaven-ish combat system… albeit with a rather sophisticated method for changing the story moving forward. (The story system reminds me of FFG’s Legacy of Dragonholt – but implemented in a much cleaner manner.)

The player simply reads the story, making choices along the way with possible skill checks for certain decisions, eventually coming to a point where they have to fight some kind of bad guy. The “card-based” combat then kicks into gear. (Note: there aren’t actually any cards – it’s a way of referring to the various action choices you have on the page.)

While I’m not a fan of the opening story trope (sad, sad lead character considering suicide is startled to live by unusual supernatural event), the writing is actually pretty solid. It’s pitched at an adult level (meaning maturity, not prurient interest) and there are some interesting ethical dilemmas posed by the decisions you have to make.

Everything you need to play is in the book – it will even “roll dice” for you (random dice rolls are on almost all of the pages of the book – just choose a page and see the roll you made). All you need is a pen/pencil and the time to work your way through the story. It’s a highly portable solo – perfect for when I’m in “road warrior” mode for work.

SAS Rogue Regiment

For many years, I wanted to acquire a fully-kitted out set of the classic British design, Hour of Glory: Stronghold. (Yep, I wanted the minis + someone to paint them… the whole nine yards.) I never did manage to pull it off – but I did finally get an opportunity to play the game & enjoyed the clever “how long can I sneak around before this devolves into a full-on battle?” mechanics of the design.

That’s the same tricky ground that SAS Rogue Regiment (designed by Robert Butler) plays in – the joys of doing a WWII secret mission, well, secretly – then having to run for the escape point while being chased by hordes of bad guys. Unlike Hour of Glory (which is a 1 vs many design), SAS Rogue Regiment is a cooperative game with an AI driven by a card deck and pre-determined priority systems.

As is typical when playing against a automata, sometimes the priorities don’t seem in line with the actual situation. In SAS, you can chalk that up to “fog of war” and the shock of being attacked behind enemy lines – but in each game I’ve played, I’ve overruled a priority or two to help the bot make more intelligent decisions. (Honestly, I don’t want to win because the bot is stupid – and this one certainly is not – but sometimes it’s obvious that a soldier to should try to drop me in my tracks rather than let me run into cover.)

The review copy I received was a retail version – so I am aware that there are a number of expansions to the base game that add complications and wider variety in the scenarios that were available as a part of the Kickstarter and now are making their way into retail. As is, many of the missions are similar in feel – varying mostly in the composition of your SAS team and the terrain you have to cross.

Does the game system work? Absolutely. Is the rulebook complete (if eccentrically organized and with some key rules more difficult to find than necessary)? Yes. Overall, it’s a mostly successful attempt to build a game that captures the feel of SAS missions in the second world war – and I do give it credit for causing me to seek out more reading on the history of the SAS.

World Wonders

I am a sucker for well-made components… which is different, by the way, than wanting every game to have plastic miniatures. (Example: while I enjoy Monumental, the thought of trying to read the board with scads of plastic minis covering each space gives me hives.) World Wonders has a plethora of very classy wooden structures of various ancient wonders – and while they play a key role in the game, they are not the only reason to enjoy this drafting/tile-laying super-filler.

The solo mode for the game uses a card deck to “act” like a second player – drafting pieces from the lineup to both score resources and keep you from getting them. It’s not a particularly sophisticated solo design – but it has an annoying tendency to screw up your plans, which is exactly what you want a solo bot to do. It’s also very easy to administer.

I have some small gripes: I wish there was a better storage system for the game (yes, I’m working on getting a 3D-printed one done by a much more tech-savvy friend); I think some of the icons used on the cards (particularly in the Mundo expansion) are confusing until you look up the text in the rules; and I don’t understand how a five player game only comes with three player aids.

But overall, I’ve enjoyed this immensely both as a two-player & solo game. (And it looks great once you’ve got your city built.)

Hamlet: The Village Building Game

When I originally played Hamlet at BasementCon in November 2022 this is what I wrote:

I had the opportunity to play Hamlet using the solo rules… now, this (unlike Akropolis) is a for-real city-building game. Both the odd-shaped village pieces and the “anyone can use resources or buildings” rules do some very interesting things to your typical game of this genre. I’d like to try it again, both solo and multiplayer. (I will note that I got to play using the KS edition, which was quite nice.)

Fast forward a couple of years… to when I found a copy of the Deluxe edition (Kickstarter) at a used bookstore (shoutout to McKay’s) for a very reasonable price. I picked it up and found myself enjoying the quirky cooperative/competitive vibe of it all over again. Some of the potential flaws with the initial release were still evident – the not-terribly-well-designed cardboard church (which managed to be both flimsy AND an active block to seeing key elements on the board) is the most glaring example.

Thankfully, the intriguing game play does a good job of overriding some UI issues – and on top of that, the second Kickstarter for the Hamlet: By the Lake expansion also introduced an upgraded version of the base game: new wooden church with a lower profile, better icon size on the village pieces, easier to handle pieces, and (most importantly for solo players) an excellent solo player aid. Thanks to the one-man show that is Upstart Boardgamer, I picked up a copy of the deluxe version of the expansion bundled with the upgrade materials.

The combination of the player aid (making solo administration much cleaner) and the fishing elements of By the Lake are a winning combination – if anything, the AI bot (Botric is his name) is tougher to beat with the additional ways to score points. The expansion also adds an additional game end condition that throws another wrench in your potential plans for greatness.

I really like the puzzle-y nature of the game – having to balance getting tasks accomplished without leaving resources for Botric to scoop up and turn into a path towards victory. I also think that the random order of appearance for the various parts of the village changes the flavor of each game in ways that make me want to set it up and play it again.

My Personal Ratings on the OG Scale

• Love it! – Hamlet, World Wonders
• Like it – In the Ashes
• Neutral – SAS Rogue Regiment
• Not for me

I received review copies of In the Ashes & SAS Rogue Regiment.