Gamephotos
United Kingdom
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Many wargames in decades past were rated for solitaire play - you versus the game - with some even coming with solo play rules included in the box. Unfortunately some of these ratings were a triumph of marketing over reality and these days it seems less common to see solo play as a design consideration.
So, as a test of the new poll system, rate these top wargames by their suitability for solo play. Since this is a test poll, any comments about structure, wording or other improvements are welcome.
The order of the games is by their current wargame rank. (I wanted to do this in alphabetical order, but there's no preview option when designing a poll and trying to sort the information outside BGG is too laborious.)
(Also, I'd have preferred to only use 2-player wargames, but I couldn't find a quick/easy way to get games with 2 as the maximum number of players (and still include games for 1-2 players).
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Andrew Tullsen
United States
Tigard
Oregon
Game Parts, Custom prototypes, Print & Play Games
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Any war game that doesn't have hidden info can be played solitaire. (I do a lot of that
 )
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Richard Irving
United States
Salinas
California
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Howitzer_120mm wrote: Any war game that doesn't have hidden info can be played solitaire. (I do a lot of that )
Actually there are three non-starters when if come to solitaire suitability:
- Hidden information, like cards or blocks.
- Games where there are reaction moves, where a player can pre-empt his opponent for opportunity fire or similar action.
- Games that require simultaneous choices by each opponent.
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Tom Grant
United States
Foster City
California
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The ASL entry is ambiguous. Do you mean, playing standard ASL scenarios, or playing the ASL Solitaire module?
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Gamephotos
United Kingdom
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This opinion poll is simply aimed at allowing people to express their opinion on how suitable a given game is for solo play.
If a game comes with 49 2-player scenarios and 1 solitaire scenario but that scenario showed how 2-player scenarios could be easily converted to solo play then I'd say "With Minor Changes" is the best option.
If the single scenario is the only solo option without making a lot of changes, then I'd go for either "With Some Effort" or "Only With A Lot of Work" (but it's a matter of individual judgement).
If the game came with rules for generating solo scenarios then I'd go with "Good As Is".
In the end, it's just a a best guess/gut feeling/snap opinion on each user's part.
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Robert Wilson
Canada
Riverview
New Brunswick
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My feeling is:
unless they have specific solitaire rules, any wargame that has hidden info is unplayable solo , butthats just me
for example, one of the main mechanics of The Burning Blue is deception and misdirection by the luftwaffe player, whereas in the game Downtwon by the very same designer, there are solitaire rules available
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Al Johnson
United States
Arlington
Texas
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I agree with the previous poster that only war games made specifically for solitaire play really work. How can you make a plan when you know what you're going to do? I never understood that.
Anyway, one recommendation. The poll should have been done alphabetically. Most people are probably looking for games they have owned or played - it's hard to find them in this list.
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Greg Moore
United States
Missouri
Print-n-Play Wargames and Miniatures Rules www.wargamedownloads.com
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Tide of Iron is in there twice.
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Antonio Chavez
United States
Laredo
Texas
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Azzarc wrote: Tide of Iron is in there twice.
No it isn't.
Tide of Iron and Iron Tide: Panzers in the Ardennes are quite different games.
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Al Johnson wrote: I agree with the previous poster that only war games made specifically for solitaire play really work. How can you make a plan when you know what you're going to do? I never understood that.
I guess this underlines the limit of a poll like this.
I'm sure plenty of people play wargames solo even if they know what the "other guy" is going to do. If there's no hidden info, then it is sort of like playing chess solo.
Some people who would never play chess solo, some would, and I guess that will have a big influence on how they answer the poll.
Too bad that isn't an option, the "I'd never play chess solo" button.
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Jeff Thompson
United States
Homewood
Illinois
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By playing both sides, you make a general strategy for both sides from the beginning, then employ that strategy the best you can.
It's kind of a way to play out "What if" scenarios. It's also a way to attempt new tactics without spoiling a long game when you have a live opponent.
Didn't Bobby Fischer play chess solitaire a lot?
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Robert Wilson
Canada
Riverview
New Brunswick
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And we know how he ended up
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Russ Williams
Poland
Wrocław
Dolny ÅšlÄ…sk
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rri1 wrote: - Games that require simultaneous choices by each opponent.
I recall reading long ago an article about playing non-solitaire wargames solo which addressed this issue. The idea was to decide several good/reasonable choices for each opponent, and then randomly select each opponent's choice from among their set of reasonable choices.
This seemed like a clever idea to me (but I've never tried it since I don't play non-solitaire games solo).
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Jason Zavoda
United States
Delaware
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Thanks very much for this post. I'm just getting back into wargaming after a long absence and solo play is always an interest if not a requirement for me. A survey like this is immensely helpful Most games and the newer game companies are complete mysteries to me and many seem to fail to list their solitaire suitability.
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Steve Herron
United States
Johnson City
Tennessee
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I would like to see all the wargames listed on BGG have a solitaire rateing That way one would have some idea if a person wanted to buy it and had trouble finding someone to play it with.
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Mark B.
United States
Athol
Massachusetts
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sherron wrote: I would like to see all the wargames listed on BGG have a solitaire rateing That way one would have some idea if a person wanted to buy it and had trouble finding someone to play it with.
Game Photos, thanks for making this poll. It is the first good use for one I have seen here on BGG.
I agree that it would be nice to know if games played well solo.
Now, if we only lived closer to one another we could actually play face to face games instead of solo games that were really meant for more players.
I should go and setup a solo game of Memoir '44; which I have had much fun playing alone! 
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Wendell
Spain
Arlington
Virginia
All the little chicks with crimson lips, go...
Hey, get your stinking cursor off my face! I got nukes, you know.
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Interesting poll - but as a previous poster mentioned, you might want to list them alphabetically.
You should add World in Flames, which is quite suitable to solo play as-is. There are others missing too.
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Gamephotos
United Kingdom
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jiminy wrote: Too bad that isn't an option, the "I'd never play chess solo" button.
You can use the "2-Players+ Only" option to indicate that you'd never play Chess solo. (It was going to be "2-Players Only" but many of these games list 3, 4 or 6 players as the upper limit, even when they're mainly 2-player games - more marketing decisions.)
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Gamephotos
United Kingdom
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wifwendell wrote: Interesting poll - but as a previous poster mentioned, you might want to list them alphabetically.
You should add World in Flames, which is quite suitable to solo play as-is. There are others missing too.
As I stated in the OP, the games are listed by their wargame rank as of 17th May 2008. I couldn't find an easy way to order them alphabetically as there is no preview option when putting a Poll together and the individual lines of the Poll looked like "[ gameid=12345]", which meant I couldn't easily sort the games in-situ.
Also, España 1936 caused the poll to be misformed and it was only when the poll was finalised and saved that it actually looked OK. The Poll appeared to terminate with this game and none of the game further down the list appeared until the poll was inserted in a post and then previewed. I thought I might have hit a limit on the number of lines a poll can contain.
Another thing I discovered is that, not only is there no preview, but there's no way to edit a poll once you've saved it - at least, I couldn't find a way.
In the end, I had to make compromises to create the Poll at all.
(I've now thought of a way to get the Poll sorted as I'd want and would apply this method to any future polls. It still involves cutting and pasting into another application like Excel, but it should put the name and gameid together on a single line for easy sorting.)
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Gamephotos
United Kingdom
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Although this poll isn't perfect, it's put some games on my buy list - those that have a higher solitaire rating as I lack nearby wargames opponents. Games like Silent War, On To Richmond, RAN, Red Star Rising and Field Commander Rommel. (A Victory Lost is already on my list.)
So, flawed as the Poll is, it's served a useful purpose for me, so thanks to those who have provided the information.
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Jason Zavoda
United States
Delaware
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Faithful wrote:
Game Photos, thanks for making this poll. It is the first good use for one I have seen here on BGG.
I agree that it would be nice to know if games played well solo.
Now, if we only lived closer to one another we could actually play face to face games instead of solo games that were really meant for more players.
I should go and setup a solo game of Memoir '44; which I have had much fun playing alone! :)
Is it possible to play Memoir 44 solo? I thought it used cards? (Or was this a tongue in cheek reply?).
I don't think I'd ever buy a completely non-solo wargame. I'd have to know that someone else would be interested and split the cost. I do have a few family/euro games that can't be played solo but have no trouble finding players for those.
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Will DeMorris
United States
El Paso
Texas
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Quote: Is it possible to play Memoir 44 solo? I thought it used cards? (Or was this a tongue in cheek reply?).
It's possible but I don't think it's a good canidate. Actually none of the games that use the Command & Colors system (C&C: Ancients, Battlelore, M'44) and well suited for solo play.
For good solo play canidates I would look for games that use a chit-pull activation mechanic. Both World at War: Eisenbach Gap and A Victory Lost fit this bill. Although they are both currently OOP they will be available again within a month or two.
-Will
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Tom Grant
United States
Foster City
California
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gamephotos wrote: So, flawed as the Poll is, it's served a useful purpose for me, so thanks to those who have provided the information.
I've noticed a trend in the comments on polls: impatience with their imperfection. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a perfect poll. I speak from experience, since polls have been a big part of two of my jobs, including the current one.
You can make a very detailed poll, but it will be too long and complicated for anyone to answer. You can make a simpler poll, but it won't capture every relevant detail.
Therefore, you choose your questions carefully, and respect the intelligence of the reader to understand what the poll did and did not cover.
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Mark B.
United States
Athol
Massachusetts
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jasonzavoda wrote: Faithful wrote: Game Photos, thanks for making this poll. It is the first good use for one I have seen here on BGG. I agree that it would be nice to know if games played well solo. Now, if we only lived closer to one another we could actually play face to face games instead of solo games that were really meant for more players. I should go and setup a solo game of Memoir '44; which I have had much fun playing alone! Is it possible to play Memoir 44 solo? I thought it used cards? (Or was this a tongue in cheek reply?). I don't think I'd ever buy a completely non-solo wargame. I'd have to know that someone else would be interested and split the cost. I do have a few family/euro games that can't be played solo but have no trouble finding players for those.
No, this was not tongue-in-cheek. I have played this solo and have fun doing so, but you have to understand, I play every game I own solo (except for a rare few my wife will occasionally play).
I cannot find anyone else that wants to play board games; I try but with no success. I have even given my name, phone, and email address at the two places that sell games within driving distance (45 minute away at least), but I have never heard back from either of them. *sigh*
So, I am stuck playing solo until such time I can find another person willing to play that is nearby.
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Jason Zavoda
United States
Delaware
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Faithful wrote:
No, this was not tongue-in-cheek. I have played this solo and have fun doing so, but you have to understand, I play every game I own solo (except for a rare few my wife will occasionally play).
I cannot find anyone else that wants to play board games; I try but with no success. I have even given my name, phone, and email address at the two places that sell games within driving distance (45 minute away at least), but I have never heard back from either of them. *sigh*
So, I am stuck playing solo until such time I can find another person willing to play that is nearby.
Snipped most of the old quotes for brevity but wanted to mention this was about memoir 44.
Anyway, I'm kinda in the same boat myself. Hard to find wargaming opponents, but some games I just can't (or don't have the patience to) transform into solitaire play. From what I have heard about M44 it would be difficult to adabt it to solo play.
I just wish that the game reviews here had a solitaire suitability category.
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