Solo wargaming

I recall on the Guild website that someone had devised a way to use playing cards to represent drawing morale chits and to keep the sense of suspense. I’ve been away from BG for a while and can’t recall the mechanism. Does anyone else or have an alternative for solo play?

Cheers

Hi,

I regularly play BG solo with little alteration. A lot of folks find this an odd concept because of the morale mechanic, prtp’s, timed airstrikes/barrages and mines let alone the orders given to the opposition. I guess this would apply to most games unless they were specifically designed for solo play.

I’ve dabbled with fog of war but this generally only encompasses the first few turns and does little to add to the enemy's logic when the units are “blinds”. Similarly, I find AI systems either acceptable in their generation of enemy actions or down right stupid, which destroys any suspension of belief.

I know some solo players think my way of playing to be pointless, that is, to perform the best tactical actions of each side given the overall objectives and the present situation but the die rolls and morale system still generate a large dose of unpredictability. Beyond the Call of Duty I find really breaks up the run of play. Of course, all this occurs in two player mode, but I find the mechanics work nicely for solo.

For me the Battle Rating is obviously open information, but given that the idea is to reduce the enemies BR as much as possible, then if an easy target toward this goal occurs it is pursued by either side. Also, an experienced player can work out enemy BR quite accurately and can begin to predict an imminent collapse by how many times a chit is pulled and by enemy protectionist play. So, no real issues for me when playing solo.

As for prtp’s, 3 of them using harassment fire covers the width of my board so if they are deployed that would be my general pattern. Mines, I leave as marked, more like deterrents than nasty surprises, in conjunction with wire quite tactically challenging. Some debate on the forum about this; but if I play a real opponent invariably mines are hidden. Airstrikes and barrages often dumped on objectives (which are usually tactical features such as junctions, bridges or key buildings, than random points) within a band of three turns randomly chosen. Not ideal but sufficient.

As for opposition orders, I find again, BG to be relatively self-determinant. I’ve often heard the complaint that there is no command or control in this system but that is absolutely not the case. Other systems I think are quite prescriptive in this area rating commanders and creating bubbles of influence. If you wish to combine units to work effectively together then it is the sequence of issuing orders in BG that becomes key. So, for a solo player, as for two players, little mini engagements of combined units develop as forces either push or hold areas on the battlefield.

Throw reserve move and ambush fire in and you have a system that becomes really interesting to the solo player. And of course, you have all the time in the world if your battle board is a permanent fixture and can have some really big battles and run campaigns until the end.

I haven’t really offered much in tips but you might like some of the ideas in Platoon Forward for campaign ideas, map generation or the times you need an AI generated decision.

Wingfield-Haze

I agree, also the orders system makes it doable, if like me your die rolling ability leaves you with less than required orders.

I haven’t tried it in games with more than a platoon though, yet

I also play solo, taking turns to play each side. It helps me get the rules clear before introducing the game to a newbie.