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My top ten solo games

Posted by Caroline Black

Solo

19 Jan 2024

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I am not a big one for playing solo so this was a really hard list to do. I tend to play solo to test out a new game or I choose something simple to play as a relaxing activity. I do have a few game that are deeper that I have played solo to explore different strategies. I much prefer to play an app or play in Yucata or BGA.

It kind of feels weird setting up a game just to play by yourself. I looked at my previous post on this topic and the games have changed quite a bit.

Solo gaming

Underwater Cities
I discovered this on Yucata so I’ve never played it in the flesh. Playing it solo allowed me to explore the different cards and hone my strategy a bit before I played it multiplayer. I enjoyed it so much I now own the physical copy.

My City: Roll & Build
Is a slimmed down version of My City. Each game only takes a few minutes so it’s easy to fit in over breakfast or during a coffee break. It’s a small but satisfying solo campaign. There’s not much of a legacy element to it other than the bandits.

Tapestry
A really satisfying solo option which played almost like the multiplayer game. Great for exploring new civs and cards. Tapestry has so much content now it would take dozens of plays to cover it all. The automa is a little tricky to use especially when doing conquering.

Ark Nova
I really enjoy Ark Nova solo although I am not very good at it starting on an appeal of fifteen. I am also dreadful at playing the other player mats much prefering the original with that nice starting enclosure. No doubt I will crack this open again to play Ark Nova: Marine Worlds.

The Castles of Burgundy
I went thorough a period of playing this solo whereby you have to completely fill in your player mat. I’ve never achieved it but got within one of two. I haven’t tried to solo option from The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition yet.

Board Game: Dorfromantik: The Board Game

Dorfromantik: The Board Game
I really like this as a relaxing experience. The tiles create a pleasant map and it’s probably got the best tile laying since Carcassonne. I really like the legacy selement although it didn’t change it up enough for me. There were a couple of things I really liked like the tile that lets you score sheep or the card which lets you hold back a tile but in general I just didn’t think it was innovative enough.

Agricola (Revised Edition)
This is my most played solo game although I don’t play it much anymore but it was a great way to explore the cards and I really like just being able to optimise my farm rather than have my plans messed up by other players.

Ecosystem: Coral Reef
This is really satisfying. It’s a really simple solo system whereby you build two ecosystems. Yours and the solo one. Obviously you are trying to get the solo one to score as little as possible which is difficult. It has that mechanic whereby you have to take the last card which will probably you score you nothing for your but if you are not careful a lot for the other one. Sometimes you have to build your sub optimally just to incorporate cards to stop the solo tableau getting them.

Sprawlopolis
A lot of the Button Shy games are solo. This is probably the one with the best solo experience as each game plays differently based on the scoring tiles chosen. There are common rules to each game but also the special objectives for that game. I also enjoy Food Chain Island. In this game you have to get all the animals to eat each other which is really hard to do. Finally I recently acquired Unsurmountable in which you have to creat a continuous path up to the summit.

Legacy of Yu
This is my only solo only game and I’ve really been enjoying it although my only criticism would be it’s a little long. Although I am getting better at sitting it down. During each game cards come out that add new cards and change the game. If you win you get a nerf and if you lose you get a buff.

Finally some honourable mentions. I’ve played The Glade a bit which is a tricky solo experience. This game is really thinky and I find it hard to do. You have to link the differnt groups of three or four tiles like you do in a cross word building enclosed areas. It’s really difficult and I am really bad at it.

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19 Comments

Fri Jan 19, 2024 10:45 pm

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Just two things - Legacy of Yu and Unsurmountable.

Posted by Caroline Black

07 Jan 2024

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

Well I managed to get hold of this from ebay and I’ve played my first game (and lost).

I have played Agricola solo hundreds on times on the App. It’s a nice little puzzle. Each game you play a game there is a victory point requirement. If you can achieve this you move on to the next game. If not you can keep trying. The most games I have progressed in a campaign is 28. You always get to the point where no matter what you do your can’t meet the point requirement. Each game you can elect to chose an occupation to keep for the rest of the campaign. Seven in total. To keep progressing you have to choose these wisely, scraping together the points require each game until a really useful occupation comes along. You also get seven new minor improvements you can play each game.

As the campaign progresses you are building more and more impressive farms with five or six stone rooms, five workers and a host of fields and pastures full of animals. Feeding becomes easy with multiple major improvements. It’s really satisfying.

Having bought all the decks this ceased to be part of my gaming a while back. But I’ve been looking for some sort of campaign style solo game to replace it. Without success. I tried various ones. I have played the My City campaign three times on BGA. I really like it but it doesn’t have much replayability. I thought Dorfromantik: The Board Game might work. I like tile laying. It had a nice sort of legacy element to it. I played a few games but it just lacked agency. Unlocking the new cards didn’t change up the game enough. There were a couple of elements that were really good. Like the storage tile and the one that scores sheep but most were a bit boring to be honest.

I had a little bit of success with My City: Roll & Build. It was a nice little campaign. But it only kept me entertained for a week or so. Still for £6 it was more entertaining than doing Sudoku.

But now I think I’ve found a nice little solo campaign game in Legacy of Yu. Although I wanted something that took about 45 minutes a game and it’s taking a lot longer. This is very clever. It isn’t just a beat you best score solo option. You have to build culverts off the main canal to stop it flooding. And fight off the barbarians. But as you build more and more barbarians come out. Once there are seven you have lost. If you don’t build the calvert’s in time you also lose. It’s hard.

I really like the deck management part of it. If you burn cards for resources they leave your deck. The smaller your deck the more often you need to build culverts. There are buildings that create worker placement spaces and buildings that give you resources on upkeep and buildings that give you extra bonuses or flexibility. But you can’t build these unless you built the culverts. And all the time you are reading sections in the book that mess with your plans.

The game has a small footprint. Because it’s played over a series of rounds you can leave it and come back. Which is what I liked about Agricola. The rule set is simple but there are many different things you can do on your turn. They all help you but you have to be ruthlessly efficient.

In my first game in managed to build the culverts but eventually got overwhelmed with barbarians. With three coming out each round requiring nine people to defeat them it just became impossible towards the end. I really like how the box is organised. Everything has its own space and the box is small enough that I use it as its own resource holder. It would make an excellent app.

I also bought Unsurmountable. This is a Button Shy wallet game with just 18 cards. I was attracted to it after reading about it in Alex’s blog Browsing Games.

I had a fair bit of success in playing wallet games before with Sprawlopolis and Food Chain Island. In fact I am kicking myself because I didn’t achieve my diversity challenge last year and I realised afterwards I could have played some quick solo games.

This looks really good but really hard. You have to get to the top of the mountain playing cards. I think there are different difficulty levels. Again I like it because it isn’t points. I don’t know why but I really resent adding up the points in solo games. I always have a sense of how well I did and to add up the points and then compare them to a chart to see if you are a master builder or whatever seems pointless. (pun intended)

I struggle with Button Shy. This was £12 plus postage. They always seem ridiculously expensive for what they are. Although I think their subscription service is an excellent business model and it shows the caliber of the designs that so many people sign up for this. Also I think you should judge a game on the design rather than just the components in the box. I must admit I was shocked when I opened Legacy of Yu and there were so few resources. But then I realised it’s solo so you don’t need that many.

So when this arrives it will be trying another solo game. But in my heart of hearts I am not really a solo gamer. I can’t help feeling with both of these it’s a shame they aren’t multiplayer. But if you do like playing solo I would definitely recommend Legacy of Yu.

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Sun Jan 7, 2024 9:00 am

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Just one thing - Ecosystem

Posted by Caroline Black

05 Oct 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I enjoyed my little solo campaign of My City: Roll & Build so much that I have decided to play a little solo games at breakfast or during a coffee break rather than surfing the net.

I started with Ecosystem: Coral Reef. This game has special significance because it was the first review copy of a game I was ever given.

I’d discovered Ecosystem just before lockdown and played it with my family. Unfortunately I then lost it when I left it down the pub. I really liked it as a game and especially like the art. It was one of the first games that jumped aboard the nature bandwagon. I banged on so much about it on my blog that they sent me a review copy of the second game in the series.

Ecosystem: Coral Reef plays very similarly to the first one. But it’s set under the sea. I would say it’s a little bit more thematic than the first. Coral has to be at the bottom to score. Clown fish, who live on coral reefs, score off coral and plankton. Sharks feed off fish. Some of the scoring mechanisms are very similar to Ecosystem. Like the Turtle that just scores for rows and columns he is in and the Octopus that lets you swap two cards. And they both reward building a biodiverse ecosystem.

So today I tried to solo game. And it’s very good. I don’t like solo games with lots of upkeep. Mostly the solo opponent just takes stuff or blocks up actions. But with this, you build two ecosystems. Your one, which scores as best you can. And one for The Bot which scores as little as possible. Your end score is the difference between the two.

It’s fun to try to screw over The Bot. I was more proud of his low scoring Ecosystem of just 23 than my score of 97.

It’s a really nice mechanic. Because you’re actively trying to do something for you and The Bot. Towards the end you just hate draft a cards which would be useful to The Bot. The Bot’s cards are placed in a set order. Top to bottom, left to right. As you finish each turn you draw a card. As you finish each five card row you draw five new cards.

As in the multiplayer game the cards slowly diminish until you just have two cards left. In my case a coral which would give The Bot three points. And a Krill which would give him a group of three and nine points. So I took the Krill even though it scored me nothing. (note to self leave a slot next to the Whale next time)

I notice there’s a third game in the series. Ecosystem: Savanna. Nice. The arts lovely and I like that the cards are completely uncluttered. All the mechanics are on the player aid. They both come with a handy score pad.

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Thu Oct 5, 2023 10:52 am

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Dice Tower top ten

Posted by Caroline Black

14 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I watched The Dice Tower all time top ten. They each did their top ten and then there was the people’s choice. I don’t watch Dice Tower often these days. It’s too commercialised. There is too much non-gaming chat, promoting other stuff. Tom giving shout outs to subscribers or people on the chat is just boring.

I don’t think the team’s dynamic is as good since Sam left. It’s like the Top Gear team without James May. I was thinking, while I was watching, that no reviewer seems to have similar taste to myself. Rahdo used to be a good fit for me but not any more.

But at the end of the day, they all play so many games that you have to have some respect for their opinions. That said a fair proportion I’d never heard of.

Ten

Caverna: The Cave Farmers was Tom’s number ten. I quite like Caverna: The Cave Farmers although I prefer Agricola because of the sheer variety of cards. But the rooms in Caverna are fun, with lots of animals and strategies and it’s more of a level playing field. I am coming round to the fact that drafting makes most games better. I suppose Caverna is a more forgiving game than Agricola and you don’t need to build a feeding engine. Tom always used to say Le Havre was his favourite Uwe Rosenberg game.

Nine

Mike’s number nine was Petrichor. Overall I found his picks the worst for me. I do own Petrichor although I’ve only played it once solo. It’s a beautiful if mean game. I really need to get this on the table again or out of my collection.

As is usual with these lists I actually preferred the people’s choice. It doesn’t come much better than The Castles of Burgundy.

Eight

The people’s choice was Lost Ruins of Arnak. This is probably the game I have changed my mind most about. The first time, I played it on Yucata, I disliked it. But now I really like it. Especially the tech tree but also the deck building. I can see why it’s always in the hotness. A good pick.

Seven

Again I am going with the people’s choice. Everdell. One of my all time favourites. I played just the base game with Everdell: Bellfaire at the weekend with my daughter. It just had the Extra Extra cards and some of the new base cards from Newleaf and it played so well. It was nice to play a quicker game rather than playing with lots of expansions, which is our normal mode of play. Despite having played it loads of times, I am still finding new combos.

Six

Zee’s number six was Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala. This is a solid pick even if I personally find Five Tribes at bit AP inducing. It’s a clever game which doesn’t get much love. It’s well balanced with the different mechanics and highly interactive. Clearly from the list, all of them like interaction.

Board Game: Five Tribes: The Djinns of Naqala

Five

I was surprised Raiders of the North Sea was Mike’s top Shem Phillips game. I predict that we will see Wayfarers of the South Tigris as the highest next year. I like Raiders. It’s simple to teach. They were saying the expansion is necessary.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg was the people’s number five. Quacks is Okay but number five? I don’t think so. It’s just a really simple push your luck bag builder. I never understand the love for this game. It’s too luck based for me although push your luck is fine. But only for a filler.

They were saving how beat up their copies were in the Dice Tower library which proves it’s enduring popularity and fact that Geekup Bits are a necessary upgrade.

Four

I can’t believe Ready Set Bet is Tom’s number four game although I am tempted to check this out. Really, he would rather play this than Viticulture Essential Edition or Kemet? I don’t think so. I don’t have any betting games. Although I think if I am going to get a horse racing game I was get Long Shot: The Dice Game.

Three

Tom’s number three was Cosmic Encounter which has always been a favourite of his. Again I’ve played it. I don’t really get the love for it. The people choice was a very predictable Terraforming Mars.

Two

It was nice to see Dominion as Tom’s number two. This is a simple and elegant game with some really interesting cards. I like how you can radically change the feel of the game by your choice of the ten cards. This is still one good game. We’ve played it a lot recently and enjoyed it.

The first Pandemic made an appearance with Iberia.

The people still showed their fantastic taste. Ark Nova. I live the interconnected mechanisms and the sheer scales of this game. It’s epic and it continues to grow on me.

One

The best game ever? Mike’s pick was Dwellings of Eldervale. Zees was a predictable 51st State. It was nice to Tom’s was Ark Nova. But the people nailed it again with Wingspan.

You can’t really go wrong with Wingspan. It’s so much fun. It’s got so much variety now with the expansions. It’s one cool game.

There were a few duplicates like Marvel Champions: The Card Game. But overall I got the impression that they tried to cover as many different games as possible.

All in all it was pretty predictable with Dune: Imperium, Scythe and Gloomhaven all making an appearance. But some notable exceptions. No Brass: Birmingham? No Sleeping Gods? No Vital Lacerda games? I can’t believe there was no Stefan Feld games.

I must be getting cynical in my old age. Surely this list was designed to cover off most categories and mechanics but still be edgy? Lots of cult of new but the odd classic game. Lot’s of fairly unknown games? I don’t know what I expected but I was underwhelmed.

And so to my solo game and it’s Agricola.

Solo 11. Agricola

I am playing a solo series and I am on game 6. I have four major improvements Seasonal worker (my favourite), Stone carrier, Stablehand and Renovator.

The first six turns I just alternated between Day labourer and ploughing fields. I then sowed them and got four reed. I easily fed my two workers during the first harvest. Then I got ten wood and built two rooms. Then I got two wood and an additional worker. I played the drinking trough minor improvement. This allows me to keep extra animals in my pastures. I then got some clay and built a hearth. Then I got some stone (getting extra stone from my stone carrier) and upgraded to a clay house. The minor improvements I played was the stone oven. I bake two lots of bread. I then got my next worker out. I then did Day Labourer this time getting a vegetable, ploughed a field and replanted my corn and sowed my vegetable. I then got wood and built some fences, getting pigs and sheep. I’d forgotten to get food so I ended up killing most of the animals but left enough for them to breed.

I got my final family member, built some more fences and took the sow and plough option, sowing another vegetable field. Finally I upgraded to a stone house getting the basket maker. Built one more stone room and then I just filled up my animals.

So that was spaces filled up, three stables, five stone rooms and all five family members. I had four pastures and six fields. 66 points which was the points objective for the game. I move on to game 8 and a target of 67 points.

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Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:03 am

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More one game per page

Posted by Caroline Black

13 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I didn’t really realise I had so few games in the top one thousand. Just 71 which is a little over half my collection. So I decided to drill down deeper into the BGG ratings, looking at those games below one thousand.

You’re actually probably a bit fed up of this idea as practically every blog as jumped on the one game per page bandwagon. Apparently originally it was A Curmudgeon chooses one game per page…going deep who started the trend, and not One Game Per Page - BGG's Top 1000 Games over 10 pages - Just My Favorite From Each Page! as I originally thought.

In many ways it’s more interesting than the top thousand. It’s adds another thirty games I own.

Page 11

One of my favourites games is Little Town. I like how simply this is to play and how easy to teach but despite that it’s really satisfying to activate the eight squares around your worker. I am still on the lookout for Little Town: Artisans. I wait in trepidation as Little Factory was so absolutely terrible. I own three other games on this way and have also played Wayfarers of the South Tigris. This game won’t be staying on this page for long.

Page 12

Three owned on this page and New York 1901 is my favourite. I’ve owned this for a long time. The art by Vincent Dutrait is great. This is a gateway level game and is area control. You have to reserve plots of land with your workers, hoping to get plots adjacent to each other. Small bronze buildings can be demolished and bigger silver and gold buildings built in their place. There is an area majority bonus for each street objective.

In addition you get to place a legendary building. If you can develop a site big enough to build it. I’ve got the painted miniatures for this. I must photograph them.

Page 13

Four owned on this page including the excellent Canopy as well as Keyper. Not as well know as it’s big brother Keyflower this is one cool game. I love the folding maps. Also how you can develop worker placement spaces on your own player area. Managing your team of Meeples is crucial and if you’re clever you can get get them to work more than once in each round. It’s just a brilliant game. I am lucky to have the character edition. It’s a crying shame this is ranked at 1289. But there you go.

Page 14

Four owned in this page and I am going to choose Warsaw: City of Ruins. Which is one of two excellent city building games on this page. The other being NEOM. Warsaw: City of Ruins is played over several rounds. There is a bonus tile available each round. Cities are restricted to a three by four grid (well unless you have a certain building) But during WW1 you have to blow up one building (well unless you have a certain building) and in WW2 two buildings. Each round has a building phase as well as an income phase. I like building metro stations. Also it’s got tile overbuilding which is nice. This is a real under appreciated gem. I’ve no idea why it was renamed.

Another game I have played on this list is the very beautiful and mean Balloon Cup. Well worth a play if you are ever on Yucata.

Page 15

Just two owned on this page plus another four played. Habitats is a cracking game. Reimplemented as Nova Luna I much prefer the original. The version with the china animals is lovely. I have the more practical wooden men. Now it’s been reprinted again with garish bright Lion King art.

Again this is such a simple game. Simply score animals based on the satisfying their requirements based on surrounding tiles. You end up building a small but satisfying animal park. Lovely.

Page 16

Five owned and they are all pretty good. But I’ve decided on Miyabi. Because it’s just so clever. I would like you to know, I do own games that don’t involve tile laying. Honest.

Miyabi takes tile overbuilding to another dimension. This is such a clever game. It feels like a classic older style Euro. The lacklustre art does it no justice but this is a really good game. Devious and again so satisfying once the big points start rolling in but it’s so easy to box yourself into a corner if you are not careful. And as the tiles get higher, you may lose the area majorities by seeking to go higher to reach the bonus tiles. Just brilliant.

Another game by Michael Kiesling on this page with beautiful art is Renature. This has lovely wooden dominos. But don’t be deceived by the cute art, this is one mean game. I like the use of the neutral pieces.

Page 17

In contrast to the previous page, I actually own just one game on this page. Abandon All Artichokes. It’s a deck wrecker and it’s ok. Nothing amazing. It’s a neat little game for the end of the evening but nothing to write home about. I like the art, which is better than Point Salad in my opinion.

Page 18

Two on this page. Both tile laying and Sanssouci is by Michael Kiesling. And I sold it. Goodness know why. I do like this. I might have to re purchase it.

The other is the original two player version of Fjords before they reimplemented it into a bigger four player game with Beth Sobel art.

Page 19

The brilliant Dice Miner is on this page. I just love this. It’s fast and fun. You are a dwarf mining a mountain. Played over three rounds you collect tunnel dice, Magic dice, hazard dice, tool dice and gem dice. And you get to give beer to your friends. A complete luck fest. I love it. I thought it played well solo when I tried it earlier in my solo challenge.

Another two games owned on this page including Atiwa.

Page 20

This has just two games owned and I am going for a long standing inhabitant of my collection and the game that started me off on my journey. Bananagrams. I am not good at this as you can imagine. But I’ve played it a tonne when my daughter was ill. She is brilliant at it. But it holds a special place in my heart and is a lot better than scrabble.

And so finally to my solo game.

Solo 10. Carcassonne

I have tried several of the solo variants over the years and I’ve go to say I thought none of them were very good. During lockdown Hans im Glück published the official solo rules.

cundco.de/en/mini-expansions/carcassonne/338/carcassonne-sol...

And they are very good. You have three sets a four meeples in three different colours. When you score a feature, you only score the points if that Meeple is last on the score track. When more than one meeples are on a completed feature they both score as long as one of the colours is last on the score track.

If you place a tile, you have to put a meeple of the required colour on the tile, if it is possible to do so. This means your meeples run out pretty quickly. You have very careful choosing where to place tiles. Sometimes you have to forgo big points just to get a meeple back so you can continue.

Once you can’t place a meeple it’s game over. The meeple furtherest back is the score, that and the meeples on the board get two points each. But only if they are the furthest behind. Twenty six points. Abysmal.

Board Game: Carcassonne: 20th Anniversary Edition

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Mon Feb 13, 2023 9:37 pm

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Don’t be square

Posted by Caroline Black

Solo

12 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I just love games which don’t have square boards. Almost all my games have square or rectangular boards. But when I played Pilgrim the other day I thought, how refreshing it has a hexagonal board.

Then yesterday I played Hickory Dickory and that has a clock shaped board with a pendulum. Probably production technique are changing and die cut boards are becoming easier to make. I think it’s the most complicated die cutting I’ve seen. Certainly this game illustrates how die cutting techniques have come forward with the wooden mice. Of course as soon as it hit the shelves player were clamouring for silkscreen mice.

It had double layer player mats you can slot the tiles into. Again we are seeing this more and more. Traditionally boards had the printed surface paper sort of wrapped around the edge. Like in this example of Tiletum. It gives a nice neat finish and oozes quality. But obviously it’s difficult, if not impossible to do this round curves.

Agricola originally just had an oblong board but the revised edition introduced die cutting making a more organic board and adding jigsaw pieces that can be added for different player counts.

Another that comes to mind is Everdell which has a board which is in the shape of any artist’s palette. I guess it’s meant to be a natural, organic shape. The expansion boards fit into the sides. It’s one of the first I came across that was folding and not square. I guess one of the reasons publishers have for using square boards is the box and of course that we mainly play on square tables.

Another favourite is Notre Dame which slots together around the cathedral and varies depending on the player count. I like to art on this too.

Viscounts of the West Kingdom has a ten sided board.

Board Game: Viscounts of the West Kingdom

Normally when I do these sort of blog posts I just mention games I own or have played. But for this topic I discovered I have played very few game boards that are not square.

Spirit Island is island shaped.

Paris is round. I always liked this. It’s been on my wish list for ages but I’ve never pushed the button. Again it’s really quite complicated in its shape. It’s slots together.

Mission: Red Planet is well, mars shaped.

Terror Below has an egg shaped board. It’s also double sided which is nice. For map type boards, it makes sense to utilise both sides to provide variety or difficulty geographical terrains.

World's Fair 1893 seems another complicated board.

Cleopatra and the Society of Architects even uses the box.

Board Game: Cleopatra and the Society of Architects

I do think funny shaped boards are becoming a bit of a thing.

So that brings me to my solo game.

Solo 9. Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden

This is the only game I have never played multiplayer. It’s a tricky little solo game. You have to plant vegetables in a six by three grid. (I wished I’d got the playmate) You get points for groups of vegetables as well as having certain patterns.

It’s played over three rounds. At the end of the round a pesky neighbour may steal one of your vegetables. The decision making is tricky. As well as selecting the card you want, you have to manage the bees in your hive and the neighbour tokens. I scored sixty points. A white ribbon and polite murmurs.

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26 Comments

Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:43 pm

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Roll and wrongs

Posted by Caroline Black

Solo

08 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

Roll and writes are very popular at the moment. I don’t actually like them that much. I don’t know why. They just don’t give me that same sense of excitement as a board game. I guess it’s because they don’t have a board or little wooden pieces.

Also although I am not big into interactive games, I do like a little bit of interaction but this seems pretty minimal in roll and writes. I guess Cartographers has a bit with drawing the ambush shape on another player’s map. But it’s unsatisfactory because it depends how nice your neighbour is.

I restrained from buying a roll and write for ages. I played a few at board game club but never really liked them. The dry erase pens always seemed to dry out. Eventually, I decided to buy Cartographers. It’s okay. You can play it at higher player counts. I played it solo this morning and I quite liked it. (see yesterdays blog)

I am very tempted to buy one of those stamp kits from Etsy. It would make it a lot quicker to play. Although I always do a lot of changing my mind and rubbing out, so it probably wouldn’t work out.

It has a mechanic whereby you draw a card and you all draw the same thing, fitting the image onto your map as best you can. Hoping to score the most points. I actually much prefer how this mechanic is implemented in My City. It much more satisfying turning a polyomino tile around to see where it fits best. Trying it in different places rather than mentally drawing in an image.

I am still playing this a lot. Everyone I’ve played it with really likes it.

Lots of big games have roll and write little siblings. Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers, Fleet: The Dice Game and Dinosaur Island: Rawr 'n Write to name but a few.

Board Game: Rajas of the Ganges: The Dice Charmers

I guess on of the big advantages is that they are nice and quick. But it feels like a bit of a cash grab to me. Some of them do have beautiful dice.

I got the notification through thus week about Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig. Whilst I love the original game, it’s probably my top game, I don’t think I will be backing this. It looks kind of neat but a bit fiddly. I love the castle pencil sharpener. These games always come with stationary items.

Board Game: Blueprints of Mad King Ludwig

Also I am still smarting over the postage costs for Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Renovations. It would take a lot for me the back another Bézier Games campaign. I know I could have asked for my money back but I really wanted the expansion, so I will just bear a grudge instead.

Board Game: Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Renovations

One of the interesting things BGG does is solo challenges that you can join in with. There’s loads of them for all sorts of games including Wingspan, Kingdomino, Cascadia and Fire in the Library. There were over 300 challenges in 2022.

I think this is such a good idea. It really creates a sense of community, for solo players. No wonder the 1 Player guild is the most popular guild.

Solo 8. Three Sisters

Today I tried the solo challenge for Three Sisters

Three Sisters Solo Challenge #5 - February 2023

I must admit I don’t like Three Sisters solo. It was one of those games where the solo player, Farmer Edith, just nicks everything. It was very frustrating. I guess you could tactically block her, as she takes a predetermined set of actions. But then it would become very formulaic.

I made a couple of big mistakes. I should have not have done the Apiary actions. They scored me no points. Also should have just continued getting blueberries rather than getting an apple. Towards the end the plant/water actions got me nothing. I scored 55 and I must admit I have no desire to play it solo again.

It’s funny because I quite like the multiplayer game. But Roll and writes will never be top games for me. They fulfil that same niche as Sudoku.

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Wed Feb 8, 2023 11:00 pm

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Map it out.

Posted by Caroline Black

Solo

07 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

I’ve always really like maps. I not sure why. I would happily collect maps. I particularly like old ones with sea monsters, ship wrecks and compass roses. I used to draw endless Narnia maps when I was a child.

I am not a big area control fan and I don’t like combat. I don’t like route building or pick up and deliver so I own very few games with maps.

My previously owned collection is littered with games with maps. Often stunningly beautiful ones. Power Grid. Ticket to Ride: Europe. Clans of Caledonia. Kingdom Builder. On the Origin of Species.

My favourite previously owned map was Elfenland. I loved the Doris Matthäus artwork.

I really like short cuts in maps. Several games have them. Versailles has one that allows you to skip a few things. Steampunk Rally has a not very good one. Jamaica has one. The new expansion for Meadow, Meadow: Downstream has one.

I like alternative routes. Recently I got Tiletum. The blandness of the map has drawn some criticism. I actually really like it. I like the way it is transformed during play. If it had been too busy you would have missed the symbols. I like the way the Cathedrals are in stacks of cut outs.

I like discovering things on maps. This is why I bought Fire & Stone but ultimately this proved to be bit of a dud. I thought I would really like uncovering the bonuses but I didn’t.

I guess the problem with a board game, as opposed to a video game, it’s it’s difficult to make the map big enough to give variety. Ticket to Ride does do map packs. Kingdom Builder and Cryptid have interlocking segments for variety of set up.

I guess that’s why tile laying was developed. It produces a beautiful map that different each time.

I like it when the game board is double sided with different maps. Like Concordia.

There are several games, I don’t own but I think they have fantastic maps. The Great Fire of London 1666 has a wonderful city map of London. I do like it when you are familiar with the place.

Board Game: The Great Fire of London 1666

And another lovely London map in Nanty Narking. With beautifully detailed miniatures to boot.

I quite like the one in New York 1901. It’s beautifully illustrated by Vincent Dutrait.

I leave you with a very beautiful and functional map, Ticket to Ride: Europe – 15th Anniversary.

Board Game: Ticket to Ride: Europe – 15th Anniversary

And so to the solo game today. I got the offer to play a multiplayer game so took that instead. But in keeping with the map theme I did play Cartographers the following morning to make up for it.

7. Cartographers

I think this is my best ever score. For a little game Cartographers takes ages. Over an hour. I like to try and make my map look nice but some of the maps in the photo sections are literally works of art. I had three ambush cards come out. The first towards the end of the end of the first round. I should have tried to mitigate it a bit more because it lost me seven points.

I always find it difficult to fill in the little gaps. Farmland and rift lands are by far my favourite cards because of this but they only came out a couple of times. I prefer games like My City with polyomino tiles because you can play with them, to see if they fit.

I decided to get as many coins as possible by taking the smaller shapes but this was probably a stupid strategy as I lost points for completed rows and columns. That said I was happy with my score and apparently I am a Master Mapsmith.

It’s a good little game which I don’t play enough.

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Tue Feb 7, 2023 10:38 pm

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Looking back May 2020 - Solo.

Posted by Caroline Black

05 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

This month I am looking back to May 2020. It was during lock down. I was bored out of my mind. I was thinking about starting a blog but that wouldn’t happen until the following month. I decided to do one of those challenges where you play a game each day, which fits round a theme. Actually I didn’t do the theme bit. I owned a lot less games then and I just didn’t have games that fitted the criteria. I played thirty games as part of the challenge.

Game-a-Day in May 2020 Challenge

I determined from the beginning that the only way I would achieve it was to play solo. So here are the edited highlights of the games I played and how they went.

Viticulture Essential Edition - Score 20. Annoyingly I could have filled another wine order but the automa nicked the spot.

Era of Kingdoms - Score 27 to 24 for Shadow Kingdom. I don’t have any race games but this is about getting to Eras. As it has events it plays well solo.

Oh My Goods!: Longsdale in Revolt - My daughter had bought this back from the US for me as it wasn’t available in the UK but I never got round to playing it. This challenge meant I decided to play it and I so glad I did. Great little expansion with events which really adds to the decision making. I lost horribly 22 against a target of 37 and met only half the food requirement.

My only space game Terraforming Mars This was a heavy game to play mid week and it took me a while to swot up on the rules. I really appreciated how clever this game is but I didn’t particularly enjoy it for some reason. Failed to get all three global parameters so I lost.

My only Co-op game Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature I hadn’t played this for a couple of years so took a bit of swotting up. I lost as I used up my last helicopter and my polar bears fell into the sea.

Clans of Caledonia I played this twice as I made a few mistakes the first time. Scored 138 which is average but I was happy with that.

Architects of the West Kingdom I played this as I wasn’t in the mood for re-learning a game. This always plays so well solo. Scored much better than my previous game as I kept getting my prisoners out of jail so I didn’t incur debt and kept capturing Constantine's workers in the Kings Storehouse to keep his prestige lower. I managed to build the top level of the cathedral and three buildings. Score 44 to 28.

Board Game: Architects of the West Kingdom

Tang Garden I Played this as I wasn’t in the mood to learn a new game. Got to within 3 tiles of finishing but then I couldn’t place a tile so lost as I didn’t have any lanterns left. The solo game plays completely differently to the multiplayer game.

Everdell: Collector's Edition My collector’s edition arrived so played with the new cards and rats. I achieved an event which gave me three gold for each prisoner in my dungeon so, as I had lots of low value critters this was great. I won easily against Rugwort.

PARKS I love PARKS multiplayer but it’s only OK solo. I scored 25. The event card made me lose five suns. I should have tried to exchange them before it triggered. The rangers kept getting in my way and discarding parks.

At the Gates of Loyang This plays great solo and is not so fiddly as some other Uwe games. I scored 15.

Sprawlopolis This is such a great little wallet game. Plays really well solo. I scored 13 against a target score of 19.

London (Second Edition) This was a new game I had just bought and found a solo variant. Great game and beautiful artwork. 39 against Martin’s 31.

Nusfjord This is such a great solo game. Loads of variability. It will never be as good as Agricola but some great combos. Scored 33.

Fields of Green with my new Fields of Green: Grand Fair expansion which allows solo play. I love this game and managed to fit everything in the base game box. Alas I don’t record whether I won or lost.

On the Underground: London / Berlin I suddenly remembered I had the solo components for this and it played really well. again no score.

So what is interesting to me, is how many of these games I have sold. Clans of Caledonia, Terraforming Mars, At the Gates of Loyang and On the Underground: London / Berlin have all gone. I used to ruthless about keeping my collection slim.

I was amazed by how different solo variants approach playing solo. In general I prefer simpler solo variants, without too much rules overhead.The ones with simple solo decks like The Isle of Cats and Architects of the West Kingdom play best. There are some great variants on BGG.

Some seem to just be about optimisation. There will only keep me interested for one or two games. If there is a goal, it has to be achievable but not easy.

I don’t like cooperative games, which were the most popular genre of games when I first started playing. I think solo and cooperative have a similar feel to me. They both feel like you are playing against the game and I don’t really like that.

I used to play all my games solo before bringing them to Board Game Club. It was a way of familiarising myself with the rules whilst exploring some of the mechanics and strategies in the game. But I found for many gams, the rules and strategies are so different, it led to me making mistakes on the teach so I stoped doing it.

Obviously I also discovered I don’t really like playing solo. In fact, I went on to start playing on Yucata as an alternative. But it does give me plenty of candidates for my current solo challenge. And today’s is my favourite solo games from that challenge. The Castles of Burgundy. It pays completely differently solo. The idea is to fill up your board and I have never achieved it.

5. The Castles of Burgundy

Obviously if you really like a game you are more likely to enjoy playing it solo. And this is one of my favourite games. Since I did the original challenge, I’ve played it a tonne on Yucata. What I found playing it solo again is that I didn’t like it nearly as much as before. The first round had lots of juicy yellow scoring tiles in the middle which I didn’t have the silverlings to purchase.

You can place your first castle anywhere and I choose the wrong spot. I should have picked the island with two castles and lots of one point easy to complete areas. The shipping tiles never seemed to get the chance to build up as you wiped them when you did a shipping action.

I managed to completely fill my board by taking city halls and placing brown buildings. I also got a few boarding houses so I had plenty of dice manipulation without wasting tiles. I think as a seasoned player the solo option was much easier than before and as I now know every tile, there wasn’t any opportunities to explore different strategies. Whist I can’t wait for my new The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition, to arrive, I think I need to start exploring some of my expansions, like the The Castles of Burgundy: 5th Expansion – Pleasure Garden.

I’d be interested in know what your favourite solo game is? Especially if it’s a game I own. My solo challenge has a long way to go but I intend to play quite a few from this list.

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Sun Feb 5, 2023 9:37 pm

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Where are they now? Part 6

Posted by Caroline Black

04 Feb 2023

Caroline Black

(CarolineBlack)

United Kingdom
Braintree
Essex

Tigger playing Agricola. He lost!

So I continue my series of following my favourite games and seeing what happens to them in the rankings. I am a cult of new gamer so often I buy games when they are very lowly placed.

Pilgrim was just 10045 when I got it. Now 8801 but obviously games this low raise quickly. There weren’t many copies backed in the crowd funding campaign just 480 so it’s never going to reach dizzy heights unless it’s reprinted. But I will watch it with interest and expect it to raise much further. We played it again last night and I found it easy to teach. I think that’s because it’s fairly streamlined and thematic.

The other new game I am following is Tiletum. 1992 when I asked for it as a Christmas present and now it’s shot up to 708. It’s by my favourite design duo Simone Luciani and Daniele Tascini. I am really expected good things from this.

Woodcraft is 965 up from 1329. This is a big, old heavy game, with a lot of rules overhead. I can’t see this reaching dizzy heights but you never know. The BGG crowd like a heavy game. As it witnessed by Ark Nova. Currently number four. I am really hoping it will go higher. I want to say I have played the highest ranked game on BGG and there is no chance I am playing Gloomhaven. I’ve still never played Brass: Birmingham despite a couple of club members owning it.

Another newish game I am following is Atiwa. This was 11,711. Obviously being by Uwe Rosenberg it will soar and it did. Currently 1948. I am going to play this solo.

Another 2022 game is Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest. It was 852 last time and now 701. The original Libertalia is 506 and I am sure this will overtake it. I am still disappointed it doesn’t have a parrot. But there you go. A pirate game without a parrot. Perhaps it needs a promo although Stonemaier Games don’t seem to do promos anymore. I would like to a pack akin to Wingspan: Swift-Start Promo Pack for this, with a suggested opening hand. We have seen some brutal games if you draw certain cards. I love this game but there are a couple of people I have taught it to who dislike it because you can be hand-strung in the first round.

Board Game: Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest

I’ve pre-ordered Hickory Dickory which is 13386. My first 2023 game. I think this is going to do really well but there is still no buzz about it.

Dice Miner is 1852 up from 2096 last time. Again it will be held back by lack of supply. I would love an expansion for this fun little filler. Shelfie Stacker sits at 4336, actually dropping a few places from 4265. Which I think is a real shame.

One of the most meteoric rises I have seen is Little Town. I used to always quote it as an under appreciated gem. Not any more. It was just about to break into the top one thousand. 1019. But it seems to have reached it peak.

The ugly ducking on my list My Farm Shop is 2887 and continues its steady incline from 3015 last time and 4926 the one before. I live in hope for some nice wooden resources.

Draftosaurus is now 578. Down slightly from 571. It has some component quality issues and my copy looks decidedly bashed up. It’s a shame that probably one of the best games in the world is languishing. But not everyone loves this game as much as me.

Another 2022 game Creature Comforts is now a richly deserved 748, up from 924. But the wonderful Canopy is now 1275. Up from 1328 last time. The current love affair with nature games seems undimmed. Cascadia is now an unbelievable 51. The BGG rankings sure are a weird place.

The first game I ever followed in the rankings was Wingspan. Now 25 I noticed it was the Dice Tower number one game again. I’ve never understood why it’s not higher. I think it did make it to twenty at one point.

Finally the little gem that is Miyabi. 1516. A modest increase from 1533. If you like tile laying, you need to get this. It’s just such a clever design. Definitely another one for my solo challenge. I am really enjoying, playing a few games solo. And today it is:

4. Atiwa

This has a very simple solo system. You simple play with three colours of workers and leave them there after each round. Thus ensuring that the lucrative spots are blocked for a couple of rounds. So you have to plan ahead. It’s plays like the multiplayer game. I have never managed to get all my families out and this game was no exception. I did active the breeding goals in all the other rounds. The cards at the top were not replaced which was frustrating. Interestingly when the round cards slid along the player stayed where he was. I scored 111 which is my highest score but I didn’t feel it had much replayability.

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Sat Feb 4, 2023 12:02 pm

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