LCGs and Solo Board Games

[cailano]

Okay, my Marvel Champions LCG thread got limited responses, but what about LCGs in general? Lord of the Rings, Arkham Horror... are there others?

I can't be the only one on Myth Weavers playing these.

What about Solo Board Games? Gloomhaven? Mage Knight?

Here's a thread for hyping up your favorite solo and co-op games.

[cailano]

Okay, fine, I'll start.

So, I'm kind of new to solo games. I enjoy them more than solo RPGs, although I would love to find a good fantasy card game with better character advancement.

Here are the solo games I've tried and my thoughts on them.

Marvel Champions

This has been my favorite so far. It's an easy game to set up and take down, especially if you spring for one of the box organizers you can get on Amazon. There is a lot of content, including new heroes, new scenarios, and even entire campaigns. The deck-building elements in the game are fairly shallow but you can build most heroes in a variety of ways and you can play multiple heroes at once, which creates some fun combinations. Play sessions take about 30 - 60 minutes, which is perfect for me on most days.

Marvel Champions can also be played as a multi-player co-op game and I've been trying to get my kids into it, but the learning curve is a little steep.

One Deck Dungeon

This is a super-casual dice-chucking game but it has a fun art style and a good dungeon-crawl feel to it. I have an expansion but I haven't played it. The best accessory I bought for the game was a custom play mat that helps keep everything organized on the table.

The basic idea is that you take your hero or pair of heroes and crawl through three levels of a dungeon, the rooms of which are represented by cards. The dungeons can seem repetitive because the whole game comes in one deck.

A boss is at the end of each dungeon, and the boss battles can be very challenging.

There is decent character progression in campaign mode, and campaign mode is the only way I can imagine being able to defeat some of the tougher bosses.

Technically, you can play this game with two players, but it seems primarily like a solo game.

One nice thing about One Deck Dungeon is that it comes in a very small box, making it a good travel game.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

This was my first solo game, and I want to like it more than I do, but solo games have evolved a lot since this one came out. There are two big flaws in the design of this game. The first is that it is too repetitive. The entire game comes down to flip a card => deal with the card. The second is that item acquisition is not automatic. It is rare to have a good item in any scenario, and you don't always find it, even if it's there. When you find it, you must roll a D20 to acquire it, and I usually miss that roll. Without those items, it becomes very difficult to survive the later scenarios. If your character dies, you technically aren't supposed to re-use it in that campaign, which means you're done. Very few first-level characters can survive a mid-level scenario.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

This is a low-priced entry point to the Gloomhaven games, but I haven't actually played it yet. It takes a long time to set up and break down, and it has a steep learning curve. I think I might enjoy pure card games more than those with a miniature element to them. Still, I need to give this one more of a chance.

 

 

 

[paula36]

Tainted Grail - Fall of Avalon

Like all coop games it can be played solo, and its conflict resolution is brilliant. The whole game is dripping style and atmosphere, and the slowly but constantly devolving Menhirs make it a tense timed experience. I think two or three characters are best for solo gaming, and then you can also discover more backstory in one sitting.

[cailano]

The artwork on Tainted Grail looks really cool.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

Oooo ... I wasn't aware that this was a physical thing. I've played the videogame and enjoyed it. Might have to check this out further.

[TheFred]

LCG = …Linear Congruential Generator?

I’ve got a couple of board games that can be played solo, e.g. Eldritch Horror. Generally though this is not as fun IMO. At that point, video games tend to do things better. Also Eldritch Horror specifically takes a lot of time and requires a lot of setup.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

I agree to some extent. Had boxes of Mansion of Madness and Temple of Elemental Evil. Think I played both of them once solo. Was (a) too much of a faff to set up and (b) just took way more space than I have available to play them so they went to the charity store insead.

[cailano]

1 hour ago, TheFred said:

LCG = …Linear Congruential Generator?

I’ve got a couple of board games that can be played solo, e.g. Eldritch Horror. Generally though this is not as fun IMO. At that point, video games tend to do things better. Also Eldritch Horror specifically takes a lot of time and requires a lot of setup.

LCG = Living Card Game. IE, a card game with expansion sets. AKA: cardboard money sinks without a randomized element.

I believe Fantasy Flight Games copyrighted "Living Card Game," but I'm using the term more generally for any publisher with a similar model.

Examples of solo LCGs include the Lord of the Rings card game, Arkham Horror, and Marvel Champions.

Video games definitely have some advantages over tabletop games. They tend to be cheaper, and storage isn't an issue.

I prefer the physical games, though. Having a tactile product is more fun for me, and I'm lucky enough to have a space where I can leave a game set up for a few days at a time. I also spend way too much time staring at a computer screen, and I do enjoy getting a break from it now and then.

[TheFred]

I have Arkham Horror, but I don’t really see what’s “living” about that kind of game; a trading card game without the trading makes a lot of sense, but is it really any different to any other game with expansions?

Anyway, maybe part of it is that these typically aren’t actually designed for solo play, it’s basically just co-op with only one player. It’s hard work for a game with cards and physical bits to do all the simulation and decision-making necessary for a sufficiently complex and immersive game, too, I think (whereas video games have much more complex programming). Not to say they can’t be fun, I think those things just limit them a bit.

[paula36]

And then we arrive at X-COM, which is controlled by a mobile app, that could have real strategy. I think the X-COM app has a very primitive 'strategy', more like a tendency, a preference for certain actions based on the Invasion Plan of the UFOs, instead of reacting to the situation at hand. I would really like to have that, a physical game which is actually a challenge of logic vs. a smart, adapting algorithm. Maybe even an algorithm with a personality.

[cailano]

I didn’t know there was an X-COM board game!

[Eric]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:13 PM, cailano said:

One Deck Dungeon

This is a super-casual dice-chucking game but it has a fun art style and a good dungeon-crawl feel to it. I have an expansion but I haven't played it. The best accessory I bought for the game was a custom play mat that helps keep everything organized on the table.

Ooh, I have the base game but not any of the expansions. I found it was moderately to significantly difficult, especially as you said with some of the bosses. Overall, I find that I prefer

 

Set a Watch

Similar in concept but built with four players in mind, it's got a combination of rotating camp actions plus swarm-style survival battle that make it more interesting than a stock dungeon crawl. The characters are varied, the art is above average, and the play board is built into the box which makes it a tremendous value. There are a couple of expansions, and a recently completed Kickstarter for campaign mode that should be hitting stores in mid-2024.

[cailano]

I have not heard of Set a Watch, but it sounds pretty cool. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Raistlinmc]

Gloomhaven is, unsurprisingly, pretty fantastic. I've run it for others and I've even run it solo for myself and it works either way (but is, obviously, far more fun with friends).

Unfortunately, the console adaptation doesn't live up to the board game so far. I was excited to get the Switch port of the game when it came out and it felt almost unplayable to me. For now, it's best to sit down at a good ol' fashioned table to play that sucker.

[cailano]

On 1/2/2024 at 11:11 AM, Raistlinmc said:

Gloomhaven is, unsurprisingly, pretty fantastic. I've run it for others and I've even run it solo for myself and it works either way (but is, obviously, far more fun with friends).

Unfortunately, the console adaptation doesn't live up to the board game so far. I was excited to get the Switch port of the game when it came out and it felt almost unplayable to me. For now, it's best to sit down at a good ol' fashioned table to play that sucker.

Once again I find myself wishing we lived in the same region of the country, Raist.