A year ago I was in a bad place. Working in the bar industry, it’s pretty easy to fall into terrible habits. I don’t even think I like alcohol, but 9/10 times I drank, I ended up doing blow… and I took shots almost every shift, so that was a lot. And that also turned out not to be financially and physically sustainable. Even more embarrassing was I was dealing with all the consequences that come with a 2nd DUI… and still living like an idiot.

While the story of how I got into board gaming is hilarious and happened a couple months after sobriety, it’s a story for another time.

Instead, I just wanted to highlight how during my degenerate days, one of my late night activities whether with friends or (mostly) alone, was rolling dice at the casinos since they were open all night. So I have always found it hilarious how adjacent the Too Many Bones experience is to casino craps. The beautiful dice and the straight up casino ASMR with the poker chips. Combine that with me also being a huge fan of video game roguelikes, this game is my shit.

So to pay my respects to my past days, I ditched the dice tray and raw dogged those dice on my casino green game mat! Got a history doc on mob ties to Vegas casinos in the background for added effect.

Anyway, thank god I found this hobby. So much better than video games. I still smoke weed, but I’m so happy I don’t play with my nose anymore. Feels amazing to be done with working shifts hungover and literally on zero sleep. Feels amazing to not put my body through torture. My cognitive ability has improved so much. And it turns out I’m not an insomniac it was just bad habits 😅. Anyways I’m stoked. I still have a lot going on like many others right now, but life feels intentional, and this wholesome hobby only enhances it.

Edit: Another great thing I discovered with solo gaming is this community, thank you everyone for the kind and supportive words 🥲

Frodo and Sam got stuck in Mordor twiddling their thumbs, unable to generate enough stealth to make the final push to Mount Doom. I probably went through 10 turns without turning up a single stealth card. Legolas was my only hope, but he still needed stealth to finish up his "That Makes 6!" quest. The top-decking RNG is brutal in this game.

I'm going to try one more time playing 2-handed instead of the official solo mode. I think that'll give me more flexibility to lean on characters that are more useful in the moment. I'm auditioning the game on TTS to see if I'd like to buy it, and things are not looking hopeful right now.

I've been seeing this around my LGS and I was wondering if anyone has tried it? I've never seen it talked about but it has decent reviews. Just wondering if anyone here has tried it.

I've been trying to tackle solo RPG and solo board games to remove daily anxiety. Solo RPG (especially Journaling) was quite easy to start and to find games. Solo boardgame is not the same. I struggle to find games that I could buy that delivers in France without an extreme price or extreme deleivery cost. Do you have recommandations of good solo boardgames that are either easy print and play or usually on the cheap side ?

The solo boardgames I tried :

- Orchad (I love it)

- Megalopolis (I believe it's called strawpolis in english; quite like it too)

- One deck Dungon (Did not like it, did not click with me).

I don't have a very big budget and maybe it's only my feeling but I think solo games tend to be more expensive than regular games ? If I had a bigger budget i'll love to buy dorfromantik kind of games (Love it on steam deck).

One of the game I want to try is probably Quest over coffee PnP (Because the actual physical game is 50€ + to deliver in Paris...)

Thanks for the help

Hi, I'm currently planning to play through Buttons and Bugs, but I was wondering which game from my collection would also play solo nicely?

Games hidden from pictures:

Lords of Waterdeep (no solo)

Dead of Winter, gifted, never played

All expansions for heroes 3

Ticket to ride (no solo, I think)

Santorini (no solo)

Spots

I'm planning to play through the jaws of the lion later this year, so I don't want to play 2 gloomhaven games back to back.

I appreciate your suggestions.

Has anyone tried these? Are they any good?

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/hexploreit/side-arcs

My understanding is if you're on their Patreon you can download some of these for free. I got Forests of Adrimon about a year ago after someone on here (I think) recommended it and love it, but haven't tabled it for a while because of the time sink, so maybe Side Arcs are a good solution?

I'm also looking to pick up Valley of the Dead King and Fall of the Ancients, as everything is on sale and Xmas is coming 😄

I have the option to pick up Oathsworn KS with the mystery boxes and Nemesis with the medic for $200, or I can buy Betrayl of the Second Era for nearly the same price. I did just pick up ISS Vangard for $20 and have been enjoying it.

What's holding me back is the BGG Solo Players Rank has Oathsworn and Nemesis around the same rank as ISS Vanguard, but Betrayal of the Second Era is in the top 20. I also like the IP of Elder Scrolls.

Was staying at my GF’s place and I wanted to revisit a game I’ve had for a while but dropped because I lost a component.
Finally got a custom acrylic token made as a replacement and got me back into the game again.
Featuring a to-be-sleeved copy of Legendary Encounters Alien that I got from a local seller recently.

When I first bought Vantage, I played it six or seven times in about a week and introduced it to several friends. Then, for some reason, it stopped clicking for me and ended up on the shelf.

I recently mentioned that in another post, and it got me thinking. A lot of people really love this game, so why did it fall flat for me?

I think a big part of it was the physical card management. I was constantly flipping through cards in the box, moving the box back and forth because the cards sit sideways to each other, and dealing with one tray in my base set that does not keep the cards quite even. None of that is a major problem by itself, but together it added enough friction that I was less excited to get the game to the table. Plus I misplaced a card; NEVER do that. ever.

So I started making a few changes to my setup. Most of them help with solo play which is about 90% but was 0% until last week, but they also make things easier when I play with other people, which is my son, and he feels Helldivers is more fun until he uses up his screen time, which is probably too generous. Anyway

Location card holders: I printed holders for the location cards so I can take them out of the box, hold them in my hand, and pass them around more easily.

Lazy Susan for item cards: I keep the item card holders on a Lazy Susan I 3D printed, so I can rotate the cards toward me instead of reaching across the table or digging through the box. Honestly, the Lazy Susan is less useful than just having them on a plate I can spin and pass.

Removable item card holders: I printed four separate holders for the item cards. I can lift one off the plate and hold it while looking through the cards. Each holder has an opening on the side that makes it easy to flip through cards with my thumb.

Component containers: I found a Vantage component-container design on Printables and printed lidded containers for the cubes and other small pieces. I will add the Printables link in a comment.

3×9 grid: I also printed a 3×9 card grid from Printables. It keeps the cards lined up and makes the cubes on them less likely to get knocked around. Printing it myself was much cheaper than buying a similar organizer. Plus, I like to 3D print.

Location card markers: I use inexpensive plastic tabs as placeholders and to mark pulled cards and sometimes hundreds in the location-card stack.

Item index cards: I bought a set of item index cards on Etsy while waiting in my car for my kid to finish up some sort of lesson. They are useful, although I accidentally spent about $20 on shipping to the United States. Won't make that mistake again.

None of these changes are necessary, but together they have made Vantage much easier for me to set up, organize, and play. I had this game on the chopping block, but then this session happened, and everything clicked. I also have a home rule that it is okay to look up the non-spoiler text on cards and their costs, which is easier with an app. This completely changed the randomness of the one word actions to more of a choose your own story type of style. I don't know why this is not part of the rule set, but I strongly suggest it should be and perhaps added to the rules pop as an option? I did it myself and it was not hard at all. I also use maps even if I shouldn't be and it makes meeting objectives more realistic rather than a nice to have. The maps are quite beautiful so I like to have access to them just as well. Even with the map, I am working on finding a crystal other than blue. It is not like they are all over the place or anything. I'd be interested in any other ideas to make the game more enjoyable.

Duel of Meloch, Scythe vs Expeditions, 2 expansions, a stand alone game.

Well what is Duel of Meloch?

It’s all of the above.

(Review originally posted on the blog)

Yep that’s right, this is a stand alone game which is effectively a two player duel, where one player plays Scythe, and one plays expeditions all on the same map.

But it’s also an expansion for each of those games.

And at the same time, each of those games are also an expansion for Duel of Meloch.

I’ll be honest, when I had someone first tell me about it, I thought they were talking about some crazy fan attempting a weird cross over ruleset.

When I realized it was an official Stonemaier product, I wasn’t much less skeptical.

After all, aside from the theme Scythe and Expeditions are pretty mechanically different.

Does it work?

Let’s dive in.

I’ll start off by saying, this will be a bit of a different review.

I’ve done full reviews of Scythe & Expeditions if you want to see the actual mechanics at play.

This will consider the boxes contents and how it feels to play.

Now, much like the this review Duel of Meloch doesn’t go into full details of how to actually play Expeditions, or Scythe.

It does give a double sided sheet for each of the players though that does a pretty good job of giving a basic overview, and directs you to the PDFs of the full rulebooks on their website if you need further rule clarifications.

The Duel of Meloch rulebook itself is quite a short book, providing rules that are changed for each side – the most noticeable of which is the introduction of Combat for the expeditions side.

This works almost identically to regular Scythe Combat.

Spend Might, play a card (which is actually capped at 1 due to you only having one combat unit – your mech).

The extra caveat for the Expeditions player is to trigger a combat, you also have to use a Vanquish action – You also can’t go targeting workers.

Duel for Meloch also replaces the regular scoring conditions of Scythe and Expeditions, instead being a strict race to place 4 stars first.

There’s also an interesting “catch up” mechanic in the form of the Meloch cards, when one player places a star, the other player draws a Meloch card and gains rewards.

These rewards stack in an interesting way where each card offers two rewards, and the one you don’t take will be gained by the other player if they are the next to get a Meloch card.

And that really is it, aside from that, play your games, and win the race.

So how does it feel?

Stand Alone Game

As a stand alone game this works incredibly well.

The asymmetric nature of the game doesn’t feel any more asymmetric than many other dueling games despite the fact you are effectively playing other games.

Now, it doesn’t majorly reinvent the wheel of these games – if you don’t like Scythe, and don’t like Expeditions, this isn’t going to change your mind.

However, if you dislike one of them, but enjoy the other, you can definitely enjoy this game.

Now, as a purely stand alone game, you have two maps, and also two star tracks, but only one Scythe Faction and one Expeditions faction.

Replayability may start to feel mildly stale due to always playing the same factions.

The Solo

Possibly one of the biggest things Duel of Meloch has going for it, is how much it tightens up both Scythe and Expeditions into a 2-player duel game.

And 2 Player duel games tend to result in quite decent solo games when done well.

And Duel for Meloch has built the solo mode from the ground up.

The bot plays very smoothly.

You flip a card for the actions, and a card for decision breaking.

It races for the same start track as you, but “simplifies” 5 of the categories to a simple track it moves down.

This creates a great balance between being stupidly heavy to operate and still feeling like you really are racing the bot towards goals.

Most notably, while still playing uniquely between the Scythian or Expedition player, you do not need to learn the rules for the other system, it lightens it all down to something that keeps the same core rules.

It’s also extremely well summarized on 4 double sided cards.

It’s an extremely well made bot, and does a great job of modernizing and simplifying the “scythe” bot. Turns play quickly and has logic to chase the objectives that feels correct in about 95% of cases.

It also comes with plenty of difficulty settings that change how aggressively it races down the tracks and also a “Threat” variant to increase the combat logic of the bot.

As an Expansion

As an expansion for Scythe/Expeditions you can simply add the new Faction/Mech to their respective games, and for Scythe, also mix in the new factory & encounter cards.

While expedition players also get new discovery cards.

The reverse is also true, you can bring in the factory/encounter cards in from Scythe, and the Discovery cards from Expeditions, and all the factions/mechs can be dropped into Duel of Meloch as well.

There’s a few caveats around certain Discover and Encounter cards not working this way.

And most notably, with more content, you can play Duel as Scythe VS Scythe, or Expeditions vs Expeditions.

I think this is where I’d say this box shines – giving you a great “2 player/solo” expansion for Scythe or Expeditions, taking those games to this new board really mixes the game up.

And the new solo mode is a huge improvement (especially for Scythe which has a relatively dated solo mode (in my opinion)).

As a stand alone product, I would’ve liked to have seen an extra mech and faction just to keep replayability higher.

Now, if you did want more variability, you definitely could just grab Invaders from Afar and/or Gears of Corruption so you don’t need to go out and splash out on the full boxed versions, and if you are going to exclusively play solo or 2 player that would be my recommendation.

Final Thoughts

For something that sounded extremely gimmicky, I’m extremely impressed and how cohesive and how much thought has gone into this game.

It’s an extremely cohesive and well designed race for 2 players, all keeping the flair of the original 2 games, and melding them together in a way that managed to feel natural and balanced.

Thanks too Stonemaier Games for this review copy in exchange for my honest opinions!

Hello! For my birthday I got some money and I'm looking for new games to add to my collection.

For the same price, I can buy:

- Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

- Mage Knight + Too Many Bones

Which of these two options do you recommend?

Thank you very much!

I only solo game now as i havent really had a social circle in over ten years and the only person i had to play board games with once in a while i'm not really engaging with much to any degree.

I stumbled on solo board games when they werent that popular and there werent that many. probably back in 2018ish possibly 2019 cant fully recall. My very first one eventually being also my first co op game which was tiny epic defenders. And ive been hooked on both solo and co op board games ever since.

I'm looking to get a new game soon as i only get to get myself a new board game once a year on my birthday so i always try to find one i think i might get lots of mileage and use out of.

Some ideas i'm considering are: Adamastor, Moon colony blood bath, Ark Nova, terraforming mars and robinson crusoe adventures on the cursed island. I thought about final girl but like i said i only get board games one time a year and i know that relies heavy on purchasing other expansions or stand alone titles so that ones probably a no go.

Id be curious to hear anyones thoughts and opinions on any of the games listed. Those are just games ive come across via youtube recommendation videos that caught my attention. But i'm also open to any other suggestions of games i havent named anyone really enjoys as a solo experience. I'd really like to find games with drafting mechanics as thats one of my favorite game mechanics but i cant seem to find much in those regards.

I'll list my solo (solo playable) games i already own just for reference:

-Alien fate of the nostromo

-Tiny epic defenders second edition

-Tiny epic galaxies

-Unbroken

-One deck dungeon

-Dune Imperium uprising

-Escape the dark castle

-Cascadia

For me it’s Pax Pamir. I find it a great experience with other players but an absolute slog solo. I’ve seen it get a lot of praise for its solo mode, but I would rather play not play at all than play solo again.

Played my first full game tonight after watching some videos, my only question was so when it's Automas then, gains good/tucks cards, 2nd phase if it doesn't have the required food it doesn't play a bird card correct? What about the egg discard though? Do they only discard the egg if they have the food?

I'm looking to take on my first real campaign game. I've played a lot of light and medium weight games with family and friends, and I'd like to try taking on a multi-week game that steadily unfolds. With work and kids, I don't need to fry my brain on anything super challenging and sessions would have to fit within an hour or so of playing, maybe two. I'd prefer to unwind by exploring a world, going on a journey, and/or developing a character with smaller or mid-weight challenges along the way. I care about narrative, world, and atmosphere. It would be nice to feel like I'm progressing/improving my character or uncovering mysteries. Combat is fun, but not 100% combat. I would be playing solo or possibly 2 player with my oldest son (6), if the game is approachable enough for him (with my help).

I've looked through this sub, and it seems like Kinfire Chronicles could fit the bill. I played Kinfire Delve once, and thought it was a bit hard but interesting. I'm also intrigued by Vantage, but I can't tell if the open-world would hold me or not. There are a lot of heavier campaigns that I'd love to try someday (Sleeping Gods, Tainted Grail, Arkham Horror) but I'm concerned they'd be too much for a first attempt.

Does Kinfire Chronicles seem like a good call, or are there others you wise folks would suggest?

What's your take on SETI?

Both came in today! I am a huge fan of tmb. Trying to figure out what to play first and I thought id let the community decide!

Anything you would recommend? I generally prefer one off sessions, but now look for something with campaign, too.

I failed to find an insert that would hold everything sleeved, and organized for easy access and short setup time - so I tried and created one! It is meant to hold in all the content released so far.

One Deck Dungeon is one of my favourite solo games to play, and I think it is not that popular as it should be! I loved it since initial release, and I am very excited for the next expansion that is about to release!

Please, if you have the games (or even if not) let me know what you think about it!
https://makerworld.com/en/models/3244186-sleeved-one-deck-dungeon-fos-ad-insert#profileId-3675955

See title --- really looking at them closely given the top-notch quality of their products, but what is your favorite CPT to play solo? How do you find the production quality of it? How's the actual gameplay and replayability?

Help me out solo gamers.

I'd like to get a euro game as I tend to love card games especially deck builders so I'm looking for something different. I'm wondering if someone could offer some thoughts on these two.

Things I like about each:

The Anarchy, has a castle! Little meeples to cash in for more meeples or a log! Seems to offer some fun chained actions and you can see progress on the board.

Rome: Fate of and Empire, multi use cards! I love having options. A nice feeling of building a city similar to the castle in the Anarchy. Different leader powers sound cool and seem to vary the gameplay a good bit.

Some of my games:

Deckers - Too crunchy for every day but top of the table for me right now.

Arkham LCG - I have too many cards. Love it to bits but I spend a lot of time upgrading and deck building.

Gloomhaven buttons n bugs - love the tight decision space but not as tight or crunchy as Deckers. Sees more play for that reason.

Final Girl - it's ok. I don't love it but I enjoy from time to time.

Unstoppable - haven't played in a bit, I like the engine building but can be frustrating when I get stalled.

TLDR: Which better? (Lol "better")

What scores is Nautoma averaging for y'all? It keeps scoring like 120 points on level three. I haven't beat it in four attempts. Am I doing something wrong or do I just suck at this game?

I feel like I have finally stabilized my collection. I know what I want and enjoy. I did so many buy-try-sell the first year into the solo hobby.

I finally decided to organize my games : since I moved into this new home, I never got the chance to display my games. They were hidden in two closets in two different rooms.

Hey guys, i'm thinking of selling off my small Arkham LCG collection and investing in BotSE instead. I have the previous revised core and a few campaign expansions (with investigator expansions) as well as some starter decks and single shot scenarios. The main reason is i'm at a point where with the older campaigns no longer being printed and now going on the used market for a premium, i just don't see the point in investing any further in that system unless I hit the reset button and buy the new rebooted content. I'm viewing it as an opportunity to move onto a new lifestyle game.

I could get some okay money for what I have and grab BotSE (and an expansion or two) instead, but i've never played any of the chip theory games that are the building blocks of that system and so i'm not too sure if it's a wise investment.
I've watched gameplay videos and like the idea of it's focus on character creation and encounters instead of campaign style story, as i've bounced pretty hard off of Awaken Realms big box games for that very reason (IMO story driven campaigns are not a strength of board gaming) but I just want to gauge the opinion of the brains trust first.

I'll primarily be playing solo, i'm okay with doing things two-handed and I play a lot of complex games, so none of those things are an issue. I guess i'm just looking for opinions from people who might have made the same commitment and how it turned out. Has the game lost it's shine for you and no longer hits the table?