With Europe instituting new lockdowns and rates increasing in many parts of the US it might be a good thing to review some guides for solo gaming over the winter. Some of these will be newer guidelines from various companies as well as some old ones from the spring. Dig in and see what we can find!
Guides from the Companies
November 2nd, Mantic Games produced a guide to their solo play games. It includes variants for Deadzone, Walking Dead, Dungeon Saga, and Star Saga. Meanwhile, Hellboy supports 1 to 4 cooperative play right out of the box.
Wizards of the Coast’s “STAY AT HOME. PLAY AT HOME.” page contains free materials and guides for gaming online. Additionally, you can find coloring pages and activities for the youngest gamers.
Games Workshop hasn’t provided solo play modes for their games. Instead, they’re suggesting online activities with friends such as virtual build and paint sessions. Additionally, they’ve been producing scads of hobby content through Warhammer Community and their Twitch channel to keep hobbyists occupied.
Asmodee keeps in you the game with free print & play downloads. Titles available include Catan, Carcassonne, Spendor, and many more.
Guides From Around the Net
Open up your browser. Google “solo gaming”, “solo board games”, or “Covid isolation games”. You’ll be swamped with hundreds of entries. Most of them about video gaming! But we’re here for the old school tabletop. Let’s look at a couple of lists and other recommendations.
The Top 10 Best Solo Board Games (for Coronavirus Quarantine), sounds like a listicle. However, Brandon provides a solid thumbnail of the game play and solo complications. At the end, he includes a robust list of Honorable Mentions of games recommend by his audience.
“Fluff Daddy” of The Opinionated Gamers writes about his solo gaming experiences this year with the games he’s played and how many times he’s played them. With over 30 games to the list, “Solo Gaming in the Time of Covid-19“, you see which ones compelled replays.
Board gamers aren’t the only ones pitching solo gaming. Chase Carter wrote “How to play tabletop RPGs by yourself: A beginner’s guide to solo roleplaying“. This massive article covers topics such as getting started, popular solo RPGs, solo D&D 5e, where to find them, and another list of resources and tools. I don’t think there is another starting point as good that I’ve seen to date.
Don’t forget to check forums. Not only do they have great discussions and advice for gamers, they can keep you feeling connected while isolating. Might make some new friends too. Try some of the following for RPGs; D&D Beyond, RPG.net, or Enworld. Board game players have the fantastic Board Game Geek as a resource. While many miniature game companies support forums, the discussion tends to be narrowly focused. For more wide-ranging discussion try sub-forums on some the boards above or head into the wilds of DakkaDakka or the Lounge at Bell of Lost Souls.
Got another favorite site for solo gaming? Drop a note down in the comments. We’ll add it to an updated article or a new version.
