Back in 2020 I did a short series of posts about Solo-wargaming. I covered Scenarios, Deployment and Opponents. Now that it is 2026, you would think that solo-wargaming would be a thing of the past. A fad that died away when COVID ended. However, that is not the case at all. In fact, it maybe just as big as it ever was! Therefore, it makes sense to go back and revisit the topic of Solo-wargaming.
Since 2020, one of the key things I like to add into my wargames when I can is some rules for co-op or solo wargaming. I am a big fan of both! My default, and controversial stance; is that all wargaming is inherently cooperative with only a sprinkle of competition for flavor. However, when you are solo-wargaming you are looking for a different experience than any versus or even co-op can provide. You are playing the game for no other reason than because you want to play it.
My big contention in the previous series is that a recreational solo-wargame has a different objective than a traditional versus wargames. The fundamental experience that the game system has to create is "Surprise" for the player. In a Versus game, the surprise comes from the other player. However, solo-wargames do not have that luxury. In this case, the system itself needs to create the surprise.
Often times, players are interested in campaigns because they want a series of connected games that link together in some sort of narratively satisfying way. They are playing to "find out" what happens next for their toy soldiers. That is the surprise that campaigns can generate!
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| Heroquest |
Inorganic vs. Organic Campaigns
There are two types of solo-campaigns. They are Inorganic and Organic. They can both tell stories and the tips and tricks for one can often be employed in another. However, the main difference is how the next scenario is generated and what exactly will carry-over between scenarios.
In an Inorganic campaign, the player is following a preset script or path. If you think of a game like Heroquest that is a Inorganic campaign. It is following a pre-set path of adventures where the results of one impact the next, mostly in a resources accumulated or lost along the way. As long as you do not die in the quest, you can go onto the next one. The story is mostly static and pre-generated by the game before play even starts. Another example is Rangers of Shadowdeep.
An Organic campaign is one that does not have a pre-set series of scenarios laid-out for you. Instead, the rules help generate the next random scenario you would need to face. An example of this type of solo-game is 5 Parsecs from Home and its sister products. In these games, you build a crew and everything after that is procedurally generated. These types of campaigns require you to do more to "operate the game" but lead to a higher level of surprise since nothing is pre-determined.
Many of the tricks established in campaign games for versus games also work well for Solo-games as well. Therefore, you can not go to far wrong if you mirror the good old GW Specialist Games model for campaigns. However, some work better for Organic vs, Inorganic systems. It is best to have a handle on which you are planning on building before you start.
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| Odin's Ravens- Viking Age Bad Boys |
How to Generate Surprise
Thankfully, the Campaign space is one of the best areas to create surprise! There are typically a few key areas that a campaign uses in order to generate surprise, and all of these elements can be found in the best Campaign systems:
- Buffs
- De-Buffs
- Next Scenario
- Win conditions
- Tell Stories
A Buff is a story element or change that enhances the abilities of your units or models. It is a good thing. You most commonly see this in the form of "gaining experience". These experience gains will typically impact your troops abilities in a positive way and as they go from game-to-game they may improve in their combat abilities. This often takes the form of new equipment, new abilities, stat boosts, etc. They are evolving and what they learn along the way gives them unique flavor and adds to the surprise to see where they start to where they end.
For example, in Rangers of Shadowdeep you gain benefits in the form of Stat upgrades, skills, new gear, and even new allies to help you face the darkness. Buffs can take a variety of forms beyond simply stat increases.
De-Buff
If a Buff improves your troops, the De-buff does the opposite. It whittles away at your troops abilities and makes them less reliable in some areas. This often takes the form of permanent injuries, carry-over damage, exhaustion, etc. The De-Buff makes scenarios more challenging as you progress. However, like the Buff they tell the story of how a unit or model is evolving.
Next Scenario
There must be a way for the campaign system to generate the next scenario in the campaign. How does one story naturally progress into the next? How do the challenges keep evolving? Afterall, the player wants a connected series of games, so the system has to have a way to generate surprise for the player for what they will be trying to accomplish next.
For example, in Last Days: Seasons by Ash Barker there are specific scenarios designed for solo-play. You can only access and play these missions on a solo-campaign. Therefore, they immediately make a unique and surprising experience from the normal Versus version of the game.
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| The Walking Dead |
Win Conditions
Like Scenarios, Campaigns need to eventually come to an end. All stories and games come to an end eventually. It is better if the game itself gives guidelines to when that should happen such as control 3 out of 4 areas, reach 100 experience points as a force, earn so many campaign points, etc. By having an end point it gives players something to work towards. It is even better if the end of the campaign culminates in an extra special scenario.
Tell Stories
The campaign should create opportunities to tell small-stories or vignettes between games. I.e. this unit found X and had to do Y in order to get Z, but if they fail they get A instead. Little mini-games and sub-stories that help flesh out the back story or what is happening in-between games. These may lead to secondary objectives in the scenario, different buffs/de-buffs, or even an alteration to the "win" conditions. However, these vignettes act as a Fog-of-War and tell the story.
For example, in Under the Martian Yoke survivors might have a chance to scavenge for supplies. Technically, you could just roll d6 and get 6 resources to split up into food, water, or material. However, that is boring. Instead, you roll on a chart and get something like "Big Black Hole in the Ground". You are asked to make a test and the result of the test leads to the resources you earn. This is a mini-story and it has become common in many games campaign systems.
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| Under the Martian Yoke |
Final Thoughts
Obviously, the tricks that make a good Versus campaign can often be the same that make a good Solo-campaign. The main focus is on creating "surprise" for the solo-wargamer. These surprises can take many forms, some of which are good news for the player and some of which are obstacles for the player. However, all of these surprises eventually lead to the story of the solo-wargaming campaign.
The key factor is understanding if you are building an Organic or Inorganic solo-play experience. This will allow you to tailor the campaign to deliver surprise that best fits for the game experience you are chasing. A scripted and plotted storyline will look different than a procedurally generated experience. However, both types can deliver surprises!
Until next time!
