As I did with my Top 10 Wargames of 2023! list I am going to do the same with the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames/Games that I played that were published in 2023. I played a total of 15 new published solo games in 2023 so take this list with a grain of salt as I didn’t play all the titles released in 2023. The games that I played include the following:

  • Archie’s War: The Battle for Guadalcanal from Worthington Publishing
  • The Mog: Mogadishu 1993 from White Dog Games
  • Endurance from Hollandspiele
  • Mr. President from GMT Games
  • Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga from Revolution Games
  • Cruel Necessity: The English Civil Wars 1640-1653 Deluxe Edition from Worthington Publishing
  • Campaign: Fall Blau from Catastrophe Games
  • Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East 1914-1918 2nd Edition from Victory Point Games
  • Hapsburg Eclipse: The Great War in Eastern Europe 1914-1916 2nd Edition from Victory Point Games
  • Stuka Leader: The WWII European Theater Solitaire Game from Dan Verssen Games
  • That Others May Live: Combat Search and Rescue – Vietnam from Hollandspiele
  • Global War: World War II Worldwide 1939-1945 from White Dog Games
  • Halls of Hegra from Tompet Games
  • The Battle of Mackinac Island from SNAFU Design
  • Vive L’Empereur: 2nd Edition from Blue Panther

I have really grown to love my solo wargaming and it is because there are plenty of well designed and engaging games out there that continue to feed my curiosity and hunger for a tough challenge. Here I present to you my list of the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames of 2023!

10. Stuka Leader: The WWII European Theater Solitaire Game from Dan Verssen Games

We have played many of the Leader Series games from DVG and enjoyed them all. I have personally played Gato Leader, Sherman Leader, Corsair Leader, Zero Leader and a bit of B-17 Leader. The last Leader Series game was Zero Leader designed by Chuck Seegert and was a compliment to Corsair Leader. Now Chuck is taking his design talents to the East Front of World War II with his newest design Stuka Leader. The game uses the same general approach as both Corsair Leader and Zero Leader but also adds some new and interesting elements to expand upon the previous games. In 2023, there were several Stuka focused games that were announced on the market but Stuka Leader is the only one of those games that was released in 2023.

In Stuka Leader, the player is in command of a German squadron in Europe during World War II covering the period from 1939 through 1945 in a scenario based system. These scenarios can be played as one offs or combined in a sort of campaign game. Each of the scenarios will have a Short, Medium and Long option so you can do quick missions or be in it for the long haul and play multiple sorties and try to survive over the long haul as you have to perform flight after flight. The real heart of the game system though is the setup and choices that players have at the outset of their missions. You can choose from various aircraft that are available during the time period that the scenario covers, different bombs and payloads but also can build your roster of pilots with a certain number of Green, Skilled, Veteran and even Ace pilots. Each of these pilots are unique and have different statistics, abilities and skills. Choice is everything in these Leader Series games and Stuka Leader offers lots of choices.

The new additions to the game are the inclusion of the management of Fuel Barrels as there is not an endless supply and the player has to make sure that they carefully choose their sorties and how many planes are going to conserve fuel. You simply cannot take planes that have no purpose because you cannot afford it. I was a bit worried about this addition to the game as I thought it would be a nightmare of an accounting exercise but it is abstracted and works really well providing new depth to the game.

The game also focuses on wounds and bail outs as plenty of your aircraft will be shot down. Even through you are shot down, you can survive to return at a later time and this was very well done. Dogfighting is a very key part of the design and really is playable, albeit a bit long for my tastes. I found that this portion of the game was very fun and interesting, but doing 2-4 dogfights per mission can take 30-40 minutes as planes go back and forth jockeying for position. This tends to draw out the game lessening my enjoyment of this aspect.

Overall, Stuka Leader is a very good game with a proven system that will feel very familiar to players of the other Leader Series entries. I want to applaud Chuck Seegert for his novel approach and for his willingness to take the series to the next level and not just pump out the same system with a different cover. These games are evolving and that is a good thing as each new entry is a new experience.

You can check out our unboxing video to get a good look at the components and all of the stuff contained in the box. We also received several of the expansions that are included in the unboxing but I only played the missions from the base game:

I have shot a full video review but it has not posted as of yet but should in the next month or so. This was literally the last solitaire game that I played from 2023 and we have a backlog so you will have to be patient.

If you are interested in Stuka Leader: The World War II European Theater Solitaire Game, you can purchase a copy for $74.95 from the Gamersroll website at the following link: https://www.gamersroll.com/dv1062-dan-verssen-games-stuka-leader.html

9. The Mog: Mogadishu 1993 from White Dog Games

One of the cooler solo games that I experienced in 2023 was The Mog: Mogadishu 1993 from White Dog Games. This game is literally Black Hawk Down in a board game. And it is really very fun to play and I love how the system works to spawn your enemies. Historically, on October 3, 1993, US Special Forces under the auspices of the UN were tasked with capturing top lieutenants of the hostile warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu, Somalia. The game begins with US forces preparing to raid a building near the Olympic Hotel to capture these high-level members of Aidid’s Somali National Alliance (SNA). The player’s goal is to get US forces out of Mogadishu with their captives and return safely to a UN base. But the game has other scenarios of differing lengths and play times as well but this is the one that I played the most.

My favorite part about the design is that it is absolutelyh chaotic and ever changing as the automated AI system dumps new Somali National Alliance forces in your path as you make your way to and from various objectives. The AI uses a D66 (2D6) when you roll and then there are spaces around the map number 2-66 that you will spawn the new insurgents in. As you can imagine, there is a general focus of a 2-66 series in the middle and you will find that this causes some real headaches for your special forces in the middle of the map as they attempt to get to their objectives, secure the targets and then get out and back to the safety of a UN Base. Combat is very simple and the US forces have the upper hand as they will generally hit more often than the SNA forces but there are a lot of them and only a few of you.

The game is frenetic and the US Special Forces are beset on all sides by local Militia, Somali National Alliance (SNA) Snipers, RPG Teams and Technicals (pickup trucks with .50 caliber machine guns mounted in the back) who spawn via a random die roll and flood units into areas that come after the US troops. These enemy units are not elite units, unlike the US Delta Teams, Rangers and Platoons they are attacking, but as their numbers are more numerous and the fact that they just keep coming at the US forces, they will inflict lots of casualties. Players have to protect these casualties as if they lose too many men that are killed they will lose the scenario. This is where the management of Relief Convoys comes into play as they are dispatched each turn from the UN Base and meander their way toward the closest US units. Each round, one such Relief Convoy counter is placed out on the street by the player leading from the UN Base toward the action. Once they have made a contiguous line of safe Relief Convoy counters, which means they are not under direct attack, US units as well as casualties can be transported quickly back to the UN Base and escape the determined SNA units. This is definitely a fast and interesting game and the spawning SNA units just keep coming!

The game also has very simple rules that allow you to jump in quickly and add complexity as you progress with the many different scenarios. This one was a great little thematic game. I downloaded the Black Hawk Down soundtrack and played it as I was playing and it really was a great time. Also, around the same time I was playing this one last summer, I watched the movie again and it was as good as I remembered! One thing. I added in some red wooden cubes that I had lying around and used those to mark which of the SNA units had already activated each turn so these don’t come with the game but they made playing it that much simpler.

Here is a link to our full unboxing video showing off the components:

I shot a full playthrough of the Irene Scenario and you can watch that at the following link:

Finally, I also shot a review video and you can find that at the following link:

If you are interested in The Mog: Mogadishu 1993, you can order a copy for $50.00 from the White Dog Games website at the following link: https://www.whitedoggames.com/mogadishu

8. Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 from GMT Games

Both of us really enjoy narrative driven solitaire games. These type of games boil down to an exercise in chart flipping and dice rolling but it always amazes me that all of that mundane activity can generate a nail biting, heart pounding, tension filled experience all using nothing more than a few pieces of paper, some counters and dice. Along the same lines of thought though this chart flipping and dice rolling can get to some people after a while and games that feature that element just might not be for everyone. The real strength of these type of solitaire games is the narrative that is generated from the actions the player takes, their results and the outcome of the game. I like to think of these kind of games as mini episodic treatments of different aspects of war or politics where the player gets to create the story and make of that story what they will. I have said it before but you will get out of these type of games what you put into them in your effort, thoughtful consideration of the process and a focus on the participants in the historical event.

Mr. President: The American Presidency, 2001-2020 from GMT Games is a new solitaire game that fits nicely within the narrative driven solitaire game family. The game is big, has lots of content and boards and rulebooks but gives the player a simple taste at what taking on the role of the President of the United States is like. The heart of the game is the player’s goal of trying to push their chosen domestic political and social agenda while also having to react to various crises across the globe, dealing with various internal political enemies, having to monitor the ever-present public opinion, while also establishing good rapport with Congress and the press. As the job is a big thing the game reflects that with a scope that attempts to tackle and simulate all of the roles of a President, from pushing legislation, to building up your Cabinet to tackle and deal with major challenges, directing overseas surveillance and counter insurgency as you monitor and deal with terrorist cells, unruly governments, local Civil Wars and establishing trade partnerships and agreements. This game really attempts to do it all and it works pretty well for a solitaire game. The 10+ years of design and development have paid off and we are presented with a game that means and says something and that is a good thing!

Now aside from the number, size and scope of the contents found in the box, the game is made up of basically 3 areas of focus. These include the home front and domestic issues and crises, the world stage and the management of Congress. Each of these issues are equally important and can lead to your Presidency failing miserably or doing well. What I would warn the player about is that you cannot lose your focus on what really matters the most and that is the social and domestic issues and your agenda. If you are not making progress on these matters, you will find the crises at home will erode the public confidence in your abilities and decrease public opinion to the point that you will lose the game.

I think that as a wargamer, and as someone who has played dozens of games focused on the stamping out of terror groups and conflicts overseas with games such as the COIN Series, Labyrinth, Twilight Struggle and a host of other political intrigue wargames, it is very easy to lose sight of what really is important in the game. I have always subscribed to the philosophy of “carry a big stick and beat your opponents about the head and neck with it” and that approach will not necessarily work here. Yes you have to worry about Civil Wars, the propagation of Chinese and Russian influence into the sphere of Asian and European allies, and the rise of terror groups, and then send troops and support in the form of advisors and clandestine forces to these areas, but your real battles are going to be fought at home.

This means building your Cabinet and improving their effectiveness while also trying to avoid the negative effects of scandals, which are randomly drawn from the cards, developing various Strategic Capabilities and staying ahead of the international competition (I am looking at Russia here with cyber warfare), and establishing a good relationship with both members of Congress, who will support your legislative priorities, and also keeping the press on your side. These elements are dealt with very well by the game and become a ballet of subtle and minor victories here and there as you consistently make incremental progress. You will have setbacks and failures though as everything in the game boils down to die rolls on a 10-sided die and the chances on these rolls are always very low as you are required typically to achieve a result of 1-4 most of the times with nearly no positive Dice Roll Modifiers or if you do get one from a Cabinet member it is usually only +1. I guess what I am trying to say here is you will fail a lot more than you succeed so keep this in mind. Don’t give up though, this is a long game and as you become more skilled and understand what you need to do along with your Cabinet improving, you will begin to succeed.

I am sometimes very bad at games. Normally I catch on pretty quickly, get an idea of what is important, formulate a strategy and then do fairly well in carrying it out. But, with Mr. President, I am not sure I really know what I am supposed to be doing. At least not well enough. Keep in mind though that we only played once, in a cooperative setting together (which was really quite good as we discussed lots of things and came to better decisions in the end because of it!), so we have to get it back to the table to give it another go. As the turns progress, things did become clearer and we began to see connections. I really enjoyed our play of Mr. President and as a solitaire game it ticks all the boxes for me. Meaningful decisions, chance to do whatever you like as a bit of a sandbox game, very challenging and a bit of structure that gives the player the chance to understand how to do the game. I feel that the game has been beautifully put together, with absolutely fantastic components and great player aids and charts, but also was really deep and supremely interesting. This one is a winner and will be a welcome addition to any serious solitaire gamer’s collection.

Here is a link to our full unboxing showing off the beautiful components:

Here also is our initial impressions video:

If you are interested in Mr. President: The American Presidency 2001-2020, you will have to pre-order a copy for $69.00 as the 1st Printing is sold out from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1056-mr-president-the-american-presidency-2001-2020-2nd-edition.aspx

7. Global War: World War II Worldwide 1939-1945 from White Dog Games

I have really enjoyed my plays of several solitaire games designed by R. Ben Madison. He has a knack for including elements of the history into the gameplay while placing the events into the framework of his chosen system, which is usually the States of Siege Series…but not necessarily always. A few years ago, Kaiserkrieg! was a huge strategic solitaire wargame that covered the First World War from the period of 1914-1918. The game is a States of Siege Series game that takes a slightly different look at the venerable system by focusing on a horizontal model versus a vertical model where there are no tracks converging on a central point but various staging areas that buildup until they then attack. Ben then used this same focused system, or version, of the States of Siege Series in his next game called Global War: World War II Worldwide 1939-1945 from White Dog Games.

Global War is also a strategic solitaire wargame covering World War II globally from 1939-1945. Players will have to deal with all fronts as the Allies attacking into France, the Eastern Block and the vast Pacific to challenge the Germans and Japanese forces for control of the world. As is the case with most of Ben Madison’s designers, the game attempts to cover all aspects of the war with various abstracted elements such as the war in various theaters outside of Europe and with several operations such as the Naval/Air Warfare Phase. But it all works together beautifully to create a very interesting and engaging experience.

One of the major differences in this game, as well as its sister Kaiserkrieg!, from other States of Siege Series games is that the game is driven through chit pull rather than cards and the player must draw a chit at the outset of each turn to decide what the Axis forces do, where they will attack and then what world events happen that can either help or hurt their efforts. This improves the speed of this part of the game and really keeps the player guessing.

I also really enjoy how the player earns their actions each turn by having to run the gauntlet of the major shipping lanes to and from the different parts of the board. The player has a number of Liberty Ships that they will have to place in a number of sea zones and then roll on a chart that shows where the U-Boat wolfpacks are at that time of the year. If the roll places the U-Boats in the spaces where the player’s Liberty Ships are they will lose that income this round. The player will then add up the value of each space where the U-Boats didn’t enter and that will be the amount of actions they have to spend that turn. This will usually be between 4-7 actions, sometimes more and sometimes much less. The more U-Boats that are placed out on the board the worse the income will be but the player has options for combating this with escort ships.

Ultimately, this game’s strength is in the choices that the player has each round. There is a lot to worry about and the game keeps coming at the Allies each turn. You have to spread your actions out across multiple fronts or they will build up and you will be defenseless so you have to make wise choices. Once a front is closed, because you were able to beat back their armed forces, you can then shift your focus to other parts of the globe and taking out the other factions. Just a really well made game that provides a good playing experience. The only downside to this game is the play time clocking in at 3-4 hours but as a solitaire game you simply play a turn here and there when you can, leave it and come back later. Just a really great solitaire experience.

I have a full review video as well as an unboxing video that haven’t posted yet as this was played late in 2023/early 2024. It should come out in May.

If you are interested in Global War: World War II Worldwide 1939-1945, you can order a copy for $55.00 from the White Dog Games website at the following link: https://www.whitedoggames.com/global-war

6. That Others May Live – Combat Search and Rescue – Vietnam from Hollandspiele

I really like a good unique solitaire wargame. I get to learn something about a subject I know little to nothing about and also get to play a new system. Last year, I played a very cool themed solitaire game called That Others May Live: Combat Search and Rescue – Vietnam from Hollandspiele and while I struggled with it at first, mainly with the concepts and how I was to go about doing what I was supposed to be doing, it finally clicked and has really grown on me. That Others May Live is a solitaire card-driven wargame that tackles the subject of Combat Search and Rescue missions during the Vietnam War. The player will take on the role of a CSAR commander tasked with the rescue of downed American aircrew in North Vietnam and Laos. The game is scenario based, and you can even play the scenarios in a sort of mini-campaign.

One of the most important parts of the game is how the player utilizes their many different and specialized aircraft. The game includes four different kinds of aircraft that players can choose from and each have different uses and abilities to ensure mission success. These aircraft include Sandys, Fast-Movers, FAC’s and helicopters. Each of the aircraft have various capabilities that will work with the Action Cards in the players deck during missions. These capabilities include things such as ordnance-delivery, target-marking and rescue. During each of the game’s scenarios, a player will be instructed on which of the aircraft types they have and how many of each. These aircraft will be placed into the the Orbit Box found at the top right of the Mapsheet. The player can acquire additional aircraft from their Action Cards by playing a Request Aircraft Card.

Understanding each Aircraft type’s role in the game is critical and will take you a few plays to fully understand. The Sandy’s are generally used to smoke out guns and then suppress them to safely allow other Aircraft to enter the Zone. The FAC’s are critical to marking targets to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of the Fast Movers as they come into Zones to destroy guns. FAC’s can use the Mark Target Card that provides the benefit of doubling the hits on an enemy target by other friendly aircraft. Helicopters are at the heart of any Combat Search and Rescue Mission as they are the only aircraft who can actually land in a hot Zone and extricate a Survivor during the Rescue Segment of the game sequence. Remember thought that Helicopters cannot be assigned any Action Cards during the game and their only purpose is to Rescue. They cannot suppress, use ordnance or perform any other interference or interaction with enemy units on the ground. If you have no remaining functional Helos your generally out of luck and will be unable to rescue any Survivors to win the game.

The best part of the design was the use of the Resolution Deck to determine results of player actions. At various times throughout each game, the player will have to randomly draw cards from the Resolution Deck to determine the outcome of actions such as taking Anti-Aircraft Fire, an attempted Rescue Operation, Bombing Enemy Guns on the board or for Enemy Searches of downed pilots. The Resolution Deck is a separate deck that is made up of various cards with icons found on them that coincide with these actions. Each of the Resolution Cards has one (or more) of these icons printed on them that is used to resolve the outcome of actions in the game. I know that players don’t typically enjoy card counting but in this game it is somewhat of a benefit to have a general idea about what has been pulled already and what is left. Think of this as not gaming the game, but more as using your recon and intel about the enemy forces in the area and knowing what their capabilities are.

One final note. This game is a challenge. And it is especially challenging on your first few plays. Until you get an idea of how the systems work and how you have to interact with them, you can get into some real hot water real quick. But if you slow your roll, take in the situation and critically think through your options you will get it. And when you do get it, it becomes somewhat of an addiction. I mentioned earlier that I struggled with the game at first. I was having difficulty grasping the concepts but after a few plays it started to click. I wished the rules were a bit clearer but once you understand the concepts it all comes together to create a very tense and gritty look at this under-gamed subject about the Vietnam War. I really have enjoyed playing That Others May Live and have come to truly appreciate the design and its simple yet interesting mechanics. This is a very good solitaire wargame and I cannot wait for Brad Smith to design more in the future.

I have shot a review video for the game but it isn’t up on the channel just yet. But, here is a link to our unboxing video to give you an idea about the layout of the board and the components:

I also wrote a series of Action Point posts on the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Look at the Mapsheet

Action Point 2 – Aicraft Types

Action Point 3 – Look into the Action Card Deck

Action Point 4 – Look at the Resolution Deck

Action Point 5 – Strategy Points

If you are interested in That Others May Live: Combat Search and Rescue – Vietnam, you can order a copy for $55.00 from the Hollandspiele website at the following link: https://hollandspiele.com/products/that-others-may-live

5. Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East, 1914-1918 3rd Edition from Victory Point Games/Tabletop Tycoon

This past year, Victory Point Games and Tabletop Tycoon brought us new and improved 3rd Editions of two of the classic States of Siege Series games in Hapsburg Eclipse and Ottoman Sunset. I obtained copies, played them both multiple times and found that I gravitated more toward Ottoman Sunset as my favorite of the two games. Both were great and both were extremely challenging but I just liked the setting and mechanics of Ottoman Sunset more so this is the one that made the list. Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East 1914-1918 is set in the period of 1914-1918 and covers the Great War in the Near East with a focus on the Ottoman Empire and their efforts to support the Germans in the war. As with most States of Siege Series games, the goal is to survive through the drawing of all the action cards in the deck, which consists of 3 distinct parts that ramp up in difficulty as the game wears on. cards.

As this is a new 3rd Edition, I wanted to let you know that they really pulled out all of the stops on upgrading the art and components for this entry. The board is mounted and very well done. The colors used for the varying tracks are really eye popping and the game plays better because of the quality of the board. The cards are made of a very thick linen quality paper and are illustrated nicely with some great flavor and historical text to explain the significance of the historical event depicted. The writing is a bit on the small side though and you will need your readers to see the instructions clearly. The counters are really nice and thick and there is something to make every single event which is nice as you are allowed to focus on the game and not the components.

As a States of Siege Series game, the system is based on the concept of drawing a card from one of the three decks and enacting the effects of the card in the form of moving various armies on the paths toward Constantinople, adding negative effects for the round or causing revolts. Some of the cards will have more of a wide ranging global war effect that then trickles down and effects the Nation Will of the Ottomans or other aspects. No significant event is left out of the game. After performing the action listed on the drawn card, the player gets a number of actions that they can then decide best how they will use. With just a few actions per turn, typically 1-4, the player will be unable to do everything that they have to do and will have to prioritize what is most important, such as defeating the army knocking at the gates and pushing them back. Then you typically roll a die, with various positive and negative modifiers, and either succeed or fail. If you fail, you may have to do the same action again but might end with the same result and this is why I love these games. It is about choice but then there is a bit of luck with dice rolling and you have to make the best decisions consistently to win the game. Finally, this game is not easy to win. I have played about 15 times and only won once. I got extremely fortunate with my rolls and made what was most important matter at the right times to eek out a victory.

One of the best parts of the game is a game-within-the-game or mini-game in the proper management of the Narrows. As you can see the Narrows Display which shows the waters where the British will attempt to sail up in order to reach Constantinople at which time if they successfully arrive the game will be lost. The player can use an action to build one of the defenses for the Narrows which include Minefields and Gun Emplacements. As you look at the board, you will see that there are a total of 3 buildable Gun Emplacements and 2 Minefields. There are several Gun Emplacements printed on the board found at the entrance to the Narrows in both Seddülbahir and Kum Kale and then further in is Canakkale and finally Constantinople. These are printed guns that the player will always have access to but there are 3 additional guns that can be optionally built at Yildiz, Dardanos and Nagara using actions as previously mentioned. This gives the player a total of 7 Gun Emplacements that all get to roll a d6 when the British invade the Narrows via the Forcing the Narrows Event Card. Once this event is pulled, the player will place the marker on the British Fortitude Track in box 4. The British Fleet will then pass each of the defenses built in the Narrows, including both the Gun Emplacements and the Minefields and if the defense is there, meaning it has been built by the player or it is printed on the board, the player will roll 1d6 at a time for each active
Turkish Defense starting in the southwest corner (skipping the Seddülbahir Gun Emplacement if it has been previously destroyed by an Event Card) and proceeding up toward Constantinople itself, which is resolved last.

The player will then compare the die roll to the indicated Turkish Defense’s Battle Value. If the result is greater than (>) that defense’s Battle Value, there is no loss to British Fortitude. If the result is less than or equal to (≤) that defense’s Battle Value, then the player will reduce the British Fortitude marker by one box. If they British Fortitude is dropped to the 0 Box, they will withdraw from this attempt and the player will gain an end of game Victory Point and will stave off an immediate defeat. Building the Minefields is very important to accomplish first followed by at least 1 or 2 Gun Emplacements being built. If the player doesn’t focus on this, they will find the game come to a sudden and immediate end before it really even gets going as the Forcing the Narrows Event Card is found in the first group of cards.

With that I am very pleased to add Ottoman Sunset 3rd Edition to this list and really look forward to playing it again in the near future. Such a great little game that plays in an hour (or less if you lose quickly) but is really well done and thematic.

Here is a link to our unboxing video to give you an idea about the quality of the components:

I also shot a playthrough and you can watch that at the following link:

There is a video review coming to the channel soon but you will have to wait for it.

If you are interested in Ottoman Sunset: The Great War in the East, 1914-1918 from Victory Point Games, you can order a copy for $45.00 from the Tabletop Tycoon website at the following link: https://www.tabletoptycoon.com/products/ottoman-sunset

4. Endurance: A Solitaire Game of Antarctic Survival from Hollandspiele

Endurance is a solitaire game of Antarctic survival, based on Ernest Shackleton’s famous 1914 expedition. The expedition saw their fair share of struggles as they were stranded for eighteen months in the ice and snow and faced nearly impossible odds to ultimately survive the ordeal without the loss of even a single crew member. So right off the bat the game is decidedly difficult but tells the story of this somewhat of a miracle as these brave souls fought to stay alive by finding enough food, mostly eating canned goods from their ship’s hold but also hunting the local animals which consisted only of penguins, staving off boredom, sickness and injuries and frigid temperatures and attempting to keep their hopes alive by pulling together.

The game is based around cards that are drawn and force the player to make a series of checks to see if the tasks are successful or not. These checks are divided into Actions and Tests. They all require the player to either roll dice to see if they are successful or simply have the appropriate resources available to meet the demands on the card. When dice are rolled, you have to take into account both your successes, or rolls that were over the appropriate skill level of your chosen crew, and your failures in the form of 1’s rolled, and must come up with more successes than failures. These dice rolls were absolutely traumatic because as you fail your crew will become demoralized and exhausted and will be flipped over to reveal that they either have a worse skill check value or their will to help has evaporated and they can’t even assist any longer. Once they fail again, they are them removed to the hospital area where they then can die with further failures of the crew or bad events that come up. The game is absolutely brutal and very difficult to do well and make it to the historical result. But you become attached to each crew member as they fight for their lives. You feel their pain as you fail Actions and Tests and lose supplies as they are used up. You also get hit right in the heart when their animals, their sled dogs and beloved cat, have to be eaten in order to survive. The game is not a game of fun and entertainment but a bleak and slogging experience where you go from failure to failure, losing hope that you can make it any longer, until you do and then have a few fleeting moments of joy when you pass Tests, gain new resources or progress on your journey.

This game is also very unique because there are no victory or loss conditions. The game will simply come to an end when either the men are rescued or when rescue becomes an impossibility due to the loss of crew and morale. The beauty in the game is that it creates a great narrative, albeit a very sorrowful and tough one, that tells either a tragic or successful story. I have played the game 5 times and have never really done that well but that doesn’t matter here as it is about the story you create and the connections you make with the members of the expedition. I have never quite played a game that gave me the feelings that this one did and ultimately that is the focus and goal of the design.

Here is a link to our unboxing video of the game to give you an idea about the components:

Here is a playthrough of the game (and probably the worst playthrough I have ever done) but it gives you an idea about how the game plays and that was the point:

And finally a video review of the game:

If you are interested in Endurance: A Solitaire Game of Antarctic Survival, you can order a copy for $50.00 from the Hollandspiele website at the following link: https://hollandspiele.com/products/endurance

3. Vive L’Empereur: A Solitaire Wargame of the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815 2nd Edition from Blue Panther

I really love the great games designed by Hermann Luttmann. He always adds great chaos and interesting elements to his games. When they are a solo game from him, I am immediately interested as I have had fun with several of his solo games including In Magnificent Style and Attack of the ’50 Colossi. This Vive L’Empereur is really good and is a solitaire hex and counter wargame. I am an acolyte in Napoleonic wargames but this one has captivated my feelings on the subject.

First off, there are not a lot of true hex and counter wargames out there. We can play normal 2-player games two handed but ones that have a smart and educated AI that controls the forces of the enemy is a fairly rare thing. But with Vive L’Empereur, there is a very involved and well laid out list of priorities for the AI forces of Wellington that make playing the game easy to understand and also easy to adjudicate. These priorities are centered around moving toward and protecting key strong points on the battlefield including the Hougemont, Le Haye Sainte and Papelotte. As the French move in to these areas, or take them, then the British and ultimately the Prussians when they arrive will prioritize moving to those areas. While the AI instructions are fairly involved, they are well written and really took the guess work out of the process. I can only remember a few times where I felt like I had to simply make a call about what they should be doing if priorities conflicted.

The other thing about the design that I very much enjoyed was the focus on troop quality and morale. This is one of the major determiners of whether combats are successful or even whether they will go off as planned as the player has to roll under the value to proceed. This really made for interesting decisions about where and when to move units and who you want to lead those attacks. Cavalry is also a great part of the game as you only have a few good Cavalry units and you must protect and use them wisely to ride around flanks and force retreats in order to open up paths toward objective hexes. Each time a Cavalry unit charges they will have to exhaust and then recover to be used again in later turns.

The best part of the design for Vive L’Empereur was that the game uses a chit pull system to generate random force activations for both sides. The Anglo-Allied and Prussian forces move and conduct combat based on the instructions resulting from a dice roll on their respective Activation Tables. This means that you can never really be sure what is going to happen during any given round and you have to consider or prepare for the worst. This adds some really tension to each pull and I really enjoyed this aspect. There are also leader counters that will allow a bit of flexibility in what formations move and act but this is also just as unexpected and tense. Because there are more Anglo-Allied chits in the cup than the French, you are able to hold some activation chits and use them when they will be most valuable to you and do the most harm to your enemies. This game would not have been the same without the chit pull activation mechanic and I think that this was a great design choice by Hermann Luttmann.

Here is a look at my unboxing video to get an idea for the components:

I have shot a full review/hybrid playthrough but it doesn’t post on the channel until late April.

If you are interested in Vive L’Empereur: A Solitaire Wargame of the Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815 2nd Edition, you can order a copy for $55.00 from the Blue Panther website at the following link: https://www.bluepantherllc.com/products/vive-lempereur-2nd-ed

2. Halls of Hegra from Tompet Games

Halls of Hegra is a solo only game that is similar to other games such as Robinson Crusoe, This War of Mine and Dead of Winter. The mechanics used in the design include worker placement, bag building, and area control/tower defense. This is not your average run of the mill solitaire wargame but the mechanics used really create a great experience and kept me on they edge of my seat the entire time. I would classify the game as a Waro, which is a combined Euro Wargame but I have putting things in a box. This is a great game…period. And if you don’t give it a try, you will never know how great the design is and how the mechanics create a perfect blend of difficult decisions, heartbreaking losses and ultimate defeat. The player takes on the role of the Commander of the Norwegian forces who are holed up in the Halls of Hegra, which is a WWI era fort that is in disrepair, and trying to defend against the attacking Nazis during World War II.

One of the best parts of the design is the people that you are managing. The player has access to several different types of personnel that all specialize in certain key duties. There are Soldiers, who are good at fighting and defending the fort, Medics who can heal your injured people, Hunters who are good at traversing the countryside quickly to bring in needed supplies and Workers who are your grunts that typically do nothing well and take at least 2 of them to do anything. But they are all useful and vital to your operations. You obtain these reinforcements and extra bodies through a draw bag that is built with bad stuff included that will vex you as you draw each turn at the beginning of the round. There is a great press your luck aspect to this as well as you can draw out as many as 4 times but if you draw a bad thing it might send all those recruits running for the hills and you will be stuck with just one recruit. Early in the game, the bag is much more advantageously stacked in your favor and you can risk the extra draws. But later when the bag thins and you have drawn out the good personnel, you will really have to think about whether you venture to continue drawing.

The game is also about Worker Placement as you have to take these personnel and place them in the spaces on the board that you need to do things like repair broken defenses or guns, shovel out snow to find equipment and supplies, run the gauntlet of the Germans patrolling the countryside to bring in supplies, etc. You have a limited amount of workers and an unlimited amount of things that you need to do. Knowing what you need to do and doing those well is key to your defense and ultimate outcome of the game. The other thing about the Worker Placement aspect that I really like is that the available spots you can use grows over the game as you repair different areas, discover new rooms and equipment and gain more workers to actually place. The game changes and grows with how well or poorly you are doing. This makes this game very replayable as there are any number of possible outcomes and narratives that are told.

Then comes the pain in the game. The advancing Germans. They are coming to destroy you and take your country away from you and your family. You have to fight them which requires preparations and some luck. And you have to be lucky because they will swarm you and overwhelm your defenses if you don’t get ready. For this effort, the player can add some cool benefits such as opening up the Machine Gun that can mow down the Germans as they advance, repair the Guns that can be turned on them as they approach blowing them up and also suppressing them so they cannot move against you but huddle in the nooks and crannies of the mountainside for cover. Also placing Soldiers in the Defensive Positions at the top of the advancing columns will give you better shots to take out the German soldiers where other workers are not as adept at fighting. If the Germans reach your Defensive Positions they will overrun you and the game will end in a defeat but if you can slow them down, hold them back for just a moment longer maybe your luck will change and you can live to fight another day. But, more often than not this game will end in outright Unconditional Surrender, which was the historical result. If you can do even marginally better and force the Germans to offer terms, you will gained a victory…albeit a small and probably inconsequential one that will not change the fate of your country.

Honestly, this was one of the most thematic and interesting games that I have played in years. And I had to think really hard about where to place it on this list. It is supremely good. Very interesting. Unique. Painful. Tear Jerking. And any other number of comments but it is a GREAT GAME! No doubt. Tompet Games has a real winner on their hands here and you should run out and buy one immediately.

Here is a look at our unboxing video:

You can also check out Alexander’s preview video from a few years ago that was used for the crowdfunding campaign:

I have shot a video review and a playthrough but these videos have not been released yet.

If you are interested in Halls of Hegra, you can pre-order a 2nd Printing copy from the Tompet Games Gamefound page at the following link: https://gamefound.com/en/projects/tompet-games/halls-of-hegra#/section/featured-products

1. Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs

Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs is a solitaire wargame that deals with the historical campaign by the German Sixth Army to attempt to overwhelm and capture the Soviet city of Stalingrad between September 13 and September 30, 1942 during World War II. The player will be in charge of commanding the attacking German forces and the game rules will handle the defending Soviet forces. The AI and the overall design itself really worked well to create a very interesting and challenging game that requires the player to make decisions about where and how they will attack, what they will do when confronted by the different Defense Strategy of the defenders and how to best manage their Supply and Morale. I really have enjoyed my experience with Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 but it hasn’t been because of the depth and intelligence of the AI but because the game is well put together, well thought out and frankly just works.

There is nothing mind blowing about the AI in Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942. It doesn’t make choices about what priority areas to defend or attack using a complex and bloated flow chart. Doesn’t make choices about what units to send or how to go about maintaining supply. And it doesn’t pull any fast tricks on you with drawn cards or other random elements once revealed. But what is there really works well for the battle, the scale and the focus of the game. I want to make sure that this point is clear. The AI in the game works. It works really well in my opinion and is one of the things that I simply adore about the system. Don’t get me wrong though. I have played some very complex and involved solitaire games with lengthy AI rules, priorities and actions, which is also a good thing and made for a very rewarding and interesting play experience. But Mike Rinella chose well with this system and the battle while keeping his mind on the focus of the strategic situation and what he was trying to reinforce about the Battle of Stalingrad, which I will cover a bit later in this piece.

The Soviet defender counters are divided amongst the 4 different Area Terrain Types shown on the board including Clear, Elevated, Light Urban and Heavy Urban but the actual defenders represented have no direct connection to the terrain. Each of the Soviet units is assigned a color that is associated with one of the Area Terrain Types Clear (green), Elevated (brown), Light Urban (gray) and Heavy Urban (black) but they are randomly assigned to their assigned Area Terrain Type by a draw of units from a pool, which has more units in it than the spaces that need to have a unit placed. This means that each game will have a different mix of units and will create some variety which adds to the fog of war and uncertainty about what type of defenders you will encounter each time.

Once placed, only the Terrain Type is visible on the unrevealed side of the counter. On the reverse side, is the actual unit statistics which includes Defense Factor and Defense Strategy, which is by far my favorite part of the AI. The Defense Strategy has a specific effect that will only be used when the unit is first revealed. This is a part of the game that I overlooked during my first 2 plays but once I found out that it then goes away after the first attack, then the game became way more winnable. Once the Soviet defender unit becomes revealed, it remains revealed and only its Defense Factor is used in combat. Remember, these Soviet units will never move either so they won’t try to cut your supply or engage weaker units on the board.

These 5 Defense Strategies are really a very unique way to handle this conflict. I really think it is appropriate thematically as the attacking Germans encountered all types of defenses as they advanced closer to the city itself and as the combat became bloodier and slower due to the presence of rubble from damaged or destroyed buildings that would offer protective cover to the defenders.

The player has the option of purchasing various Support Units that can be used in combat to increase their chances of success. These Support Units include Air, Artillery, and Engineer markers which the player will have to purchase during the Supply Phase of each round. An Air Support Unit is the best and provides the player the opportunity to roll a d6 and reduce the Defense Value of the Soviet unit by that number. This can really make a difference in the outcome of combats and can also be a huge assist when the player might be trying to achieve an Overrun result to avoid a negative effect. The Artillery Unit provides a +2 to the Attacker Total of the German player when played and the Engineer Unit also provides +2 to the Attacker Total but also gives the added benefit of cancelling the Rubble effect of Light or Heavy Urban Terrain if using the Advanced Rules.

I really liked the addition of these Support Units to the game as I think at this scale, commanders have more responsibility in answering those local command staff who are requesting these type of assets to assist in a combat. This really gave me the feel of that overall commander role and gave me the responsibility of assigning my limited assets to where they are most needed.

In summary, Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs is a winner! Mike Rinella hit a home run with this one. Easy to understand rules, great combat, fantastic production, great decision points and a lot of dice rolling, which I really like and expect from most solitaire wargames. This one has it all and plays fast and furious and just feels so satisfying, whether you win or lose. I always had that feeling of just one more game and I think I can crack it….and I just kept on trying and trying and after writing this will get back to the table and play it again. I loved this one and I look forward to the other volumes in this new Solitaire Area Movement Series.

Here is our unboxing video so you can get a closer look at the components:

Here is a playthrough of the game, or more precisely the first few turns, that you can check out at the following link:

And finally a video review of the game:

I also wrote a series of Action Point posts on the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Look at the Board

Action Point 2 – Soviet Defenders and different Defensive Strategies

Action Point 3 – Combat

Action Point 4 – Focus on Supply and Morale

Action Point 5 – Strategy Points

If you are interested in Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942, you will have to be patient as they are working on a 2nd Printing edition that should be available soon. You can keep tabs on that game by visiting the Revolution Games website at the following link: https://www.revolutiongames.us/index.html

There you have it. My list of the best solitaire wargames/games that I played in 2023! What a year. There were just so many great games but unfortunately only so much time. There were other games that I was unable to get played that I had acquired and those were as follows:

  • Western Front Ace from Compass Games
  • Aces of Valor from Legion Wargames
  • A Glorious Chance from Legion Wargames
  • Interceptor Ace Volume 2 from Compass Games
  • Carrier Battles: Philippine Sea from Compass Games
  • 1854: The Alma from Conflict Simulations Limited

What were your favorite solitaire wargames from 2023?

-Grant