Blog Archives
Alone Time: Three Sieges
The ever-prolific Todd Sanders is something of a patron saint for us solo-flying boardgamers, which is why I’ve minted a series of collectible totems you can carry in your pocket. Just incant Todd’s name three times (in the dark, looking into a mirror, gnawing a sprig of Conium maculatum between your molars) (please don’t swallow) and rub the totem betwixt pinkie and the back of your thumb to have one of Todd’s solo games teleported directly to your location — okay, okay, I didn’t get around to finishing them. Turns out black magic is harder than the manuals made out.
Instead, I’ve previously covered a couple titles from his Shadows Upon Lassadar series here on Alone Time, and I recently finished playing the entire second Lassadar trilogy. So you’re in luck, because I’m ready to tell you about not one, not two, but three solo games (because trilogy apparently means three. Huh!).
Buckle up! On page two, we’re talking about the Siege At Dalnish.
Alone Time: Robin Crusoe
Ahoy there! I’m filling in for Dan today. He told me that this “Alone Time” thing is a series about boardgames you can play by yourself, and there’s none better qualified to tell you about the solitary life than I, Robin Crusoe, of York, mariner, who lived one and ten days, all alone on an uninhabited island on the coast of America, near the mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; having been cast on shore by shipwreck, wherein all the men perished (ha!), with an account how I was at last strangely delivered by pirates. It’s pretty damn gripping, really.
Before we begin my amazing tale, Dan left me some notes to share with you. Let’s see here… something about an Ignacy Trzewiczek, who made a game about a convoy that Dan liked… best cooperative and solo game of the year… something like that. Sorry, the ink got damp on my last adventure. Sounds like it was boring anyway.
With that dull stuff out of the way, let’s talk about my adventure!
Alone Time: Solopelago
Greetings, fellow lonely boardgamers! Now now, before you wind your typewriters for the composition of strongly-worded letters (in my imagination, your typewriters are electric but powered by treadle), I realize this issue of Alone Time is over a month late. Worse yet, the content isn’t even original — I talked about the rather-fantastic Archipelago a mere couple weeks ago, and here I am caught on repeat.
Still, this is an experience any self-respecting solo boardgamer ought to know about, because it turns out that one of the freshest recent multiplayer boardgames is also one of the freshest recent solo games to hit the market. Once you pick up the Solo Expansion, anyway.
Alone Time: Cthulhu Yahtzee
In last month’s installment of Alone Time, I mentioned that the Lord of the Rings Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games was very possibly the only solo game a fella would ever need. And perhaps you thought to yourself, “What if I don’t want to design decks and buy more quests? Also, I hate hobbits.” If that’s the case, today we’re going to talk about two different editions of another game from FFG. It’s Elder Sign, and it’s much more self-contained, has a lot more dice, and doesn’t have quite as high a barrier to entry. And anyway, what could be more anti-hobbit than H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos?
Alone Time: Not Jackson’s Hobbit
Although it’s highlighted some pretty exciting adventure games, today Alone Time is going to outdo itself — and not only by talking about itself in the third person; rather, by introducing you to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game from Fantasy Flight Games! More than being merely a great two-player game (and theoretically more, though more than two makes it as boggy as the Dead Marshes in late April — pardon me, Thrimidge by Shire reckoning), TLotR:TCG is also an absolutely fantastic solo game. What’s more, it’s so expansive that it blurs the line between game and hobby.
(Half) Alone Time: Sorrow of Salilth
The beleaguered city of Salilth.
First Light. We wake to cold and to sound of screams outside the gates of Salilth. Jewel of the cities of Lassadar, home of our citadel and one of the great centers of the Council of Wardens, is surrounded. It is the time we have feared would arrive — the Grayking is come. We Wardens have prepared as best we as are able but will it be enough? I seems we are to be the first to meet openly with he who was once our brightest promise.
With an intro like that, we know immediately we’re looking at another entry in the Shadows Upon Lassadar series by Todd Sanders. I talked about the first one a couple weeks back, and found it to be both an excellent example of solo boardgaming and completely free. Except for the price of ink and paper, of course. Oh, and scissors! You’ll need those too. As for the two questions that are undoubtedly hanging precariously from the edge of your tongue — whether Sorrow of Salilth is also free, and also wonderful — well, the answers lie below.
Alone Time: Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire
Have you ever wanted to play a solo science fiction board game about running a galaxy-spanning super-empire that’s more Asimov than Herbert or Lucas? And carefully sheltering it from alien invaders, power-hungry usurpers, and squabbling offshoot empires? Or observing the rise of cults that worship your emperor as omniscient, sweeping galactic enlightenment movements, or the appearance of a future-predicting Institute?
And would you like that game to have tight, enjoyable, and logical rules?
Because if you answered yes to that last question, Struggle for the Galactic Empire is not for you. All that other stuff is in there though.
Alone Time: The Grayking is Risen
The land is corrupted. The silent Grayking, brooding upon his throne in the Tower of Ash, is a far-reaching shadow upon Lassadar. We feel his presence in each of our days. His servants grow bold, stealing into our cities, inhabiting the alleys and dark places of our streets. They jeer at us from our mirrors, shaming our reflections.
So begins the introduction to Shadows Upon Lassadar, an exciting solo fantasy quest game from Todd Sanders, in which you take on the role of a young magic adept assigned the unenviable task of locking the three barrier gates that will keep the mysterious and powerful Grayking out of Lassadar. If that sounds intriguing, the good news is that you can make it yourself right now, for free.
As in, right now. For free.
Introducing: Alone Time
The question I’m most often asked, once people recognize me as the editor-in-chief and lead writer of Space-Biff!, is “How’d you accomplish all that?” Maybe that’s irrelevant, though it’s still nice to hear. The second question is usually “You write about all these amazing board games. But what if I don’t have any friends to play with?”
For the man on the street, I have all sorts of answers. “Use BoardGameGeek’s Gamer Database to find gamers near you,” I sometimes say; or “Call up old friends and wean them into it with simple games,” or “Improve your hygiene.” But for those who have tried all and failed, or those who just have some extra time on their hands, or those who really don’t want friends anyway, we’re happy to present a new series all about the board games that you can play with exactly one person: yourself.
SPACE-BIFF! 