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Good morning, Dakka!
I love complex and time consuming board and card games, like Gears of War, Space Hulk: Death Angel and the like, but I'm having a hard time getting a group of players together.
So I'm looking for some tips on good games that work just as good with one player as it does with several.
Like the examples above, they have AI cards and such that makes the game itself the enemy. That works rather well, I think.

So, any tips from you nice people or am I forever doomed to build a collection of unplayed (but really good) games?

I suppose you could play talisman solo. When you add the expansions, the game gets pretty hard.


Also, you could play Arkham Horror solo, running 2-4 characters against the board.

Zombicide. It's 1-6 players. Also, Legendary has options for a single player game as well as multiplayer. It's a deck-building game.

Flying Frog Games's "A Touch of Evil" can easily be played solo, and one of the expansions (Sword Coast, I think) has actual rules for solo play.

Arkham Horror could pretty easily be played solo, as could any "players vs the board" game I suppose.

Advanced Hero Quest back in the day had rules for solo play as well!

Runebound is essentially a solo game, no matter how many people play.

Privateer Press' Level 7 Escape can be played solitaire. In fact, some of the missions are a lot harder with one person. I've played plenty of games running 2 or 3 characters with no problems.

Here's a few other oldies but goodies that probably require a look on ebay but are worth checking out:

B-17- can your air crew survive 25 missons (the answer is no, no they can't.)

Patton's Best - can your Sherman survive a day's worth of missions and engagements?

Hornet Leader (or Warthog Leader, or Apache Leader, or the soon to be released Phantom Leader.)

Chainsaw Warrior - can you defeat the darkness in just an hour (again, probably not.)

 AegisGrimm wrote:
Runebound is essentially a solo game, no matter how many people play.

Just picked up second edition on Thursday-damn game is out of stock everywhere (including Fantasy Flights and Miniature Market), and people on ebay are charging $70-100 for it. Thankfully, one of my nearby stores happened to have a copy in stock. Grabbed it up quick.

As Steamdragon mentioned Flying Frog Games - they have four main board games, two of which are set up for "the game is the enemy" style of play.

A Touch of Evil is basically Sleepy Hollow the board game - you play various characters defending a town from the predations of a monster - There are two major expansions that add new game boards - Something Wicked (an old Monastery and a Haunted Lake), and The Coast (a haunted seaside including a new mini town) each of which add four new monsters and four new heroes.
Additionally there are two Hero Packs, which add four new heroes and a new villain, as well as some web exclusive card packs and a few monsters on their website you can print off. Not to mention a fairly robust online community.


Their other one that would work for solo play would be their newest, Fortune and Glory. In that one you play various treasure hunters traveling the world in a pulp adventure, fighting nazis and/or mobsters in search of artifacts. It's Indiana Jones the board game, and as it is their newest it has the most refined and I think cinematic mechanics they've produced. And they have recently announced their first two expansions for it - Rise of the Crimson Hand which seems like it will be introducing a new Criminal Organization to go with the Nazis and Mobsters from the core, as well as some new Mechanics.
Also, Treasure Hunters, which adds new adventurers, a couple of new mob villains, and new cards for all the decks.

Some nice suggestions here, thank you!
I have been looking at getting Arkham Horror, Talisman, Chainsaw Warrior and Zombicide for a while, actually.
Though I never knew most of them would be suited for solo play (don't know why, it's quite the overlook).

Thanks for the tips, guys! Now I have somewhere to start.

Gears of War by FFG hasn't been mentioned yet. Very playable single player "co-op" against an AI enemy.

Edit: doh, you mentioned it in your original post, so I guess you already have it

I've definitely enjoyed playing Arkham Horror solitaire, controlling two characters. With the expansions, replay is essentially infinite. And now my copy is signed by the designer, Richard Launius!

I've also been bringing out Thunderstone fairly often. It's a fantasy deckbuilding card game. You amass a party of heroes, villagers, spells and weapons and take on monsters in an attempt to gain the Thunderstone.

I've heard good things about Mage Knight but haven't yet pulled the trigger. It's a fantasy game where heroes explore a large board and engage in various quests.

To find more, do an advanced search on boardgamegeek.com and set the number of players to "1". These games have rules for solitaire play.

Happy gaming!

-- Z

Ghost Story.

It's a cooperative game for 1-4 players. But check review before you buy, it's not everyone cup of tea.

I finally got Arkham Horror last weekend and got a couple of games in with my brothers. It's a really good game, and I do think It's going to see a lot of action.

Yes, I have Gears. Bought it as soon as it was released, haven't regretted it for a second.

Oh, and thanks for the tips Zygomax and M_Stress! I'll be sure to check it all out.

Just picked up second edition on Thursday-damn game is out of stock everywhere (including Fantasy Flights and Miniature Market), and people on ebay are charging $70-100 for it. Thankfully, one of my nearby stores happened to have a copy in stock. Grabbed it up quick.

If you go on Boardgamegeek there are some slight rules modifications you can make for better play as a solitare game. Notable is a sort of time limit. It adds a bit of urgency to the game.