solitaire play??

[severn8212]

Hey all

I was wondering how this game plays solitaire, as I was thinking about trading for PG:Semper Fi Guadalcanal on BGG...

Are there any organized methods used for solo play?

Oh yeah, BTW, this would be my FIRST try at the PG series...

Thanks for any comments...it looks like this is the place to ask

Bill

[campsawyer]

Hey all

I was wondering how this game plays solitaire, as I was thinking about trading for PG:Semper Fi Guadalcanal on BGG...

Are there any organized methods used for solo play?

Oh yeah, BTW, this would be my FIRST try at the PG series...

Thanks for any comments...it looks like this is the place to ask

Bill

Bill,

Are you looking for Pacific theater specifically or could you start with Europe? If you can go with Europe, I would start with Elsenborn Ridge rather than Guadalcanal. Guadalcanal has many scenarios with hidden units which makes solo tough. PG plays well solitaire, if you don't need hidden setup.

[joe_oppenheimer]

I do most of my PG gaming solo. In general it works very well. The alternating activation, sudden turn end, initiative differences, and leader activation limit your control and force you to work with what you have.

Unfortunately Guadalcanal is the worst game in the series for solitaire because it uses hidden units in most of the scenarios. It is still possible to play solitaire, but the games set in Europe will generally work better.

[Hugmenot]

There are better choices for solitaire play. Elsenborn Ridge is especially good for an entry point as it plays well solo and the scenarios are on the smallish side. If your primary interest is the North Africa, I recommend Desert Rats over Afrika Corps.

If you are primarily interested in the Pacific theater, then maybe Campsawyer can speak about how easy it is to solo Saipan.

Eastern Front Deluxe and Roads to Berlin also play solo but the scenarios tend to be larger than those found in Elsenborn Ridge.

If you do take the plunge, you can always post a new thread asking for Skype opponents and I am sure a few veterans will reply to you. Although I play solo about 2/3 of the time, I enjoy the extra decision points when playing against someone else.

[Poor Yorek]

In addition to what others have written, sometimes one just attempts to put on "blinders" when playing each side, especially in terms of set-up and major attack axis. There was a scenario in Black SS in particular where I "played" the US side essentially moving up a road (but wary) even though I "knew" the SS had AT guns in a woods and field bracketing the road. No force would advance very rapidly if every nook and hollow was explored.

Sometimes I let a die roll determine certain choices that one side or the other would make lacking the information a solo human player has (and this is an "issue" too with face-to-face as well regarding units in limiting terrain hence discussions on double-blind play).

There is sufficient (more than sufficient) variance in the combat tables however to insure that "no plan long survives first contact with the enemy." That, and as was stated above, the alternating side activation scheme and command-and-control issues (using leaders) keeps the game dynamic in solo play.

I concur with either Elsenborn Ridge or Eastern Front Deluxe as an excellent choice for a first purchase.

[JayTownsend]

I think all the PG games play well solo!

[Matt W]

I have played well over 90% of my plays solo and find that the game plays very well between the possibility of an early end to the turn and the alternating activations it ends up being very engaging. Head to head play does enhance the play somewhat but it is gilding on a lilly.

[Shad]

Hey all

I was wondering how this game plays solitaire, as I was thinking about trading for PG:Semper Fi Guadalcanal on BGG...

Are there any organized methods used for solo play?

Oh yeah, BTW, this would be my FIRST try at the PG series...

Thanks for any comments...it looks like this is the place to ask

Bill

Hi Bill, welcome aboard.

First off, almost all of our players primarily play PG solitaire.

Currently, the PG-HQ database has 3,824 solo plays versus only 394 head-to-head plays. That means we can safely assume ~90% of PG is played solo. In other words, you'd not be the odd-man-out in terms of play style!

In terms of satisfaction, apart from the elementary conclusion that if that many people play it it must be good we can look at the ratings versus play type:

Average overall rating for solo play: 3.32
Average overall rating for h-to-h play: 3.22

These numbers might surprise some folks around here. I wouldn't place too much weight on them. H-to-H play being slightly lower-rated overall is likely due to a few factors:

• our most prolific head-to-head player is a real curmudgeon when it comes to handing out ratings
  
• scenario competitive balance is a top concern when head-to-head, but less important when solo
  
• solo plays are more likely to be what you want (vs. what we want) so you're already starting from a higher rating just in the selection process
  
• there are far fewer ratings so the average has less certainty
  

Regarding Guadalcanal in particular, there are three ways you can go:

1. Ignore the hidden rules and solo as you would any other PG game
   
2. Ignore the hidden rules and beef up the Japanese OOB a little to compensate for the lack of surprise
   
3. Apply one of the solo hidden rules house rules that PG players have developed over the years
   

...which is a GREAT time to pimp my own version of #3, which I also happen to think is the best , please check out this thread: How to Solo with Hidden Units and Still Surprise Yourself

Hope that all helps!

EDIT TO ADD - as some people have already touched on above, Guadalcanal - due to the prolific jungle and super-motivated Japanese units - plays somewhat differently (slower, more grind-y) than almost every other PG game. If your primary motivation is Pacific Theater, starting here is fine. If your primary motivation is trying PG, you may find other games (Elsenborn or Desert Rats in particular) more to your liking and easier to get into.

[campsawyer]

Shad, you forgot the most important factor why there is not more head to head play. The game company does very little promotion of the game system, so it is left to sites like this as well as a few that venture out beyond there game rooms to push face to face games. Most players start solo and my stay there for various reasons, but given this site and a very far second to CSW and BGG there is no other effort to get the PG community to play more F-t-F.

[Shad]

Shad, you forgot the most important factor why there is not more head to head play. The game company does very little promotion of the game system, so it is left to sites like this as well as a few that venture out beyond there game rooms to push face to face games. Most players start solo and my stay there for various reasons, but given this site and a very far second to CSW and BGG there is no other effort to get the PG community to play more F-t-F.

*thumbs up to that*