Solo Boardgaming

Much like the last game I have reviewed ( The Summer of the Boxers ), La Libération de Paris describes an asymmetric urban conflict. It is also a solo wargame from within the pages of a French gaming magazine— in this case, issue No.82 of Casus Belli . However, whereas The Summer of the Boxers was an entertaining, suspenseful game, La Libération de Paris was quite a bore. Yet I think it could have been a great game. I'll call it “a great failed game”. Let us see why. The game components are as follows: 6 pages of rules & tables (within the magazine) a zone-based A4 map of Paris in August 1944, with all the necessary tables and tracks counters (that you must cut and paste yourself): Free French, German, US forces, and many markers having ‘fun’ with the counters the map is quite large the finished counters & markers The solo player plays the French Forces of the Interior at the time of the Liberation of Paris . The ‘system’ plays the German forces a...

The Summer of the Boxers is a solo wargame published in issue 136 of the French wargaming magazine Vae Victis . The game is in French (with almost no language-dependent text on the counters), and the rules can be downloaded for free from Vae Victis' web-site ( here ) so I thought I might as well start this blog with an English-language review of the game. Also, it is a game specifically designed to be played as a solo game, rather than the adaptation of a multi-player game to the solo format, which also makes it quite interesting as the very first game to be featured on this blog. (My current plan is to review a new game each week, with a mix of specific solo games and adaptations of standard games to the solo format. I also want to cover all kinds of boardgames and not only wargames.) The game components are as follows: a 15-page rulebook a zone-based A3 map of the Peking Legation Quarter at the time of the Boxer Rebellion, with a morale track and a supply track at the si...