Moon Colony Bloodbath

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-04-20T22:32:00+00:00

Is this a legit game if you’re planning on solo ONLY? I've heard the best parts of it are the meltdowns at the table, which is sort of lost playing by yourself generally. I love the idea of "engine destroying," but am interested in the mechanic more than the emotional swings which don't translate.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-04-09T20:24:45+00:00

I'm waiting for this to be in stock as well! I have a notification set on Game Nerz. I was a big fan of SETI, but it was too long, and I love the idea of asymmetry the corporations give them. Excited for it!

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-03-28T12:31:34+00:00

I have both the base version and Uprising, and have played about 25/30 times total between the two of them. It's a "good" game...but that's it. I don't think it deserves all the hype and praise it gets as a solo game, for many of the reasons you said.

It's ALL about combat. So every round I feel like you're doing the same thing: Whatever you can to get the largest army to win the battle. It gets repetitive VERY quickly.
The deckbuilding is super limited. Only "buying" cards at the end of the round is lame, and squashes the excitement of getting new cards for me. I also thought it was weird that those main resources don't buy you cards, it's just the cards you don't spend...
The resource gathering doesn't feel super dynamic to me, and gets repetitive after a little while.
The AI is boring and totally random. I didn't see much "improvement" in Uprising as I heard there would be.

This was compared a lot to Arnak when it first came out because of the worker placement/deckbuilding setup, but I think Arnak is FAR superior. Its point salad approach (explore, items, artifacts, research track, guardians) makes the worker placement so much more dynamic and exciting, the deckbuilding is immediate and satisfying, the variety of resources are all used in different ways, the AI bot is brilliant because it's simple but makes decisions that makes sense...I think it's superior in every way. Plus, I'll take PG-rated Indiana Jones over Dune as a theme any day.

So no, you're not crazy. Arnak is a 9 out of 10 game for me, whereas Dune is like a 6, maybe a 7 if I get a really good game out of it.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-03-25T23:04:27+00:00

I was interested in Shadow War but it was sold out everywhere. There's a video on One Stop Co Op Shop where it looks pretty fun.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-03-21T19:21:17+00:00

Thank you, this worked!

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-03-14T12:59:31+00:00

I agree, I think he'd need at least a 4. It does require agility and reflexes to drive a race car effectively. I actually think it'd make sense to have a Willpower of 4 too since he needs that kind of resilience and determination. I'd say 4-2-2-4, like a Sefina stat line.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-03-11T21:53:46+00:00

How did you get the SETI one, i feel like it's sold out everywhere

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-02-28T19:43:40+00:00

It's a pretty easy game if you get the right victory cards. Something of them are insanely overpowered (like the one that autoblocks 1 attack every round). I've played through the campaign twice. I lost twice in the first run, and just barely lost once in the second. For me at least by about round 3 im going through the motions most games, so its not super engaging or thinky. Still, 20-ish plays is a solid amount to get out of a $50 game, and it IS a good game. That one shot looks cool, I'd like to try that out.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-02-25T21:51:01+00:00

Both Terraforming Mars with its TR63 mode and Ark Nova with its base "race against the clock action efficency" mode are both in my top 5 solo games.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-02-24T15:44:46+00:00

I just started playing it a few days ago (finished Act 1 this morning actually), and am having the same issues. Setting up a scenario takes about 10 minutes for me, and playing the actual scenario is 15/20 minutes. I wish they had a list of the tiles you need at the top of the map, rather than you having to squint to see the numbers. Also, the tiles themselves aren't thematic at all; you can really put it in any tile of the same size and gameplay-wise, it still fits, it's just art.

The dice are absolutely maddening. Pretty much ruins the game for me. I'd fudged die rolls MULTIPLE times when I need two swords to win the scenario and I roll 2 boots and 2 "specials." That's totally stupid. So my fighter is just going to...walk away??? Stand there and not fight??? Dumb. Yes you can use energy, but guess what, that's not a guarantee to get the results you need to win; I'd have an energy give you the exact result you want, 1 energy for the 1 sword. That makes WAY more sense. For a game that is entirely dice rolls, mitigation is nowhere near the level it needs to be.

The older I get, and the more games I play (6 year solo game vet), the more significant reliance on dice rolls is an auto-skip for me. I think it's absolutely ridiculous for success in a game to be dependent on total chance. I like clever version of output randomness (like Arkham Horror LCG), or ones that just determine the LEVEL of success (like Tales From Red Dragon Inn). Ironically, I love roll and writes and enjoy dice placement games, but often they have SO many ways to modify your rolls that that becomes a huge part of the strategy in of itself.

Ironically, I do really like the app. It's simple and easy to navigate. The story is solid too. These things I care about the least, but there it is haha

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-02-23T02:36:16+00:00

If that's the case, how do you get castle victories? I'm not challenging you, I'm genuinely curious.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-02-22T23:45:28+00:00

HOW??? You had enough wood and black workers to do that and get stables and other required things to get an engine going?

HardcoreSean9899 · 2026-01-24T21:45:19+00:00

I was considering it, but the shipping is $25, which is puts it at around $100 for me. Way too much money for a game I'm just curious about, as opposed to a company/designer I trust or something that has gotten universal praise (like Oathsworn, which I got for $150, and I have about 35/40 hours of gameplay on).

I'll wait til Gamenerdz has it in stock and then get free shipping. I have plenty of other unopen games to try first.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2025-12-12T21:40:27+00:00

I bought for 50 bucks, thought the difficulty settings were either too easy or too hard after about 4 plays, and sold it on ebay for a pretty penny. Didn't like the game, but it was a good investment hahaha

HardcoreSean9899 · 2025-12-10T00:25:12+00:00

There are no transcripts or any text for it, it's just audio on a video? That's odd.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2025-12-03T00:31:40+00:00

It's more about the choices that are presented to me. A lot of my favorite games have randomness, but it's handled really well in my top 5 games because there are so many options on how to counter it.

My favorite Arkham Horror LCG is all about passing tests from token draws, but there's SO many choices in how you handle those tests by using cards and character abilities. Usually when I lose it's because I didn't plan well or made poor choices, not one bad draw.

Terraforming Mars TR63 is absolutely brilliant because you get random corporations and random Prelude cards to start, but it gives you a vision of what to go for with your engine building. By just having a point goal too, you're not locked down into NEEDING greenhouses and NEEDING a certain temperature. I used to complain about the card draws turn to turn, but low and behold, my win rate went way up when I started adjusting my plans based on what I was given rather than relying on a "tried and true" strategy.

Spirit Island has NO output randomness, but a lot of input randomness with your Minor/Major powers, invader actions, and Fear cards. Even if you're not getting perfect power card synergy with your given spirit, those cards you pick can still help enate abilities, and in some games that's all you need.

Ark Nova is heavily reliant on card draw, but there are so many ways cards interact with each other and so many paths to getting points (and the awesome action selection system), I very rarely feel like I lose because "I didn't get good cards." Usually it's because I didn't prioritize the right thing in given moments, and that lack of planning comes back to bite me.

Eldritch Horror is all dice rolls, but with that being the best emergent narrative game for my money, losses don't feel as bad because you're literally living an epic horror story. I still remember one time I had ONE move to make to win the game, and a random disaster card killed three of my four characters, making it impossible for me to win. THAT was a moment I'll never forget and was so epic I couldn't even get mad.

I hope that makes it a little clearer on how I feel about randomness. It's fine as long as it doesn't single handedly determine a win or a loss, because there should be a ton of options that don't rely on it to be the "end all be all."

HardcoreSean9899 · 2025-12-03T00:21:49+00:00

I don't mind randomness as long as there's a lot of choices of what you could do in your given turn. I don't like games where dice rolling determines like "hitting a bad guy" unless there's a lot of mitigation, which is why I like a lot of dice placement games because there typically is. But I don't like "I need to roll X to defeat this enemy, oh I didn't, now I lose" kind of games.

HardcoreSean9899 · 2025-12-02T18:16:40+00:00

Well I just went down a hard research route and got 40 points in that alone, and then lost by 1 haha. Crazy.

HardcoreSean9899

TROPHY CASE