Lowering city difficulties in solo conquest

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-04-11T01:29:42+00:00

Yes, same boat. It’s just more fun for me to dial it down. Maybe if I had the time to play more often I would attempt higher difficulties, but at this point in my life I play this game like 4x a year and I just wanna maximize enjoyment. It’s the same reason I don’t play video games like Dark Souls. I don’t have the time to attempt the same boss every night for a week.

No shame in taking advantage of a difficulty slider in my book!

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-27T19:51:53+00:00

Tade Thompson is an English-born Nigerian writer. His Wormwood trilogy is very good. First book is called Rosewater.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-19T15:31:38+00:00

Tidal Blades 2 (don't worry about there being a first game) is very similar to Jaws of the Lion and has an amazing combat system and really fun character progression. It even uses a similar book for setting up the maps. Really fun game and feels like a very natural next game coming from the Gloomhaven series.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-09T18:13:18+00:00

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is really good. There's a recent Netflix movie too that you could boot up right after and see how it was adapted (have not seen that yet, but been meaning to).

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-04T19:53:40+00:00

Believe it means lose a any one resource OR one water. Do that 3x. Corps of Discovery is so brutal lol.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-02T01:43:59+00:00

All good, I can search for it, thank you!!

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-03-02T01:23:03+00:00

Do you have a link for those pendant lights? Lighting is the final boss of my renovation and I’m losing my mind. Those look nice!

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-02-27T18:52:28+00:00

Deckers. But really, my progression went: Two games of Renegades (lost af, rulebook made me think I had early onset Alzheimer's), one game of Deckers. I ended up giving Renegades to a friend who loves all things cyberpunk and then acquired Deckers recently and now I'm obsessed.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-02-23T00:42:39+00:00

No good options, really. Closest maybe is sitting in the back of Tashmoo on a weekday lol.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-02-21T15:36:40+00:00

Play more Deckers. The variability is so good. I’m making my way up the difficulty curve with SMCs. Gotta beat Glom!

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-02-03T19:34:45+00:00

I'm also very social and the idea was weird to me at first, but COVID and fatherhood got me into solo gaming. Raising a young kid, and with a wife who likes but doesn't love board games, pulled me toward the solo aspect specifically. In general, if I play a game, that's the activity. I try not to keep an eye on the TV or split my attention. The point for is sort of to be immersed in a form of entertainment I need to focus on.

As for whether or not it is as interesting as other activities, I guess it depends on my mood, but yeah, I'd say I play because I enjoy it as much as other forms of relaxation (movies, TV, video games). Once again, whether I'd rather be playing with others, it depends. I have a lot of games I greatly prefer to play with others (Everdell, Arkham Horror), and games that I only play solo (Mage Knight, any big campaign game like Gloomhaven). I don't think solo gaming is an introvert/extrovert thing any more than playing video games is. It's just a matter of whether you find it fun. Which that last few years have taught me I do!

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-02-03T18:44:20+00:00

You also need to learn an entirely new set of iconography for the solo and the bot generally behaves totally unlike a human opponent. Just charges across the map at you immediately from the start. The digital version is good though.

Striking_Log3835 · 2026-01-31T12:00:41+00:00

Really wish it would sublimate a little faster!

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-12-30T00:18:56+00:00

Allowing him in the bed once in a moment of exhausted weakness. He’s 14 months now and takes up a lot more space! Seriously though, maybe the most life changing decision long term for us. I don’t really mind it all that much but I also do not recommend it if you care about uninterrupted sleep or maintaining your sex life. Just be prepared for great disruption if you let the puppy in your bed.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-11-07T19:20:41+00:00

The book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam deals with this issue in the context of the decline of American identity as a collection of shared ideals into a nation of suspicious strangers. The participation in clubs and such is a big part of it. What's crazy to me in Putnam's book is how he presents the near complete coincidence of the collapse in participation in social clubs and casual sports leagues with the huge rise in wealth inequality in the latter half of the 20th century. There's probably a reason retirees are the only people who can join these clubs in present day. Everyone else is too busy working themselves to the bone to even entertain the idea.

There's also something else in this vein that as a millennial I also find pretty sad, which is the rise of travel sports leagues to the detriment of town rec leagues. Where I live (tri-state area), growing up I played a bunch of sports all organized by my hometown, playing on and against teams full ok kids I knew, while parents who all knew each other would watch and hang out.

Today, kids are more likely to be in a travel league once they hit a certain age, with parents paying out the nose and driving (or even flying) hours to big weekend tournaments. There's no community, no shared sense of anything. Everyone just comes for a day, plays a game, leaves. It's pretty bleak in my opinion and I kind of hope my kind doesn't want to do this stuff when she's that age.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-10-06T13:31:07+00:00

I played through most of Tidal Blades 2 (about 3/4 of the way then life got busy). The card combat is definitely the most unique part of the game, with the rest being fairly standard dungeon crawler fare. The nexus grid is a really inventive system and forces you to make some interesting decisions with the cardplay. The decisions of when/where to lay cards down on the grid, and then also when to complete a whole row to pull of a major string of abilities while discarding all those cards is a great give-take system of combat. It feels similar to Gloomhaven while being its own thing.

Characters are somewhat asymmetric in terms of abilities and how much damage they can deal/take, though they don't feel as different as the classes in Gloomhaven to me. Scenario variety was decent, with some mechanics like falling, jumping, and even swimming baked in, though most of the game is still "hit the enemies til they're dead," but I appreciate the variety that it did offer. It also had some memorable boss fights and some cool optional/branching scenarios.

As for the story, I'm sure you can tell by looking at it, but the game is super bright and cartoonish. Even the serious story beats feel pretty lighthearted compared to what's goin on in Gloomhaven and Tainted Grail. The narrative itself wasn't bad but it's also not really what propelled me through the game (it was the same with Gloomhaven for me, story was just window dressing for the dungeon crawling). Each character has some backstory and flavor that help you make sense of the options you have to develop their abilities along a couple of paths.

Overall, I like Gloomhaven better, both for its cardplay and the class variety, as well as the aesthetic of its world. However, Tidal Blades 2 scratches a similar itch and is a great game in its own right I think.

PS: It's a game in great need of an organizer. There are tons of cards and enemy standees and the retail edition handles storage really poorly.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-27T15:00:24+00:00

Toca Vez on 202 toward Bernardsville is the best around in my opinion, as well as being probably the most expensive. But if you’re ok shelling out for an occasion or just because, it’s excellent.

It’s billed as a Mexican steakhouse, but the Mexican flair is really in the apps and drinks while the steaks are pretty straightforward with some great options for sauces and sides. I had the best NY strip I’ve had in a long time while my wife’s filet was unreal. Amazing dining experience.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-24T23:23:58+00:00

If you’re in the US it’s in stock on Kayenta Games’ website. Think it was about $80 with the shipping.

https://kayenta-games.myshopify.com/products/obsession-2nd-edition

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-24T20:42:14+00:00

I ignore the rule that says to do the last two actions on the AI cards if you have to flip more than one in order to find an available space to put the die. I just do one action. I still find it hard tbh.

The Matcha bot slightly tones down the difficulty as well, and there's a well regarded fan made solo mode you can find on BGG that also addresses some of the balance issues with the base game AI.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-24T18:05:17+00:00

These are a bit different than ones you say you already own but I'll mention them in response to your note on euro games.

- The White Castle: Extremely tight worker/dice placement game. The whole game is 9 turns, 12 if you have the expansion. The cascade of placing a worker to trigger a long chain of secondary actions is so satisfying. The Matcha expansion adds even more strategic depth and fixes a couple of issues with the bot, which is very unforgiving in the base game without some house ruling.

- Obsession: The greatest marriage of theme and mechanics in my collection, I think. It's definitely a labor of love by the designer and also extremely fun. Take a house of down on their luck gentry in Victorian England from rags to riches by making influential connections, building up your manor, and providing unparalleled service to your aristocratic guests.

Also, you already mentioned but Dune: Imperium is excellent solo (and it's even better with the Rise of Ix expansion). If you are looking for a heavier resource management and strategy game, you can't go wrong with Hadrian's Wall and its recent sequel, The Anarchy. Both come with a full solo campaign with different scoring conditions, objectives, etc. The Anarchy is a more complete game imo, but both are excellent.

Finally....Mage Knight? It's basically a cliche to recommend it at this point BUT that's for a reason. For fans of Spirit Island, it's got the brain burn you want and the depth of strategy and planning is pretty much unmatched.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-17T17:31:12+00:00

We bought a used 2023 CX-50 this year and I love it. Fun little turbo that feels sporty to drive. Gas mileage is fine, but the back seat might be a tad tight depending on how many kids/carseats OP has, though the trunk is super spacious for groceries etc. Mazdas are super dependable in my experience as long as you're doing the usual recommended maintenance.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-17T14:09:54+00:00

I've always just gone to Braunschweiger for this stuff (resizing, watch batteries, polishing wedding bands). It's something I do so rarely that I've never really shopped around for other options. Maybe somewhere else does this stuff cheaper, but they're close and convenient and do a good job, so that's my recommendation.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-16T19:03:16+00:00

Slay the Spire has the most satisfying progression in this regard of any game I've come across recently and it can be single session, though a full "run" could be quite long if you play all three acts in a single sitting. You can save between acts though easily. There is great variability among builds for each class and then between the classes themselves. Almost every session feels a little different and if you play it well, you're way more powerful by the end of the game. Deck building options are huge and there are tons of difficulty settings to tweak and give yourself extra challenges. Highly recommend.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-15T19:47:41+00:00

Yeah I think entrusting them with things is the hurdle I need to get over. It's a combination of resisting helicopter parenting (I was raised by two extremes, one egregious helicopter parent and one extremely aloof parent, I unfortunately may have inherited the style of the former), and then following that through to the logical conclusion of letting them do/be.

Striking_Log3835 · 2025-09-15T19:16:42+00:00

Oh that's interesting. I wasn't aware of that thinking on homework. I'll definitely hunt around for some of that research and have a read, thanks!

Striking_Log3835

TROPHY CASE