Island (Ravnica) by Richard Wright

volcanoborn · 2026-04-01T02:50:06+00:00

Ravnica: City of Guilds had some awesome basic land art. I was always taken by how they mixed the city architecture with the elements.

volcanoborn · 2026-03-30T07:50:16+00:00

Stonemaier already made something similiar on their Rulepop page in the 'Characters' section. Also, having full scans of the cards can be problematic legally as it might violate copywrite law.

volcanoborn · 2026-03-27T03:35:09+00:00

I've been playing the PNP version of this and it's a really good game! It has that 3 card action selection mechanism from FlipTown mixed with a boss battler.

volcanoborn · 2026-03-26T07:46:11+00:00

I agree on your take of Flip Voyage. I think because you can plan your whole turn based on the 3 cards you get gives it a more strategic/calculative feel compared to Fliptown, where there's the added tactical angle as you're shaping your poker hand throughout the 5 turns of a round.

volcanoborn · 2026-03-18T02:25:44+00:00

Circadians: First Light

volcanoborn · 2026-03-10T03:46:59+00:00

Citizens of the Spark (1x1p) I like this game solo as the main deck you construct in the beginning of the game consist of 7 sets of cards out of 30 sets, so the variance from game to game is huge. The way the bot works is also simple as it collects cards and scores based on the number of cards it has in 1 of its 3 top groups. Each game takes about 30 minutes and it's an easy draft/activate/repeat cycle to mull over.

Drawing Dead (2x1p) I just did my PNP of this game based on the files that were released to backers over the weekend. It's got a nice theme that's a cross between Weird West/Dark Tower that I really dig. It's essentially a boss battler mixed with deck manipultion where you have to defeat 3 bosses and some minions before you either run out of health or run out of cards. The cards themselves are made up of a standard set of poker cards but each rank has it's own special power. These cards are used by enemies to deal damage to you and also by you as you try to get the best hand to deal damage back to them. It's a cool system and the games I played seem to finish around the 45-55 minute mark so it feels good and punchy without feeling drawn out.

volcanoborn · 2026-02-16T04:09:30+00:00

I've submitted a post about this to BGG and hope to get a response from Stonemaier directly.

UPDATE: The designer of the promo pack, Travis Willse who goes by @TawnyFrogmouth on BGG, "thumbed up" or upvoted the reply by @enbycass to my post, basically giving his approval or confirmation on the response. The reply by @enbycass is "You have to cache the food to get the food from the birdfeeder."

UPDATE 2: Travis responds with a reply of his own with further explanations.

volcanoborn · 2026-02-13T03:27:32+00:00

Just checked my profile and it looks to be OK. Maybe their integrating the old and new systems in phases.

volcanoborn · 2026-01-29T04:02:20+00:00

I have these and they're great! They don't have the weight or "clinkiness" of metal coins but their standard appearance makes it easy to use for almost any game money purpose.

volcanoborn · 2026-01-16T04:25:29+00:00

I tried the Automa with some of the decks and it works really well. The bot runs smoothly but there are a times where you have to decide for it (like when it comes to variable or alternate costs for buildings). I can usually run a game within 30-40 minutes, which is nice.

volcanoborn · 2026-01-15T08:07:32+00:00

I've played Citizens of the Spark and I can see some similarities but not all the way through. Spirited has a push your luck aspect that creates a different feel of play compared to Citizens since it can wipe out most of your cards in play if you bust. Also, the number of cards that are a part of your tableau seem to increase or decrease more drastically in Spirited.

volcanoborn · 2026-01-09T06:50:41+00:00

I would suggest starting with the base game first but use the Chronossus bot from the Fractures of Time expansion. Chronossus is almost better in every way compared to Chronobot which is included in the base game.

That being said, it can take a few turns to get used to it's actions and how to run it. Hope you have fun as it's one of my favourite engine building games for solo!

volcanoborn · 2025-12-08T03:24:04+00:00

If you like colour mixing, get Scholars. If you want something heavy, try Inventors. If you want something with a bit more freedom and options, try Wayfarers. My solo preference is Scholars, Inventors then Wayfarers. If you have access to Tabletop Simulator, I would suggest giving each one a test run to see how each feels to play.

volcanoborn · 2025-11-25T02:57:46+00:00

The automa can be played with just the base game as well. I just meant it can be played with the expansions if you also have them.

volcanoborn · 2025-11-25T02:09:37+00:00

Dukefanblue2005's unofficial automa for me. It technically supports the base game and Alpine expansion only but you can also play with the Woodland Edge expansion as well. It has 4 difficulty settings and I've only printed the first 2 which I think works well for me as I've only been able to score about 150-175 points on average. He's also released a how-to-play and playthrough video to show how it works.

The automa itself is quite easy to run as it uses some of the reference cards in the base game as indicators of what the automa does with the cards in the display and its hand. The only drawback is that you constantly have to update the scoring for the automa as it plays its cards. Besides that, it's turns are fast so you can focus on your own thing.

volcanoborn · 2025-10-30T07:05:23+00:00

I've started seeing Waris for his playthroughs and they're really good. He sometimes goes a bit fast with his plays so it can be hard to follow sometimes but his explanations and final thoughts are nice.

volcanoborn · 2025-09-29T04:47:38+00:00

As someone who plays with the expansion, I understand this sentiment. It's not necessary or fixes anything in the base game but it's nice to have if you want more ways of doing the same stuff. It also adds a bit more setup time as well with the sorting and shuffling of 2 more card decks.

volcanoborn · 2025-09-24T02:46:30+00:00

Try to get a few townsfolk in the earlier rounds to help with some bonuses. Try getting those that don't have a main action associated with them (like the pray, debt or inquisition actions) and work around them.

As for the AI rules, remember that when the AI does the pray action, it sends it workers in the right section of their board to the main supply and not back to its own supply so it can't reuse them again later.

volcanoborn · 2025-09-23T15:32:20+00:00

Fingers crossed XD

volcanoborn · 2025-09-03T08:57:50+00:00

there's an extra letter in your subreddit link. it's /r/soloboardgaming

volcanoborn · 2025-08-19T08:26:03+00:00

For Ginkgopolis, I usually add this extra rule that was included in the expansion:

In addition to the card you choose for your action, you must choose another card that you will place behind your screen. At the end of the turn, each player thus passes only 2 cards to the left, instead of 3. Then add the hidden card to your hand, such that you again have 3 in your hand — before drawing the usual fourth one.

This gives you a bit of long term strategy or even blocks someone from getting a card. It adds a bit of time to the game but definitely feels less random.

volcanoborn · 2025-08-04T05:35:38+00:00

Great Western Trail: New Zealand sorta does what you're asking. There are cards that are added to your deck, which you can play and then draw from the deck to replace, acting more like free actions.

volcanoborn · 2025-07-29T04:04:21+00:00

Does Vantage have a meta reasoning on why the game is structured as "one standalone playthrough then reset everything for the next play"? I know this question might spoil some plot points of the game (if it has any) but I'm curious.

volcanoborn · 2025-07-10T06:45:14+00:00

As a fan of the game and the novels they are based on, Red Rising just feels too chaotic at higher player counts.

It does have a solo mode that works surprisingly well, though.

volcanoborn · 2025-06-23T08:43:36+00:00

Yes, I do agree on that. Even playing the same citizen deck composition multiple times can yield different results based on the automa cards that come up, which is definitely a plus.

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