So here is my little spiel about solo skirmish wargaming. Best place to shove it.
The Preamble:
Due to my current life situation I have 0 time to actually play, but have been doing a lot of reading and thinking about the solo skirmish wargaming genre.
During the pandemic it came to pass that people come to the realization that playing by yourself was an alright way to spend a little time. What was before a very niche section of a niche hobby, now became a more widely accepted mode of play. Several new systems came out of the woodwork, although some of the heavy hitters in the space has existed before the coof and were springboarded into popularity. Now a foothold has been gained and the solo skirmish wargames position in the hobby is solidified and pushing outwards.
Examples to Look Into:
Note this survey is not at all comprehensive and more of what In have been paying attention to. There is a fair bit more out there but I am focusing on some of the bigger names and games that are Solo/Co-op play first (vs solo rules added onto a more traditional system).
Nordic Weasel Games
Very prolific writer with a whole range of different game types and settings. Many of his solo skirmish wargaming games have been picked up my Modiphius. All systems are fairly close mechanically but have flavored variances. The philosophy of the system is to have a lot of random tables and campaign level systems drive the narrative.
Five Parsecs From Home - SciFi procedural generated campaigns on top of a competent skirmish game. Lots of rules to carry your dudes through many many missions to the goal. Lots of tables and things to roll on. Lots of bookkeeping but that is a feature and not a bug, there is lots of room for emergent storytelling.
Five Leagues From the Borderland - Mostly bill it as a five parsecs but fantasy, BUT there is lots of new rules and content that makes it more than a system reskin. Changes to overall campaign focuse as well as combat tweaks to make it more grounded in fantasy.
Five Klicks From the Zone - Post apocalyptic five parsecs. One of the least develop systems of the family as it never got a publisher treatment. There is content and expansions.
Forgotten Ruin (UPCOMMING) - From the press release it looks like you take modern combat squad and drop them in a fantasy world, then slowly transform the team into creatures and magic users. No idea on what it specifically looks like, but in would guess 5 Parsecs with heavy 5 Leagues sprinkled in.
Snarling Badger Studios
Studio focused on some tight and focused games. Have been putting out a new game every year and a magazine with extra content for already published systems. All systems are close to eachother mechanically although each has it heavy variance (you COULD mod between them but it would not be straightforward)
Space Station Zero - Your crew is lost in Space and turn up at the impossibility massive station. Explore a mega dungeon
-like space and have your team fight their way to the center to find the truth. Tight system that allows for a lot more environmentally aware situations and objectives.
MAJESTIC 13 - M12+1 (to break tie votes!) so you play as spec opps of various flavors against invading aliens. Includes base building/defence and long list of upgrades. Aliens are less hoard and more boss battle monster of the week vibe.
Deth Wizards - Play as necromancers returning to the home country to kill everyone. Build gangs of undead (lots of different kinds) to raid locations and take down heros.
Others
A few additional one off games from various authors.
County Road Z - Flyover State Redneck Zombie Survival! Most of the missions revolve around gathering resources and fending off the hoard. The campaign system is focused on managing your community of survivors resources along side base building and maintenance. Keeping your community functional and safe is the driving force of the game in a solid game loop.
Rangers of Shadow Deep - Along side 5 Prsecs as the main solo skirmish wargames people first run into. Unlike 5P it's more dependent on a set of specific pre constructed scenarios and campaigns instead of random tables. Lots of official expansions and content. Campaigns have replayability and there is lots of content to mod on.
The True and Honest Way to Play:
I am a system hacker who loves to mix around and systems to enhance gameplay. My personal view is that all of these excellent systems stand on their own merits, but blending systems is where you can really get the most power out of your game. For example, you can take the combat rules of 5PfH and leverage more the focused and streamlined scenario structure of RoSD (and some detailed base management from CRZ). Would this take. Alot of work, yes. If it makes your experience kickass, keep kicking.
Now, I think this topic would need to own post or even thread, but AI tools can help in this space as well. Using tools to generate vtt tokens (or even 2d image to 3d model tools exist now), audio and descriptions is a base idea to expand the content of a game. On top of this LLMs are to the point where you can truly blend totally different system philosophies together. For example you roll an encounter for 5PfH then use an LLM to make a more interesting scenario similar to RoSD. Or make expand onto SS0 to make new encounters or random tables. Lots of possibilities.
Really it is about getting your mind into the idea of narrative instead of winning at all costs. All of these systems support Co-op natively, so instead of your gaming groups meta being about out shooting eachother, it can be about leaning on eachother in a wider sorry and game. Weather alone or with friends, it's no longer about points and lists, is about your dudes doing cool things in the privacy of your (or your groups) mind. At its heart, this is the golden gem at the center of the Solo skirmish wargaming paradigm comming into force.
Good luck and have fun!
