by Mike Colello, 2 October 2024
Recently, the Armchair Dragoons and Beyond Solitaire released the results of the (annual?)1 Solo & Solitaire Wargaming & Historical Gaming Survey. The survey asked participants to name their top 5 favorite solo / solitaire historical wargames along with some additional questions. The survey produced some interesting results (links to all the articles below) and lead me to wonder if similar surveys on solo gaming were conducted in the earlier days of wargaming. I decided to check, and if I could find any, share the results and offer my thoughts on them.
I started my search by examining the contents of copies of the old Avalon Hill magazine, The General. It didn’t take long to discover that Avalon Hill had indeed compiled “an informal rating of the suitability of our titles for solitaire and play-by-mail activity” way back in 1984 (Avalon Hill General, Volume 20, Number 5). And while the survey only included 45 respondents, I thought it was a good place to start as the accompanying article also included some thoughts about the data.
The games were ranked in three categories: play-by-mail (PBM), solitaire, and overall value. According to Avalon Hill, the ‘overall value’ category could be “loosely interpreted as that game’s rating for competitive, face-to-face play. In other words, just a ranking of what is your favorite wargame right now without regard of solitaire or PBM suitability. All of the games (66) in the survey, as noted, were published by Avalon Hill. Here are the top 20 results sorted by solitaire rating:
| Title | Overall Value | PBM Rating | Solitaire Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Longest Day | 2.68 | 4.1 | 2.07 |
| Struggle of Nations | 2.92 | 6.56 | 2.1 |
| Waterloo | 3.83 | 1.33 | 2.2 |
| Stalingrad | 4.39 | 1.36 | 2.33 |
| Fury in the West | 3.53 | 3.55 | 2.4 |
| The Russian Campaign | 2.29 | 1.78 | 2.55 |
| Battle of the Bulge (81) | 2.67 | 1.15 | 2.62 |
| Little Round Top | 3.75 | 3.57 | 2.62 |
| Afrika Korps | 3.92 | 1.22 | 2.71 |
| D-Day | 4.22 | 1.98 | 2.73 |
| Source of the Nile | 2.85 | 5.65 | 2.74 |
| War At Sea | 3.71 | 2.63 | 2.83 |
| War and Peace | 2.61 | 4.08 | 2.85 |
| Gettysburg | 3.72 | 5.52 | 2.87 |
| Panzerblitz | 3.35 | 2.77 | 2.9 |
| Outdoor Survival | 4.35 | 6.66 | 2.99 |
| Fortress Europa | 3 | 3.66 | 3 |
| Panzer Armee Afrika | 4.17 | 5.51 | 3.02 |
| Cross Of Iron | 2.06 | 3.4 | 3.11 |
| Frederick the Great | 3 | 4.44 | 3.25 |
The article noted that game complexity did not seem to be a factor in solitaire play, pointing out that The Longest Day and Struggle of Nations were ranked the highest. The ACD/Beyond Solitaire solo survey did not ask about game complexity, but I believe that today it would also not be a factor in considering whether or not to play a game solitaire.
Based on respondent feedback, the article also concluded that people were playing games solitaire for three reasons:
- To prepare strategies for face-to-face gameplay, or what the article called the “competitive” element
- For historical interest, or the “student” element
- No choice – there is no one else to play with
I believe all three of these reasons are valid today, but a fourth reason was not mentioned- narrative play. I will often multi-hand a game just to see how the story will unfold, without regard to what actually happened, or could have happened, historically. Narrative play is storytelling play and can be used with games that many consider to be “impossible to play” solo.
For the games that weren’t conducive to play solo, respondents indicated the following factors:
- Games with too many counters
- Games that require a lot of player interaction
- Games with maneuver and supply
- Games with plotted movement
I’m at a bit of a loss on how the first factor would affect solitaire play. I’m a little more sympathetic to the other three factors, though I think they can be overcome, especially with the narrative style of play. It is also interesting to note that later, General magazine would include an article on how to play Wooden Ships and Iron Men (a game with plotted movement) solitaire. Also, one respondent noted that “fantasy games such as Wizard’s Quest and Magic Realm are very hard to solitaire satisfactorily; besides, who would care to?”. I’m not sure why fantasy games would be any different than wargames when it comes to solitaire play. As for “who would care to”, stay tuned to My Own Worst Enemy for solo playthroughs of several fantasy games (including Wizard’s Quest)!
Finally, just for fun, I thought I would see how many of the sixty-six games on this list also appeared on the 2024 Solo & Solitaire Wargaming & Historical Gaming Survey:
- The Russian Campaign
- War at Sea
- Gettysburg (the 125th edition)
- Panzer Leader
- Squad Leader
- Tobruk
- Victory In The Pacific
- Air Force
- Wooden Ships & Iron Men
Not bad staying power for those old Avalon Hill classics! I didn’t really look at the PBM results as I doubt there’s not much of that going on nowadays. I suspect most remote play is conducted via email (PBEM) or through some other means (Vassal, Tabletop Simulator, etc.). I should also note that the article did point out that only two games made a showing in all three categories- The Russian Campaign and Battle of the Bulge (’81). It was suggested that these might be the ‘ideal’ games that appeal to all forms of play.
Finally, the article concluded with the following:
Finally, a few words from Mr. Joseph P. Kelly best indicate Avalon Hill’s views: “To conclude, solitaire gamers have their own place in the spectrum; but that place should not be forced at the expense of the normal game designs. Specifically, I do not advocate taking a game in its development and adding systems to make it more suitable for solitaire play at the expense of the original tenets of the design of that game.
What is the point in complaining, as Mr. Carroll did, that GUNSLINGER or SUBMARINE have had an incomplete effort put forth in the solitaire portion of their rules when both games were never intended or published for solely solitaire play. When I open a box and see a set of solitaire rules included, I feel that AH has done the gamer a great service by bringing an extra not normally seen from other publishing companies.
I agree with the first paragraph. A game designer should not be forced to include solitaire rules. Even when solitaire rules are included with a game, they usually end up adding to the complexity of the game in question. It is appreciated when games do include them, but they should be viewed as an ‘extra’ or ‘bonus’ and not as a ‘must have’.
I will continue to search the past for more of these surveys on solitaire gaming. If you know of any, please let me know and I will investigate and report back here.
Lastly, for the curious, here’s the top twenty sorted by PBM and Overall ranking:
The results of our 2024 survey can be found here:
2024 Solo & Solitaire Wargaming & Historical Gaming Survey Results
ANNOUNCEMENT | RESULTS | DATA DIVING | BEYOND SOLITAIRE YOUTUBE DISCUSSION | BGG Geeklist | Historical Rankings
MORE DATA DIVING | MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES EPISODE
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