Too Many Bones Solo: Shield Bashing and Picket Fencing! (Drellen - Legendary)

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Happy Father's Day to those celebrating and Happy Solo Playthroughs Picket Day to everyone! :) Glad to get back to Too Many Bones and you can expect to see more of the gearlocs in the upcoming couple months. Happy Gaming! Greg

[@hovhannesbeaver8161]

Love Picket! About to start a TMB Age of Tyranny Tabletop Sim Campaign game tomorrow & will be Picket :)

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Hey, Hovhannes! I just played a two-player game with my friend with Picket and Duster against Marrow and it was super fun getting back to him. I'm going to try to get him on the channel again soon, so be on the lookout! :)

[@andrewr6954]

hey Greg! Enjoying the plathroughs. Don't forget once you get that innate +1 you can lock defense in for the next battle. at 1:04 you could have slotted 4 defense! His backup plan with 4 bones would've also been very helpful to heal for 2 and slot 2 defense after you do shield bash. Love seeing some Too Many Bones, I recently got into solo board gaming and have learned a lot from your mage knight and spirit island playthroughs, great to see my other top game show up!

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks for the comment and kind words, Andrew! And you’re so right about locked defense dice to stay for the next battle - I totally forgot about that benefit of Picket’s innate during this playthrough. 🙂

[@boardgametime3727]

Thanks a ton for the playthrough, Greg. Legendary difficulty is insane, awesome 🔥🔥

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

No doubt! :)

[@beaglegod1]

Great playthrough! Most playthroughs only show someone pulling off a win even if by the skin of their teeth. This too me realistically shows folks what to expect. A bad spot in the initiative plus a few bad rolls can crush you when you go against Drellen.😅

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks for the comment, beagle! Yeah - TMB is fantastic but it can also feel really unfair at times in a way that takes some getting used to. But definitely have to take the (REALLY) good with the bad with this game.

[@RocketMagnetUK]

Well played actually and fun to watch. I thought you were in real trouble but pulled the early Stand Ground roll out was a real best roll overall :) . Picket is one of the best in box Solo characters as he's really versatile and can do big burst when needed. BTW the INI dice combinations are on the Character sheets under the character name. Also to track the combat sequence most people slide the dice in the INI track from the bottom to the top as the Gear/Baddie takes it's turn.. then reset them all back to the bottom at the start of the next round.. just makes it easier to track for you and follow those watching.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks, Rocket - and I really appreciate the point about the INI dice combos and I really like the idea of sliding dice to make things clearer for the videos!

[@georgea5162]

Good job Greg! If I have one piece of feedback, is to not undervalue Dex. A good rule of thumb that I always suggest to new players is to keep Dex around Atck+Def+1. This ensures you can roll your available Atck/Def each turn, plus movement and skills, and gives you a buffer vs. the Weaken ability. Picket's playstyle generally lets you keep a lower Dex than this, but I think 5 Dex for the late game is far too low.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks, George! And I appreciate the strategy tip and the rule of thumb. I esp hadn’t thought about boosting dex as a defense against Weaken, and that makes so much sense. I’ll be sure to play around with it going forward!

[@RocketMagnetUK]

Yeah A+D+1 is a good rule but just going Stats and the same couple of optimum skills is a bit dull IMO. It's why I personally don't like Legendary True Solo when I played it as you generally have to optimise like this as you've got no excess TP to just spend on some of the "fun" situational skills to keep combat that bit more interesting for TS. Ultimately without the Skill Die he took early and the good roll he got.. it could have been a short game :P Having watched a few of his videos on other games I'm not sure he needs much tactical advice and IMO the fun of TMB is just trying out all the stuff yourself.

[@georgea5162]

@@RocketMagnetUK Yes I agree that Legendary True Solo tends to be more of a stat fest when played optimally. That's why I always play multihanded (2 gearlocs or 3 gearlocs if i have the time/space), but I'd never suggest that to Greg cause I'll get told off :D My tactical advice is not just for Greg, but also for possible viewers of the video. Disclaimer: Feel free to not follow other people's advice and try out things yourself if this makes you have more fun.

[@georgea5162]

@@SoloPlaythroughs Haha the Weaken skill is the kind of thing that is not a big deal until it is! If you are low on dex and get weakened, it usually means you don't have dice available to defeat the baddie with Weaken, which keeps you weakened and can be a bit of a downer! So if you see 'scale' type baddies on the BQ, don't use Dex as your dump stat! :D

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Lots of good thoughts here! For starters, let me say that I love the tactical advice - even if it falls flat for me, my hope is that any advice can be helpful for viewers, as there have been some really useful nuggets in the comments sections of my videos over the months. :) That said, I admit I do find just pumping stats a bit less exciting and I'm also considering not playing at Legendary, which is something I just started doing without realizing I was doing and just stuck with it. (I prefer the feel of starting with "nothing" but I get why it may not be the best way to approach this game.) Meanwhile, for my two videos so far, I've been somewhat consciously wanting to get more skills involved and that did have some effect on my training choices. Fortunately, I think that the longer games against the other tyrants will give me a lot more opportunity to spend training points in interesting ways, while still ensuring that I'm increasing my stats, especially Dex, as needed.

[@lystic9392]

I personally took Stand Ground, Sword Advance, Riposte, Situational Awareness, and Confidence. It was the first time I won the game ^_^ (On Adventurer.) I kept Stand Ground on +1 health, and Sword Advance on +1 Attack which was very nice for enemies with Break. I was surprised that I got to unlock so many skill dice and still succeed, because I heard people say that you can't really unlock many skills if you want to win. I did get lucky with the Tyrant fight, because one of the bog creatures kept lowering the poison on me to 1 right before it was my turn. Confidence definitely felt like the least impactful skill I picked.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks for sharing! I do like how Picket really gives you some interesting options while still being a beginner-friendly gearloc.

[@StogieFarts]

Hey Greg - Jeff Mash here from the forums. Quick question (since I'm learning this game while awaiting my purchase from Chip Theory). At the 1:26:34 mark, how come you used TWO movement per square instead of one? You moved two spaces, but you said it was 4 DEX to do that. Trying to figure out what I missed which doubled your dex on movement.

[@RocketMagnetUK]

Because The Drellen Encounter "Battle of the Bog" the card states "Each moved position in this battle requires 2 dex instead of 1" Thematically because your fighting in a bog.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks for responding to that question, Rocket!! And thanks for the great question, Jeff - I probably should have made that a bit clearer during the playthrough. Btw, StogieFarts is a great username - just so many levels of perfect. 🤣

[@Loquitar2009]

I'm just learning, but can you put shields in the "Locked" area? Shouldn't they go to the left in "Active"?

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Great question, Donald! Picket has some special abilities when it comes to putting shields in Locked Slots. 🙂 But generally, yes, Defense Dice can only be placed in Active Slots.

[@Grumpf34]

@01:01:45 you Shield Bash the 2nd Baddy, but you declared the other one as your official target. Are you allowed to do that ?

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Nice catch, JC! Yeah - I think I just made a mistake and pointed to the wrong Clay Golem. But you are totally right that Shield Bash must be done against your target. Thanks for pointing this out!

[@bryanscollick8305]

As always, I really enjoy your play through. You have such a great handle on the rules. My only comment is be careful where you position on the outset. I knew you would be in trouble from where you placed Picket in your Day 9 and 10 battles. Staying away from Drellen until you are ready to face off is key. And, as George A said, trading two of your skills for two Dex would have been super helpful. Can’t wait for the next one. Are you planning to do a live TMB play in the future?

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Hey, Bryan! Thanks for the comment and I appreciate the strategy advice. I had illusions of being to knock out a Bog Frog quick but, yeah, turned out not to be the best plan. 🙂 As for a live playthrough, the current plan is to get Tantrum and Patches on the channel, and then maybe do a live playthrough at that point before I start featuring Undertow. But that could definitely change!

[@Boardgametherapist]

I appreciate your pacing on your playthroughs. Much prefer quick explanations vs drawn out and overly explained turn by turns in other videos. I just started playing TMB and now absolutely enamored. My wallet shall be suffering…

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks, Nick! I try to keep the pacing up, esp with my livestreams in which I don’t have the benefit of editing later. It also helps that I am not making videos for beginners so I can assume some level of familiarity with the games I play. The amount of content for this game is incredible - I’m waiting on a ton of it with the Hoplo Kickstarter. So my wallet has already been punished and now I’m just waiting to punish my shelves! 🤣

[@pauldelguidice8063]

Great one! I will not offer my opinion, other than to say we all have different likes/favorites. When are you going back to Farmingdale?

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Hey Paul! Great question! I'm editing a playthrough of Level 4 right now, which I'm planning to publish next Wednesday. :)

[@Ybanthe]

Thanks for this solo play. In principle I like your fast pace, as it reduces the game length considerably. Unfortunately this also leads to some "oversees" and especially inexperienced viewers have a hard time to follow all the things that are happening. Even I had some trouble to follow now and then, although I have played TMB 20 times. 🙈

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Thanks for the comment and constructive feedback, Hannes. My playthroughs in general tend to be more geared toward people with some level of experience with the game but I agree I can do a better job in more thoroughly explaining things as I progress through Too Many Bones in particular. Usually, this naturally improves the more I feature a certain game, but I'll certainly be trying to be more clear in my next TMB playthroughs without sacrificing too much of my fast pacing.

[@Kentchangar]

The biggest problem with TMB is that it seems that all Gearlocks have multiple upgrade paths, but that is actually not true. Most actually have only 1 good upgrade path and all other paths are way way worse. With Picket Hero (Purple) and Captain (Red) path, along with Defense and Dex is the optimal upgrade path. Warden Path, while it might be more fun is way too swingy and not as efficient as the other one. And don't get me started on player scaling: this is probably the worst game in my collection for true solo (as evidenced by your video - the swinginess is abysmal). I know, I know - you don't like this, but it had to be said :)

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

It’s a fair criticism and I appreciate you sharing it here. But I think what you’re saying is true to some extent with all games with progressing assymetric “heroes” (Spirit Island, Arkham LCG, etc.) - some paths of leveling up are more optimal than others. Still, I think that there are some interesting choices to made in what you want to do first and the longer games give more opportunity to get more skills - this presenting a lot of interesting tactical decision points late-game.

[@Kentchangar]

@@SoloPlaythroughs I haven't played Arkham LCG, but it's not comparable to Spirit Island since in Spirit Island there aren't things you have on your board and unlock that are borderline useless compared to other things. Better example would be Gloomhaven, but even there the other path isn't as weak as here. Take Boomer for example: going the Utility Route instead of Grenadier will not bring you any closer to victory. And, even worse, you're wasting bombs. One caveat: the more players you have the more you can diversify since other players will cover your weak spots. You'll not be as efficient, but you could at least compete.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Arkham LCG is comparable in the sense that there are certain go-to cards to upgrade to for a lot of the investigators as you earn experience between scenarios - so similar to Gloomhaven in that sense. I actually think Spirit Island is even more comparable in the sense that a lot of the spirits have pretty established "opening strategies" that can be quite rigid. That said, I do agree that some of the options for each gearloc are just silly to even consider, especially early. Still, even then, I like that there is so much to explore and mess around with!

[@Kentchangar]

​@@SoloPlaythroughs I agree on the opening strategies for Spirit Island, but I don't find them comparable. It's just go top track or bottom track and play these cards for the first 3 turns. Then it's open ended. If you had a choice of preset cards to acquire, that would be another thing. For TMB, YMMV, but I feel defense, attack, health, dex is way better wehen you get the better skill dice than messing with stuff that is subpar. I've seen some of the other skills (non optimal) in action and they were borderline useless.

[@SoloPlaythroughs]

Cool - I can see that. And, at the very least I agree that it probably does create a situation in which TMB does have a bit less replayability than something like Spirit Island.