Voidfall - Straight Up Solo with John LaRuffa

Let’s check out the solo mode on this big and epic game!

[@christopherdesmond7511]

Thanks for the video, John. I truly feel that you are one of the most down to earth contributors on YT these days regarding board game content, and you are appreciated. I’m still waiting on my KS version of Voidfall, but look forward to trying it multi-handed and solo. Keep it up, good sir!

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it. I am sure you could play the coop scenarios like that. No hidden information at all so multi-handed would not feel strange and since you are cooperating anyway it would be just fine.

[@nigelbuckle3759]

Thanks for featuring Voidfall, glad you liked it 😀. One thing, sleeved cards do fit the galactic insert trays, Paladin branded sleeves are what you could get in the Kickstarter but other brands of similar sized sleeves work too. Only cards I've sleeved are the focus cards as they are handled all the time.

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Thank you for clarifying Nigel. Such a fantastic game!!!

[@rafiweiss3915]

I’ve sleeves all the cards in mine, with Gamegenic Matte sleeves. They do rise a tiny bit over the tops of the wells, but if you are careful in returning trays to the box, the insert is designed in such a way that it doesnt crush or bend any of them at all.

[@drmartin1998]

I love hearing different perspectives. I walked away thinking this was by far the best tutorial and rulebook that I have ever seen. Just a testament that we all learn in different ways and what a difficult task it is to create a rule book for games like this.

[@stephenfarrell8587]

"...new feel." sums this up nicely! Thanks for your perspective. Cheers.

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Any time!

[@biggeekal]

Great content again John. Have been looking forward to your views on this one and had a feeling you were going to like it. I’m really, really enjoying it. The variety is fantastic, I’ve barely scratched the surface, and the puzzle is right up my street. You think you’re stuck and can’t do something you want to do, but if you do this that’ll allow you to do that, which will give you this, so on your next turn you can complete it and I’ll earn you what you need for the next turn. Amazing. FYI, as Nigel mentioned, I got the Paladin sleeves from the KS and everything fits in the trays fine.

[@JohnLaRuffa]

I appreciate the thanks. It’s a gem of a game and probably my favorite from Mindclash. I’m going to try to put some penny sleeves on it all based on people’s feedback.

[@wsiegel9539]

Thanks, My copy arrives on Monday, can't wait to unbox this one.

[@JohnLaRuffa]

It’s so much fun!

[@uxjared]

Great feedback on the rules. There are definitely ideas from heavy games like GMT that can be explored and the idea of having cohesive, experience-based (I'm playing solo/coop , I'm playing competitive) book that you grab and use is a better way forward. This looks great and I appreciate the quick overview.

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Thanks. My biggest reason for bringing this up is to help people based on my experience not lose hope or excitement when plowing through this game for the first time. It is a true gem, and I am just mentioning the struggles I had to help others if they are like me. I know that the designers did their best to try to make the game approachable and I do appreciate that.

[@nobuthatsme9201]

Well done

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Thanks!

[@realdealastrology9]

Very great overview and review. Unfortunately, the box is just too big and I'll be moving in a year. Can't afford to buy big box games anymore!

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Thanks! I would say that the sandbox feel of this game may not be to your liking.

[@mrsamtheman80]

I have heard it compared to Mage Knight in terms of freshness feel, innvovativeness, and solo appeal…perhaps also for a rule book that assumes multiplayer head-to-head when reality is the opposite? 😂 Great review, thank you! Your thoughts on that comparison in “feel”?

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Solo appeal, for sure, it felt like the more fun mode, but in truth, I have never played it with anyone else, so I’m speculating. As for freshness and innovation, when Mage Knight came out, you could say I had the same feeling during those days. However, I think this game is much more fun and enjoyable than Mage Knight ever was. My reasoning behind that is that you spend less time, trying to figure out the complexities of dealing damage and more time with a more robust euro experience. I found that every time I would stop playing Mage Knight, all the rules would become impossible to remember, and I had to relearn the entire game from scratch.

[@kirillkrymskiy1739]

Thank you for this review, I very much enjoyed it) Unfortunately I've passed on Voidfall at the time of KS and late-pledge out of fear that I would lose a lot playing it solo only. I mean with games that have competitive, coop and solo modes I always feel anxious for missing out on really cool interactions, so I usually just pass on these games. And that's why I'm glad to own Frostpunk 😅 Do you think you lose on anything with Voidfall playing it only solo? Does coop plays pretty much the same rules-wise but with several play-boards or very differently?

[@JohnLaRuffa]

I think what you have to do is consider that there are 2 games in this box. The solo/coop game takes place right after the invasion of the Voidborn starts and they are clearly your primary nemesis. They are actively messing with you in the form of crisis cards and skirmishes. In the competitive game, this takes place after the invasion has cooled off a bit and the threat lingers, but is not as active. In that case, the Voidborn are more like a passive entity that will do skirmishes where you are weakest, but your actions are not influenced by the resolution of crisis cards. So, what I am trying to say is that I don’t think you lose anything in the way you are taking about unless you want PvP action in a classic sense. I do understand what you are getting at though in your initial reaction to this. However, I don’t feel like I am missing out at all. As for the coop, it plays like multi handed solo from what I can tell.

[@kirillkrymskiy1739]

@@JohnLaRuffa Thank you for reply, it covers my concern. I actually prefer to avoid aggressive PvP. Now I got it, that in solo/coop the voidborn provides you with direction for your actions and puzzle. That's enough for me to start seriously considering about getting this game)

[@JohnLaRuffa]

@@kirillkrymskiy1739 it’s a gem in my book!

[@drmartin1998]

Honestly I feel like it's opposite, you miss more playing competitively. The focus offering and crisis board adds so much to the game. I think competitive is still great, but has far less going on.

[@stephens2401]

would you recommend going through the tutorial mission?

[@JohnLaRuffa]

Yes, but you should read all of the rules first, even the sections that don’t apply yet. I found I got very confused. Also, even though you are playing solo, set it up like you are playing 2 player competitively with just one set of player components.

[@stephens2401]

@@JohnLaRuffa I'll definitely hammer out the entire rule book first. I often find that tutorials end up confusing me even more. Thanks for the good work 👍

[@JohnLaRuffa]

@stephens2401 you are welcome. Feel free to send me any questions you might have via comments here and I will try to help.

[@stephens2401]

Im definitely confused on why it wants to you ignore solo/co-op rules while going through the tutorial to play solo/co-op. So im to use the competitive rule set but im still using the 1 player tutorial map set up?

[@stephens2401]

​@@JohnLaRuffasounds like I should just learn it 2 handed solo