War of 1812 / Pacific War 1942 Solitaire Review

[@Syrilian]

Games like this I usually feel like I'll just roll a die 50 times and if I hit a certain number of 5s and 6s, I win.

[@brucewachtler9093]

The Peace Treaty and Atom Bomb events are on the British and Japanese event cards respectively and can happen late game if a certain number is rolled for the British/ Japanese reaction for that turn. I thought the rules were pretty clear. The beginning of the 1942 game is tough for the Americans and Commonwealth reflecting Japanese superiority at that time. Turns 9-20 shift things around as you have a 50% chance each turn of 3-4 actions. 1812 is definitely a bell curve where you should average two actions a turn. These games are definitely a light gaming snack rather than a full meal, but there’re portability and ability to play either one in 20-30 minutes when you don’t have time for something bigger do deliver gaming value to me.

[@marcowargamer]

funny, I never rolled those events and I did not even notice them. I am glad I didn't because it would have annoyed me that events of such historical magnitude and with consequences on the game could have happened completely randomly, with no player input.

[@normstewart546]

Thanks for not sugar-coating it.

[@I_am_Locutus_of_Borg]

Based on the gameplay you showed I can only agree with your conclusion, sadly. Thanks for the review!

[@caomhan84]

Personally, I don't think you need a deck of cards with more actions. This aims to be something very simple and small. I think that's its niche. Where I think this fails is how many turns you have only one action. It's a 50/50 shot too often in the early game. Perhaps it should have been a roll of 1 to 2 for 1 action point in the early part of the game (3-5 is 2 and 6 is 3 points) so you can avoid the turns where you barely do anything. I guess they were trying to simulate how dire the historical situation was prior to Midway, but still it makes the game too much of a 50/50 shot. Change that one thing, and the game might be more playable.

[@Kanakadea]

Too bad. I've been interested in low-chit density solo wargames for awhile. But I haven't found many good ones. Similar to postcard games.

[@marcowargamer]

I think some State of Siege games like Ottoman Sunset are still be peak of that form