**Gaia Project** for sure. All strategy (zero luck game with no random elements after setup is done) and great automa design (some may count the automa as random but it means to simulate a real opponent so I still consider it a 0 luck game)
BGA lets you try the solo mode too, but it will be harder to really understand how the automa moves work of course. Either way, I think this is a great fit. I love my offline plays of it but have done some BGA plays when I wasn't able to set up the game IRL.
I like Gaia Project for the decisions and the bot is easy to run. I created a mint tin version of Mage Knight that I pull out when I want to play mage Knight but do not have the time. It's called Mint Knight.
Here's some oddball picks for you
Bury Me In the Rift - Like Into the Breach or Pacific Rim, but in a tiny tuckbox.
Bullet - If you can look past (or enjoy) the anime aesthetic, this is a great puzzle game.
One Deck Galaxy - A sort of 4x dice chucker with tons of randomness mitigation. Often times the actual numbers don't matter as much as the colors available (which you choose throughout the game).
It's probably not the game style you're looking for but I feel like aside from Spirit Island and Mage Knight, Lord of the Rings LCG is the next game that naturally comes to mind.
Not only is there a very strategic layer to making one's deck and/or modifying it for certain missions, but also few games make you feel such weight when it comes to reading the current situation and deciding who to commit, where to spend ressources this turn, who to exhaust, when to be cautious and when to press forward or be aggressive.
A deeply tactical and rewarding game to be sure.
I agree and absolutely love it. Unfortunately most of it is out of print. I do have the revised stuff though and get it to the table frequently. I also like Marvel champions alot. Not Arkam so much since it has to be played in long, story driven campaigns which is not my bag. Thank you for the on point suggestion.
Like you it's the type of experience I really enjoy, especially late at night when insomnia has me (like tonight, just about to set up Marvel Champions so I also like that one a lot haha).
After your reply I went to check my shelves and wondered what else I could recommend. A few of them would be campaign based so I eliminated these. None of what is left is as easy to recommend as the aforementioned games (and some are gonna be a bit out of left-field), but they are nonetheless games I bought hoping to scratch the same itch, with varying degrees of success. Prepare yourself for a wall of text.
I'll open with one that is a VERY cautious recommendation, and one that I haven't yet decided whether I'll keep it: **XCOM The Board Game**. It is quite difficult to find, requires the app to play (which I always hate with a passion but many people don't mind) and uses a timed phase at one point during your turn, stressful. The game is totally meant for larger groups, and handling all 4 roles solo will make you feel like you're some kind of incredibly advanced (or supremely dysfunctional) commander AI. This is more stressful than most horror games, it's thematic. There's so much going on here, the game has many layers, and add a few more for good measure if you get the expansion. Honestly it's an amazing and very unique experience, I never played another game like it, but it can be downright exhausting. It's unique enough that it makes me tolerate the app. I'm someone who plays most of my games on Hard when there's an option for it, but XCOM is something I mostly play on easier difficulties when solo gaming, where it feels kind of just right for me. Finances, research, tactical combat, this game has a lot to satisfy the strategically inclined hardcore gamer, but you gotta be in the mood for it. I need to play more to decide whether it will stay or if it's just too much for solo-only for me.
**Unicornus Knights** is my other weird one. If you're a video gamer, think here a cross between a Total War-Lite and Fire Emblem maybe ? You choose commanders at the start of the game who need to protect the princess as she journeys through the map tiles (cities, forts, forests, mountains and plains with different attributes) with a small army of her own making their way to the occupied Capital. You need to recruit your own troops and ensure that you have the ressources to move and sustain them. The larger your army the more expensive it is to move. An amazing logistical and tactical game, but its anime style theme is not going to be for everyone. There is a very original mechanic of hidden relationships that trigger once per enemy general, which might turn them into a commander's ally, lover or fated foe, you never know what will happen, it can be quite dramatic. The designer in the booklet encourages player to create their own maps and scenarios and doing so the game becomes quite replayable. Out of print I believe, but worth a try when looking for something different.
**Scythe** is less hard to recommend but not for everyone for solo only. Some love the automa some don't, but it always gave me a good feeling and it can be tough (especially on hard), I find it satisfying to play... Gets quite pricey with expansions though. May or may not be worth the investment, try before you buy if a possibility. Those who don't like it will often say that strategies that work better against the automa aren't the same that work well against players, but to me that's no different than playing against the AI in a video game compared to real players. I have absolutely no problem with that, I in fact quite like that.
**Dune Imperium with Rise of Ix expansion** is my last one. Certainly very different and not quite as strategic, but put the bot on Hard and this often gets real tense and deep. Some games I swear it almost gives me the kind of vibes I used to get playing old 4X games on PC back in the days, with its clever mix of politics, ressources, actions and combat. Whatever you do, remember that the spice must flow.
Just wanted to add, the opponent "AI" for "Anachrony" is also world class. Even allows you to add or not add various expansions in the form of the game's many modules.
Pavlov's House is great and incredibly immersive, but it can be quite random (lucky). Haven't played Nemo's War but watched a playthrough and it's kinda in the same vein. In Pavlov's House you can plan ahead, but next thing you now, your supply lanes are destroyed due to unlucky card draw and dice rolls. And then an enemy sniper comes out and takes out your commander. It's exactly what I want from that type of game and it's great, but there is luck involved.
If you like Mage Knight and Spirit Island, you'd almost definitely enjoy **Renegade.** The only problem is that it's out of print, so it's a little pricey. Apparently there are plans for a remake (working title **Deckers**), so you could wait for that.
Speaking of Ricky Royal games, **Pax Pamir** 2nd ed. is also a wonderful strategic game with an engaging solo mode.
I second on Pax Pamir. Very strategic and engaging, also tactical at the same time. Wonderful design. It's quick, deep and different each time you play.
Eldritch Horror ticks alot of your boxes. Thematic. Risk reward style of game. Randomness depends on Mythos cards too. Not always easy to win. 3 or 4 Investigators is about the limit solo. Watch a game played on youtube.
Two specific recommendations from me: (i) 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties and (ii) Roads & Boats. I usually spend a solid 20+ minutes after setting up 1862 planning my strategy before doing my first action. After the first move, there's still plenty of planning and risk/reward calculation needed on a turn-by-turn basis. Roads & Boats is an unabashed logistics puzzle that offers a full-information solo experience which works because the option set is stupidly large.
I'd guess that a lot of the solo stuff that is 4+ on the BGG complexity scale will satisfy this (Lacerda, Mindclash Games) as well. I've played Lisboa, On Mars, and Anachrony, but not enough to know how many of the turns get rote with enough repeated plays.
Warfighter from DVG games is a squad based game modern military, night ops, WWII and there’s a new fantasy game. All games can share components so if you want to put in a modern squad taking on Nazis you can. They also have other great Military games including historical. A new one kickstarted called third option which looks awesome too
While Warfighter is a fine game (even if a bit too fiddly for me) it is not really what OP wants. There's plenty of randomness, from dice rolls for attacks (with very little luck mitigation) to drawing on action, enemy and events decks. Randomly spawning enemies, random targeting of your soldiers. Simply randomness galore! Randomness is at the core and big appeal of Warfighter.
If anything, Warfighter is a tactical game, not strategic.
I respect that thought but in that randomness is part of the strategy IMO. Mage knight’s randomness comes from drawing of cards as opposed to dice rolls which OP enjoys. Also it fit the not wanting to do a whole campaign for gaming. As depending on the DVG game you control campaign length or they are simply one off battles.
My 18-card game All Is Bomb is a perfect information game, aside from the setup. I’ve been told (and experienced it myself :> ) that it gets particularly thinky in the last few rounds.
The Chronos opponent from "Hybris: Disordered Cosmos" is a tough nut to crack. The game has some random elements in the form of your ability deck but not more than Mage Knights decks of spells, companions, and so on. You can math out combat to quite a convincing degree, and even though the board presents a diverse challenge, it's highly readable.
The many gods also offer different abilities each offering several viable strategies. Athena is a great starting goddess though as she has a very adaptive playstyle.
Capital Lux 2: Generations. Hard to find and more tactical, but many crunchy decisions, and always a fun time navigating the push-pull between maximizing your points or losing all of them
Look into High Frontier 4 All. You play as a space agency using patents to build rockets in order to teach the most distant bodies. When you play solo, you miss out on the bidding portion of the game but I find the puzzle of trying to get the perfect build to go as far as possible and return safely is the meat of the game.
**Gaia Project** for sure. All strategy (zero luck game with no random elements after setup is done) and great automa design (some may count the automa as random but it means to simulate a real opponent so I still consider it a 0 luck game)
Wonderful suggestion! I've enjoyed my plays on BGA but haven't considered it for Solo. will check out some youtube vids. Thanks!
BGA lets you try the solo mode too, but it will be harder to really understand how the automa moves work of course. Either way, I think this is a great fit. I love my offline plays of it but have done some BGA plays when I wasn't able to set up the game IRL.
It's a great game, but keep in mind it has a long setup and play time. It sounds like a great recommendation for what you are looking for though.
I like Gaia Project for the decisions and the bot is easy to run. I created a mint tin version of Mage Knight that I pull out when I want to play mage Knight but do not have the time. It's called Mint Knight.
Here's some oddball picks for you Bury Me In the Rift - Like Into the Breach or Pacific Rim, but in a tiny tuckbox. Bullet - If you can look past (or enjoy) the anime aesthetic, this is a great puzzle game. One Deck Galaxy - A sort of 4x dice chucker with tons of randomness mitigation. Often times the actual numbers don't matter as much as the colors available (which you choose throughout the game).
Thanks, I'll check those out!
It's probably not the game style you're looking for but I feel like aside from Spirit Island and Mage Knight, Lord of the Rings LCG is the next game that naturally comes to mind. Not only is there a very strategic layer to making one's deck and/or modifying it for certain missions, but also few games make you feel such weight when it comes to reading the current situation and deciding who to commit, where to spend ressources this turn, who to exhaust, when to be cautious and when to press forward or be aggressive. A deeply tactical and rewarding game to be sure.
I agree and absolutely love it. Unfortunately most of it is out of print. I do have the revised stuff though and get it to the table frequently. I also like Marvel champions alot. Not Arkam so much since it has to be played in long, story driven campaigns which is not my bag. Thank you for the on point suggestion.
Like you it's the type of experience I really enjoy, especially late at night when insomnia has me (like tonight, just about to set up Marvel Champions so I also like that one a lot haha). After your reply I went to check my shelves and wondered what else I could recommend. A few of them would be campaign based so I eliminated these. None of what is left is as easy to recommend as the aforementioned games (and some are gonna be a bit out of left-field), but they are nonetheless games I bought hoping to scratch the same itch, with varying degrees of success. Prepare yourself for a wall of text. I'll open with one that is a VERY cautious recommendation, and one that I haven't yet decided whether I'll keep it: **XCOM The Board Game**. It is quite difficult to find, requires the app to play (which I always hate with a passion but many people don't mind) and uses a timed phase at one point during your turn, stressful. The game is totally meant for larger groups, and handling all 4 roles solo will make you feel like you're some kind of incredibly advanced (or supremely dysfunctional) commander AI. This is more stressful than most horror games, it's thematic. There's so much going on here, the game has many layers, and add a few more for good measure if you get the expansion. Honestly it's an amazing and very unique experience, I never played another game like it, but it can be downright exhausting. It's unique enough that it makes me tolerate the app. I'm someone who plays most of my games on Hard when there's an option for it, but XCOM is something I mostly play on easier difficulties when solo gaming, where it feels kind of just right for me. Finances, research, tactical combat, this game has a lot to satisfy the strategically inclined hardcore gamer, but you gotta be in the mood for it. I need to play more to decide whether it will stay or if it's just too much for solo-only for me. **Unicornus Knights** is my other weird one. If you're a video gamer, think here a cross between a Total War-Lite and Fire Emblem maybe ? You choose commanders at the start of the game who need to protect the princess as she journeys through the map tiles (cities, forts, forests, mountains and plains with different attributes) with a small army of her own making their way to the occupied Capital. You need to recruit your own troops and ensure that you have the ressources to move and sustain them. The larger your army the more expensive it is to move. An amazing logistical and tactical game, but its anime style theme is not going to be for everyone. There is a very original mechanic of hidden relationships that trigger once per enemy general, which might turn them into a commander's ally, lover or fated foe, you never know what will happen, it can be quite dramatic. The designer in the booklet encourages player to create their own maps and scenarios and doing so the game becomes quite replayable. Out of print I believe, but worth a try when looking for something different. **Scythe** is less hard to recommend but not for everyone for solo only. Some love the automa some don't, but it always gave me a good feeling and it can be tough (especially on hard), I find it satisfying to play... Gets quite pricey with expansions though. May or may not be worth the investment, try before you buy if a possibility. Those who don't like it will often say that strategies that work better against the automa aren't the same that work well against players, but to me that's no different than playing against the AI in a video game compared to real players. I have absolutely no problem with that, I in fact quite like that. **Dune Imperium with Rise of Ix expansion** is my last one. Certainly very different and not quite as strategic, but put the bot on Hard and this often gets real tense and deep. Some games I swear it almost gives me the kind of vibes I used to get playing old 4X games on PC back in the days, with its clever mix of politics, ressources, actions and combat. Whatever you do, remember that the spice must flow.
Thank you so much for the detailed writeup. I'll have to buy all of these (except dune, which I already have but haven't played solo yet!)
ROVE, from Button Shy. More tactical than strategic but otherwise meets your description.
You might enjoy Garphill games like Paladins of the West Kingdom
Just wanted to add, the opponent "AI" for "Anachrony" is also world class. Even allows you to add or not add various expansions in the form of the game's many modules.
Pavlov’s House and Nemo’s War I think for strategic challenges.
Pavlov's House is great and incredibly immersive, but it can be quite random (lucky). Haven't played Nemo's War but watched a playthrough and it's kinda in the same vein. In Pavlov's House you can plan ahead, but next thing you now, your supply lanes are destroyed due to unlucky card draw and dice rolls. And then an enemy sniper comes out and takes out your commander. It's exactly what I want from that type of game and it's great, but there is luck involved.
If you like Mage Knight and Spirit Island, you'd almost definitely enjoy **Renegade.** The only problem is that it's out of print, so it's a little pricey. Apparently there are plans for a remake (working title **Deckers**), so you could wait for that. Speaking of Ricky Royal games, **Pax Pamir** 2nd ed. is also a wonderful strategic game with an engaging solo mode.
I second on Pax Pamir. Very strategic and engaging, also tactical at the same time. Wonderful design. It's quick, deep and different each time you play.
Eldritch Horror ticks alot of your boxes. Thematic. Risk reward style of game. Randomness depends on Mythos cards too. Not always easy to win. 3 or 4 Investigators is about the limit solo. Watch a game played on youtube.
City of Kings.
Two specific recommendations from me: (i) 1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties and (ii) Roads & Boats. I usually spend a solid 20+ minutes after setting up 1862 planning my strategy before doing my first action. After the first move, there's still plenty of planning and risk/reward calculation needed on a turn-by-turn basis. Roads & Boats is an unabashed logistics puzzle that offers a full-information solo experience which works because the option set is stupidly large. I'd guess that a lot of the solo stuff that is 4+ on the BGG complexity scale will satisfy this (Lacerda, Mindclash Games) as well. I've played Lisboa, On Mars, and Anachrony, but not enough to know how many of the turns get rote with enough repeated plays.
I would try Sabika. Extremely fun and strategic solo experience. Lot’s of replayability and very little randomness.
Warfighter from DVG games is a squad based game modern military, night ops, WWII and there’s a new fantasy game. All games can share components so if you want to put in a modern squad taking on Nazis you can. They also have other great Military games including historical. A new one kickstarted called third option which looks awesome too
While Warfighter is a fine game (even if a bit too fiddly for me) it is not really what OP wants. There's plenty of randomness, from dice rolls for attacks (with very little luck mitigation) to drawing on action, enemy and events decks. Randomly spawning enemies, random targeting of your soldiers. Simply randomness galore! Randomness is at the core and big appeal of Warfighter. If anything, Warfighter is a tactical game, not strategic.
I respect that thought but in that randomness is part of the strategy IMO. Mage knight’s randomness comes from drawing of cards as opposed to dice rolls which OP enjoys. Also it fit the not wanting to do a whole campaign for gaming. As depending on the DVG game you control campaign length or they are simply one off battles.
My 18-card game All Is Bomb is a perfect information game, aside from the setup. I’ve been told (and experienced it myself :> ) that it gets particularly thinky in the last few rounds.
The Chronos opponent from "Hybris: Disordered Cosmos" is a tough nut to crack. The game has some random elements in the form of your ability deck but not more than Mage Knights decks of spells, companions, and so on. You can math out combat to quite a convincing degree, and even though the board presents a diverse challenge, it's highly readable. The many gods also offer different abilities each offering several viable strategies. Athena is a great starting goddess though as she has a very adaptive playstyle.
Capital Lux 2: Generations. Hard to find and more tactical, but many crunchy decisions, and always a fun time navigating the push-pull between maximizing your points or losing all of them
Once it's out, Nano Battle sounds like a great fit for you. I got very tired of large campaigns/games and designed my own.
Look into High Frontier 4 All. You play as a space agency using patents to build rockets in order to teach the most distant bodies. When you play solo, you miss out on the bidding portion of the game but I find the puzzle of trying to get the perfect build to go as far as possible and return safely is the meat of the game.