Solo Wargaming . A Practitioner's Guide . David Heading 2024

Hardcover

185 Pages

6.5” X 10.5” X .75”

First published in Great Britain in 2024 by

Pen & Sword Military

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Limited

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

David Heading 2024

ISBN 9781399055536

This practitioner's guide to solo wargaming offers comprehensive coverage of the subject, showing how it can be a fascinating complement to social gaming or an entire hobby in its own right. This book integrates ideas from across the hobby to discuss various aspects of gaming alone across all manner of conflicts, whether land, sea or air and in any historical period or imagined setting.

Starting with the fundamental question of why people play solo wargames, David Heading lays out the various advantages and disadvantages. He also considers such questions as whether to 'play both sides' or to command one army against an 'automatic' opponent, giving various ideas on how to control or programme the responses of the opposing force with dice, cards or by other means. There is advice on how to construct challenging and interesting scenarios for one-off engagements, whether these are skirmishes or major battles, historical events or more generic ones, and how to combine these tactical actions into wider campaigns, involving grand strategy, logistics and other factors. Tips on sustaining interest through such activities as recording results, writing campaign diaries and online blogs will help you enrich your hobby. The author has been playing solo wargames for forty years and shares the secrets of happy solo gaming. Packed full of common-sense advice and inspiration, it offers plenty of value to the beginner and the seasoned veteran alike.

This hardcopy was provided by Casemate Publishing for review. 

• From the back cover
• A book full of discussion, inspiration and advice for solo wargamers by a solo wargamer.
• Asks why people play solo and considers the pros and cons.
• Discusses different types of solo wargames, including such choices as historical versus hypothetical/generic battles and whether to 'play both sides' or compete against a randomly controlled or programmed enemy force.
• Covers land, sea and air.
• Offers guidance on creating scenarios.
• Outlines a range of mechanisms for determining the actions of the opposing forces.
• Gives advice and options for running solo campaigns.
• Lots of ideas to inspire you and enrich your solo wargaming for a more varied and fulfilling hobby.