How many times do you fail to organize an evening with friends to play our favorite board games? Unfortunately, it often happens that when we manage to carve out the time to start a good boardgame we miss the players. Hence the recent trend in recent years to implement a solitaire mode within more and more board games, to allow us to directly challenge the game itself; we think about Scythe, Terraforming Mars, Wendake (here the review), which offer satisfying play experiences even in solo.
Fallout Board Game, published by Asmodee, of which we wrote the review (here the link if you haven't read it yet), is no exception and offers us a solo variant in which we will find ourselves completely alone in the contaminated zone to explore and fight. If you have already tried a few games with your friends or are simply curious to read a few lines about it, here is a quick overview and some considerations on Fallout Board Game solo mode.
What changes in solo
In reality, the solo variant involves very few changes to the rules.
- Increase the number of influence points to be accumulated through strategy cards;
- The two factions foreseen by the scenario accumulate power, every time the deck of strategy cards runs out, in a different way compared to the multiplayer mode: in fact, the faction with less power advances by one space;
- Naturally, one must read the match cards independently, trying not to glimpse the consequences of the proposed options;
- There are specific places on the map where you can find yourself where a mission requires you to move or stay in the same square as another player;
Impressions of the solo mode
I've tested a few solo games and particularly enjoyed the race against time to build influence before the factions reach maximum power. It may seem simple, but the fact that at the end of the strategy deck you advance the faction with less power makes it quite difficult to try to privilege one and derive the related benefits, which well simulates the interference of other players who hinder the opponent's strategy. The atmosphere of the game is also felt when playing alone, indeed perhaps you appreciate even more the story that is created through the mission cards and the encounter cards.
A small flaw can be found in the structure of the match cards, since it is sometimes difficult to avoid reading the consequences of the proposed choices and there is the risk of involuntarily "cheating". Knowing this, however, it is possible to use some tricks to not read the part that must remain hidden and thus avoid ruining the surprise.
Is it worth playing solo Fallout - Board Game?
In my opinion yes, it is worth it. Fallout it remains an excellent narrative game even in solitaire, the atmosphere remains the same and perhaps it is even more possible to identify yourself in the role of your character in venturing to discover the contaminated area.
