Join Cody as he considers his Top Ten World War II Solitaire Games of all time. Cody Carlson, PhD: / @codycarlsonph.d.5591 Facebook: / thediscriminatinggamer Twitter: / codyk76 Galaxy of Games: galaxyof.games/
Great video as always Cody. Love all your reviews (both board and war games). Congrats on the 10 years. I'm from Portsmouth UK. Highly recommend a visit for the d day museum and memorials.
Great video, makes it plain I have not shopped in a long time for board games especially wargames. I bet most of these titles require me to layout some serious coin too. I want to give a shout out to Mike Lambo, maker of great solitaire titles at Wargame Vault, inexpensive and still quite good.
That seems to be a Polish tradition... I was fortunate (and honored) to serve under President Reagan as a Senior NCO in the US Army, stationed in the occupied city of West Berlin from 1981 to 1984. The Cold War was at its peak then, mostly as a clear confrontation between NATO (commercial west) and the Warsaw Pact (communist east). President Reagan made his first official visit to West Berlin in June of 1982 and spoke initially to those of us in the Allied military forces stationed there. This was long before his famous ‘Wall’ speech. Membership in NATO was formed from western allies voluntarily; France was excluded because they chose not to join at that time. Membership in Warsaw Pact was formed, and enforced by Soviet forces, in countries they invaded during World War II. Any country that tried to leave the Warsaw Pact because of freedom movements (East Germany (DDR) / Hungary / Czechoslovakia) faced violent suppression by the Soviet forces. The members of the Warsaw Pact were not the comrades as the PR often claim. It appeared similar events would happen in Poland during the 1980’s. I was attached to the Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment as an interrogator tasked with interviewing defectors (Border Guard / Military) and refugees (civilians) from all of the various Pact countries. They were fleeing similar oppression with many vivid stories of their own. We had an almost constant flow during my time there. We were especially concerned about events in Poland as the Solidarity Union disturbances were watched closely by the Soviet seniors. During one of my 1983 interviews with a Polish officer who had defected; I asked him what would happen if the Pact forces invaded Poland to suppress the activities… … would the Polish military fight or not. His answer was both humorous and cynical. He said: “Your question presents a very serious issue for Polish soldiers to answer; do we do our duty to the people and country by shooting Russians? Or do we enjoy ourselves by shooting Germans? No more invasions.” We were pretty certain something was coming soon by that time; just not sure if we would become radioactive dust or the Soviet Union would collapse. Regards
I had been debating Halls of Hegra vs Lanzerath - wasn't sure which to get. My favourite that I own right now is RAF - Battle of Britain. Which surprises me since I'm an infantry guy.
I love a lot of these, especially Lanzerath and Stalingrad. I wonder what you think of D-Day At Omaha Beach? I think that would squeeze just above Advance To The Volga as my #1.
If you missed out on Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 last year it's now back in print and in the warehouse. Copies should be shipping in a week or so!
I'm looking for something similar to Avalon Hill's Panzergruppe Guderian game. It's very solitaire friendly but getting an old copy intact and not expensive is hard to do.
Own Halls of Hegra, but yet to play it. Saw a playthrough of it and had to buy it (missed out on Lanzerath, which also appealed). Glad to see it's so highly rated.
I have lanzerath ridge and enjoy that. I also got Global war 1939 by white dog entertainment for Christmas, that too is a pretty fun solitare ww2 game. It covers the entire war including the Pacific fronts. The rule book could be better but they support questions on BGG within a few hours.
Really enjoy the valiant defense series, have Pavlovs house myself. 2 others I really enjoy is warfighter WW2 from DVG games, and Black Orchestra from Starling Games.
My favorite Raid on St Nazire is still my favorite but that maybe unfair as I have never played any ot these and to be honest I would like to play all. Stalingrad game reminds me of Turning Point game Stalingrad (not a solitiaire game but I play it solitaire all the time). I am curious Where would you rank Tarawa? I know you liked it.
Stalingrad :Advance to the Volga is indeed excellent. The second game in the series, Manila : The Savage Streets just came out and is great as well. Malta Besieged is also a favorite of mine.
Which of these game do you think would be the easiest for a board game beginner to pick up? Many of my viewers do not realy play a lot of board games but I think it`s a great way to ”play” war as an adult. Not like we`re go out in the sandbox and set up toy soldiers at our age. My favorite two player game is memoir 44 as I think it`s quick and easy to play and beginner friendly. The great game pieces makes it even better.
Just found your channel looking for some solo books and new to it. I have seen the ones like Bismark, Waterloo, and On To Moscow. Always looking for some others.
Hey Cody, thanks for the video. To be honest none of those games have been on my radar, but I like the look of the Starlingrad game! If you like solo carrier games, check out Kido Butai Japans carriers at Midway. By dr richter konfliktsimulationen I like: The Hunters/Silent victory (sub games) Skies above Britain (Battle of Britain) Target for tonight (RAF Bomber command game) Night fighter Ace (German night fighters) Thanks again! All the best!
Was surprised to not see Tarawa on your list, you seemed to enjoy it. Have you played the old stand bys, B-17/The Hunted, etc? I haven’t gotten it out in awhile, but the solo mode for CoH Awakening the Bear was really good. Always hoped they would adapt the system to their Guadalcanal version, but I’ve mostly given up on Academy Games at this point.
Tarawa should have been an honorable mention here - just forgot. I haven't played the other you mention, but I've heard good things about them. Thanks.
Hey Cody, why didn't Fields of Fire make it onto the list, is it too heavy? Someone recommended it to me. I definitely will buy a copy of Halls of Hegra, either on PC/Steam or an actual copy. Thanks for the recommendations!
Hi. I wonder if you can feature games from other indie publishers, such as White Dog Games. Also, how do I find players to play wargames? (Local stores in my area only host Warhammer or Pokemon!!)
I’ve reached out to White Dog in the past but they haven’t returned my emails. Is there a Facebook group or other social media for wargamers in your area? You might be surprised.
@@TheDiscriminatingGamer Thanks for your response. Yes, I contacted local stores, Meetup and even NextDoor. Nothing at all. It's either angry retirees who play nothing or kids who only do fantasy mini games. It seems I'm alone on Treasure Coast, FL.
Totally unexpected choices as far as I am concerned. You did not mentioned classics like VPG's "Barbarossa Campaign" or DVG's "Fleet Commander: Nimitz". Why? Don't you know them, or do you consider them not worthy to be mentioned? But nonetheless, thank you for bringing up the games you did!
I like Fleet Commander: Nimitz. It's a very fun game. But impossible to get to the table because of setup time. I ended up donating my copy for this reason. I haven't played Barbarossa Campaign, but it looks great. I wish it were still in print. Thanks.
My god man, once again Iam about to unsubscribe. Ambush!? RAF? Queen of the skies? Patton? Fine I will step back from the ledge. I have reflected, pontificated and mediated on the idea that the vast majority of your viewers never played the classic 80 solo wargames. Iam going to keep an eye on this channel and keep my finger poised above the unsub button.
Do what you have to do. But the "I'm taking my toys and going home" argument because I haven't played or don't prefer the games you do is a little bit much, don't you think? About twenty years or so ago I owned a copy of Ambush, but back then I had no real desire to play solo (it was given to me by a friend). I ended up giving it away. I regret that very much. In any event, thanks for sticking around as long as you have. War Room is still my #1 of all time.
Excellent reply Khody, it's not your fault there is a gamut of probly wonderful new game's produced over the years , Patton's best is good but I never finished it would like to play again but never will , too much Bro , ta 😎✍️👍
I certainly think it’s a great list…even though most of them wouldn’t make my top ten. Different games click with different people, for a wide variety of reasons. Theme, components, rules, mechanics…whatever. I’ll tell you right now I do not enjoy games that use NATO symbols. For me, it isn’t going to happen. Am I going to miss some great game? No…because it drives me nuts.
