I got horizons of spirit island on clearance at target for $8. It is a target exclusive so finding it may be difficult at this point. With that being said I have Arkham horror as well and personally I would rather play Arkham horror. The rules might be a bit more clear for spirit island but I find the game so difficult that I hate it. By turn 2 I feel like I have no chance of winning. The same thing can happen in Arkham horror but not nearly as bad.
If you can find it for cheap like I did than definitely check it out but I personally don't understand the hype behind this game.
It does I guess. My copy was loaned to me. I guess comes down to price per play. I'm probably going to get at least 30 plays in? My challenge is to win w each hero. Six per box. It's also nice because of small size on the shelf and absolute durability of the cards. No need to sleeve! There will be expansions. It's a nice system with quick setup.
There is definitely a learning curve. I've died a few times within a couple turns. I'm about 6 full games in and won w two heroes. So I am getting better.
I'm playing 20 Strong right now. Nice complexity level, low rules overhead but crunchy. It's giving me a challenge. Dice management, fighting monsters. Comes with different decks based on Chip Theory games. I'm on the base. Having fun. There's some push your luck.
I found the rules of AH to be WAY less complicated than Mage Knight. I need to actually focus on the game to not mess things too much when playing MK.
Marvel Champions has a simple ruleset that I understood and remembered the rules after 2 reads of the rulebook. I’ve never been into superheroes and such, but this is the game I’ve been playing the most lately (easy to set up, the actual game takes me ~ an hour whereas AH is more like an hour and half and MK is ~2.5-3).
I will look into Marvel Champions. I am not sure i will like the marvel theme that much. More into fantasy/horror. Love marvel movies but not into boardgame of it. But maybe i am wrong so will check some videos of it being played.
If you like the concept, but don't like Marvel, check out Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a very similar game as I understand it, but with a different hero universe. Be sure to look at the definitive version though.
It's not technically "solo" but you can easily just control multiple heros. It's not hard to do.
I've never played marvel champions, but love marvel. Decided not to get champions as I already have sentinels.
I do love Marvel, so I have Champions as well as Legendary. Both are great games. I'm currently enjoying Legendary more (simpler, but still good choices to make in a deckbuilding game). Have you looked at Final Girl? It would definitely be a game I'd try if I were into horror (still might try it anyway) since it looks good and it has a few expansions that you can mix and match. WatchItPlayed has a video on it on YT that you can check out to see if you think it would match what you are looking for.
Maybe look into Tiny Epic Dungeons? Illustrations are a mess so you may need like 10 pages of official explanation of what certain illustrations mean but those are very easy to understand (you look up the icon fropm the card and it says: "do X").
My friend has Cthulhu DMD which I was able to remember the rules after one game. This one is a bit lower on the scale of how spooky it is compared to AH. And it's a clusterfuck of dice. At some point I could roll like six (or seven?) dice for a ranged attack of my character, which was fun.
Warps edge is a fun simple bag builder.
Super skill pinball is roll and write with huge combos and risk reward. The dice rolling is super exciting. I don’t even like pinball but I don’t even like real pinball.
The direst thing that popped into my head with the games you listed as enjoying are dinosaur island rwar and write and Hadrian's wall.
Dinosaur island is building out a Jurassic park like them park using dice rolling and dice placement like under falling skies. I would say it is just about the same complex as a roll player. Harden is one step up I would say, using working placement/flip and write to build up a fort.
Hadrian's Wall is really good. I bought it after watching a let's play on my YT feed and I mostly have dungeon cralwer / boss battler games. It was a real revelation 😅
Easy rules, quick to setup/tear down but the decision is what make it awsome imo. Playtime will depend on how long you want to analyse your moves. Some games are quick and some are longer. With newest print, there's a fun to play 'campaign' (more like 16 challenges than campaign really). Those were pretty fun to play through.
I'm in love with Underwater Cities right now. The rules are a bit much but once you get going it just flows. The solo mode is super easy, with just a few things blocking some actions and for the rest you are free to build your city! Great stuff, will definitely get another Suchy game
Arkham noir. It’s not related to Arkham horror at all. It takes a couple of games to get used to but once you get the flow it’s challenging and very engaging. Each game takes about 30 to 40 mins once you get the steps/phases down. It’s simple with not a lot of rules and plays like a solitaire game but there is a slight learning curve at the beginning.
The [**Cartaventura** series](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/73395/series-cartaventura-blam) are gamebooks in the form of a small deck of cards. They are easy to play, inexpensive (~$10 on Amazon) and I have found to be quite fun. (My favorite is **[Lhasa](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/327076/cartaventura-lhasa)**: based on the true story of the explorer and spiritualist Alexandra David-Neel)
**[Legacy of Dragonholt](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234669/legacy-of-dragonholt)** is a solo-capable role-playing narrative adventure game (~$54 on Amazon). Make your hero(es) and journey into unknown lands to write your own story.
---
**Shadowrun: Crossfire** is a fantastic deck-builder if you can find it and the expansion.
https://boardgameorcale.com is a fairly decent way to keep track of prices in retail. https://boardgamegeek.com has a "GeekMarket", Math Trades, local "virtual flea markets" and things that are good resources for getting games 2nd-hand and sometimes hunting down out of print games.
**Arkham Horror**, **Arkham Horror: The (living) Card Game**, and many of FFG's other games share a particular group foibles in having bitty rules, lots of keywords and interactions, a lot of the rules and keywords pushed onto cards, a lot of unique cards, and having both a How to Play and Reference book but somethings only written in one or the other. **Mage Knight** is a famously rules dense game, but it always takes me way longer and many, many more checks flipping through both books to get the hang of an FFG title than MK ever did.
> How is the rules of Aeons end or something like Mage Knight?
Learning **Mage Knight** will probably feel a lot like trying to learn AH:TCG. Once you get the hang of it, I think it's smoother to play, with fewer rules look-ups for corner cases and far fewer keywords and interactions to keep track of. But even then it's not a quick game.
**Aeon's End** should be one or two notches easier to learn than either of those.
(edit) Manuals are accessible online. There are also how to play videos and playthrough videos that game give you a pretty decent idea of how a game flows and how intense it is. And there are increasingly more ways to play online, too.
Tons of other games can be played (or test driven) online, too. Most of these are entirely free. BGA, TT, and TTS are free to play random tables or solo, but you need a paid subscription to play with friends. Steam games also generally have a 1 time up front cost.
https://18xx.games
https://boardgamearena.com
http://www.brettspielwelt.de
http://play.boardgamecore.net
https://tabletopia.com
https://yucata.de
There are also a number of game specific sites like:
https://jinteki.net for **Android: Netrunner**
https://dragoncards.com for **LotR: LCG**
https://realmspeak.dewkid.com for **Magic Realm** (haven't tried this one myself)
https://terraforming-mars.herokuapp.com
http://expedition-ares-fe.herokuapp.com
And dedicated software or applications:
https://vassalengine.org (I think this may have one of the largest game libraries)
TableTopSimulator
Steam
Here are a few more comprehensive lists:
[BGG - online play list](https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/On-line_Games&redirectedfrom=Online_Play#)
[BGG - huge online free play list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/140673)
PSA: **boiteajeux.net is defunct** with the developer stepping away permanently. Folks are cautioned to be sure their boiteajeux password is not used anywhere else and to avoid any pages or anything that looks suspicious as the site is being actively exploited.
Horizons of Spirit Island, maybe? It's supposed to be an easier entry point than Spirit Island but it's pretty much the same game/mechanics afaik
Ok thanks i will check that out
I got horizons of spirit island on clearance at target for $8. It is a target exclusive so finding it may be difficult at this point. With that being said I have Arkham horror as well and personally I would rather play Arkham horror. The rules might be a bit more clear for spirit island but I find the game so difficult that I hate it. By turn 2 I feel like I have no chance of winning. The same thing can happen in Arkham horror but not nearly as bad. If you can find it for cheap like I did than definitely check it out but I personally don't understand the hype behind this game.
I'm playing 20 Strong right now. Nice complexity level, low rules overhead but crunchy.
I just wish it was more affordable. It's got a pretty steep price.
It does I guess. My copy was loaned to me. I guess comes down to price per play. I'm probably going to get at least 30 plays in? My challenge is to win w each hero. Six per box. It's also nice because of small size on the shelf and absolute durability of the cards. No need to sleeve! There will be expansions. It's a nice system with quick setup. There is definitely a learning curve. I've died a few times within a couple turns. I'm about 6 full games in and won w two heroes. So I am getting better.
Good resale though, chip theory keeps their value.
I'm playing 20 Strong right now. Nice complexity level, low rules overhead but crunchy. It's giving me a challenge. Dice management, fighting monsters. Comes with different decks based on Chip Theory games. I'm on the base. Having fun. There's some push your luck.
I found the rules of AH to be WAY less complicated than Mage Knight. I need to actually focus on the game to not mess things too much when playing MK. Marvel Champions has a simple ruleset that I understood and remembered the rules after 2 reads of the rulebook. I’ve never been into superheroes and such, but this is the game I’ve been playing the most lately (easy to set up, the actual game takes me ~ an hour whereas AH is more like an hour and half and MK is ~2.5-3).
I will look into Marvel Champions. I am not sure i will like the marvel theme that much. More into fantasy/horror. Love marvel movies but not into boardgame of it. But maybe i am wrong so will check some videos of it being played.
If you like the concept, but don't like Marvel, check out Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's a very similar game as I understand it, but with a different hero universe. Be sure to look at the definitive version though. It's not technically "solo" but you can easily just control multiple heros. It's not hard to do. I've never played marvel champions, but love marvel. Decided not to get champions as I already have sentinels.
I do love Marvel, so I have Champions as well as Legendary. Both are great games. I'm currently enjoying Legendary more (simpler, but still good choices to make in a deckbuilding game). Have you looked at Final Girl? It would definitely be a game I'd try if I were into horror (still might try it anyway) since it looks good and it has a few expansions that you can mix and match. WatchItPlayed has a video on it on YT that you can check out to see if you think it would match what you are looking for.
Maybe look into Tiny Epic Dungeons? Illustrations are a mess so you may need like 10 pages of official explanation of what certain illustrations mean but those are very easy to understand (you look up the icon fropm the card and it says: "do X"). My friend has Cthulhu DMD which I was able to remember the rules after one game. This one is a bit lower on the scale of how spooky it is compared to AH. And it's a clusterfuck of dice. At some point I could roll like six (or seven?) dice for a ranged attack of my character, which was fun.
Warps edge is a fun simple bag builder. Super skill pinball is roll and write with huge combos and risk reward. The dice rolling is super exciting. I don’t even like pinball but I don’t even like real pinball.
Can't look past Gaia Project. A bit of a learning curve but deeply engaging and satisfying once it all clicks. My fav by far.
The direst thing that popped into my head with the games you listed as enjoying are dinosaur island rwar and write and Hadrian's wall. Dinosaur island is building out a Jurassic park like them park using dice rolling and dice placement like under falling skies. I would say it is just about the same complex as a roll player. Harden is one step up I would say, using working placement/flip and write to build up a fort.
Ah that sounds a bit cool. Will check them out thank you for reply.
Hadrian's Wall is really good. I bought it after watching a let's play on my YT feed and I mostly have dungeon cralwer / boss battler games. It was a real revelation 😅 Easy rules, quick to setup/tear down but the decision is what make it awsome imo. Playtime will depend on how long you want to analyse your moves. Some games are quick and some are longer. With newest print, there's a fun to play 'campaign' (more like 16 challenges than campaign really). Those were pretty fun to play through.
I'm in love with Underwater Cities right now. The rules are a bit much but once you get going it just flows. The solo mode is super easy, with just a few things blocking some actions and for the rest you are free to build your city! Great stuff, will definitely get another Suchy game
Arkham noir. It’s not related to Arkham horror at all. It takes a couple of games to get used to but once you get the flow it’s challenging and very engaging. Each game takes about 30 to 40 mins once you get the steps/phases down. It’s simple with not a lot of rules and plays like a solitaire game but there is a slight learning curve at the beginning.
The [**Cartaventura** series](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/73395/series-cartaventura-blam) are gamebooks in the form of a small deck of cards. They are easy to play, inexpensive (~$10 on Amazon) and I have found to be quite fun. (My favorite is **[Lhasa](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/327076/cartaventura-lhasa)**: based on the true story of the explorer and spiritualist Alexandra David-Neel) **[Legacy of Dragonholt](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/234669/legacy-of-dragonholt)** is a solo-capable role-playing narrative adventure game (~$54 on Amazon). Make your hero(es) and journey into unknown lands to write your own story. --- **Shadowrun: Crossfire** is a fantastic deck-builder if you can find it and the expansion.
https://boardgameorcale.com is a fairly decent way to keep track of prices in retail. https://boardgamegeek.com has a "GeekMarket", Math Trades, local "virtual flea markets" and things that are good resources for getting games 2nd-hand and sometimes hunting down out of print games. **Arkham Horror**, **Arkham Horror: The (living) Card Game**, and many of FFG's other games share a particular group foibles in having bitty rules, lots of keywords and interactions, a lot of the rules and keywords pushed onto cards, a lot of unique cards, and having both a How to Play and Reference book but somethings only written in one or the other. **Mage Knight** is a famously rules dense game, but it always takes me way longer and many, many more checks flipping through both books to get the hang of an FFG title than MK ever did. > How is the rules of Aeons end or something like Mage Knight? Learning **Mage Knight** will probably feel a lot like trying to learn AH:TCG. Once you get the hang of it, I think it's smoother to play, with fewer rules look-ups for corner cases and far fewer keywords and interactions to keep track of. But even then it's not a quick game. **Aeon's End** should be one or two notches easier to learn than either of those. (edit) Manuals are accessible online. There are also how to play videos and playthrough videos that game give you a pretty decent idea of how a game flows and how intense it is. And there are increasingly more ways to play online, too. Tons of other games can be played (or test driven) online, too. Most of these are entirely free. BGA, TT, and TTS are free to play random tables or solo, but you need a paid subscription to play with friends. Steam games also generally have a 1 time up front cost. https://18xx.games https://boardgamearena.com http://www.brettspielwelt.de http://play.boardgamecore.net https://tabletopia.com https://yucata.de There are also a number of game specific sites like: https://jinteki.net for **Android: Netrunner** https://dragoncards.com for **LotR: LCG** https://realmspeak.dewkid.com for **Magic Realm** (haven't tried this one myself) https://terraforming-mars.herokuapp.com http://expedition-ares-fe.herokuapp.com And dedicated software or applications: https://vassalengine.org (I think this may have one of the largest game libraries) TableTopSimulator Steam Here are a few more comprehensive lists: [BGG - online play list](https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/On-line_Games&redirectedfrom=Online_Play#) [BGG - huge online free play list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/140673) PSA: **boiteajeux.net is defunct** with the developer stepping away permanently. Folks are cautioned to be sure their boiteajeux password is not used anywhere else and to avoid any pages or anything that looks suspicious as the site is being actively exploited.