Concordia: Solitaria

Concordia: Solitaria Deep Dive

What the Community Thinks About Concordia: Solitaria

Concordia: Solitaria is the expansion that gives Concordia a solo mode, and the channels that discuss it treat it as a clear win for fans of the base game. Totally Tabled is the most enthusiastic voice: Shaggy ranks it fifth in a list of solo games everyone should play at least once, third in a list of competitive games that play great both solo and multiplayer, and names it as one of the highlights of 2021 for solo gaming. In the first of those lists, Shaggy calls it one of the most genius solo systems ever developed and an essential expansion for this classic Euro game. Board Games for One, putting the base game on a list of the best competitive board games, points to Solitaria as the separately sold expansion that includes an awesome solo mode. The rest of the coverage is earlier and more tentative. John of Getting Games covered it in a March 2021 preview after doing some playtesting, and Jenna of Board Game Garden bought it to play a favorite game solo but had not yet played it on camera. The shared verdict: the solo system is simple, clever and faithful to what makes Concordia work.

Core Mechanics That Define Concordia: Solitaria

Hand Management and the Card Rondelle

Solitaria keeps the heart of Concordia untouched. Jenna of Board Game Garden describes the base game as hand management rather than deck building: players use cards from their hand, purchase new cards, and once they have used all the cards they want, they play a specific card to get them all back. Shaggy of Totally Tabled calls this a card rondelle, and also singles out how the action cards purchased during play double as new ways to score points at the end of the game. Resources are collected to buy cards, and players put little houses down in different parts of the map. With Solitaria, all of that stays exactly the same. Moving people and ships, spreading across the map, building and trading all work as they do in a multiplayer game.

An AI Opponent Driven by the Card You Play

The expansion's one big idea is where its opponent's actions come from. As Totally Tabled explains, the solo game replaces the main deck of action cards with matching cards that also carry printed actions for the solo opponent. Every time the player takes a card action, the opponent takes the action written on that same card. John of Getting Games, who names the opponent Contrarius, stresses that there is essentially no randomness in what the AI does; a die is only rolled sometimes to change the outcome, such as deciding where a building goes. Board Game Garden adds that the component footprint is small, just some solo cards and dice, and that the expansion supports one or two players, since two people can play cooperatively against the AI. Getting Games also mentions that the AI can join a game with other people at the table.

The Concordia: Solitaria Experience

Simple and Streamlined

Reviewers repeatedly describe the solo system as light. Shaggy says it is so simple and so streamlined that it brings the solo game right up to the multiplayer game in terms of satisfaction, and in another video calls the transformation surprisingly elegant. There is no flowchart to consult each turn: the card that was just played tells the opponent what to do. For players who already know Concordia, that means very little new to learn before sitting down alone.

Playing Around a Visible Opponent

Because the opponent's action is printed on the player's own cards, every choice has a second edge. Totally Tabled points out that the opponent's move is visible in advance, which might influence which cards get played, and that this creates an additional layer to decision-making. Choosing a card is no longer only about what it does for the player; it is also about what it hands the AI. That extra consideration is what Shaggy credits for making the solo mode feel like a real contest rather than a puzzle played in isolation.

What Makes Concordia: Solitaria Stand Out

Keeps Concordia's Interaction Alive

Many solo modes turn an interactive game into a race against a score. Totally Tabled argues that Solitaria avoids this. In Shaggy's words, multiplayer Concordia is not multiplayer solitaire: players compete on the board, get in each other's way, draft cards and even hate draft cards. The new deck of cards brings that interaction out without bogging down the gameplay. Shaggy likes it enough that choosing between the solo and multiplayer versions becomes genuinely difficult. Board Games for One makes the matching point about the base game, noting that Concordia describes itself as a peaceful competitive game in which players must pay attention to each other's strategy.

One Expansion for Every Map

Concordia has several maps, and Totally Tabled highlights that Solitaria works on all of them. A single purchase adds solo play across a Concordia collection, which is a large part of why Shaggy calls it an essential expansion rather than a novelty. For Jenna of Board Game Garden, the appeal is even simpler: Concordia ranks third among Jenna's favorite games of all time, other people cannot always be persuaded to play it, and Solitaria removes the need to find them.

Potential Drawbacks

An Add-On, Not a Standalone Game

Solitaria is not a way into Concordia on its own. Board Games for One notes that it is an expansion that has to be bought separately from the base game, and Board Game Garden describes it as a small box of cards and dice that might simply be stored in the main Concordia box. Players who do not already own Concordia are looking at two purchases, and the value of Solitaria depends entirely on how much the base game appeals.

Limited Hands-On Coverage

Much of the discussion comes from list, preview and haul videos rather than full reviews. John's comments for Getting Games come from playtesting before release, after being approached by Matt Gertz, and John admits to not being super crazy about solo modes in general. Board Game Garden had heard the expansion was good but had not played it yet, and Board Games for One defers to another creator's playthrough. Totally Tabled, which has played through it, provides the most detailed firsthand verdict. Players wanting a deep analysis of the AI's difficulty or long-term replay value will find little of that here.

If You Enjoy Concordia: Solitaria

The obvious companion is Concordia itself, which Solitaria requires and which Board Game Garden and Totally Tabled both rate among their favorites. Board Games for One puts Concordia in the niche usually filled by Diplomacy, saying that even though the bargaining is done differently, Concordia captures that same essence in a lighter package. In the same list that ranks Solitaria, Totally Tabled praises Cascadia for a solo game that plays pretty much like the multiplayer game, the same quality that makes Solitaria stand out.