TDG: Cody's Top Ten Solitaire Wargames (November 2025)

0:04 Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the discriminating gamer. You know, I always wanted to be a monk. But I never got the chance. Ladies and gentlemen, today we're going to go ahead and take a look at my top 10 solitaire war games of all time.

0:27 All right, ladies and gentlemen, my top 10 solitaire war games of all time. These are games that uh obviously you play solo, but they pack a big punch and um they've got some kind of conflict and I think all of them have some kind of a dice uh combat system, I think. In any event, let me go ahead and jump into it, but actually first I want to do my honorable mentions cuz there's a lot. Um Malta Besieged from uh Worthington is a great States of Siege game about uh the the defense of the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. Labyrinth Ridge, a great game about the Battle of the Bulge 1944. Uh you're the American Army, you're trying to defend yourself from the advancing Germans. That one is a lot of fun as well.

1:13 Um part of the Valiant Defense series. Uh we've got uh Halls of Hegra. Now, Halls of Hegra is a game I I I really like this one when I first started playing it. I haven't really gone back to it much because it it's a pretty complicated setup. I actually ended up I think I gave this one to Ray. But it is a fun game. It's got a little bit of a Euro feel with some worker placement aspects to it. Very fun uh solitaire game. Habsburg Eclipse. Another gate uh States of Siege game about the Austrians in World War I trying to prevent the allies from closing in on it. Ottoman Sunset, its sister game, which is again you are the Ottoman Empire trying to prevent the allies from encroaching too far into your territory. Finally, uh last honorable mention is Gettysburg solitaire. I just played the board game version of this. I had played the uh book game version a while ago. Um I played it a few times and then I I just recently played the board game version.

2:08 And this is a a great uh kind of Worthington solitaire war game set in the Civil War where you're the Confederates trying to attack the Union lines on day one and day two of the Battle of Gettysburg. All right, let's go ahead now and take a look at my top 10 solitaire war games of all time. Number 10, Sink the Bismarck Deluxe. Now, this was another book game that became an actual physical board game. And this is a great game where you are commanding the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen and the U-boat as you're moving throughout the Atlantic Ocean. But you're rolling dice to determine events that pick up. And these events mean you may be targeted or you may have opportunities to strike at your enemies' battleships or carriers or even some of their merchant ships and that's what you're really trying to aim for here. But this is a great game that's not too long. It doesn't wear out its welcome. And it packs a big punch. A lot of a lot of dice rolls, so there's a lot of chance, but I really like the narrative of this game and the and the stories that it tells. So, this is uh my number 10 uh Bismarck Sink the Bismarck Deluxe. That is from Worthington.

3:16 My number nine is a great World War I aerial combat game. This is Aces of Valor from Legion Wargames. Aces of Valor is it's I like it because it's easy to get into. It is uh just a really good kind of abstract representation of these missions that were flown in World War I. And it is fun because you are flying um over enemy lines, you're crossing no man's land, um or sometimes you're just patrolling your own territory depending on what the mission is. Um and as you're doing it as you're flying, you're also kind of rolling for events and every round you're trying to see what the events are. Of course, things are much more likely to go your way when you're over your own lines, less so over no man's land, and very much less so over the enemies' land. And what's cool is when you actually get into combat here, you kind of have this this um grid numbered grid and you see where you are on the grid and where your enemy is on the grid. And if you're higher up on the grid than your enemy, you have the initiative or vice versa.

4:13 And you're going to be able then to get into combat and you're rolling to see if you score hits. You're rolling for damage. Again, this is a very dice-heavy game, but it is a lot of fun. There's some bells and whistles you can add with cards and stuff. It's it's just I like I said, it's a wonderful abstracted game about World War I aerial warfare. Really enjoyed it quite a bit. So, that is uh my number nine, Aces of Valor from Legion Wargames. My number eight is another game from Worthington. This is Iwo Jima 1945. This is a great game. You've got the blocks that represent the either the Marine Corps or the Japanese forces on the island, the different Marine Corps regiments. And as you are advancing, of course, you're trying to destroy the Japanese blocks, they're trying to destroy you. Um I love the the dice system here where you you know, you're trying to roll doubles, you're trying to get dice to match. Um bad things can happen depending on the roll, but also good things can happen. But you're you you get cards that can help you.

5:10 But the Japanese also every between every turn, they are playing a card um that can devastate you. They can attack you with either machine gun fire or with bonsai charges. And the attacks are different the way you roll the dice for each of those, which is really cool. Um but it's such a fun game and I like it again because it's not too long, plays well under an hour, and yet it packs a huge punch. It's a very simple game, but a lot of fun. This is Iwo Jima 1945. That is my number eight and that is from Worthington. Now, my number seven is a game I kind of debated putting on this list because I don't know that it actually meets the strict the strictest sense of a solitaire war game. It's bigger than just a war game and yet it very much has elements of a war game here. This is I Napoleon.

5:58 I Napoleon is essentially a solitaire game where you are pretty much living through the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. And as you're living through this career of Napoleon Bonaparte, you are playing cards. There's different cards decks. You are kind of playing through the cards, seeing where it takes you. There are different choices. You're trying to find out which wife Napoleon should marry. Um you know, you're you're trying to put maybe your brothers in the different important positions. Uh you're conducting diplomacy, but critically you are also fighting every battle. You're fighting wars with these with these cards. Um it's just a lot of fun. It's kind of um I I could I thought I'd like it, but I the way it plays out, it's just so unique. I can't think of any other game that does what this game does. The closest thing I can think of would be I President, also from GMT, but uh Mr. President. But Mr.

6:51 [clears throat] President goes in some weird directions and it's a much bigger game. And this game is no slouch. It's a pretty big game, too. But I Napoleon is a tour de force of the Napoleonic Wars. And again, you've got some some fun intense battle going on here with these cards. But that is number seven, I Napoleon. That is from GMT Games. My number six is another one of these Worthington games that was a book war game and now is a uh boxed board game. This is Waterloo Solitaire Deluxe. Now, it's just this game plays very similarly to like Gettysburg solitaire. Um essentially on your turn, you pick which unit you're going to activate, you pick its target, and then you roll a die and the die is the bot responding to you. And then you have to resolve the bot and then you can go ahead and roll the dice to see how the attack plays out.

7:43 Your enemy might lose forces, you both might lose forces, or you might lose forces depending on the how the way the die roll goes. It's a lot of fun. And I like this one a lot, too, because unlike in Gettysburg where you just play the Confederates, here you have got the choice. You can either play Napoleon or Wellington in this iconic battle. Again, it's a quick game, but it packs such a great punch. I love Waterloo Solitaire. Tremendously fun game. So, that is uh Waterloo Solitaire Deluxe. And that is uh my number six from Worthington. My number five is a game that it was so funny cuz I remember I played this game and I was staying up one night and I stayed up late and I wasn't done, but I had to go to bed. I had to get up to work. Well, I'm a guy that likes to sleep in, man. I sleep in almost right until the point where I got to get up and go to work, right? I'm nearly late every day, but I always make it.

8:36 But this particular night when I went to sleep, I woke up at like 6:00 in the morning and I'm like, I got to play this out. And I still had the game up and I played and I finished the game before I went to work. It was so intense. But this is Stalingrad Advance to the Volga 1942 from Take Aim Games. Essentially, Stalingrad Advance to the Volga is great. You're moving your forces into the rubble of Stalingrad. And depending on the section of the city, there is already kind of a number condition there and and and and other factors that may come into play. But you have different um counters that you have for the enemy. And if you move into that, you flip that over, you're going to add the counter there to the counter that's that's or the number that's on the board. And that's going to kind of give you their defensive power, but there may be other events that trigger, there may be ambushes and things like that. And then you're going to kind of roll the die, but you got to bring in support um because you you you're rolling the number for the main unit, but then every other unit just gives it one. So, you got to bring in support to to be able to win.

9:37 But it's great. Again, it tells a great story. Um you have some really nail-biting moments here. And man, thinking about it again, I want to play it. But that is number five, Advance to the Volga 1942 from Take Aim. My number four, also from Take Aim, Manila the Savage Streets 1945. This is kind of a sister game to Stalingrad. I think they're going to come out with Berlin here before too long. But in Manila, of course, you're MacArthur's forces investing the city of Manila in 1945. You're trying to take it back from the Japanese and the Japanese are putting up a brutal defense. The basic game play is the same. You've got a printed number on the board. You've got various counters you're placing there, but you don't know what they are until you get there and you flip them over. You find out what the total defense value is there. And again, you've got all sorts of events and stuff that are going to occur. You've got civilians you got to look out for. Um really, really good solitaire game. I mean, I loved Stalingrad, but I don't know. I thought the Manila game was just a little smoother, a little sweeter.

10:38 Um and it just worked a lot better. They've also got kind of a printed board to keep track of the values there. Which Stalingrad didn't. In fact, Ray actually printed up a little player board for that cuz he liked it so much and he and he gave me this printed board uh for Stalingrad. But I love love this system. I think it works incredibly well. Although, I don't think I've ever won a game of it. I will keep playing until I win, but I love the game so much. So that is Manila: The Savage Streets 1945, my number four from Take Aim. All right, ladies and gentlemen, my number three. I'll tell you right now my number three and my number two, I really debated. I really went back and forth over these games. But my number three is Pavlov's House from DVG. This is a David Thompson design. And Pavlov's House is such a great solitaire war game. You, of course, are the defenders, the Soviet defenders of Pavlov's House in Stalingrad and you're trying to keep the Germans at bay. You have various tracks leading to you. You have this great kind of line of sight color system that, depending on where the defenders are in the house. You've actually got kind of three sections of the board. You've got kind of the guys inside the house that are actually moving around to to cover the different areas and do different tasks. And then you've got kind of the approaches to the to the building itself and you can see where the different arrows are coming at you.

11:53 And then you kind of have the river and you can actually try to bring supplies and food across the river in order to make sure that your men are taken care of and can keep fighting. Dave Thompson actually came I I was teaching at a school in Wyoming a couple years ago. He actually came at my invitation and did a presentation on how he created Pavlov's House. And it was really cool to say he was trying to show Pavlov's House wasn't just these few guys hanging out in this building keeping the Germans away. It was part of a well orchestrated plan to keep them there. And they were well supported by AA guns and communications and supplies. And he And it's brilliant the way the game actually conveys all of this stuff. So, really fun game. That is Pavlov's House. That is my number three.

12:39 That is from DVG. Now, as I say, my number two and three kind of went back and forth. As you'll see, my number two is very similar to number three. I think I like it a hair better. It was the first one in the series that I played. And my number two is Castle Itter from DVG. Now, Castle Itter is kind of one of the weirdest battles of the war. I think that I think it's called the strangest battle of World War II. Right as the war was ending, you had this coalition of Americans, Austrians, uh uh French prisoners, and and even I think some German army were in this castle and they were being attacked by SS units. And so you have this weird coalition of nationalities fighting to to to to to to hold out um as they're being attacked here by these um SS.

13:29 The game has, again, the same great line of sight color system that you see in Pavlov's House. Um but you're just trying to hold out and keep fighting until your reinforcements arrive and kind of relieve you. And the game is super intense. I got this one when I was down in Texas and I just absolutely fell in love with it. I did a live play through at one point. And um oh man, thinking about it, I want to play it again. Super fun game, Castle Itter. Uh just when I think of a good solitaire war game that I could just pick up and and play with with with minimal difficulty and really invest in it, this is it. This and Pavlov's House. Oh heck, all of them on this list. But but still, I love that one quite a bit. So that is my number two, Castle Itter. That is from DVG. All right, ladies and gentlemen, my number one solitaire war game of all time. This is the only hex and counter game on this list and it is tremendous fun. This is Vae Victis Emperor by Blue Panther. This is, of course, the Battle of Waterloo.

14:24 And this is the second Waterloo game on this list. I love the Battle of Waterloo. I wrote a paper on the Battle of Waterloo when I was in graduate school working on my PhD. I did my a minor field in Napoleonic warfare. And it I just love learning about this battle. I think it's just so fascinating, one of the great iconic battles of all time. And Herman Luttmann, brilliant designer who designed this game, he really he just did such a great great job of abstracting the the basics of the battle, but making them come alive in such a fun way. And the way you activate the core here is is tremendous fun and and the way you can you use the core and you've got kind of, you know, die rolls for events and stuff like that and how Wellington and the British are going to react.

15:12 And then when like Blücher comes in and Plancenoit, you got to try to hold him off as Napoleon. It It's just great. I I like I say, I love this battle and I love to play games that bring this battle to life. And this one is so much fun. It is a great great solitaire war game. Uh so that is Vae Victis Emperor. That is uh from Blue Panther. That is my number one. All right, ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again for joining us today on The Discriminating Gamer. What are your favorite solitaire war games? I want to know. Please, please, please leave a comment here on YouTube, on BoardGameGeek, on Facebook, and all our social media. And I would ask you very humbly to subscribe to this channel. Please like this video. Uh we'd love to have you uh be part of the family here, so to speak. Uh also, too, if you like what you see here on uh The Discriminating Gamer, I would ask you to check out my other channel. That is Cody Carlson, PhD, where we talk about history, military history, books on history. I even post some of my lectures on that channel. It would mean the world to me if you would uh subscribe to that channel as well. And if you do really like what you see here, I would humbly ask you to click on the super thanks button and leave a tip.

16:20 You know, I recently met a lumberjack who told me that he cut down 17,681 trees over the course of his career. I asked him how he knew exactly how many trees he cut down. Apparently, he kept a log.

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