As I did with my Top 10 Wargames of 2024! list I am going to do the same with the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames/Games that I played that were published in 2024. I played a total of 17 new published solo games in 2024 so take this list with a grain of salt as I didn’t play all the titles released in 2024. The games that I played include the following:

  • Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs
  • Gift of the Nile: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt from White Dog Games
  • The Spanish Road: The Spanish Tercios’ Greatest Challenge from RBM Studio 
  • Lone Sherman: The Pacific from Mike Lambo
  • Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs from Cephalofair Games
  • Comet: Allied Airman Rescue in World War II from Hollandspiele
  • I, Napoleon from GMT Games
  • Pacific War 1942 Solitaire from Worthington Publishing
  • War of 1812 Solitaire from Worthington Publishing
  • Viva Mexico! The Mexican Revolution from White Dog Games
  • Phantom Fury: Iraq, November 9, 2004 The Second Battle for Fallujah 2nd Edition from Nuts! Publishing
  • Corvette Command: The Battle of the Atlantic 1941-’43 from War Diary Publications
  • Rome: The Fate of an Empire from Best with 1 Games
  • Operation Biting from Matt White
  • Warfighter: The Vietnam War Special Forces Card Game from Dan Verssen Games
  • Sword of Orthodoxy: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium 420-1453 from White Dog Games
  • HISPANIA from Draco Ideas

I have really grown to love my solo wargaming and it is because there are plenty of well designed and engaging games out there that continue to feed my curiosity and hunger for a tough challenge. Here I present to you my list of the Top 10 Solitaire Wargames of 2024!

10. Operation Biting from Matt White

A few years ago, we became acquainted with Matt White who is a fantastic artist and budding wargame designer and also posted an interview with him regarding his graphic design approach and how he makes that beautiful art! He is a very talented graphic artist and has since designed several very interesting small scale wargamers, with his most recent offering is called Operation Biting. Operation Biting is a print and play solitaire tactical wargame focused on the British Airborne in World War II with a daring raid to steal secret radar plans from the Germans called the Bruneval Raid.

Operation Biting is a print and play wargame that ran a successful Kickstarter campaign this summer raising $3,056 (£2,434) at a cost of $12.50 (£10) per game. So right off the bat you can see that this is a pretty good deal and you get some beautifully illustrated counters and the map is just gorgeous. As such, if you buy this game you will have to find some sharp scissors and get to some “arts and crafts time” by printing out the counters, rules, player aids and the board and the cutting out the counters. These files were emailed to the backers and were easy to download and print out. You can print the counters out on thick card stock paper or I have seen some people glue them to the back of a cereal box and then cut them out. The counters were well aligned on the page and were not difficult to cut out and keep looking nice. I am not as particular with my cuts as some of you might be but I think at the end they were playable and looked pretty good.

The board is a look at the coast of France during 1942 and is a point to point movement map that has various numbered boxes shown for ease of reference. There are also several German locations including the Bruneval Coast Defence Box, Rectangle Box, Villa Box, Beach Defences Box and the Beach Exit box, which are all important locations for the spawning and actions of the German defenders. The board is printed out on a legal size sheet of paper measuring 8.5″ x 14″ and is very appropriately sized for the counters. My only gripe about the board was its use of muted greys and whites but that actually sets a pretty decent tone for the game as the night raid was delayed for a few days due to poor weather and there was snow on the ground.

This is a fun and relatively quick playing little solitaire game! The average game will last 30-45 minutes and is really pretty simple to pick up. What a great little narrative I was able to create with Operation Biting though. I really did enjoy the game and its mechanics and had a blast chucking dice. As mentioned before, the rules are pretty simple to grock and the game has good player aids, generally clear rules, and is highly playable. Frankly, this was the best $12 I have spent in a long time as this really is a fantastic little print and play solo wargame.

The game creates some real tension and a feeling of urgency as you have to move quickly and decisively and must get some luck if you are to keep your squads together and get them to their objective and return safely home. The game also really focuses on and emphasizes using your squads to achieve your objectives by planning well and utilizing their strengths. Plus the danger at the end of the game when the squads are on the Beach is really well done and I love how challenging those rolls are. This is a game about dealing with the unknowns, adjusting your plan to the appearance of new threats in spawning German soldiers and relying on a bit of luck and a smidge of good fortune!

I wrote a full First Impression style post on the blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/11/29/first-impression-operation-biting-print-and-play-from-matt-white/

I also was able to publish an interview with the designer Matt White and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/09/24/interview-with-matt-white-designer-of-operation-biting-print-n-play-currently-on-kickstarter/

If you are interested in Operation Biting, you can check out the game on the Kickstarter campaign page and communicate your interested to Matt at the following link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1564988876/operation-biting/description

9. Lone Sherman: The Pacific from Mike Lambo

Lone Sherman: The Pacific is a solitaire book wargame designed and self-published by Mike Lambo. The game puts the player in charge of a single Sherman Tank and its crew on several Pacific Islands in World War II and tasks the player with navigating the lone tank through very challenging scenarios based on several of the island hopping campaigns including Saipan, Tarawa and . While this game is not a “narrative driven” solitaire game as such, with a little imagination it will provide memorable stories and really keeps you on the edge of your seat as you roll your dice, choose your actions and hope for the best. Some events are randomly generated in the game, but the player always has at least some degree of control over the level of risk they wish to take and how vulnerable they leave their tank to these events. This typically manifests itself in your position on the board, how near you are to enemy units and what condition your tank is currently in and whether you pause your attacks to repair or extinguish fires.

In the game, the player will maneuver their lone Sherman Tank around the board attempting to meet various objectives laid out in the scenario which usually involve destroying enemy units, reaching specific points on the board or getting off the board to move onto the next scenario. If the Sherman Tank is destroyed the scenario ends in a loss. The AI has a pretty simple to follow priority list and will decide how it acts based on a number of D6 dice being rolled and then consulting a table. In this example, the Lone Sherman Tank has found itself immobilized by a direct hit to its rear by the Anti-Tank unit snuggled up in the buildings to the rear and now that the tank cannot move, it is caught in a cross fire from 3 Japanese units. This was not the case when I ended my movement out in the open on the air strip, which offers no cover bonus, as the Anti-Tank units were pointing in a different direction. But, when the AI rolled its dice for each of those Anti-Tank guns, they pivoted and turned toward me to bring fire to bear on my unsuspecting crew. And the fact that both of the Anti-Tank guns are shooting at the rear of the tank, their number needed to hit is much lower as the armor in the rear is worse than the front and the sides.

The Immobilized condition is a tough one and can only be remedied by the player rolling the appropriate action dice to allow them to take a Repair Action. If the dice are unkind, and no Repair actions are rolled, then this will not end well as the tank will continue to take attacks in their rear and ultimately take enough damage to be killed. Notice the small Immobile counter that has been placed in the Immobilised Box found in the upper right hand corner of the map. This condition means that the tank cannot move, turn or reverse. The tank can still fire though but currently that is a difficult task at best. This scenario did not end well for the lone Sherman Tank as I took several hits that caused fires that ultimately spread because I was unable to control them.

I have very much enjoyed my experience with this game and the best part is the price as it is very affordable and can be carried with you to any occasion. There are so many different games in this series to choose from and there is something for every wargamer’s taste including World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, Napoleonic Wars, Medieval battles and even some Sci-Fi settings.

If you want to know more about Lone Sherman: The Pacific, you can check out my video review at the following link:

I also shot a playthrough of a scenario (#B-4 Saipan Landing) and you can watch that at the following link:

I also was able to publish an interview with the designer Mike Lambo and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/05/20/interview-with-mike-lambo-designer-of-lone-sherman-the-pacific-self-published/

If you are interested in Lone Sherman: The Pacific, you can order a copy for $18.99 from Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Lone-Sherman-Pacific-Solitaire-Wargame/dp/B0CY4WT5WH

8. Corvette Command: The Battle of the Atlantic 1941-’43 from War Diary Publications

This one surprised me a bit! Initially, I really had just a tad bit of interest and when I got a copy and started to play, it felt a lot like a chart flipper that can be repetitive. But, as I kept at it the game opened up and I really started to love the mechanics, the dice and how they are used, the crew development over time and then I just fell in love playing it. The game is called Corvette Command: The Battle for the Atlantic, 1941-43 and is a boxed game released by the folks over at War Diary Magazine.

Corvette Command is a strategic level solitaire narrative generating (or narrative driven) game placing the player in the role of the commander of a Corvette Class Cruiser tasked with guiding merchant ships across the Atlantic to deliver needed supply during World War II and covers the period from 1941-1943. The game excels at creating difficult challenges for the player to overcome including the weather, choices about approach, how best to deal with the nasty U-Boats, and other challenges such as equipment breaking and taking damage. One of the best parts of the game was the crew development. Your crew starts out raw and with only basic skills which they get the opportunity to improve over the course of the campaign through use. They will only improve marginally from mission to mission but those increases do make a bid difference over time and you will begin to see your boat operate as a well oiled machine after several missions.

The game is won by determining the level of success of the convoy and how well it was protected. When the convoy is attacked, and it will get attacked multiple times each crossing, success is measured by the scale of the losses incurred rather than by how many U-boats are sunk. You have to keep this in mind as well as sometimes it is simply best to allow the U-Boat that you have damaged to slink away into the surf rather than doggedly chasing it down and risking further damage.

I think that had I been able to play this one more that it might have appeared higher on the list but it is a solid game with some very interesting mechanics and the art and production are really, really good.

If you are interested in Corvette Command: The Battle of the Atlantic 1941-’43, you can order a copy for $40.00 from the War Diary Publications website at the following link: https://wardiarymagazine.com/products/corvette-command-the-battle-of-the-atlantic-1941-43

7. HISPANIA from Draco Ideas

A few years ago, we played a very cool little cooperative game called Tetrarchia that had players working together to attempt to save the Roman Empire in its last days. That game now has a companion game in HISPANIA and while it is is a cooperative game, it does have a very solid solitaire system and I played it about 10 times and had a great time with it.

HISPANIA from Draco Ideas is a slick little small box game with a big punch that sees the player controlling the Roman Empire and attempting to subjugate and put down resistance in the provinces of Hispania from 198 to 18BC. The game is extremely flexible and may be played cooperatively by 2-3 players, competitively with 4 players or as a solo game. The game is somewhat of a resource management game as the players must use their limited funds in the form of Denarii wisely to attack and put down revolts springing up around the country as local armies rally support for the resistance to Roman rule.

The meat of the game happens in the Roman Phase where the player gets to take various actions to move around the peninsula and try to pacify the resistance in the spaces. Remember that the goal of the Roman player is to occupy the 6 Hispanic capitals with their garrisons before the Revolt Reserve or time runs out. This is not as easy as it sounds and will require the players to be shrewd in their use of the various options available to them during the Roman Phase.

Each of the actions available to the players during the Roman Phase will cost a certain number of their limited Denarii. If players do not have the amount of Denarii needed for the desired action, they will be unable to take that action this turn. The players can take their actions in any order they wish and can even perform a single given action several time during the same turn. The 4 actions available during the Roman Phase include Move, Garrison, Besiege and Attack. Let’s take a closer look at each of these actions to give you a better understanding of how they work.

The game boils down to how efficiently the player can move about and how well they do with assembling their armies to support each other as they come up against stiffer barbarian resistance as the game wears on. If the last Resistance Disc is placed out the player will lose and this is much harder than you realize as things can snowball quickly. The AI works very well and has a set of priorities for their movement and attacks. I found that I was able to focus on the game play and my strategy rather than worrying about how to make the decisions for the bot.

HISPANIA is a very fun and interesting gaming experience and I truly enjoy the mechanics used here. It resembles the first game in the series called Tetrarchia with some new tricks added and various Game Variants that can be tacked on to create a unique and interesting new experience. There also are lots of different combinations of difficulty which will do things such as lower the number of Denarii each Praetor receives each round, increase the number of starting Hispanic Armies on the board or reduce the number of Garrisons each Praetor has access to.

I was able to publish an interview with the designer Miguel Marqués on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/04/12/interview-with-miguel-marques-designer-of-hispania-from-draco-ideas-coming-to-gamefound-soon/

I also wrote a series of Action Point posts (that are not yet finished) and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Board

Action Point 2 – Roman Phase

Action Point 3 – Hispanic Phase

Here is a link to our video review as a cooperative game:

If you are interested in HISPANIA, you can order a copy for €35.00 ($39.00 in US Dollars) from the Draco Ideas website at the following link: : https://dracoideas.com/shop/en/116-hispania

6. I, Napoleon from GMT Games

A few years ago, I, Napoleon from GMT Games was announced and it was marketed as a historical role-playing game. Not with polyhedral dice, magic and dragons but more as a “choose your own adventure” style of game where you could make choices about the life of Napoleon Bonaparte as he made his way to infamy from his humble beginnings as an artillery officer, to staging a coup d’état in 1799 and becoming First Consul and then to dominating much of Europe and being crowned as Emperor of the French Empire. This was the promise of I, Napoleon and I was very much intrigued by the concept but more importantly about how this game planned to do just that.

As you probably know, normally Ted Raicer designs hard core hex and counter wargames such as The Dark Valley: East Front Campaign, 1941-45, The Dark Sands: War in North Africa, 1940-42 and The Dark Summer: Normandy, 1944. These games are fantastic experiences that are true wargames. But, he also has an eclectic side to him and has designed one of the classic card driven games on the subject of World War I in Paths of Glory. So when I heard that he was designing this interesting looking card based historical role-playing game the first thought that came to my mind was “How is he going to accomplish this feat?” And recently, I was finally able to get the game to the table for a few plays and really very much enjoyed the experience, although I didn’t love it. Partly because it was a very long and involved game, but also partly because it was very tough and seemed to last a long time.

Cards are the heart of the game. Some cards are skills that give you bonuses battles some are are decisions that you have to make, and some are things that just happen to you that you have to deal with. I do feel that the game is a bit lite on actual decisions. I feel mostly that I am drawing a card and rolling a die. Sometimes I succeed and there is a cool benefit or your gain some Glory but most of the time I fail and the cards are simply removed from the game. You get one shot with most of these important events, kind of like real life, but I tend to fail them a lot. In the end, the game is a card game, not a card-driven game and you are not using Operations Points to take important actions but are more often than not being ACTED upon and I was expecting a bit more agency.

My only real initial criticism after 4 plays is that the game is a bit more random than I had expected and more than I normally like (with card draws and dice) and also is a bit chaotic with cards coming in and going out of the deck and playing off of each other. You have to stay on your toes with this one as there is a a lot to keep straight. I’m sure it gets easier as you play more and more and I would say that after 4 plays I am much more comfortable with the process and flow. Bit I would say that the best part if the historical narrative that is generated. This is the greatest strength of the game and I very much have enjoyed that.

An example of this narrative that I experienced and really got a kick out of was when I drew the Joséphine de Beauharnais Card, which is the wife of Napoleon. As you can see from the card below, you roll a D10 and are hoping to get a 9 or 10 so a 20% chance of success to bear a Legitimate Son. I rolled the die and to my delight I rolled a 10 and was successful. My wife was in the adjoining room heard me shout with joy at this amazing luck and when I explained the situation to her she responded with “That’s nice dear!”. Classic response! But that is what happens in this game. The unexpected. The long odds come out in your favor…..sometimes….really very rarely….and when they do it is simply fantastic!

For me, this game is good and is very enjoyable. I can see where some people will find the rinse and repeat of the cards and the rounds to be a bit boring and rote but not every game is for everyone. I also love the feeling of losing, just barely by missing a key role or losing out on a card that would have helped, and then getting that nagging feeling of “I know that I can succeed! If I had only done this and that. Or if this die roll had succeeded.” This one gets you and is a bit addictive and I want to get it back to the table after each play. If you like a challenge, and you like a good historically focused narrative generator style of game, I, Napoleon is right up your alley.

I did write a fairly long and involved First Impressions post on my experience with the I, Napoleon base game and whether it meets the grand vision of the game and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/10/16/first-impressions-i-napoleon-from-gmt-games/

Here also is a link to my video review:

If you are interested in I, Napoleon: The Limits of Glory, you can pre-order a 2nd Printing copy for $54.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1145-i-napoleon-2nd-printing.aspx

5. Pacific War 1942 Solitaire Travel Game from Worthington Publishing

Last year, Worthington Publishing announced a new mini-solitaire travel war game series and the first 2 games covered the Pacific War during World War II and the War of 1812. I played both and love both but only one of those games can make the list so I chose Pacific War. The game is designed by Mike and Grant Wylie and each game has 4 pages of rules, a mounted board and beautiful double sided counters.

I want to immediately provide you an idea of what this game is and what it is not. I think that sometimes people buy a game like this and expect a really deep and involved simulation of the events of World War II in the Pacific with no real basis for that belief other than their hope or preconceived notions. I want to let you know that I really do enjoy this game. I have played it a lot of keep coming back to it. That says something about it right there. But a game that sets up in 30 seconds, plays in 20 minutes or less and gives you some choices and is solo is a pretty good deal in my opinion. The game is very simple and borrows its structure from the well liked States of Siege Series of solitaire wargames made famous by Victory Point Games starting with Darin Leviloff’s Israeli Independence: The First Arab-Israeli War published in 2008 and which now has over 40 volumes. The game uses the concept of several tracks representing the various theaters of the Pacific War including the Central Front (Hawaii through the island hopping campaign of the Central Pacific), Southwest Front (Australia through Guadalcanal and the Philippines), India Front (Burma through to Singapore) and the China Front (Kunmino to Korea) that all converge on Japan and its holdings. The main difference here though is that the player is the one who must make progress down the various tracks and are not the one defending against those advances. The progress on these fronts comes by attacking the defending Japanese units pushing them back one space at a time with the ultimate goal being to occupy Japan itself, which is a tall order. The game is very high level, strategic, and lots of elements are abstracted down to a single die roll to attack and then at the end of each Turn a die roll for the Japanese Bot to determine their actions.

The way that advancing and combat works is through a die roll and is very much dependent on luck. There are not a lot of DRM’s (Die Roll Modifiers) that players can attempt to gain but there are some negative DRM’s that they can remove through controlling the various Sea Areas. With these simple mechanics, with plenty of abstraction, the game is fast playing and meets the stated objective. I have seen some people online stating that it is too dice dependent, doesn’t require choices and is just a laugh. I disagree. If you feel that way, you probably misunderstood the thesis of the game. This game is not trying to be something other than what it is. I actually think that this system is pure genius and gives us wargamers a small sized game that we can take with us and play anywhere. In a hotel room at a convention or conference. While waiting in the airport for your flights to leave. Over your lunch break at work. While sitting in the car waiting for your children. Literally anywhere!

I have very much enjoyed my plays of Pacific War 1942 Solitaire and War of 1812 Solitaire and truly love these games for what they are. Easy to setup, portable, fast playing and difficult to win solitaire games. And I encourage you to get a copy before they sell out. But my favorite of the 2 is definitely Pacific War. It is just so tough, and so interesting and most importantly plays in 20 minutes. And even though it plays fast, there is a lot of depth there and I very much feel satisfied when the game is over and I am already planning how to do better in my next play.

I did write a fairly long and involved First Impressions post on my experience and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/08/20/first-impressions-pacific-war-1942-solitaire-travel-game-from-worthington-publishing/

If you are interested in Pacific War 1942 Solitaire, you can purchase a copy for $35.00 from the Worthington Publishing website at the following link: https://www.worthingtonpublishing.com/collection/pacific-war-1942-solitaire-travel-game

4. Gift of the Nile: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt from White Dog Games

I have really enjoyed my plays of several solitaire games designed by R. Ben Madison. He has a knack for including elements of the history into the gameplay while placing the events into the framework of his chosen system, which is usually the States of Siege Series…but not necessarily always. His newest offering is called Gift of the Nile: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt from White Dog Games and is a solitaire only game that uses the States of Siege Series System and delves in Ancient Egypt and the rule of the Pharaohs covering over 30 dynasties starting with the Old Kingdom in 2,600 BC to the Late Period starting in 700 BC and ending with the intervention of Rome. This is a long and involved game (ranging from 36 turns to something less based on certain conditions happening or a player loss) that really gives the player a good feel for the might and power of the Egyptians, as well as the various threats and enemies they had to deal with to survive for nearly 3,000 years.

One of my favorite games designed by Ben Madison is the fantastic and interesting Mound Builders published by Victory Point Games in 2014. Mound Builders tells the history of 2 of the largest pre-Columbian Indian “mound builder” cultures that dominated eastern North America from before the time of Christ until the coming of the European colonists in the 17th century. The player’s empire represents the earlier Hopewell culture and the later Mississippian culture that derived from it. This game focuses on the building up and expansion of these cultures while then having to survive the oncoming Spanish and other cultures trying desperately to keep hold of what their society means and its identity.

That model was used in this game as well and borrows many of the same elements with the most important being the way resources are used to earn Action Points. See as the player expands and builds their kingdom during the Old Kingdom, they conquer or incorporate established Sepats (chiefdoms) into their fledgling empire. As the empire expands, if you happen to have 2 different Sepats with the same Trade Good, you can count that as having that Trade Good to build your economy during the Nile Phase as it will earn an Action Point from the Trade Goods List if the dice say you will. These Sepats each have a different type of Trade Good that they are good at procuring and once that Sepat has become a part of your empire the player can Temple it (spend Action Points to build a temple in the area) and it will be more valuable as it will create a Trade Good on its own without having to rely on having two of that Trade Good to create an Action Point.

The Old Kingdom is about expanding your empire’s reach into the various lands located on the Tracks surrounding Men-Nefer so you can earn more Action Points in order to take more Actions each turn to build your empire including things such as building Monuments, attacking interloping civilizations called Khastis who have wandered into your kingdom, hiring mercenaries and troops to aid you in this fight and improving the education and literacy of your people. Each of these different Actions are each important and the player must make many decisions about how to spend their scarce resources over the course of the game to build and expand. But there is more and you can really get a feel for the rise and fall of the empire as you play this one out and get a feel for the many challenges that confronted this very interesting civilization.

I published an interview with the designer R. Ben Madison and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/03/11/interview-with-r-ben-madison-designer-of-gift-of-the-nile-the-rise-fall-of-ancient-egypt-from-white-dog-games/

I also wrote a fairly in-depth First Impression look at the game and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/04/03/first-impressions-gift-of-the-nile-the-rise-fall-of-ancient-egypt-from-white-dog-games/

I wrote a series of Action Point posts on the various aspects of the game and you can read those at the following links:

Action Point 1 – Game Map

Action Point 2 – Purpose and Makeup of the 3 Different Draw Cups

Action Point 3 – Nile Phase

Action Point 4 – 4 Different Kingdoms or Time Periods

Action Point 5 – Action Phase

Action Point 6 – Strategy Pointers

Finally, I did upload 2 playthrough videos and you watch them at the following links:

If you are interested in Gift of the Nile: The Rise & Fall of Ancient Egypt, you can order a boxed copy for $57.00 (Print and Play copy for $30.00) from the White Dog Games website at the following link: https://www.whitedoggames.com/gift-of-the-nile

3. Warfighter: The Vietnam War Special Forces Card Game from Dan Verssen Games

If you know nothing about Warfighter, you simply need to because it is a really fantastic solitaire and 2 (or more) player experience that gives lots of tension and decisions about how to attack your enemy and how to traverse difficult terrain to reach your objective before the timer runs its course. Warfighter is a tactical card-based game for one to six players, where players will select and equip a squad of soldiers, and then attempt to execute the mission assigned by fighting their way to achieve the objective. This system is just FUN! It’s a type of side scrolling, pulpy, run-and-gun romp that elicits the feeling of a 1950’s style comic book. The game is very much customizable and we have a good time trying to choose our soldiers, their skills, weapons and other equipment to stay within their allotted points for the scenarios. The decisions that players have to make in this game start from the outset and you have to know what your objectives are and the type of things that you might need to take along with the team to successful.

There’s been several iterations of the system over the years in their own stand alone products, providing you with different theatres, weapons, nationalities, etc. This year, they released the newest addition to the series in Warfighter: Vietnam. Well, actually, the title is Warfighter: The Vietnam War Special Forces Card Game but it is colloquially referred to as Warfighter: Vietnam. To date, we have played 6 scenarios together cooperatively, with each of us controlling 1 Player Soldier, and I have also played a few scenarios solitaire in the comfort of my game room. I have very much enjoyed the experience and really have enjoyed the new tricks the designers have added to capture the thematic feeling and atmosphere of the Vietnam War. This is not your father’s Warfighter! It has been given a total facelift, including new graphic design, art and card backs and that is not all as they have also added new Keywords, new enemy abilities and a whole new level of requirement for a successful mission.

One of the best additions to the system that really makes the game feel historically thematic and also ratchets up the difficulty is the concept of Body Count. As you may know, one of the ways that the United States tracked their progress in the Vietnam War and how they determined whether they were winning or losing the war or a single battle was counting the number of enemy dead killed by US soldiers in battle but also during various search and destroy missions. This was extremely controversial because it lead some commanders in the field to count killed civilians and unarmed non-combatants as well as enemy combatants killed as well as the inflation of these numbers reported to command. General William Westmoreland required this practice and felt that it was a good indicator of progress of operations. The Body Count in the game is earned by Soldiers whenever they cause an EKIA (Enemy Killed in Action) on a Hostile after a hit with a weapon. This Body Count is tracked with circular markers and held in the Body Count Box on the left side of the board and when an EKIA happens, the player must decide to either Bank the Body Count to count toward the required Mission Threshold or Keep it to be spent on special abilities during the Mission after the play of Action Cards. These Action Cards will call out the use of a certain number of Body Count held by the Soldiers, not those that have already been Banked, to activate certain abilities such as access to new weapons, equipment and ammunition from the bodies of the fallen enemy to other benefits such as increasing your Defeat Cover roll, which is required to actually confirm a hit on a Hostile unit.

Another really great addition to the game is the inclusion of the Fade mechanic. Similar to the inclusion of Body Count, this mechanic really represents the hit and run nature of the combat including ambushes and other tactics that are not necessarily a large scale stand up fire fight. During the Fade step of each of the Hostile Turns, Hostiles that have the Fade Keyword have the condition checked to see what effect it might have. If the condition listed on the Hostile Card is met, the Hostile unit will be discarded, and no additional Body Count or Experience is awarded. In fact, the player now loses the ability to continue hitting this possibly wounded and less effective enemy as they tucked tail and ran to the bush. Some of the Fade conditions have costs listed on the cards that require the player to have to pay those costs to avoid the unit from leaving the board. These costs can be paid to prevent the Hostile from Fading but is also a choice as you never seem to quite have enough of any resource, including Action Cards, Ammunition, Health, Experience Points and other things. In the example picture below, if there are no Soldiers present in the location where this Hostile is found, then it will Fade away.

I hope that you can see the changes that were made to this entry and how DVG has stepped up their production game! I have very much enjoyed my plays of this game and look forward to cracking this back out as we begin to explore their numerous expansions and take the campaign out for a spin.

If you are interested, I wrote a fairly in-depth First Impression post that you can read at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/12/10/first-impressions-warfighter-the-vietnam-war-special-forces-card-game-from-dan-verssen-games/

We also shot a video review and you can watch that at the following:

If you are interested in Warfighter: The Vietnam War Special Forces Card Game, you can purchase a copy for $69.99 from the DVG website at the following link: https://dvg.com/product/warfighter-vietnam/

2. Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs

I love a good WWII solitaire wargame! Mike Rinella is a heck of a designer and really creates very playable games. 2 years ago, I played and had a great experience with Stalingrad: Advance to the Volga, 1942 from Revolution Games/Take Aim Designs and now there is a follow-up to that game with Volume 2 in the Solitaire Area Movement Series called Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945.

Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945 is a solitaire area activation game that sees the player handling the attacking American forces against the system that handles the defending and static Japanese side. The primary game is a 9-turn campaign covering the American assault on the city during February and March 1945. The deeper American forces advance, from the city’s less developed periphery to its urban business district and fortress-like government buildings, the greater Japanese resistance becomes.

This game is not just a rehashing of the system used in the first game in the series but adds some very interesting elements to deepen the experience. The biggest change was that the Japanese forces can now counterattack the Americans causing issues with their advances and this is a very welcome addition to the series. The game play is simply superb and I had a really great time with this one having to manage my troops, as losses mount and morale degrades, and also having to fight for the supply points needed to provide those troops with artillery and air support as well as to bring on reinforcements as the game wears on.

Here is a look at my unboxing video:

And here is a link to my playthrough video:

And finally, here is my recent video review:

If you are interested in Manila: The Savage Streets, 1945, you can order a copy for $55.00 from the Revolution Games website at the following link: https://stores.revolutiongames.us/cart.php?suggest=54c48f41-982a-4c42-a13d-9e1511626e50

1. Phantom Fury: Iraq, November 9, 2004 The Second Battle for Fallujah 2nd Edition from Nuts! Publishing

Phantom Fury 2nd Edition is a solitaire wargame game that simulates at a tactical level the operations carried out by United States Marines (USMC) to secure the town of Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004 and to attempt to suppress all armed resistance by the insurgents. The game focuses specifically on the fighting carried out by the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines on the morning of the 9th of November 2004, in the district of Jolan in the north-west portion of the town. The player will control the USMC forces and the game system manages the actions of the insurgents.

The Marines will have to move block by block and house by house clearing out resistance all while trying to minimize casualties and trying not to allow insurgents to infiltrate their lines and reappear in the rear to wreak havoc. This is very much easier said than done though as the first priority is to identify suspected insurgents as the Marines enter new areas that are enemy controlled.

At the outset of the game, and as the Marines advance, they will encounter Suspect Markers which represent as yet unidentified insurgents. Suspect Markers are placed on the map at the start of the game and others will be placed as the game progresses. After Fire Combat or an Assault, a Suspect Marker can be Activated or revealed and then its real nature will be determined. As the player moves into a Zone, they will then completes the Activation of the Zone by placing Suspect Markers out based on the type of Zones they are. Most Zones have just 2 Suspect Markers but some have as many as 3.

These Suspect Markers are drawn at random from an opaque container or draw cup and will be placed on their Suspect side. Where each of these Suspect Markers will be placed is determined by the text as the bottom of the counter. R stands for Roof, while 1 and 2 refer to the first and second floors of a structure. The locations to place the counters in are printed in a decreasing priority order from left to right, and if the first priority location is already occupied you will simply move to the next priority and place the Suspect Marker there.

When a Suspect Marker is Activated in a Normal Zone, the player will roll a 10-sided die and consult the placement table. On a result of 1-5, the Suspect Marker is considered to be a Dummy and represents a false alert, poor intel or just the suspect unit leaving the location as the Marines came closer. On a 6-8, the player will draw a Guerillas insurgent unit from that cup and replaces the Suspect Marker in the same location on its Guerillas side. On a result of 9, the player will draw a Martyrs insurgent unit and replaces the Suspect Marker in the same location on its Martyrs side. Finally, on a result of 0, the Marines have encountered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and will be subjected to an attack.

In the picture above, you can see that the Marines are located in Zone 11 and Zone 12 and have scouted out the buildings across the street and have intel that there are 8 Suspects hidden on the various floors and roofs of the buildings in Zones 20, 21, 22 and 30. If they happen to run across the street without attempting to identify the Suspect Markers, they will come under fire by a large number of them and most likely will be hit and take casualties. The Marines can call in Air Support in the form of UAV’s, attack helicopters, M1-Abrams Tank support and air strikes to identify and knock out these insurgents before taking fire but that will slow their advance down and might cause them to be unable to meet the objective of clearing and securing the entire area of Jolan in the limited amount of turns required.

This game is just so very good and I love the decisions that the player has to make about how they go about clearing the areas with limited resources and under a time limit. Just a very good game design that shows how difficult this task was that was asked of the Marines.

If you are interested, I shot a short RAW video on the game during my first play and you can watch that at the following link:

If you are interested in Phantom Fury 2nd Edition, you can order a copy for 50.00€ ($53.00 US Dollars) from the Nuts! Publishing website at the following link: https://www.nutspublishing.com/eshop/our-games/phantom-fury-v2-en

There you have it. My list of the best solitaire wargames/games that I played in 2024! What a year. There were just so many great games but unfortunately only so much time. There were other games that I was unable to get played that I had acquired and I regret not getting to but there is only so much time.

What were your favorite solitaire wargames from 2024?

-Grant