Thanks so much, David. Wonderful job by you and Trevor designing this gem of a game.

David, this game is amazing. Every play hints at more depth I hadn't seen. I'm currently playing two campaigns with two different friends, love it.

@@mylor1066 Thanks so much!

Awesome! I'm really glad you like the variant. I'm very excited to see the official one as well :)

Feel free to send me an email at onestopcoopshop@gmail.com and I can explain further. Probably won’t do another video until I adapt the rules for North Africa.

Once I borrow it from my friend, I will try to make it happen.

I’m actually going to try as my next project. No promises that it will WORK though… we will see 😅😅😅

To give credit where it's due, I only designed the variant. A BGG user (Hath22) generously spent the time to match the game's graphical design, and gave me permission to use that version.

Happy to hear it!

Were you looking at the most recent version (the cards) or at the thread I posted initially? I'm pretty sure the current version of the cards explains it correctly, but I could be wrong! :)

One Stop Co-op Shop the cards linked in the video say the same as you do in the video. I was referring to post on BGG. I printed the cards linked above and they all seem to match the play in the video.

Ah good to hear! I’m going to play North Africa at some point, revise the system to hopefully function with that, and do a full revision at that points, but it should be a while off.

@Tom D it's still a living work, so if you eventually play and have feedback, feel free to share :)

In the core rules, once a card is damaged, it is out of the game. So eventually all the cards for a given unit might run out if they get shot too much. In my first iteration, I had the player counting how many cards were IN the AI deck of each type, but that felt too cumbersome. So instead I achieved the same thing by counting how many cards were OUT of the deck. So honestly, the reason you count supply and damage cards is just a workaround to find out how many cards are in the deck. If a Rifleman has 3 cards in supply/damage, they must have 2 cards in their deck. If that makes sense at all :)

@@OneStopCoopShop Got you. Superb. And thanks for the quick response!

Well, not officially, as in no one ever talked to me about it :) But could they have looked at mine as they made their own? Maybe!

The official rules ARE pretty similar, but I think we probably just came to similar conclusions by coincidence. But thanks for playing, and glad things are starting to go more smoothly!

That’s certainly a way you could go with it. You’d achieve much simpler and more straightforward play, but at the cost of the AI doing pretty much the same thing each game :) I prefer in most of my solo designs to try to emulate the multiplayer experience as much s possible. That won’t appeal to everyone!

Nice! Yeah, even if you go with the official solo later, this is a fun way to start ;)

@@OneStopCoopShop Appreciate all you do on here! I've gotten back into Mage Knight (a daunting - pun intended here - task that's kept it boxed for a year and a half) and I'm playing Etherfields, now that's it's arrived, while watching Bairnt for reference. If we can convince you to do some more 5 Parsecs from Home, I'll be at peace in life ;)

@@kylemoore7746 hahaha, tons of great ones in there. I think Colin said he might do more 5 Parsecs, but it's been a bit...

If you do, let me know how it goes!

@@OneStopCoopShop I finally got it on the table playing the first 3 scenarios. It works really well, even though I few times played the rules wrong when it comes to having the objective or pin goal. So I would recommend to create two decks so that you can't do anything wrong. Maybe you should also add a basic rule that if non of the options is relevant, that the unit would always attack resp. suppress

@@andrethannhauser6302 good call. I wanted to keep printing to 1 page, which is why I combined the pin and objective stuff, but I see how that could be confusing. I wasn't as clear on your final suggestion. Are you saying take away the attack instructions on the AI card, and make it just a universal rule that they attack if they can't do anything else?

@@OneStopCoopShop I mean e.g. the Gunner card isnt clear when the target defence is 10+ the gunner cant move, it seems that he would do nothing. Btw I have just marked the key words objective goal and pin goal in different colours. That already helps

​@@andrethannhauser6302 Ah, you're right. Good call on the gunner. Next time I do a pass on this (probably whenever I try to add North Africa support) I'll fix that.

Yeah, sorry about that! This was the first major solo variant I did and I didn't explain things nearly enough in retrospect. The core idea is that the number on the bolster card is the total the automa wants to have of each card type OUT of its deck, adding supply and damaged cards together. So for example it prefers to have 1 scout card OUT of its deck, which by extension means it wants to have at least 2 scout cards IN its deck. I had to do the awkward counting of supply and damage cards because I didn't want players to have to remember how many cards were in the automa's deck. So, building on that idea, the automa will prefer to bolster the card type that is furthest above that preferred number, breaking ties by which type is higher on the list. Example - Squad Leader A is bolstering in an objective scenario. In the supply + damage combined piles there are 3 Machine Gunner A cards, 2 Scout A cards, and 3 Riflemen A cards. This means all 3 card types are +1 above where the automa wants them to be (they'd like 1 more of each type in their deck). Since all 3 are tied, they look at the highest priority, which is the machine gunner. So for their first bolster they will add a MG card. Now MG cards are at +0, right where the automa wants them. So for the next bolster they have to break the tie between Rifleman A and Scout A's +1. Scouts are higher in priority, so they will bolster 1 scout card for their second bolster. Now, with all that craziness said, let me explain PRIORITY bolsters. What this means is that the SUM TOTAL of card types that can be bolstered by the drawn card is at least 2 higher than the sum preference. For example, in our previous example, because card types Squad Leader A could bolster add up to a sum of +3 (+1 from each of the three types), bolstering is a priority for that squad leader, and they will prefer to do it over all other actions except their first priority, inspiring a riflemen unit to control an objective. I hope that makes a bit more sense, and sorry it's so complex! The new solo rules in the Reinforcements expansion are much more simplified (though in my opinion also a bit too dumb, but you can't have it both ways I guess)!

@@OneStopCoopShop Thank you very much, I am bouncing between the very simple of the official solo and the Kafkeano of your Solo. It is a joke, I know that you are only more challenging but I have a hard time understanding it, I have to translate your English into Spanish and it is almost impossible to understand it.

@@OneStopCoopShop Please post this explanation in your bgg thread when you can, so that everyone can read it. It strikes me that there are so few comments.

@@Ale-xt2hw good idea!

I did! It's just a really basic one, each on a card. See, I learned from Gandhi ;)

@@OneStopCoopShop ah yes, I forgot about the new system/aids with Gandhi, sweeeet!

Try this - drive.google.com/file/d/1KPbiC_dVtm8zyqYcbgFcypZ-0bTpFGzt/view?usp=drivesdk

It's on my list to figure out a way to adapt this system to Stalingrad. Unfortunately, with GenCon recently throwing 50 review games at me and our next designed game going on crowdfunding in a couple months, my list is really long... :)

I believe these were KMC sleeves, the perfect fit ones they sell on Amazon

Let me know how it goes!

Will do!

Yeah, it’s on BGG. Here is the link: boardgamegeek.com/filepage/206471/solo-ai-cards-v10-one-stop-co-op-shop

Personally I still play the rules as I wrote them, but feel free to adjust if you find the AI too tough or too easy.

I think it’ll vary person to person. For me, reinforcements is a bit easier to run (and it supports North Africa), but i much prefer how my AI handles some things, such as bolstering

You are correct! In my variant, you keep the cards that are removed from the game in the supply, but FACEDOWN. They can't be regained by the AI, but you keep them there because they play a role in how the AI calculates which cards it wants to bolster. It needs to know that it is down to 1 rifleman card, for example, and counting the cards in the supply (or, from another perspective, the cards NOT in the AI's deck) allows for this. Hope that is clear!

You are correct, though I'm not sure it makes too much difference unless a battle lasts a long time ;)

Not sure what you mean. The massive variance in card draw makes the AI do very different things each time it plays. At least in my experience (and I’m guessing for most others, since this variant has been out there a while and I’ve never heard this complaint before)

Remains to be seen. My friend has a copy, but I haven’t played yet. But I’m excited to give it a try regardless

My friend has a copy, but I haven't played yet. I'm happy to try my hand at solo for that once I do. I guess vehicles are the biggest new addition I'd have to figure out?

@@OneStopCoopShop yep, there are some new actions too and the control rule you already know

@@OneStopCoopShop Please do :)

Please do have a go with solo rules for north africa also!

@@nathanielpayne2681 I'm going to! I got busy with one of our designs we are pitching to publishers, but hope to come back to this soon.

Good luck!

Um... KMC perfect fit maybe? I bought them a while back :)

Hope you enjoy the variant! As for Memoir 44, I don't know! I haven't played that in years. But looking through BGG, I found the following thread discussing a variant that is apparently pretty popular: boardgamegeek.com/thread/170902/solo-m44

I’m waiting for the official solo expansion which is coming out this year. If it’s not fun, then yes :) Glad you are enjoying this!

Check the rules on page 11, placing combat counters. When you play a card for a unit not on the board, you place the unit AND perform an action

Feel free to tell me whether my rules writing is wholly unclear ;)

I haven’t played that yet, but I’ve heard it’s fun. Maybe I’ll borrow my friend’s copy...

Once I play NA, I plan to adapt it.

@@OneStopCoopShop Hey, Mike! Any chance you've gotten around to playing and working on the NA AI adjustments?

@@copelandwoodruff9810 I have it in my online shopping cart. So hopefully soon!

I have no knowledge of whether the designers of the official solo rules were aware of my ruleset or ever tried it. I think there are many similarities, but I also think it’s entirely possible that we just happened to think along similar lines

@One Stop Co-op Shop at a glance I may prefer yours anyways :P. Just got Normandy yesterday so this may be first way I play it.

I think mine is smarter in many ways, but clunkier to run. Best of luck!!

Got it finished as quickly as I could for you :)

@@OneStopCoopShop thanks mate,

much appreciated!!! And as always, nice and clear videos, top notch!

Not yet! I don't own that one, but will look into it. One player tried it out with NA, and it KIND OF worked? They had to fudge what vehicles do, and the AI of course wasn't so smart :)

@@OneStopCoopShop I see. Well here's to hoping. But I (and a great many of us) thank you for this variant. A lack of a solo variant that wasn't some version of playing 2-handed is what has kept me from the game. But no more!

It WAS, but I've been so busy with some of our designs (we have at least one game coming out this year, hopefully two) that I haven't gotten around to it. And now that the official Turczi solo mode is coming soon (and I've seen some of it. It looks good!) I'm not sure I'll ever get to it :(

@@OneStopCoopShop Official solo mode!? Well, I am glad you bad news comes with so much good news as well!

@@erikjordheim6201 yes! I think it's called "reinforcements", and it'll include official solo for every scenario in both North Africa and Normandy, as well as other new content I believe.

You didn’t wait long enough ;)

With these rules solo works perfectly! And the new upcoming Reinforcements expansion has an official solo variant. So I guess this IS a solo game after all :-)

Do you mean the game itself, or my unofficial solo variant? I think the core game is very streamlined, personally, but my solo rules add a bunch on to it to make the AI function in an intelligent way,

@@OneStopCoopShop No I meant the game itself, not your solo variant. Might just need to give it a try when it arrives. Was planning to play a skirmish game with my 11yrs old and ordered this and Wildlands. Now not so sure if this is appropriate. As always love your videos and your quick reviews!

@@njco78 definitely give it a go. I think it's VERY accessible, especially if you start with scenario 1 (which has only 2 types of units on the board, scouts and riflemen). As long as they understand how to scout and capture control points, they should be good to go. My 8 year-old has played it.

@@OneStopCoopShop Thank you I will try it out tomorrow and then try Wildlands alos. Let's hope I can get him entertained (me included) :)

I've been covering a lot of COIN games recently, so this one seemed relatively straightforward and streamlined. Lol :)

@@OneStopCoopShop Ahh, Im a total noob on that kind of games haha, but I love Undaunted since its deckbuilding :D

Great work - I got this game just as lockdown hit, so I have no-one to play against & am looking for a good AI opponent. I'll be giving this a go soon. Unfortunately, I had to give up on following the rules from the video as it was all so fast that I got a headache trying to keep up & take them in 😂 I'm sure I'll be fine with the printed info though 😁