How many of you do solo play?
How do you manage solo games and maintain a sense of suspense and uncertainty?
Things I have tried or considered have been:
Random event cards/tables.
Random scenery and random deployment. The latter is used for the side that is "the other player". Often the side that isn't "me" also gets a random number of units - usually weighted in favour of "the other player" to offset any bias.
Variable movement rates.
Variable activation (such as Dragon Rampant).
In Napoleonic wargames I used Le Feu Sacre with it's variable order of activation of generals. This helps to some degree, but I found it required quite a lot of concentration and management when done solo. Possibly because Napoleonic games are quite large with many commanders.
I don't think command chits work as I know where each side is putting them and tend to just cancel eachother out.
Building a hand of cards, as in Dux Britanniarum, also doesn't seem to work for me as knowledge of both sides hands removes any surprise. Likewise using differing game objectives/boasts etc just don't seem to work and only add another layer without increasing uncertainty.
How do you make use of heroes in fantasy games?
Are you a bucket of dice player or one who prefers tables and modifiers?
For ease of play would a grid system work?
I am really struggling to find something that works for me. I want something that allows some uncertainty, but also some planning. I don't want a game that is merely ancients with fantasy figures. I don't want to feel that the game is hard work and concentration, but does have plausible and interesting command decisions to make.
Some rules I have looked at are true fantasy rules, others are for historical games but could be a basis for fantasy games.
To date I have looked at:
Rally Round the King
Warmaster
Warband
Hail Caesar
Dux Brit
Lord of the Rings SBG.
Commitatus
Dragon Rampant
Kings of War
To the Strongest
For small skirmishes:
Sellswords and Spellslingers
Various Ganesha Games and THW products
Age of Blood
Blood Eagle
Do I just mash together ideas from several rules systems?
Is there something else out there?
Am I just a difficult person to please