Best fantasy rules for solo play?

[NickNascati]

All,
      I am a solo gamer, by choice and circumstance.  Recently I?ve gotten heavily into fantasy worlds, painting up loads of Reaper minis.  I?ve been using Fistful of Lead/Might and Melee, but I want something with more atmosphere.  I?ve got Shadowdark (solo), Rangers of Shadow Deep, and 2D Delves.  At 74, I really don?t want to wade through pages and pages of rules, tables etc.  which of the three above best fits my needs?

[ced1106]

Rangers of Shadowdeep: Easy rules. I don't play it b/c I'm a stickler for terrain and found it annoying that most of the RoS scenarios call for specific terrain.

Sellswords and Spellslingers: Easy rules, similar to Song of Blade and Heroes activations. Event deck means monsters appear out of nowhere, so more cinematic than strategy. Only $8 for ten scenarios. Blew through the base game content in a week. (: Needs lots of repeats of the same minion, though you can certainly try using different types of minions in a scenario.

Lasting Tales: LOTS of rules, though none individually difficult. Scenarios and random level ups can be broken and unsatisfying if you don't set up the terrain right. Good for campaigns, as there are plenty of events and places (eg. shops) you visit between scenarios. Game is otherwise well made around your using your own mini's and terrain.

Frostgrave: Solo expansion. Same author as Rangers, so I have the same issues. Unless you like different wizards, might as well play Rangers instead.

Song of Blade and Heroes: Solo fan files on BGG. Same author as S&S, but gameplay is quite different. AI plays your opponent's forces.

Four Against the Darkness: No miniatures, but same author as S&S, so I'm including for completeness. (:

[Spinal Tap]

Only played Rangers of Shadow Deep from the three you listed but it does take you easily through a story.

Benefits from numerous expansions so once you've played through the first book you can take your party on further adventures for a modest investment in a new book.

Personally I prefer the Sellswords and Spellslingers rules combined with my random campaign generators, but don't think Rangers of Shadow Deep will disappoint.

[zemjw]

Rangers is the only one I've played. I'm with ced1106 regarding RoSD's terrain requirements, but I find that with a lot of McCullough's games, both with terrain and monsters.

Sellswords is on my to-do list, as is getting back to RoSD.

It would be worth having a trawl through some of the Five Leagues from the Borderlands threads, and see if that would work.

I'm having a similar internal debate at the moment, so I'm interested in what you decide

[fred]

I've played 4AD with a physical dungeon and figures (we even played multi-player over Zoom in lockdown!) its a fun little game, a fairly closed system, but that means all the elements link together well.

[DivisMal]

I?m a big Fan of anything SoBH, but haven?t tried Sellswords, yet. What I like: only two stats , so you get a feeling for the combat value of each model quickly. The special rules which are sometimes seen as a disadvantage, are quite good as they mostly don?t habe stupid names and if you limit them a bit, they give real flavor and cinematic feel to your games.

Rangers + Frostgrave are both nice, but I support what others have said. They require very specific terrain.

The 5 Leagues from the Borderland series is nice. I got nearly all from the 1st edition, but they have more a roleplaying than a wargaming feel. You can even go fishing in one expansion.

[Ozreth]

Sellswords and Spellslingers is my choice. I have played RoSD as well but prefer Sellswords. The turns are more interesting and it has more of the 1930s-1970s Sword and Sorcery flavor that I like (think Elric, Conan, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser etc). Expects very little in the way of terrain, huge plus.

[Cat]

You've been playing Melee, but didn't mention The Fantasy Trip solo modules, have you looked at those?
 
I find those add a lot more flavour than straight up Melee.

[Kikuchiyo]

Sellsword rules 

[black hat miniatures]

The very best solo dungeon campaign game I have found is League of Dungeoneers. 

I don't know if it is possible to order a copy at the moment but it works fantastically as a solo or cooperative creation of an old style dungeon game/

[Inkpaduta]

I don't think he is asking for different rules set. Just the three he has. Which is best of those three.

[boneio]

I don't think he is asking for different rules set. Just the three he has. Which is best of those three.

Good catch...

Of the three listed, I would say 2D Delves.

Rangers is really specific in what it needs - terrain & minis.
Shadowdark is an RPG not a wargame (though one can of course interchange the two without tooooo much trouble...).
2D Delves is similar to 5 Leagues from the Borderlands which IMO is easily the best solo campaign game, neatly blending rpg-ish events with quick tactical wargame combat.

Edit: however, Rangers is atmospheric and simple so does meet those two criteria.

[Ozreth]

I don't think he is asking for different rules set. Just the three he has. Which is best of those three.

Oh yes, you're right.

Of those I only know Shadowdark and RoSD. Shadowdark is an RPG. As a D&D replacement I don't love it (explained my reasoning in the other thread), but as a solo miniatures game...could be good! Haven't looked at it for solo play.

RoSD is a solid game but expects quite a bit of terrain. Not sure what your definition of atmosphere is. For me, RoSD is a little plain in that department. You will get more playability out of Shadowdark I image, and old school D&D flavor is up my alley. And the game would be easily maleable and does not require much, if any terrain.