Solo skirmish ww1 rules

[Aethelwulf]

Anyone know of a good set of solo skirmish rules?

[v_lazy_dragon]

Never tried it - but the Osprey The Men Who Would Be King colonial rules has a solo engine (Mr Babbage), and there is a set of mods to bring the rules up to cover WW1 *somewhere* (Wargames Illustrated? Osprey Website? Seen them around at some point just can't remember where).
Bit of a fudge but it might work, sized for around a platoon woth figures organised in squads

[FifteensAway]

Men Who Would Be Kings is an option, also look at Fistful of Lead: link https://wiley-games.myshopify.com/collections/under-3/products/fistful-of-lead-solo

[Inkpaduta]

Firepower could work. It is based off the Song of Blades and Heroes rules.
Could handle 10 or so figures per side.

[Aethelwulf]

Am going to try the Forbidden Psalm: The Last War, since it uses a minimum of figures (5 in your squad), and looks like it is designed for solo play.
https://www.wargamevault.com/product/396497/Forbidden-Psalm-The-Last-War

[fred]

Not sure Forbidden Psalm is strictly historical (from the spiel: 20 new spells, haunted tanks - might be the give away!)

TMWWBKs might work for 1914 but I doubt for trench warfare. It is around 30-50 figures a side.

Trench hammer might be worth a look - its a smaller number of figures, but can’t recall how solo friendly it is.

[Aethelwulf]

Actually the non historical part about it is what I like!

[FiatRevelli]

Trench hammer might be worth a look - its a smaller number of figures, but can’t recall how solo friendly it is.

I play Trench Hammer solo.

It doesn't have any mechanisms for controlling the opposing force's actions (which units activate, what actions they take, etc) - you play both sides. So if you want a more programmed opponent, they aren't a good fit unless you bolt-on a method from somewhere else.

With that in mind, I'd say it's moderately to highly suitable for solitaire use:

     It has no hidden elements.
     Minimal status tracking - hit points is pretty much it.
     Your ability to be "godlike" is limited by the use of an orders roll which limits how many of your units you can activate in a given turn.
     It is IGO-UGO, no simultaneous movement.
     The inactive side doesn't have any interruptions of the active side's movement - i.e. no overwatch.
     Units automatically counter-attack when attacked at "Firefight" range or close combat.
     
The lack of overwatch might strike some as odd, but it's accounted for (as I see it) by the automatic return fire of that last point. As a solo player, I find that helps me focus on the active side, without having to simultaneously make sure the other side doesn't have an overwatch opportunity.

[Aethelwulf]

I've only got 20 Jerries and 20 Brits, so it can't be big skirmishes.

[FiatRevelli]

I've only got 20 Jerries and 20 Brits, so it can't be big skirmishes.

That's about as many figures as I use. Here's a game with just about 18 or so on the attacker, and maybe a dozen for the defender? https://54mmorfight.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-southern-front-1917ish.html

Trench Hammer, it's not 1:1. You can use individually-based figures - say 3-5, but they move and act together and are a squad (or whatever you want to call them, I've moved to calling them platoons). Or you can use multi-figure bases.

One Hour Skirmish Wargames works well for solo, 1:1, with 10 or less per side. It's pretty generic though. It uses special rules to give period flavor, so it requires a little lifting to bring in any specifics that you want to have in your game. That said, it works well for trench raiding.

[Aethelwulf]

will give it a go.