Thoughts on Going Solo with Hail Caesar/Shadow Storm

[ZeroTwentythree]

The only "free" time I usually get is late at night, and it's hard to plan anything in advance anyway. So the painting I've been doing lately has been with the idea of trying out some solo gaming. This is new ground for me, but I've got a lot of ideas and now that I'm getting enough figures done to try putting some battles together, I'd like to start working out some details.

I've had a few different rules for battles (not skirmish) in mind, and Hail Caesar has been the front runner lately -- especially after seeing the Shadow Storm modifications.


CARDS?

One change that I've been considering making to any set of rules is that I would like to use a card based activation system, with various "event" cards mixed in to keep it interesting. I'm hoping this helps create a "fog of war" element that would otherwise be lacking from a game with no live opponent.

Here are my initial thoughts as it would apply to Hail Caesar/Shadow Storm:

Activation cards per commander for movement. Each commander starts with a number of cards in the deck equal to the number of units in their command. No unit can be activated more than once per turn/shuffle. So if a brigade move is made, extra cards for a commander will be discarded if they have no un-activated units. Any activation card can be willingly discarded without being used.

The commander still has to make their leadership roll for the orders to be enacted. If the roll is failed, the card that was drawn is discarded from the deck. Not sure about this. Maybe only on bad failures (miss by a certain number) or blunders? I like the idea of command & flexibility breaking down as the battle progresses. Do I work in initiative/free moves for anyone who doesn't get an activation card? If so, how to determine order? Or are they just stuck for a turn?

What about a "activation phase ends, reshuffle and move on to next phase" card? That could really create some unpredictability in the movement.



PROGRAMMING

I'm not going to type out the details yet, but I will be "programming" my opponent. Each scenario will have specific "programs" for the types of actions that each leader and the units under their command will make. I will try to work out a simple, situational flow chart for this. Going to see how that works. On a large scale, this will determine the general disposition of each commander, on a smaller scale it will provide a flowchart to determine (or narrow down) the actions of individual units.



REMOTE GAMING ALTERNATIVE?

I've done a small bit of reading & thinking about the idea of remote gaming. I would obviously need the right minion/opponent. But the general idea would be that I could set up a battle here on my table, and have someone else make decisions for the opposing army. I would obviously handle all of the actual physical movement of the figures. There are a few ways I can see to handle this... anything from still photos of the battlefield and orders sent back & forth by email, chat, or even on a public forum thread, to actually gaming live via video. There seem to be a lot of variables to this, and the idea is still only half-baked.



As I said, solo gaming is still new territory for me, so I appreciate any thoughts, ideas, feedback, etc.

[fred]

If you are using HC then the standard command rules will throw in enough friction with failed orders and blunders that you probably won't need more randomness here.

I would think about having some deployment options for the non-player side - fairly simple options, attack on right flank, attack on centre, refuse right flank, etc. You would deploy your force first, then pick the deployment option for the non-player side. This may already be considered within your programming option.

Remote gaming - a few years ago on the BKC forum some of the guys used this a lot. One player would be the host and setup a table with all the figures, and then use a web cam to view the game. This way he could play against a real person. Other people have used a remote player to create a battle plan for the enemy side to use.
You should be able to get some volunteers from LAF?

I think you are in the US and I'm in the UK, which would make live games a bit hard, but I'd certainly be happy to give some battle plans if that would help