I figured I would be passing on this one as no one in my game group really wants a deeper fantasy type game. Surprised no one has asked already, but here goes: Can/could this be played solo, with any degree of fun?

The plus factor for me for Runebound is that it plays very well solo. Middle Earth Quest, likely not so much...

Torbal said:

I wouldn't necessarily call this a deeper game, there is IMO a lot less to learn ruleswise than with most FFG games. Degree of fun, well, that's a pretty individual thing, right? I enjoy it, but I also enjoy Arkham Horror and Lord of the Rings solo, I know people who don't.

Only thing that you really have to think about solo is combat. But since you get a limited amount of cards AND you only have so much Strength to play with (monsters especially can usually play around 3 combat cards before being exhausted), and your goal most often from the monster POV is to survive, you can play combat cards accordingly. As the Hero, you need to decide if you're going to try and kill the monster early or take your time and do it in maybe 3 rounds or so, that decision will then influence the cards you want to use. I haven't found any issues with combat, most of the time it's clear what you want to play. Combos with previous round abilities are easy to take into consideration.

As ME has a Sauron player & not just a "System" Solo is difficult (well besides just playing each side but that loses a lot of interest as you know everything).I worked up some Solo Rules & they seem to work out.The Hero managed a Victory eventhough his Mission wasn't revealed to the end.

Of course your left with a degree of randomness & a Mission Victory is blind luck but for just mucking around ME it works.

OD

The game can be played solo, but you have to play both sides. Since Sauron's role is such a huge (and fun!) part of the game, it wouldn't be the same simply designing a "system" for the heroes to beat. Given a choice, I would rather solo as Sauron and design a system for the heroes.

So far, I've found it easier to play Battlestar Galactica solo than Middle Earth Quest.

GodRob said:

Hero "AI" is pretty easy. What do they need? Favors. How to get them initially? Complete Quest(s). After that it gets a bit trickier, but main point would be to keep Sauron from being dominant. They should also try to complete their Mission, while keeping in mind the easy-to-stop Sauron Mission (The Shire and 3 Active Plot ones) and nerf them when the Finale is imminent.

Combat is truely the only real issue, totally random card play isn't any good.

Dam said:

That's what I was going to say. Overall, I really like this game, especially combat. Although it's fairly simple, it lended itself to a nice bit of strategy. That would be completely lost if you left it to random draws.

Also, I'll agree that it's not entirely a deep fantasy game. If you skip over the flavor text and theme, the gameplay could be fit into any genre. We had a fairly good grasp of the rules after a few turns.

It scales well. I think three players is the sweet spot, but it worked fine when we played with just two. This is not one that requires the interest of the entire game group to get played. Just fine one person who is interested and you're good to go.

MEQ in just over two weeks had already seen as many plays as War of the Ring is 15 months . Playing time is around 80 mins now. And as the Heroes have finally managed to a win by Mission in recent games, I don't see interest waning anytime soon. First 5 games were final combat, then 7 Sauron by Mission, then finally Heroes by Mission, unlucky loss by Thalin in final combat (in a game that could've/should've been Hero by Mission) and yesterday Argalad won by Mission.

After six plays (3 solo, 3 with a group), I would have to say that the solo play is nearly as enjoyable as playing with friends.

For my last solo play I randomly drew most of the combat cards for monsters and minions and Sauron still won! (vs Argalad and Thalin) The only times I didn't use the random draws were when: A) the card made no sense, i.e. Aimed Shot on the first round of combat, or B) after the hero is exhausted. Of course, you'll have to use your own judgement on whether a card makes sense or not...

On the War of the Ring scale, I would say that:

4 - this game is a little harder than War of the Ring to play solo but still enjoyable and playable. Some system for hidden elements required.

Robert

(notethatthewaroftheringscaleisnotarealscaleandshouldnotbethesolereasonforpurchaseofaneightydollargame)

Ive only played one game solo to find out the rules but as none in my family seems all that intersted in playing it (my wife says it looks too complicated and doesnt like games anyway unless they are simple, and my daughters only eight so probably not old enough yet) I may have to play more games solo!

I really enjoyed it althouigh it took me about six hours all in, what with stopping every ten minutes to reread the rules. I played combat the same as I would normally ie I think how I would play if I was that character. Sometimes I played a bad card even though I knew it was going to be beaten because thats the one I would have played at that point. Sometimes its difficult playing against yourself! You have to be fair to both sides and sometimes you have to actively forget what the other perosn is playing - it takes quite a lot of skill to not memorise what the opponent has played so you forget it straight away! Help being old though (well Im 43 not that old)

But yes I enjoyed it, I really like the game and am looking forward to another - I particularly love the LOTR flavour it has managed to convey and some thing sthat happen really seem to be very sensible in leading the way forward into the the LOTR. I can see me replaying this game quite a lot.