iOS Board Games (Or Similar) With Legitimately Good Campaigns/Solo?

#1

I love board game, as many of us here do. For some reason, however, I just don’t get all that excited about playing against an AI. Yes, multiplayer is an option in some of these apps, but sometimes I just need a quick solo session. To that end, I’m looking for recommendations for board games, or games that are quite similar, that have some kind of campaign or unique single player.

A couple notes:

  • I have Galaxy Trucker, which is a primary example of a board game with a single-player campaign.

  • Co-op games, by their nature, can be played solo. I own almost all co-ops so you can recommend your favorites, but these aren’t exactly what I’m looking for, either.

Any recommendations?

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#2

Can you define exactly what you mean by “campaign”? Comancheria has four scenarios covering the four different historical periods of the Comanche empire, each of which can be played separately, or they can be chained together, and you have to meet the victory conditions of each one before moving on to the next, with all the gains and losses of the previous scenario intact.

Editing to add: On the electronic front, Prismata has a campaign with what looks like five episodes, each with 9 missions. I’ve finished the first, and I enjoyed it. Battletech has a campaign that includes random missions, and your mechs and pilots can be injured and damaged (which takes time, during which your merc company is hemorrhaging cash) or even killed/destroyed. Battlefleet Gothic: Leviathan likewise has a story campaign with random missions, although I didn’t get very far in it, since it ran like balls on my (quite old) iPad.

Then of course there’s the granddaddy of all campaigns, in my opinion: King of Dragon Pass.

#3

I can try. I suppose “campaign” may not be the right word. What I want is a good solo mode that isn’t just “play a normal game against the AI.” It doesn’t necessarily have to be a campaign, just something that makes single player different than setting up a multiplayer game against AI.

I also probably should have clarified that I’m looking for iOS. I’ll change the topic title. That’s what happens when I try thinking before I’ve had my coffee.

#4

Ah, I added a couple things to my post. One of them is actually iOS! xD Prismata is going to be mobile at some point, I think.

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#5

Would the Through the Ages “Challenges” meet your criteria? Or if you’re willing to count CCGs in with board games, there’s Hearthstone’s solo adventures and dungeon runs, or The Elder Scrolls: Legends’ story and Gauntlet mode.

#6

Talisman: Prologue has a series of mini-campaigns (each with 6 scenarios) for ten different characters from the classic game.

Bottom of the 9th has a solo campaign, though I’ve not played it yet so I’m not sure how it differs.

Agricola has a solo series, but again, I’ve not played it. I still find the base game incomprehensible.

Catan has a campaign, but you need to buy at least one of the expansions to unlock it, which I haven’t done yet.

Qvadriga (32-bit only) technically fits your criteria: it’s essentially a campaign of Circus Maximus.

Those are the only ones I can think of.

#7

Funny, I was thinking about TTA when I made this thread. I don’t know if I consider challenges/achievement much of a change to solo va. AI.

Maybe the problem is that I don’t know what I’m looking for. Maybe just a reason to play a game single-player.

I know games like Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Star Realms, Colt Express, Antihero, etc. have some sort of “campaign” but I don’t really know what these modes entail and if they are worth paying for.

#8

Oh hell yeah QVADRIGA. It has a turn-based mode, but the “stepped real time” is, imo, the only way to play.

#9

I think I know what you’re talking about, and Star Realms is a great example.

Playing the AI in SR is like playing the AI in any other game – once you’ve done it once, you’ve done all there is to do.

But there’s a pretty neat campaign, too, that serves multiple duties. It’s part tutorial, part introduction of new concepts, part story, and part messing around with new cards. It’s up to like 14 chapters now, each with 5-6 missions.

Some other attempts at “story mode” off the top of my head would include the Catan series, NH: Puzzle (32-bit, I think), and Warbits. Also, card games often have a campaign/story thing going on – Elder Scrolls and Eternal are particularly good. The old Magic: TG series had them, too. I’m currently playing the Gwent campaign, although that barely even qualifies as a PC game, since the platforms are limited.

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#10

Thanks @TheDukester

I do play the card games. I bounce back and forth between Erernal and Elder Scrolls. They both have great campaigns, in my opinion, because they do things to change up the way the standard game is played with special rules and the such. The first two chapters of Eternal were possibly the best CCG campaign levels I’ve ever played.

#11

Elder Sign: Omens (and all expansions, each a different campaign).
Old but still one of the best digital solo boardgame, biggest fault is that it has different builds for iPad and iPhone (both great).

If you like CCG, Magic: Duels has multiple nice solo campaigns with pre built decks.
I had a ton of fun with them and some are really hard.
The app (still great) has been discontinued because the new one is com8ng, but I’m not sure it will have solo campaigns too.

#12

Whoops, I completely forgot about TTA’s actual challenges. I immediately thought of Game Center achievements for some reason and forgot about the actual challenge mode. I’ll probably work on some of these.

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