YORKTON - In the hugely diverse world of board games one area often overlooked are solo games.
It’s likely most of us who have a deck of cards have wasted at least a few hours through the years playing solitaire, but that is only the very small tip of a vast array of solo games.
A recent addition to the list is Holdout by designer John Bailey, with fine art by Klaudia Jankowska, and published by 2023 Humble Bard Games.
Holdout is a print and play game recently funded on Kickstarter.
While there are certainly PnP games which get rather detailed in construction after printing Holdout is basically a rule set, plus a few ‘game’ sheets, 13 in all, so you can get to the game without spending time with scissors and glue, which in my books is a huge win.
The pre-game time investment is low so the risk to try such a game is low.
By why a Holdout a solo game?
“I personally enjoy solo games, as my gaming group and I are all very busy, and can't get together more than about once a month. So, I just like making games I enjoy playing,” said designer Bailey, who hails from North Carolina, where he has been a career educator for more than 25 years, he was drawn to the theme when created the game.
And why a PnP?
“Print-and-plays are very inexpensive, require little to no wait time for customers to receive, no production hassles, no shipping and freight snafus, no heavy fulfillment delays, no warehousing costs, and work very well for international backers. I have plans to create physical versions of our games, and those are in the works,” said Bailey.
So from the rule set, the theme is about survival after the world has finally broken.
“You’ve spent years surviving from day to day, fighting for every scrap of food and drop of water, and defending yourself from those who would take what little you have - including your life. Finding some resource-rich ruins, you decide to settle down and try to make a new life for yourself. You are not alone, however - there are others who would like to join you ... or rob you ... or worse.”
Bailey says he was drawn to the theme when creating the game.
“I love post-apocalyptic settings, and this game just popped in my mind one day. In a weekend, the basic game was created,” he said.
To stay alive you take on different scenarios, hoping to hang on through several rounds of rolling dice – you will need a cup full of 16 D6s.
So yes this is a game where the fickleness of dice plays a huge factor, but with a theme like this where so many things can rise up to bite you, the dice actually work.
For a game overview we again go back to the rules.
“In Holdout, you will be building your wasteland home in order to make it suitable for daily life, including sources of water, food, and proper shelter. Realizing that there is strength in numbers, and through an innate desire to help other survivors, you hope to bring others into your settlement to form a cooperative community. Your ingenuity will be challenged, as creating something from nothing is not easily done. Your settlement will be a proud bastion of hope for the scattered survivors of the wasteland - and a target for the marauding Raiders who do not seek to help, but to destroy.
To win the game, you must achieve the goals for your chosen scenario by the end of six game rounds. These goals usually involve having achieved certain levels of resource development.”
Bailey said he simply tried to create a game he himself would like.
“I simply like making games, and wanted to make a game I enjoyed playing,” he said. “If I did that, there would likely be others like me who would enjoy it as well, so I am working to make it available to as many as possible.”
In looking at the game the designer noted, “Holdout is a challenging solitaire resource-management game that is easy to print and prepare, and reasonably quick to learn. Players who enjoy solo games, resource-management, dice-management, and post-apocalyptic themes will enjoy the game I think.”
And it’s not as easy as it might look.
“It looks simple at first, but is deceptively challenging. I enjoy trying the different scenarios, and the characters you can encounter are thematic and fun,” said Bailey.
“I design the theme first, mechanisms second, as I want my game mechanisms to compliment the thematic elements as much as possible. I like how all of the resources are important, and the importance of balancing them all. You need community members to gain more dice to roll, which gives you more resources ... but you have to be able to give your community members food and water, or you lose them. The delicate balance is nice, I think.”
Overall this one is rather well laid out. The rules are easy enough to follow and the art fits the theme, so mark it as a good solo option to check out at www.thehumblebard.com
