I thought I should write up my solo play method. Based on some social media posts I've seen, apparently there is a need for it!
It’s fairly simple, of course, but breaking it down might help show people how it’s possible to do, if you are willing to go to the trouble. I get the feeling a lot of people are very excited to play more games but frustrated by the pandemic. This is aimed at the everyman (or woman, of course) player of 9th edition 40K. Not that the system matters all that much, but there may be some particulars that would need adjustment for use with Age of Sigmar or Flames of War or what-have-you.
I play Crusade mode, but this method should work fine for Matched/GT/Open mission sets, as well. I’ve actually generated Open missions to play using Crusade. I’ve done that borrowing a mission reward (determined by rolling a D6, usually) from one of the Crusade mission sets for Combat Patrol/Incursion/Strike Force.
The first thing I do is decide which two armies I want to play. I almost always play my White Scars because I want to keep earning RP for them to keep adding stuff to their Order of Battle. Often I’ll rotate my alternate forces to match up against them. My options on hand are Astra Militarum, Ultramarines, Word Bearers, Red Corsairs, Sons of Omegon (custom Primaris-only chapter), Talons of the Emperor (Adeptus Custodes with or without Sisters of Silence), and Imperial Knights. Lately I’ve been going with the Astra Militarum for several games, again because I want the RP to keep filling out their force with stuff I have already painted.
Next up I’ll decide how big a game I want to play. Often this is determined by the opposing force I choose, because many of them are only filled out to the size of a Combat Patrol or Incursion game. Sometimes I’ll play the biggest game possible between two factions, matching the PL as nearly as possible. Sometimes I’ll choose a 25ish PL list from a larger Order of Battle just to do a relatively simple and quick Combat Patrol game. Similarly, I might do an Incursion game where I only take an Outrider detachment of my White Scars. Thematic lists can be very fun when you can also tailor the opposition to allow for a well-matched game.
Next comes the list building stage. I’ll typically have it in mind to play a game with a force of nearly all White Scars bikers, or a list of nothing but Leman Russ tanks. I’ll begin with some concept like that for one of the factions above, build the list, and then choose another faction and build a list that is somewhere between a perfect foil for the first list and a takes-all-comers list for the faction. Like a real opponent probably should, knowing roughly what they would be facing. If my first list contains two big tanks, then the list to go up against it should have a few heavy weapons or comparable anti-tank component to it, without being exclusively composed of tank hunter units. If the first list is all infantry, then there’s probably not much need for a bunch of Devastator Squad with Lascannons and Multi-meltas. I might build in Heavy Bolters instead, or an Assault Squad instead of Devastator Squad. This is a pretty subjective and ‘season to taste’ part of the process.
Now to the practical logistics of playing. I set up the table. We have a decent-sized dining table that is about 53.5” x 35.5” with leaves that extends out to about maybe 90” x 35.5”. A 30” x 44” battlefield for Combat Patrol or Incursion is a nice fit. If I want to do a 60” x 44”, then I bring out an ironing board and a couple of extra flat wooden boards to run alongside the table to make that extra 8.5”.
I use F.A.T. mats and Gamermat.eu mats and GW cardboard killzone surfaces in the various sizes, and a bunch of GW terrain in the various Imperialis and Mechanicus ruins styles. I find the mats and painted terrain add a lot to the immersion in the game, and using a lot of pieces allows for almost endless variety in the map setup. I tend toward maps that are symmetrical in terms of the line-of-sight-blocking terrain present, if not perfectly geometrically symmetrical. I tend toward denser terrain layouts, also, though I do try to leave one or two long fire lines available. All this is done before deployment or table sides are determined.
To keep track of CPs, Victory points, and what battle round the game is on, I make up a dice UI to use. Each side gets a D20 to show their CP count, a couple of D10s to use to keep track of victory points, and there’s a single D6 with numerical faces to show what battle round it is. I grab the stratagem cards for each faction and leaf through them pulling out the ones I might use for that specific list, then put the rest back in the box. My last game, I only pulled about 5 cards for the Astra Militarum, not counting the Orders and Psychic Powers cards. If I’m playing Space Marines, there are also the Chapter Supplement stratagem cards, the Doctrines cards, and the Litany cards, if applicable. I get all these out and prepped to use, off to the side of the battle mat on each table side. One army gets the left side of the table off the mat, and the other army gets the right side.
I also keep the Core Book handy when I’m playing, mostly to reference the rules for the specific mission that I’m playing out both sides of. For referencing rules, as necessary, I use the 40K app on my phone. For referencing datasheets or weapon profiles or unit abilities, battle traits, scars, honors, and the like, I use my homebrew crusade cards. These show all the info from the unit’s datasheet, but then also include the unit’s relevant Crusade info, such as Crusade Points totals, XP totals, kill counts, battle counts, battle traits/scars and what they do, and even a list at the bottom of stratagems can apply to the unit. Melta Bombs would be included in the list for any unit with that keyword in a Space Marines army, for instance. Transhuman Physiology would be in the list for any Primaris units. This is all there so that at a single glance you can learn everything that applies to a unit. They also come in very handy when unit A is interacting with unit X. Did unit A have a battle scar that would mean -1 to hit? Did unit X have a 6+ Feel No Pain type ability from a battle honor? Just check the sheet.
When setting up and later tearning down (tracking XP and Crusade stuff), I follow the Crusade mission routine from the Core Book line by line. It’s like a pre- (and post-) flight checklist. Following it closely helps to ensure that no steps are missed, but then later on in the game when your brain is all screwy from figuring out hundreds of dice rolls, you can rest assured knowing everything was done by the book earlier in the game if a question arises.
Pretty soon you’re off, rolling a couple of D6s handily color-matched to each side to determine attacker/defender, then you’re deploying each side in turn and to the best of your ability. This is when you first get to start practicing playing both sides to the utmost. Deployment is incredibly impactful in any game of 40K, and if you’re setting up to play both sides, this is when you have to start being on your toes to do the best by each side as possible. Often that might mean trying to hide as many units on both sides as possible! Often it means putting down all the troops units in incredibly obvious places to begin with, so that one side eventually has to start putting down the key units before the other can then react to them by playing its own key deployments. It’s all that stuff you are familiar with from playing against another person, except it’s a mirror match. You may have trouble being impartial, and end up putting the thumb on the scale for one side or another. If that’s the case, or if you think it might be, then step back at the end of deployment and consider whether the other side has left you anything that is too good to be true. If they have, then fix it from their point of view, unless it was as a result of your key unit being one of the last things on the board after they had already exhausted all of their units.
Next, the game begins. Command phase, don’t forget to increment your CP. Movement, Psychic, Shooting, Charge (don’t forget Heroic Interventions on the other side), Fight, Morale, and repeat for the other side. It can be tough to remember very situational stratagems, especially for the inactive player, so maybe just concentrate on trying to remember Command Re-roll or the like to burn those CPs. But also, don’t neglect to take advantage of one thing solo play allows for that is otherwise impossible—take a break and come back hours later! Re-wind the clock several phases to make that move you forgot to make earlier for one side or the other! Take lots of photos of the battle!
I find the roll progression to be very fast in solo play. Hit rolls, wound rolls, save rolls all using the same pool of dice from beginning to end make it pretty quick to progress if you know all your unit and weapon profiles by heart. What I find I spend more time on than I otherwise might is movement and positioning, simply because I can take all the time in the world to consider, think, ponder, wonder, and ideate all before moving any models. I sometimes also gloss over Crusade traits and scars and stuff because I know unit and weapon profiles but don’t look at the reference material often enough to see that, oh yeah, this unit does get +1 to BS.
But, the more I set up and play out solo games, the better I learn all the rules (because again I can take all the time necessary to look them up when a question arises), the more I am free to experiment with themed or skewed lists for fun, and the quicker and more well-versed I become at playing 40K. I use these games for fun narrative play, but I suspect they could also be tuned to use to hone competitive skills and knowledge, as well. It wouldn’t necessarily work for when there are secret secondary objectives, or other hidden information in games, though I think those are pretty rare.
When the game is done, all of the Crusade stuff I handle with D6 rolls. Traits, scars, etc. I’ve gone back and forth on whether to take scars or take the Devastating Blow option, but that’s a choice offered to the player anyway. I play enough games that I can handle taking the Devastating Blow and being set back some XP, but I still can’t get enough RP to up my Supply, so of course I don’t want to spend any on removing the really bad scars. I’ve even retired units a couple of times and re-recruited them as separate units with 0 XP to get rid of multiple scars. Again, this is all perfectly legal in the Crusade rule set.
Anyway, that about covers it. I’ll say that it definitely does take time and effort to play solo games, but I’ve found it’s worth it, and has allowed me to fairly extensively play Crusade where otherwise I would have 0-1 games played by now!
