Goblins v. Commonwealth solo playtest

Goblins v Commonwealth, solo rules play-test

This is a write-up of an early play-test of some solo rules I’ve been working on. They’ve developed quite a bit since then, but at least this will give you a flavour of the approach. Essentially, I’ve layered some decision-charts over the top of the regular rules, to imitate another player. It’s never going to be the same as playing against another person, but my aim is to give a structure to guide choices and end up with a challenging, satisfying game, benefiting from the core Moonstone mechanics.

Let’s see if I’m on the right path…


Goblins (me)
Shabaroon
The Mortician
Ribald
Goblin King
Herbert Growbottom

Commonwealth (opposing troupe)
Loci
Agatha Tavernfrau
Fritz
Mr Toodles
Gertrude, Faery Hunter

In these solo rules, the opposing troupe gets given the most advantageous side and they also gain initiative. This aims to make up for their more predictable activations. The moonstone spread definitely favours the Commonwealth, with three safely theirs (there’s one barely visible between Toodles and Gertrude) - plus most of my goblins are slow or weaklings. This is going to be an uphill struggle!


Turn 1   

 
The Commonwealth activates its support models first. Loci harvests a moonstone and hangs back, away from Ribald; Agatha harvests and plays drink your fill on Fritz, giving him extra energy. Meanwhile, Shabaroon plays goblin mischief and it doesn’t go too well…

 

The Mortician uses all his energy to harvest, before trundling forward. Mr Toodles harvests and plays blighted elixir on Gertrude. In these rules, if I’m resisting an arcane ability, I look at my hand and note down which cards I would call ‘bluff’ to, if they are declared. Here, I decide I would just call ‘bluff’ on a blue 3 – which is exactly what Mr Toodles gets! Two more energy for Gertrude. Fortunately, he doesn’t have another useful card to follow up. 

Ribald doesn’t have anyone in range to fire his cannon, so he uses all his energy to rush forward and claim the nearest moonstone. Fritz responds as any melee character should, and moves forward to engage him.

Next up, the Goblin King claims the moonstone off Shabaroon and plays rule the roost on Ribald, so he can finally target someone. I draw a green 1 against Fritz; the opposing troupe has no green cards in its hand so lets this one go through.
 

 

Gertrude finishes the turn by using all her energy to run forward and harvest the moonstone before Herbert Growbottom can get there.

At the end of turn 1, commonwealth lead 4 moonstones (Gertrude, Agatha, Toodles and Loci) to 2 (Goblin King and Mortician)

Turn 2

Even though Commonwealth have the +2 bonus for initiative, they lose the roll-off, so I go first. Ribald moves forward to get a clear line of sight on Gertrude – we need that moonstone! I bluff a Green 2 but have outsmarted myself with my own rules: Commonwealth have one green 2 and the consequences would be very bad if this arcane attack goes through (Gertrude would die straight-off), so they call my bluff and replace it with a pink.

Fritz uses intimidate to make Ribald a predictable combatant. It costs one energy but it pays off – he deals 9 damage to the troll in the first round of combat, and slays him on the second (although Ribald plays his signature and blows up on his way out).

Herbert casts wither on Fritz from the wooded patch (there is limited point in him targeting Gertrude, with her magic resistance). As Gertrude is a support character with a moonstone, she would typically be retreating at this point. She also takes a pot-shot at Herbert, successfully landing a blue 2.

Shabaroon plays goblin mischief, more successfully this time. The Goblin King, Herbert and Mortician both end up with extra energy. He then plays goblin luck on Gertrude, who gets a great resist hand (containing both the blue and pink 3s) but Shabaroon has the green 3 – two wounds on Gertrude!

 

Agatha sees a soft target in Shabaroon, and entices him closer, where he’ll be less able to boost his goblin teammates. She then moves forward and attacks him (which she wouldn’t normally do, as a support character, but Shabaroon offers little threat). She fails to do any damage this turn. Loci plays verdant growth to spring up a wooded patch behind the goblin, making it harder for him to get away.

The Goblin King plays rule the roost on Ribald, who shoots at Gertrude but I decline to play a card as I know that the opposing troupe would catch me in my bluff.

Mr Toodles ends the turn by failing to heal Gertrude or play lullaby on Agatha. Humans still lead by a decent margin of 4 moonstones (Gertrude, Agatha, Toodles and Loci) to 2 (Goblin King and Mortician)

The situation at the end of turn 2. The remaining unharvested moonstone is at depth 4.

Turn 3

Loci pursues Shabaroon and attacks him. Shabaroon falls, dealing only 1 damage to the gnome. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The Goblin King attacks Loci in an uncharacteristic display of bravery (although he remains out of Loci’s range). Two terrible melee hands later (including one ‘go for it’), he fails to deal a single wound. Mr Toodles adds insult to injury by fully restoring Loci with lullaby.

Ribald decides to have a go. He manages to deal 5 wounds on the gnome. Gertrude then uses her blunderbuss on the troll, drawing a green 3, which the Mortician proceeds to heal.

Agatha follows her support character role by drawing Loci out of the the melee with her enticing offer. Herbert continues the offensive on Loci by casting wither on him. He draws only a pink 1, though, so gnome survives this turn with 1 wound remaining.

The Commonwealth remains in the lead, 4 moonstones to 2, although Loci’s hold of his moonstone is looking precarious.

Turn 4  

Goblins win the roll-off and I do everything I can to kill Loci! Herbert moves in for melee, to give himself a few chances to deal damage – and also to stop Agatha from picking up Loci’s moonstone. Loci steps back; Herbert follows; Agatha moves in to engage Herbert too. ‘Perfect’, says Herbert, who proceeds to slay Loci and then attack Agatha. However, ‘hell hath no fury…’: Agatha counters Herbert’s critical thrust with her signature and strikes back with a rising attack, killing Herbert.

Agatha then proceeds to pick up Loci’s moonstone and run for it!

The Goblin King plays rule the roost on Ribald, ordering him to shoot at Agatha. Unfortunately, I do not get the green 3, but am able to bluff a green 2, before taking on Gertrude in combat, dealing 4 damage. Mr Toodles proceeds to heal Gertrude – plus Agatha too, with lullaby.

Deperate, the Mortician casts rigor-mortis on Gertrude. It doesn’t kill her, but it does leave her unable to do anything during her activation. But she doesn’t need to.

Humans win 4 (two Agatha, one Gertrude, one Toodles) to 2 (Goblin King and the Mortician).

Conclusions

Well, I wanted a challenge and I got one! I’m proud to claim that I played a game of Moonstone against myself and I lost! I think a big part of the problem was the troupe choice, as my goblins mainly comprised slow characters or weaklings – so it was up to Herbert to do most of the legwork.

In terms of the solo rules, the melee and arcane worked pretty well, although I’ve since refined them to account for the atypical situations that characters might find themselves in (e.g. Agatha tearing up into melee). Which brings me onto the more challenging aspect – the decision-tree that will govern the action selection. Really, many of the Commonwealth support characters should have been hanging back more, but that would have led to a very boring game – and would have left them quite vulnerable to being picked off from the rear by Ribald and Herbert. More work to be done there to find a good balance.

Overall, a satisfying experience!