I've been using a system to solo play Heroes of Normandie that I may start using in other systems.

I've been using a system to solo play Heroes of Normandie that I may start using in other systems.

In HoN you have order markers that you use to secretly indicate the order your troops will act during play. You also have bluff markers to throw off your opponent and prevent them from being certain which units are being activated.

In solo play that system doesn't t work. Instead I place all of a force's order markers (real and bluff) face down and mix them up. Then I place them on the units that I think would be useful that round. Once both forces have their markers I flip them over, face up. The result is that 2 units in each force that I thought would activate won't due to receiving bluff markers. The rest of the units that received markers will activate, but in an order that I can't predict.

The bluff tokens keep a level of uncertainty in play that can be difficult to come by in solo wargaming. It also reflects the fallible nature of orders from high command, will they be received and followed or not? The random order of the rest of the units force me to react to changing nature of the battlefield as units I may have had ideas for come in too early or too late to fit my previous plans. To sum it up, it's one of the most satisfying wargames experiences I've had as a solo player.

If you are familiar with HoN you may wonder how I handle the action cards. They are intended to be secret from the opposition. I make concessions for simplicity and play both hands in the open, using any card that is helpful. I keep 4 cards on the table for each force. At the end of the supply phase I discard the whole hand and redraw new cards before the next round begins. The "use them or lose them" method retains some of the feel of not knowing what your opponent holds.