Solo: the Ghost

Wendake's solitaire game by Danilo Sabia and Marco Garavaglia: setup, the Ghost's three cards, how it moves Natives, the Objectives and the three difficulty levels.

Overview

In the solitaire game you play against a Ghost tribe. Its score is known from the start — the points on its three Ghost cards — but it can grow during play. Beat it to win. The solo rules come in the historical booklet in the box (English version on the BGG files page).

Solo setup

1. Choose the difficulty — Easy, Medium or Hard — which sets what each Objective is worth.
2. Set up the board and your own pieces as for 2 players, with 4 random Progress tiles per level and only one Turtle tile per kind.
3. Choose a colour for the Ghost and put all its Natives — 7 of each kind — in the other Home.
4. Shuffle the 4 Ghost cards and lay 3 in a row, either side up and in any order; box the fourth.
5. Put 2 Ghost Tribe disks on any two Score Tracks so that together they show the total of the points printed on the 3 Ghost cards.
6. Optional: draw 2 Tribe cards and keep one. Tribe powers make the Ghost easier to beat.
7. Ghost disks: one beside the Progress tile costs at Level 1, one on the first Mask space, one under the first face-up Advanced Action tile.
8. Put 3 Ghost Action markers on their spaces on the Ghost cards.
9. Put your 4th Action marker on space 1 of the Turn Order area and the Ghost’s on space 2.

A solo year

The game lasts seven years as usual. At the start of each year, draw a Mask card and slide it under the leftmost Ghost card that has none. The row of that Mask on the cards shows the Ghost’s three actions this year: it starts with the card the Mask lies under and continues to the right, wrapping round to the left.

You and the Ghost alternate turns in turn order. You play first in Year 1.

Your turns

As usual, with two changes:

• You have only 3 Action markers and only take actions (your 4th marker sits in the Turn Order area).
• Ghost Natives you injure go back to the Ghost’s Home, not to a Long House.

The Ghost’s turns

Place a Ghost Action marker on the action the Mask row shows on the current Ghost card and carry it out (see Ghost actions). After Years 3 and 6, the Mask cards under the Ghost cards go to the bottom of the discard pile.

Solo Restore

1. Turn order — does not change in this step.
2. Action tiles — you adjust your grid as usual. The Ghost removes from the game the Advanced tile above its disk; after you have both chosen, move its disk under the next tile to the right.
3. Masks — your Mask disk returns to the Restore area; the Ghost’s Mask disk moves to the next Mask space (in Year 4 it moves down to the second row).
4. Progress tiles — restore yours as usual.
5. New year — the Ghost’s Action markers go back on its cards; turn the last Mask card under the Ghost cards face down (remove them all after Years 3 and 6); swap the two markers in the Turn Order area, so whoever went first now goes second. Advance the round marker; after Year 7 the game ends.

Ghost actions

Symbol	The Ghost…
	moves its disk beside the Progress tiles up one level (it stays at Level 3)
	removes the leftmost Progress tile of the level its disk is on, then the disk returns to Level 1. If that level is empty, it takes a tile from the next lower level
	advances one of its score disks by 1: its final score is 1 higher
	moves a Native of that kind into a flagged territory — see below

Where the Ghost’s Natives go

The blanket at the bottom of this year’s Mask card sits on a red (English) or yellow (French) oval. For each flag there is a near and a far territory, counted in steps from the Ghost’s Home: for both Homes the nearer English territory is the big one; the nearer French territory is the one on the Ghost’s side.

• Warrior — if the Ghost has no more Guards in the near territory than in the far one, a Guard goes to the near territory; otherwise to the far one. Ghost Warriors never attack.
• Woman — same comparison with its Women. In the chosen territory:
  1. a free field gets the Woman;
  2. if every field is taken and one holds your Native, the Ghost attacks by the normal rules — your Woman is injured and replaced by a Ghost Woman; your Outpost is injured and nothing is placed; if your Guard protects the territory, the Guard is injured and your Native stays;
  3. if all fields of both flagged territories already hold Ghost Natives, nothing happens.
• Hunter — as for Women, with forests. The far English territory has 2 forests and the near one only 1, so with one Hunter in each, the next goes far.

The Ghost’s Women and Hunters attack without needing a Warrior.

Objectives and the end

Each Ghost card carries an Objective (letter A–H), checked at the end:

Score as in a normal game, then add each completed Objective: 3 points on Easy, 2 on Medium, 1 on Hard. If your total beats the Ghost’s (its two score disks added together), you win. Tip from the booklet: add your Level 3 and 4 Turtle points as you take them and leave only Level 5 for the end.

[Allies] New Allies adds Adversity cards, Ghost Turn tokens and an Extreme level (New Allies: Solo Adversities).