In the Hall of the Mountain King: First Thoughts of Solo
Dig into the dark tunnels and fulfill the prophecy as a band of trolls with In the Hall of the Mountain King.
I must thank my husband for always picking up random board games from time to time! When In the Hall of the Mountain King arrived, I searched to find out how to play it solo. Voila! Although it was in a separate expansion, I was still interested in exploring its content. If nothing else, the premise of retaking an abandoned mountain was intriguing!
Game Overview
Game Name: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Publication Year: 2019
Designers: Jay Cormier and Graeme Jahns
Artists: Josh Cappel and Kwanchai Moriya
Solo Mode: Included in Cursed Mountain
It was a little frustrating to purchase the cooperative and solo mode separately. But still! The goal is to reclaim the mountain as a group of trolls. With tunnels and a unique kind of recruitment mechanic, the solo mode features an optimization puzzle that can be very challenging. I prepared to dig in… Both literally and figuratively. Ha!
A Note on the Retail Edition
There is a deluxe version whose main selling point is an excellent storage system. How I wish we had tracked down a copy! Alas, this is the retail edition that comes packaged with a lovely selection of bags. Maybe I got unlucky, but all of the wooden components were tossed in with the card packs. A few cards are bent, and one has a gouge. Ouch.
To add on the special storage trays will set me back about $25 USD. Not terrible, yet also not something I’m willing to pay for. Maybe I’m in the minority when it comes to what I like to see in deluxe vs. retail editions. Decent storage not only protects components but saves precious time during setup and cleanup. I’m a little let down by this difference.
Tunnel Segments
A core element of gameplay comes from the placement of tunnels. There are plenty of shapes to choose from, though the larger ones can get a little expensive.
The holes represent anchors. These are where statue pedestals may be placed. More importantly, the solo mode uses these spaces to dedicate specific statues.
Since the board is a mountain, the goal is to dig further towards the center and move statues to the right spots.
But don’t think it’s easy! There are a limited number of turns, and only a few opportunities to gain resources.
Recruiting Trolls
There are 3 levels of trolls that don’t need much explanation. However, this recruitment structure forms a pyramid. Coins must be paid for the level 2 and 3 trolls!
Take the far left troll in the second row. To recruit, I would have to place 1 coin on each of the level 1 trolls below. But only the far left pair, since it’s all about making pyramids.
All level 2 trolls require 2 coins, and level 3 trolls require a whopping 5 coins. But those bonuses are worth it!
Also, note the prophecy board below. This random setup shows which type of statue belongs in which area.
Inside the Mountain
The board is, indeed, beautiful! It’s also double-sided, with this cheery autumn side and a frigid winter side. For solo, either side works. This looked like a good start!
Every statue on the board is buried until a tunnel is built on top of it. Resources can be collected by covering those spaces with tunnels, thereby uncovering them.
There are other mechanics, though the main goal is to move 1 of each statue into the 3 different inner areas.
Yellow, orange, and red look a little similar in certain lighting, yet at least it’s easy to follow the grid pattern!
The Trollsmoot
The… What? This unique term is used for the pyramid of trolls that will slowly build up over the course of play. With a base of 4, there is a maximum size of 10 trolls.
All of the starting cards show resources that are covered up by the board. I probably should have included those! But I ended up with 1 coin, 4 stone, and 1 hammer.
The other resources represent production. How does this happen? I’ll get to that in a little bit! It’s still the pyramid.
Unfortunately, the majority of the player board is useless for the solo mode. Because do you score points? Nope!
A Solo Mode Without a Point System
There are no points scored in the solo mode, even though the outside scoring track is prominent! At the same time, this cuts down on the need to keep track of every point. A rather interesting campaign mode offers a way to increase the difficulty with each win, or gain special benefits with every loss. More on that a little further along.
Sometimes, this binary win or loss condition is nice to have. This simply indicates if the prophecy is completed or not. Were all 3 statues in place before the curses took over? Easy to figure out. And, as I would soon find out, I would have had some embarrassingly low scores if points were an issue. This streamlines the experience quite a lot!
Resources and Spells
Hurray for organization! The deluxe edition contains trays that can be used for storage and tabletop decluttering.
But aside from that, the resources are quite nice! Wooden hammers and carts add a thematic feel to gameplay.
Setup also includes a set of 3 different spells. These change the course of gameplay in many different ways. Some help with digging, others with recruitment, and more.
The odd thing is that a few of the spells aren’t useful in the solo mode, though the rules don’t state to remove them. Then again, a curse blocks some spells, so it works!
A Gate to the Inside
As my trolls climbed down the ladder into the depths of the mountain, the abandoned area felt rather eerie. But there were tunnels to dig and statues to move around!
Although the buried statues are all around the board, the solo mode only requires 3 statues… So setup felt a little unnecessary with the entire other side of the board.
The special space on the left side is a workshop space. Build a tunnel next to it, and a workshop can be installed.
I felt like the multiplayer game was necessarily stronger after reading through the rules. But first… To the tunnels!
Playing a Campaign
The expansion includes a clever campaign ledger to track progress over about 7-14 plays. Wins provide obstacles, while losses make the game just a little bit easier.
This idea is awesome! Usually, I play with the easiest difficulty level and make my way up. With this, everything is tied together to make it all more interesting.
Not pictured is the final page where titles or points may be calculated based on performance. I know what I’ll be. Ha!
My copy won’t be marked up since I record things digitally, yet there is a free download for extra copies.
This Mountain is Unsafe
One of the main mechanisms of the solo mode is the curse cards. At the start of every round, a new card is added. Each provides obstacles or otherwise causes trouble.
Up to 6 curses may be in play at once, and this is the deck that acts as a kind of timer. Put out the 7th curse, and the game ends. Run out of curses, and the game ends.
Digging tunnels with higher-value resources allows these to slowly be broken, but it’s a difficult challenge!
Usually, at least a couple must be managed at once. It comes down to accepting a few key limitations each play.
Working in the Tunnels
My first play went spectacularly horribly as I failed to grasp all of the mechanics! The curses piled up while I built tunnels out of lowly stone… A poor strategy, indeed.
At least I unearthed a statue and built a workshop! Not a bad way to start to learn the mechanics during a loss.
What I missed the most was some sort of reference or summary card, though. The player board information is incorrect for the solo mode, so I flipped around a lot.
Initial impressions were lukewarm at best. Yet I found a rules error I made, so it was right back to the mountain!
Prophecy Progress
That’s a little better! I managed to get all 3 statues in my tunnels, and even moved them closer to the center before succumbing to the curses. Definitely an improvement.
The campaign play helped me out, too. The added benefits really made a difference and aided in my understanding of the various rules and nuanced strategies.
Yet as I continued to play, the optimization puzzle felt a little hollow. Even when I won, it wasn’t satisfying.
All I could imagine was how much more interesting the multiplayer game seemed to be, at least from the rules.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Expansion: Cursed Mountain
Solo Mode: Included in Cursed Mountain
Required Play Space: 44″ x 22″
Setup Time: 5 Minutes
Play Time: 15-25 Minutes per Play
Outcome: 1 Win and 3 Losses
At least my campaign isn’t the worst thing, as I pulled off a win! Yet it all felt unusually bland. I loved the unique mechanics, like the cascading resources, but it felt like the solo mode didn’t give me a chance to strategize my way.
The Concept of Card Cascades
Just one more important idea to go over! In the above photo, you’ll see how the trollsmoot pyramid is built. Each time a new troll is recruited and placed, it triggers a cascade effect. When I placed the hearthstone card on the far left of the second row, assuming the resource spaces were empty, I received 1 hearthstone, 1 hammer, and 1 iron.
But the cascades get better! For either of the trolls in my upper row, they triggered cascades for 6 cards. Neat, right?! Since this is the main way to collect resources, it becomes very challenging to figure out which trolls to recruit, when to recruit them, and where to place them for the most needed resources. This was another design choice I enjoyed a lot!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
1
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
7
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
3
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- The board is double-sided with lovely artwork of autumn or winter, and either may be used with the solo mode.
- There is a great deal of variety in terms of the spells, trolls, curses, and workshops that appear during each play.
- Creating cascades is an interesting concept that makes it crucial to recruit trolls at the right moment.
- Plotting a tunnel route through the mountain takes careful planning since total rounds are limited by curses.
- The campaign provides a fun way to tie together sessions with obstacles or abilities, depending on the outcomes.
- Once understood, the sequence of play is relatively quick and the overall rules are straightforward.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The amount of required table space is extensive, and the retail version doesn’t include a useful storage solution.
- Solo gameplay is very different from the multiplayer game and is missing many elements, like great halls.
- Only a small portion of the board is used during solo play, so part of the setup process feels unnecessarily long.
- Without a summary card, it can be difficult to remember when to draw curses and earthquake tokens during play.
Continue the Conversation
What are your thoughts about the solo mode for In the Hall of the Mountain King? I almost feel like it was designed for multiplayer, which is where it will shine. This solo mode is far from bad, though it’s not something that I expect to play very often. Do you have other games where multiplayer is better than solo? I’m still glad I gave this a try, though!
I have to agree that I was pretty disappointed with the solo version of this, it definitely isnt worth buying purely for solo play. It sits in a weird space. Too complex for gateway gamers, not appealing enough for thematic players who want to role a heap of dice, and not quite offering enough for heavy euro players.
I have the deluxe version sitting on my shelf and hope it’ll see more game time in the future but I’m not sure its got enough about it to see it return to the table with any regularity.
Nice assessment of why the solo mode seems to be in an odd place. I’m sure there are those who would enjoy it, yet there’s no obvious group I would recommend it to. It’s a shame because I like some of the unique mechanics, along with the campaign ledger!
I’ll have to see how it pans out multiplayer. It’s like it has glimpses of excellent design that haven’t quite come together. But again, that’s just from me playing solo! Maybe it works much better in a group!
I haven’t played it solo yet, but played coop with my son and we REALLY enjoyed it – I’m wondering how this experience will translate playing both parts, mine and his, in a solo version (which is same as coop). I really like the game, but I sure hope solo is satisfying…..Yes, btw, the tray is outstanding. 🙂
That’s awesome to hear! It looks like solo is all about playing with a single trollsmoot and gate, although I suppose it could also work by controlling multiples. Cooperative modes can turn out to be excellent solo experiences! The amount of required table space is already pushing it for me, but maybe you’ll have a chance to try this out. I hope you continue to enjoy it!