My latest wargame period was the Great Northern War in 10 mm using Conflict Miniatures. After seven months of painting and building terrain, I was ready to game the climatic battle of the war, Poltava. I was planning on running Poltava for my convention game of the year.

Normally I don't solo wargame. I like to react to my opponent's moves and love the social aspect of wargaming. I was so excited that I couldn't wait to game Poltava. I thought I would catch any potential problems before I played it with someone too.

The nature of Poltava is ideal to solo wargame. Basically, most of the Russian Army was in camp and didn't come out for several hours. To delay the Swedes, the Russians built a system of redoubts between the woods in front of their camp. They then put their cavalry past the redoubt system. The Swedes only have one strategy: Drive past the redoubts to attack the Russian camp.

There are several ways to determine strategies of opposing armies in solo wargames. Some are very simple and others are complex. I have always been intrigued by the simple "On the Fly" methods where you determine what possible actions an army takes at the time based on common sense and die rolls. To test the strength of the Russian redoubt system, I decided the Swedes would bypass the redoubts and not take them. I also decided that the Russian cavalry starting past the redoubts would fight aggressively and not make a gradual withdrawal.

I use modified Volley and Bayonet rules by GDW to resolve combat. Basically, each unit rolls a number of six sided dice (four for an infantry unit) needing six's to hit. A unit usually takes three to five hits before being destroyed. I felt that the Russian redoubt garrison should get four dice like a normal infantry unit. I allowed the garrisons to fire at the Swedes as they ran by (the garrisons did this historically), unlike normal fire combat that takes place at the end of the move.

The garrisons were too strong. Two of the four Swedish assault columns were wiped out before contacting the Russian cavalry. I thought it was bad luck so I tried again. The same thing happened. I reduced the garrison firepower to two dice and tried my game with a friend. All four Swedish assault columns survived running past the redoubts but some units were battered. I saved some time soloing my game and it was fun too! Try it with your next convention wargame.

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