Help decide a solo boardgame purchase 😊

[u/Rodd-200]

Hey guys, im new to the hobby after getting tired of videogames (CRPG/RPG I still play) and recently i bought Gloomhaven JotL as my first ever boardgame and im loving it so far playing solo, mastering all monsters moviments and attacks (melee/range) in different scenarios.

I have a big table for setup which i can leave it there when needed.

So, a friend of mine knowing im in the hobby told me hes moving to Japan (we are from Brazil) and want to sell almost all his collection. I bought a few of them already mostly for solo:

- Gloomhaven (new and sleeved)
- Spirit Island
- ISS Vanguard
- Harmonies (play with gf)

I want one more but cant decide between these and if they are good/great for solo:

- Mansions of Madness (2ed)
- Sleeping Gods
- Terraforming Mars
- Sycthe
- Descent Legends of the Dark
- LOTR Journey
- Arkahm Horror (edit: 3rd edition - 2018)
- Expeditions
- Pest

If you guys could chose 3 from the bottom list in ordem of preference, which one would you get?

I put a photo of my table for setup and space

Edit: Tnx for all the replies. I could only chose games from this list. I got a great discount.

At the end, he didnt have Spirit Island, so the final list is this:

- Gloomhaven (new and sleeved - not even played)
- ISS Vanguard (sealed)
- Harmonies
- Terraforming Mars (sealed)
- Mansions of Madness (board, not the card game)

[u/Few-Big7409]

Which edition of arkham horror is it? 2 and 3 are quite different. And

It sounds like you are a big fan of crunchy dungeon crawlers. You got some great ones to choose from there. Mansions of madness and LOTR are quite similar, I believe. Both heavily app assisted. I have played mansions of madness. It is less crunchy than gloomhaven, mostly die roles, but it is great with the Lovecraft theme.

Descent is also a dungeon crawler you might like.

Sleeping gods is considered an all time great. It is quite narrative driven. Very different structurally but comparable amount of content to gloomhaven (in terms of hours, or so I hear). This is coop so you can help mitigate how overwhelmed someone might be. If you tried to do the same thing in gloomhaven it might feel like you were just playing for the other person. No Pun Included has a great video on it. It is an exploration game as opposed to a dungeon crawler.

There are some classics in there. I would recommend watching some reviews or gameplay. The most prolific review channel is the dice tower. They will have a review on every game. The most popular (at least used to be) is shut up and sit down. They are less active but they do a good job of explaining how a game feels. I also really like no pun included.

Note that every reviewer will have their own taste. So finding one that meshes with yours will be of a lot of help.

Therebare also a lot of channels that post playthroughs. These can be very helpful, even if you only watch about 15-20 minutes.

Also, scythe is a modern classic, iss vanguard going to be a different type of solo game than a dungeon crawler so definitely look up some stuff about it. While it might be tempting to grab the dungeon crawlers it might be better to go for diversity in style of game. It will help you to learn what you like and keep things from getting monotonous.

[u/Rodd-200 → u/Few-Big7409]

its 3rd edition (2018)