Dueling Solo
The Official Solo Expansion for 7 Wonders Duel
Article by Dave Ilko
7 Wonder Duels Published by: Asmodee Games and Repros Productions
Solo Expansion Designed by: Antoine Bauza and Bruno Cathala (original designers of the base game)
Solo Expansion Artist: Miguel Coimbra (original artist of the base game)
The Award Winning 7 Wonders Duel
7 Wonders Duel, released in 2015, has been sitting in the Board Game Geek top 20 for quiet some time during it’s 10-year tenure. The game has won many awards and has been proclaimed, by many in the hobby, as one of the best 2-player games of all-time. Duel has several expansions and official promo cards that add to the great game play.
This article is not a review of 7 Wonders Duel, but rather a look into its hidden gem, the official solo expansion, its game play, how to get it, and how I made it. 7 Wonders Duel was new to me, and the only thing in my collection that is similar in theme is my 1984 Milton Bradley Gamemasters Series original copy of Conquest of the Empire, but it is totally different in mechanics and gameplay, and let’s not mention the duration of game play. Those who are familiar with Conquest of the Empire will appreciate that statement.
The Official Solo Expansion
A little while ago, I researched into the hype of this game and picked up my own copy of the core box, base game. When looking into purchasing a new game, like many, I have certain factors to research and criteria for the game to meet. Is it abstract or highly thematic? Who will be at the table when we play this game? What are the main mechanics? Does the game have a solo mode?
While that last question is not the sole, deciding factor of me making a purchase, it does weigh-in heavy for certain themed games. Without knowing the answer or doing any major research into 7 Wonders Duel, I purchased the game anyways knowing that being it is 2-player and a relatively quick game, I would have others to play this game with me.
After making the purchase, I did my usual. I unboxed it, punched the components, admired the artwork, and hit YouTube to watch a few videos about it.
Wait? What is this? There is solo playthrough of 7 Wonders Duel? Naturally, being a solo gamer fan, I clicked on that video. I was pleasingly surprised!
In 2020, during the pandemic, the original 7 Wonders Duel game designers and artist, created the official solo expansion for the game. They offered it for free as a Print-N-Play version on their website. While people were quarantined, and observing social distancing during lockdown in their homes, Asmodee Games offered a way, for FREE, for people to play their award-winning game.
As a fan of PnP games, I have fabricated several, and learning of this was a huge delight. For those new to Print-N-Play games, it can be intimidating. At first, you may make a few mistakes, but the process is relatively painless and easy. Later, in this article, I will share my methods of creating PnP content.
In 7 Wonders Duel Solo, you are going up against one of 5 different historical opponents: Cleopatra, Hammurabi, Caesar, Bilkis, and Aristotle. Each leader offers their own style of gameplay and strategy. Each historical leader has their own Leader card that outlines their starting progress, the type and direction of their preferred card selection and any special rules, such as, taking an additional turn when certain conditions are met. Also included in this expansion are 12 decision cards for the AI’s turn and a solo rule booklet.
The artwork of the components matches the theme and style of the core box game. The opponent cards are the same size as the Wonder cards while the AI decision cards are the same size as the Age deck cards. This makes it very convenient when storing them in the core box without any issues.
When playing 7 Wonders Duel Solo, you shuffle the Leader cards and randomly draw your opponent. On the selected Leader card are their starting Progress tokens that your opponent will have at the start of the game. When drafting Wonder cards, it is slightly different than an actual 2 player game. The Wonder cards are shuffled, and 3 are drawn. You select 2 and the third card is given to the AI opponent. You do this a second time for a result of you having 4 Wonder cards and the opponent having 2. The Leader’s 2 Wonder cards are treated as if they have already been constructed. You immediately apply and resolve all of the effects of those Wonders.
Next, you continue to setup the Age as a normal 2-player game unless the historical opponent’s Wonders says that the military track should be adjusted based on their starting Wonders. During Age 1, the AI opponent gets to go first. During Ages 2 and 3, if the Leader has the choice of playing first, they will always do so.
On the Leader’s turn, the top card of the AI Decision deck is revealed. It will state if the Leader is selecting cards from the left or the right of the current setup. It also determines which first available, color card they are choosing. It is listed as either a red Military card, green Science & Progress, or their preferred color listed on their Leader card. If none of those are available, in the current card lineup, the opponent selects the first available card in the direction described on their Decision card.
Some Decision cards have the “take another turn” icon on them, and if the opponent has that symbol on their Leader card, they take an additional turn and a new Decision card is drawn and resolved. Play continues until the normal winning conditions are met. If the game continues to the end of Age III, normal score rules apply.
The rules are simple to understand, and it easy to start a solo game of 7 Wonders Duel. The artwork is amazing and matches that of the base game design. A typical solo game plays a little faster than a traditional 2-player game where I averaged about 25-30 minutes per solo play versus 30-45 with a human opponent.
Creating Your Own Print-N-Play Expansion
The download is easy to access and to print provided you register for a free, Asmodee account (See the links at the end of this article). You will need 2 downloads, 1 for the rulebook and 1 download for the cards. The rule book is on a single page while the card faces and card backs are on 4 pages that require 2 pieces of card stock to print. Being that this is only 5 printed pages, it is very ink friendly and does not require any type of resizing or scaling.
I use the following materials and equipment to create this PnP expansion:
-ink jet printer
-standard white printer paper (for the rule booklet)
-80# white cardstock (for the cards)
-thermal laminator
-3 mil glossy laminated pouches
-paper cutter
-ruler
-pencil
-utility knife or Xacto craft knife
-corner punch
-220 or 400 grit sandpaper
While there are many tutorials for PnP games, this is the method that works best for me for this expansion and most games.
I printed out the rule booklet using standard printer paper, cut off the excess and folded it into the booklet layout.
For the cards, it required 2 pieces of 80# cardstock. I printed the card faces and followed the printer instructions for printing on the backside of a printed page to print the card backs. This step may require a little testing and practice before getting it correct. This particular download and my printer lined up the backs with the faces perfectly.
Next, I use the pencil and ruler to create cut marks on the cards. After there are cut marks on the printed sheets, I laminate the printed cardstock using 3 mil glossy laminating pouches and running them through the thermal laminator. I chose the glossy for this particular game because it matches the base game’s cards. I do have matte for other games.
Once it is properly laminated, I use the paper cutter to cut out the cards. If you do not have a paper cutter, you can use the utility or craft knife with the ruler to cut the cards, but I find the paper cutter to be the best method. They are relatively inexpensive and easily available to craft stores, retail stores and online. After the cards are all individually cut, I use the corner punch to add the rounded corners to the cards. My particular corner punch has 3 different, available corner radiuses. For 7 Wonders Duel, it used a 4 mm radius which is common among most games.
To finish the cards, I run them through the laminator one last time, and then, sand the edges with the sandpaper to eliminate any sharp edges or corners.
While this seems like a lot of work, I have made several PnP games and expansions using this method and it becomes easier every time I do it. I find the process very relaxing and rewarding. Some games do require a little trial and error, but it is very rewarding in the end. This entire expansion only took about 60 minutes to create and get to the table.
I have seen many gamers, without a laminator and fancy equipment, print the cards onto card stock and sleeve the printed cards which is also effective. Personally, I prefer using the laminating method, and in this case, the thickness and sheen, of the cards, matched that as the base game.
Conclusion
I found it awesome that Asmodee released a free Print-N-Play expansion to their award-winning game, 7 Wonders Duel, during a time when the world was in chaos and confusion. They easily could have put this expansion up for retail sale and made money off of it. The solo expansion offers a quick, fun, easy and challenging way of playing 7 Wonders Duel. In my experience with this expansion, I have probably 20+ gameplays, and I am approximately at a 50%-win rate. The download that they provide is easy to print and very forgiving meaning that it if this is your first PnP game/expansion, you will have a high success rate without much error and having to redo anything. I printed everything in one run.
Had I known there was a free, solo expansion for this game, I would’ve purchased it years ago.
For more information about the base game, 7 Wonders Duel, check out the link on Board Game Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346/7-wonders-duel
To get your FREE copy of the Official 7 Wonders Duel Solo Expansion, click on the link to go to Asmodee Games website: https://print-and-play.asmodee.fun/en/game/7-wonders-duel
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