Charioteer is a blast!

Ed Teixeira's Charioteer, another solo-ready entry from the Two Hour Wargames stable, is fast becoming my go-to casual solo play game these days thanks to its nifty racing abstractions and simple set-up time.

Never having been a fan of any racing game before, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed racing around the arena's oval in search of horse-drawn glory. A significant factor in my own personal fun with this game comes from the fact that chariots as racing vehicles are pretty simplistic, and that simplicity keeps the NPC decision-making process quite minimal but still suspenseful.

Chariots are also fragile constructions, so a serious bash or crash will instantly take a competitor out of a race, most likely along with another chariot. This means that even a chariot lagging in back of the pack with a team of winded horses still has a chance to be the first to cross that finish line.

Clever campaign rules extend the game's dynamics beyond the races alone. Betting, gaining fame, using dirty tricks, and managing a player-owned faction all take the basic racing engine in new directions.

Be warned: you will be chucking dice - lots of dice - during a solo game to determine the actions of the NPC chariots thanks to the Bonus Dice element that provides the primary risk/reward tension of a race. If you've played a Two Hour Wargames product before, you'd be expecting that already, though.

Though I haven't played the game with another person, I'm sure Charioteer makes a great multiplayer game. As for solo play, if you like streamlined rules that favor fun over finicky details, try it out!