Three Sisters Solo Review

I love farming! So much in fact that we moved 400 miles north to a stone farmhouse, and are now welly deep in sheep, horses, hens, and well…..you know! So when I saw the corntastically crunchy Three Sisters had a solo mode, my cow jumped over the moon!

Farmer Edith

I won’t go through the game itself as an eminently experienced fellow blogger has reviewed it already (lucky duck!). rather, I will tell you all about the fabulously fiendish Farmer Edith aka the bonus robber!!

Without a shadow of a doubt, Farmer Edith is a force! In Three Sisters multiplayer, you do your thing and other do theirs. Yes, the dice each player drafts affects what the others can pick and subsequently cross off on their own sheets. But, nobody’s stomping all over your bean fields or stealing stuff from your shed.

In solo mode, however, that’s exactly what happens. Farmer Edith arrives on her Massey Fergusson and crosses through features and bonuses on your sheet! Yep. Your sheet! This isn’t a “can-I-beat-the-AI player?” type sitch. No, no, no my friends. This is agricultural sabotage! And it’s fantastic!

Crunchier than corn ribs covered in cornflakes, Three Sisters solo is my favourite way to play. It’s also one of my favourite roll and writes period. Its engine building, resource management goodness fills me up just like the corn and beans we are trying to grow!

In The Sh……..ed

Solo set up is a sinch. Make sure the rondel action board is solo side up – there’s a little meeple Icon and you’ll see both gold and blue pushpin icons on the fruit/apiary sections. Grab 4 dice, the round marker and Farmer Edith, and it’s on!

Each round and every turn,, Farmer Edith is going to take the dice closest to the golden pushpin. The value of the dice she takes determines what she is going to cross off on your sheet. Firstly she plants in your garden by crossing through a crop (in order of priority; pumpkin (tallest first)-corn-bean) in a numbered bed. Then she uses her rondel action according to what space she is on and what number she has. Mercifully she doesn’t get the end of round event! But depending on what it is, she may have already put a spanner in your tractor engine! When she takes her second dice (just like you), it will be the lowest value one left on the board.

Now I know what you’re thinking; if you know what dice Farmer Evil…..ahem, I mean Edith, is going to take, then it must be easy to thwart her thieving efforts. Right? Wrong! Knowing what havoc she will cause amongst your crops is harder! Because, aside from when she is first player (even rounds) and takes that first dice, you have the power to mitigate. But that means you might have to take dice purely for damage limitation purposes. Which could scupper your own sweet strategy down the line! Oooh she’s good. Especially when she’s bad, she’s good! Farmers are indeed canny creatures!

Final Thoughts

I love playing Three Sisters solo. It’s mean in the best possible way! Seeing the dice placed on the board and then realising what that means for my sheets is a hot under the tweed collar moment indeed! Especially if I have been working on gaining goods for a super helpful star bonus which she then crosses through because Farmer Edith has taken the compost/goods dice!

Thankfully, Farmer Edith can’t cross something off if you have already started working on it (e.g. tools in the shed or a specific crop in the garden). And that’s a good balance to bring. Plus, knowing she will “pass” if that happens is a strategy to leave her with dud dice that turn/round or get some marks on vital point scorers early on.

8 rounds goes so fast so you’ll be eyes on combo actions all the way through. And somehow, Farmer Edith always lands on the spots I want or need to take. So being able to adapt to her whims is a must. Although dice placement could feel random, knowing that Farmer Edith is programmed by a priority list of movements mitigates the fall-out that is different to the sheer randomness of opponents’ first player picks in multiplayer mode. And it definitely feels more interactive than when playing multiplayer solitaire against other real people. The constant decision dilemmas of what to pick and what to leave is brain burny and I love it. I also love the theme of course, and it has even taught me about companion planting which I now do in our own veg patches here on the farm!

For me this game is super fun and extra crunchy solo. It’s so satisfying to play and any frustrations along the way are of the fun sort. If you like your single player games with a side order of gentle, don’t be fooled by the lovely theme! Farmer Edith is out to get you and she takes no prisoners! Haha

If you like the sound of Three Sisters solo, I would highly recommend Motor City too – it has the same quality of crunchiness that keeps you coming back for more punishment! Auditor Emma must have been raised on a farm because she is one mean motor fiddler!