Duel of Meloch supports one player with a dedicated Automa opponent. You can play the Scythe side against the automated Explorer or play Expeditions against the automated Scythian. The publisher’s solo booklet explicitly says to learn the Duel rules and the rules for your chosen side first; you do not need to learn the human rules for the opposing side. The separate solo systems in the original Scythe and Expeditions games are not used here.

What comes in the box for solo?

Stonemaier lists a progress track tile, Triumph Track overlay tile, twenty Automa cards, six phase cards and four double-sided player aids. The Automa rulebook is a separate booklet. The normal Duel box and map supply the other pieces. This is a specific one-player mode, not simply a suggestion to play both human sides yourself.

Set up the Automa

First set up the shared game and your own side under the Duel rulebook. If Automa is the Explorer, you need not set out the corruption tokens and discovery cards. If Automa is the Scythian, you need not set up encounter and Factory cards. Do not perform a normal human setup for Automa; place phase card 1 face up, then stack phase cards 2 through 6 in order, with 2 on top. Choose one of five difficulty levels (1 easiest, 5 hardest). The publisher suggests level 2 for a first solo game.

Shuffle the twenty Automa cards. Put 7 minus your chosen difficulty of them face down above the phase stack, oriented as Action cards, and orient the remainder as a Support deck. Thus level 2 begins with five Action cards; level 5 with two. Align the progress track tile with the Triumph Track’s five progress categories, set its markers at Start, and put Automa’s action token and four stars nearby. The remaining side-specific setup, including a Scythian character or Explorer mech on a home base, is detailed in the solo booklet.

Run an Automa turn

1. Reveal the next Action-deck card. If it is a phase card, apply its instructions, including any deck rebuild.
2. Otherwise reveal a Support card. Its left side helps resolve movement and action choices; its right side is used for combat.
3. Read the Action card’s first row left to right and perform the first possible action. Repeat for its second row. Some actions may be skipped by their stated conditions.

Automa can move toward numbered locations or map tokens, gather power and cards, attack, or advance progress markers. For five categories, it claims stars by moving a marker along the corresponding track rather than by fulfilling a human player’s exact requirement. Other categories, including eligible combat, cards, power or map-token categories, can award it an immediate star. Even as Explorer, Automa does not need a Boast to claim its permitted stars. A star still blocks the category and triggers the opposing player’s Meloch-card response.

How does solo combat differ?

You commit your power and cards normally. Automa uses the combat table on a freshly drawn Support card to decide how much power and how many cards it intends to spend, limited by its available resources and participating combat units. Its combat cards are randomly revealed; the printed text on Automa’s played cards is not resolved. At higher difficulty, lower-valued revealed cards can cause extra cards to be added, as the booklet specifies. Its attack movement and destination are determined by the solo procedures, not a human Expeditions Vanquish or Scythe tactical choice.

Difficulty and three useful reminders

The optional Threat Variant asks Automa to weigh combat power more carefully and makes the game harder; the rulebook recommends leaving it out while learning. A separate fine-tuning option adjusts the Action-deck size without changing the difficulty number. Start with the default level 2 and add complexity after you can follow the phase and support procedures comfortably.

• Keep the override rule in mind: ordinary Duel rules still apply unless the solo booklet changes them. The Expeditions side, whether human or Automa, goes first.
• Separate the decks: Action cards choose what Automa attempts; Support cards resolve details and combat. Phase cards interrupt the Action deck and change its later behavior.
• Do not use the parent solo rules: the Duel’s two possible Automa identities and its progress tile belong to this game.

Continue: Game overview · Rules and setup · Strategy and tips · Compatibility with Scythe and Expeditions · Solo Automa.

Official solo source

Stonemaier’s Duel of Meloch Automa rulebook (publisher-authored PDF hosted by a retailer), checked October 4, 2026. Follow its diagrams and player aids for movement ties, attacks and card-specific edge cases. Multiplayer Duel rulebook supplies the underlying map and win rules.