This afternoon was my first playthrough against the, "Lacerda" solo mode for The Gallerist.
"Lacerda" runs very simply. Lacerda's Gallerist pawn (purple) moves clockwise around the board each turn, and leaves an assistant in the location she left. The assitants left end up performing a "kicked-out action" when your pawn (blue) visits that location, just like in the multiplayer game. Lacerda's kicked out action eliminates a ticket from the box office (from the stack with the most tickets). For those who are unfamiliar with the game, this essentially keeps you on task and acts as a timeline because once the box office is empty in the solo game, the game is over after your next turn. Yikes!
The only other action that happens with Lacerda is at the international market (where she is in the picture above). Each time she makes her way here, she places an assistant in the reputation space (taking away reputation tile options from you, and end game scoring money). Every other turn, her assitant will be placed in the auction space, again eliminating options from you.
You need to be an organized Gallerist for sure to take on Lacerda.
And that's pretty much it. Other than these simple mechanics, it's up to you and the game plays as it typically would in mulltiplayer.
Overall Thoughts on Solo Lacerda
Not bad so far. Granted, this is only game #1. I would call this solo mode somewhat puzzly in the sense that Lacerda's upcoming moves are known, block you, rush you and take you away from your own strategy sometimes as you worry about her next moves.
The endgame scoring in solo mode has you trying to hit goals in three different categories/levels, the lowest being "Apprentice" which I didn't even come close today. 🤣
I think this solo mode is going to be a nice way to get used to the game's mechanics and building my own strategy, however I definitely will explore a couple fan made variants to see if there are any good solo modes that feel more like a regular opponent.