Strategy Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

FreeCiv now playable in browsers, including on iOS devices

by Mike Schramm (May 15th, 2013)

FreeCiv is one of my favorite open-source projects out there. Civilization is one of my favorite games, and FreeCiv is an open-source version that you can download and play for free. The latest update of the game has added an HTML 5 version, which means that you can now load up and play FreeCiv ...

Daily iPad App: Sid Meier's Ace Patrol is an excellent game sold badly

by Mike Schramm (May 14th, 2013)

My birthday was last week on May 6, and Firaxis must have heard about that because in recent weeks they've released not one, but two great turn-based strategy games. First, Haunted Hollow was released as a great, original free-to-play title, and now the legendary Sid Meier (of Civilization and ...

Road Not Taken is coming soon from Triple Town's creators

by Mike Schramm (May 13th, 2013)

Triple Town is one of my favorite games on iOS over the past few years -- it's a puzzle game with a simple ruleset and a whole lot of complexity. The creator of that game, called Spry Fox, has announced a new title in development called Road Not Taken, and you can now see some concept art from it ...

Daily iPhone App: Wizard Ops Tactics offers well-made tactical battles

by Mike Schramm (May 8th, 2013)

Wizard Ops arrived on the App Store a couple of years ago -- it was a wild and wooly take on magical combat that played more like a shooter than a fantasy RPG. Developers Phyken Media have now returned to the world of Wizard Ops, though not the genre, with a new title called Wizard Ops ...

Daily iPhone App: Haunted Hollow is frighteningly good

by Mike Schramm (May 3rd, 2013)

I've been crowing about how great Firaxis' Haunted Hollow is since GDC earlier this year, so odds are that you've probably already seen me telling you once (or more) to go pick it up. But in case the message hasn't gotten through yet: Go pick it up. Firaxis' latest game is just an excellent, ...

Daily iPad App: Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy is a great board game adaptation

by Mike Schramm (May 3rd, 2013)

Eclipse is one of the most popular board games around right now -- it's a vast, involving epic "4X" game, where those four Xs stand for eXploration, eXpansion, eXploitation (as in mining crops and resources from various planets) and eXtermination (as in finishing off your alien opponents). ...

Firaxis' Haunted Hollow appears on, disappears from the App Store

by Mike Schramm (Apr 23rd, 2013)

There's good news, bad news, and the best news on this one, and I'll give you the good news first. Firaxis' Haunted Hallow appeared on the App Store this morning, which means the game is just about ready for prime time. The free-to-play strategy title was one of my favorite games I got to see ...

Laying the groundwork for Galcon 2

by Mike Schramm (Apr 1st, 2013)

Developer Phil Hassey kicked off our meeting at last week's GDC by showing me a necklace and a fridge magnet set both based on his oft-remade game Galcon, just two of the different rewards in the Kickstarter that recently raised him over $25,000 for development. Hassey has remade Galcon quite a ...

Firaxis bringing Haunted Hollow to iOS

by Mike Schramm (Mar 21st, 2013)

Firaxis is one of my favorite game developers -- they're the group behind the Civ series as well as the recent (and excellent) XCOM: Enemy Unknown reboot. Today, they've surprise-announced a game called Haunted Hollow, which is coming to iOS later on this spring. As you'd imagine from Firaxis, ...

Mac Game of the Week: Endless Space is a beautiful space-faring 4X strategy game

by Mike Schramm (Mar 14th, 2013)

There's no question that iOS games tend to be a little more oriented towards the quicker and the easier, so when I head back to the Mac platform looking for a game to spotlight, I like to go a little more cerebral. And Endless Space, as you can probably tell from the screenshot above, is ...

Infinity Blade 2 updated, Spider goes free for iPad, and a Super Strategy Sale

by Mike Schramm (Nov 2nd, 2012)

It's Friday, and if you're looking for something good on iOS to play this weekend, boy howdy, you are in luck. First up, Infinity Blade 2 has been updated recently, adding in a few new expansion packs to play with. And, perhaps more importantly, the game's been updated to work with the iPhone ...

Daily iPhone App: Summoner Wars is a complicated mix of virtual board and card game

by Mike Schramm (Oct 9th, 2012)

I took a trip down to Tampa Bay, Fla., for my sister's wedding last week, and before I headed for the airport, I loaded up my iPhone and iPad with a few new apps to check out on the way. Honestly, Fieldrunners 2 HD ended up taking most of my gaming time, but Summoner Wars was a very impressive ...

Warhammer Quest coming to the App Store next year

by Mike Schramm (Aug 21st, 2012)

Rodeo Games, the team behind the popular Hunters strategy RPG series, has announced a new title called Warhammer Quest, which is of course set in the excellent Warhammer universe owned by Games Workshop. Unfortunately, despite there being a short teaser trailer for the upcoming game, we don't ...

Daily iPad App: Final Fantasy Tactics

by Chris Rawson (Feb 27th, 2012)

Final Fantasy Tactics first came out for the original PlayStation in 1997 as a more strategic take on the famous roleplaying game franchise. I didn't get around to playing it until 2001, but when I did, it turned out to be a peerless game that still ranks among my all-time favorites. Between a ...

Daily iPhone App: Starbase Orion

by Mike Schramm (Oct 14th, 2011)

iOS doesn't really have much in the way of original 4X (so called due to the second letter in the "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate" gameplay) games. Yes, Civ Revolution is on the platform, but that's not original (and to be honest, it's not the best port). Ascendancy is a quality ...