Arete: Battles of Alexander

This is pretty much an old-fashioned turn-based war game, and anyone who’s played one will get into it instantly. If you haven’t played one before, the advantage of playing on an app is it takes care of all of the fiddly bits for you, it’s all very intuitive. Newbies just want to be sure to check the modifiers that make you stronger or weaker in combat. Leaders are also important in keeping your units strong. Rules and tutorial are very clear and helpful. Very good system, I hope it is used for more games in the future. The only additions I can think of are maybe some sort of positive modifier for heavy cavalry charges, and also maybe a movement penalty for units that are not in command. This compares favorably to the HexWar game on Alexander simply because it has online play against human opponents, which is always more fun.

I’m an old hex and counter wargamer, and this definitely sits in a slightly above low complexity game, on the order of Command and Colors Ancients, without the frustration that I hear so often from C&C players about “not being able to order all their troops because of not having the right cards”. There are definite command limitations, units in command get bonuses for attack and defense, but you can order everything every turn. There is chaos in that initiative is dice driven, so you could go last one turn and first the next, but that’s the fall of the dice. The mechanics are clear, the TEC available for view anytime, and it plays fast. The community is growing, and whether you play a computer or human, you will have fun. I’m on as “Wargamermike”, so hit me up for a game!

Just finished my first battle and was compelled to write a review. This is a game I have been wanting on iOS for a long time. I love hex and counter war games (Squad Leader, Band of Brothers) and this game scratches that itch. I was a little worried it would be hard to play on my iPhone, my eyes are not what they were when I was younger. I had zero issues playing the game or reading the text. The UI is outstanding and makes the play seamless. The game itself is a lot of fun and mirrors tradition H&C board games. Definitely the best $10 I have spent in a long time. Congrats to the developer for such a well made game. He will be getting my money for any future games he develops.

Very good classical wargame, with muances such as command, cohesion etc that make it much more interesting than other similar games one the App Store (eg Ancient Battle series).

This one harkens back to the day of the old analogs and they did a great job. I would love to see more of these please!

I played through the campaign twice, and I had fun every minute. I appreciate that games like this exist. It captures what I love about analog hex and counter wargaming but in digital form. It’s also has a great solo system. I really wish there were more games like this in the App Store.

Great graphics, an intuitive interface, easy to pick up for a newbie but with enough tactical depth for an experienced tabletop grognard.

Easy to get into and definitely fun to play. A must try!

Great to get hex and counter gaming on my phone and this game delivers. The tutorial makes it easy to learn and start playing quickly. Good variety in the scenarios and the AI is always challenging. I just went through the campaign for the first time and can’t wait to do it again to try to improve my grades. More of these games please!

Lighter Ancients hex and counter game. Easy to pick up and get rolling right into the game