Ironvale Legions

Ironvale Legions is the kind of strategy game I keep meaning to play for ten minutes and then look up an hour later. Battles are turn-based on a hex grid, and the whole thing lives or dies on how you use terrain. High ground, chokepoints, flanking — it all counts, and the AI actually punishes lazy formations.

The campaign eases you in with small skirmishes before handing you an army to juggle. What surprised me is how readable it stays on a phone. Unit icons are big, the info panels are tidy, and you can undo a move before you commit, which saves a lot of frustration on the touchscreen.

There's a light base-building layer between missions, but it never overstays its welcome. My only gripe is a slow difficulty spike around the midgame that made me restart a couple of chapters. Push through it and the later maps are some of the best mobile tactics I've played this year.

What we liked

• Terrain-driven tactics with real depth
• Clean, readable interface on small screens
• Undo system that respects fat-finger mistakes