Tide of Banners

Tide of Banners is not a frantic tap-fest. It is a strategy game that asks you to think two or three turns ahead, moving armies across a hex map while keeping your supply lines intact. Overextend and you will watch a strong force wither on the wrong side of a mountain range.

I appreciated that the game trusts you to learn. The tutorial covers the basics and then steps back, letting the systems teach you through failure. Losing a campaign because I ignored logistics taught me more than any tooltip could.

The interface is a little cramped on a phone, and I ended up playing most of it on a tablet. On the right screen, though, it is a genuinely clever strategy game that holds up over long sessions.

What we liked

• Meaningful logistics and terrain
• A campaign that teaches through consequences
• Clean turn structure once it clicks