by Al Butler
It has been rather cold up here in the Northeast; negative zero temperatures each morning, with the thermometer not getting above freezing throughout the day. I cannot speak for others but, for me, such frigid conditions tend to stifle my board gaming hobby a bit. Normally, about once a week, I will grab a title from my library after work, set it up, and try and play a solo variant or two, or perhaps simply organize the components so my OCD is satisfied. Not in this weather though, for by the time I get back to the igloo, I mean house, all I want to do is eat something and curl up in a warm spot.
It’s exhausting to say the least. However, the itch to play remains, and so like any good Junkie I have found a way to scratch it and satisfy the addiction.
Many board games have been converted into IOS (apple) apps that can be played electronically on either an iPad or iPhone. A particular title I have had my eye on is a box game Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games, which has been available for IOS for quite some time now, so I decided I’d give it a try. The download was free, so it was a far cry less expensive than buying the Master box set ($30-$50). I figured this way I could not only try out the game cheap before going all in but, I could also keep my ass warm in bed under comforters, electric blankets, three cats, etc. while I played.
The concept for Summoner Wars is similar to several popular collectible card games: you control an all-powerful summoner with the ability to cast magic and bring various types warriors to fight battles. It uses a card-based mechanic for building magic and summoning new cards, however each card is put on a grid-based field, creating a physical strategy on top of resource management.
I Feel, the iPad is a perfect fit for Summoner Wars. An entire table with dozens of moving cards is condensed to a single screen. Managing the field, your hand, the discard, die rolls, and every other aspect of the game is laid out in a smart and intuitive way, which makes learning and gameplay flow easily. Every card in play has all of its main statistics visible from the field view, and any further special abilities can be read with a quick double tap.
I’ve played dozens of games and have even bought a couple of expansion decks to add variety. Each race, Elves, Dwarves, Undead, etc. have their own unique special traits as well as strategies for playing them. The AI opponent rarely becomes predictable even after working the same deck combination over and over, but I think a human opponent in online play would really make this title shine even more. Yes that’s available too.
The one thing I suggest strongly to anyone who decides to load this app, is to run through the tutorial in full and read the manual before trying to play a match. I being "all knowing" failed to do so and got my ass kicked due to skipping this most basic step. Once I went back and read it, all was good again.
So there you have it, I will continue to scratch away at the itch by playing Summoner Wars for IOS each night while all comfy and cozy neathe the covers. At least until things begin to thaw out a bit around here, and I can stand on the dining room floor and not have my feet turn blue. I have also decided to add the Box Set back onto my list of games to purchase.
Summoner Wars App Store Link.
Cheers
AL
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| Summoner Wars IOS App |
It has been rather cold up here in the Northeast; negative zero temperatures each morning, with the thermometer not getting above freezing throughout the day. I cannot speak for others but, for me, such frigid conditions tend to stifle my board gaming hobby a bit. Normally, about once a week, I will grab a title from my library after work, set it up, and try and play a solo variant or two, or perhaps simply organize the components so my OCD is satisfied. Not in this weather though, for by the time I get back to the igloo, I mean house, all I want to do is eat something and curl up in a warm spot.
It’s exhausting to say the least. However, the itch to play remains, and so like any good Junkie I have found a way to scratch it and satisfy the addiction.
Many board games have been converted into IOS (apple) apps that can be played electronically on either an iPad or iPhone. A particular title I have had my eye on is a box game Summoner Wars by Plaid Hat Games, which has been available for IOS for quite some time now, so I decided I’d give it a try. The download was free, so it was a far cry less expensive than buying the Master box set ($30-$50). I figured this way I could not only try out the game cheap before going all in but, I could also keep my ass warm in bed under comforters, electric blankets, three cats, etc. while I played.
 |
| Tap or drag to move during movement phase. |
The concept for Summoner Wars is similar to several popular collectible card games: you control an all-powerful summoner with the ability to cast magic and bring various types warriors to fight battles. It uses a card-based mechanic for building magic and summoning new cards, however each card is put on a grid-based field, creating a physical strategy on top of resource management.
I Feel, the iPad is a perfect fit for Summoner Wars. An entire table with dozens of moving cards is condensed to a single screen. Managing the field, your hand, the discard, die rolls, and every other aspect of the game is laid out in a smart and intuitive way, which makes learning and gameplay flow easily. Every card in play has all of its main statistics visible from the field view, and any further special abilities can be read with a quick double tap.
 |
| Double tap any card to view up close special abilities. |
I’ve played dozens of games and have even bought a couple of expansion decks to add variety. Each race, Elves, Dwarves, Undead, etc. have their own unique special traits as well as strategies for playing them. The AI opponent rarely becomes predictable even after working the same deck combination over and over, but I think a human opponent in online play would really make this title shine even more. Yes that’s available too.
 |
| Ranged attack! |
The one thing I suggest strongly to anyone who decides to load this app, is to run through the tutorial in full and read the manual before trying to play a match. I being "all knowing" failed to do so and got my ass kicked due to skipping this most basic step. Once I went back and read it, all was good again.
 |
| Play the tutorial and read the rules. |
So there you have it, I will continue to scratch away at the itch by playing Summoner Wars for IOS each night while all comfy and cozy neathe the covers. At least until things begin to thaw out a bit around here, and I can stand on the dining room floor and not have my feet turn blue. I have also decided to add the Box Set back onto my list of games to purchase.
Summoner Wars App Store Link.
Cheers
AL
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