Ironhold Tactics

Ironhold Tactics is a lean strategy game built around small squads on a hex grid. You bring four to six units into short battles, and almost every fight can be lost by careless positioning. It rewards planning without demanding an hour per match.

The campaign feeds you new unit types slowly, so the puzzle stays fresh. There's a light meta layer where you upgrade your roster between missions, but it never overwhelms the tactical core. I appreciated that difficulty comes from clever enemy setups rather than inflated numbers.

On a phone the hex grid is a little cramped in big battles, but pinch-zoom mostly solves it. If you like thinking before you move, this one earns the space on your device.

What we liked

• Tight hex tactics that punish sloppy moves
• Roster upgrades between missions
• Difficulty from design, not stat inflation