Take That Hill teaches real military tactics through turn-based battles on Android
Costs a decent amount too
- Learn real infantry tactics
- Command a platoon across tactical missions
- Includes the Paratrooper Raid expansion
I've never got on with a wargame's rulebook. Something about the sheer thickness of them puts me off before I've even opened the box. Decades of jargon stacked on top of decades more, and the nagging sense that everyone else in the room already knows whatever a “ZOC” is. Take That Hill exists specifically to sort that out, and it turns up with a fairly serious pedigree behind it.
The primer itself comes from Fight Club International, a wargaming network whose membership stretches across serving military, the defence industry and the games industry itself. Not the usual credential list for a mobile strategy release.
In Take That Hill, you're commanding an infantry platoon, three sections plus a Platoon HQ, up against an enemy dug into a hill 500 metres away across completely open ground. No cover from view, none from fire either.
You take the hill through fire and manoeuvre: pin the defenders, advance under covering fire, close in and assault. Do it fast and you risk your platoon. Do it carefully and the clock keeps running regardless.
Once the basics land, the advanced rules start layering in fire support, minefields, barbed wire, hidden positions that may or may not actually be occupied, and 120mm mortars. Low-light attacks let you close in unseen, at the cost of confusion among your own troops. The 20-minute intro is clearly just a starting point.
There's also a full expansion, Paratrooper Raid, which drops you behind enemy lines the night before a major offensive with one objective: destroy a command-and-control node before dawn. You land with just your platoon commander and gather the rest of your force from the drop zone as the garrison wakes up around you.
Take That Hill is out now on Android for a hefty price of $19.99. iOS version to follow soon.
For more turn-based strategy worth your time, check out our list of the best strategy games on Android.
