8 More Board Games We'd Love To See On Mobile

A while back, as board game adaptations were exploding onto mobile, we listed eight games we'd love to see given the digital treatment.

Truth is, though, eight is the thin end of the wedge. A very thin end indeed, in fact. And two of them, Twilight Struggle and Through the Ages have, or will soon have, mobile versions.

Lots of board games do benefit from being played face to face, of course. It's a great way to socialize with your friends, after all, at the same time as administering a competitive clobbering. But some lose little in the translation and some lost nothing at all.

So here's eight more that we'd love to get our virtual hands on.

This game is a phenomenon, a single title responsible for a sizable proportion of a big publisher's income. Part of its appeal is, without doubt, the collectible, detailed, painted miniatures of Star Wars ships that are used as pieces.

That'd be lost on a screen, making the digital version a sad shadow of the original, right?

Well, maybe. But those models consume an awful lot of money and storage space. A virtual version would be cheaper and more compact.

Plus, the actual game with its discrete turns and simultaneous movement would work well via mobile. Its success isn't just down to the pretty ships but fun and tactical depth, too.

Few games are so grand in scope as this 2004 behemoth. It seeks to replicate not just the warfare of fantasy's most famed trilogy but the quest, too.

So Gandalf and Aragorn move among the mighty armies of Middle-Earth while Frodo and Sam try to slip quietly to Mount Doom.

As you might expect, it eats time and table space like there's no tomorrow. Which there won't be if the Sauron player gets their way.

So, while a digital version would be convenient you might think it wouldn't fit well on a touchscreen. However, there was once a fan-made Java version that did just that, so we'd love to see what some professional programmers could do with this.

Not many games give you the chance to solve the mystery of the most famous unsolved serial killer in all of history. And neither does Letters From Whitechapel.

But it does give you the opportunity to step back in time to the taut horror of the chase.

Each night the Jack player must find a victim to murder, and he moves in secret. Meanwhile the other players, as the police, must use every clue left behind to catch the culprit.

It's a tight, tense game which would flow much better if Jack had the convenience of hiding moves behind online play rather than a physical screen.

No, no-one sneezed. This is a block wargame based on a historical conflict for control of feudal Japan. In block games you can see where your enemy has units, but not what they are. Strategic bluff is key to victory.

Sekigahara adds a further layer of obscurity by demanding that players have matching cards in order to get blocks to fight.

So that big force blocking your path might actually prove useless in a fight unless your enemy has the right cards. Or they might tear you apart.

This is one of the fastest, simplest and yet deepest block games around, making it ideal for a digital adaptation.

If you've ever longed to play Poker, but with armies and battles and a fancy map of Renaissance Italy to fight over, this is the game for you.

Bluff is key as you try and coax important cards out of your opponent's hands over inconsequential territory.

While keeping poker face is fun face to face, moving online arguably makes bluffing games demand more skill. Without a face to read, it's all down to instinct and card counting.

Plus there's big hand management aspect to Condottiere. Moving it all online has the potential to increase the pleasure.

This is a role selection game, and role selection games work really well on mobile. They have tons of cards and limited interaction, so you only gain by the switch to digital.

Other top titles in the genre like San Juan and Race for the Galaxy have, or are, coming to touchscreen.

Glory to Rome should, too. Because it's the best role selection game, stuffed to bursting with brilliant card combos and a side helping of "take that" play.

And the physical version is out of print, with no plans for a rerun. Releasing online would solve distribution problems forever, as well as letting everyone experience this great game.

So good, they named it twice. This is an auction game from the most famed designer of auction games around, Reiner Knizia.

Modern Art is the older version, where you're bidding on bizarre abstracts. In Masters Gallery they're swapped for classic paintings but the play is the same.

Either way, you're bidding against other players for the chance to own the most prestigious art around. But the clever thing is that the art in vogue fluctuates depending on what's being bought and sold.

Clever players can thus manipulate the price to make a profit. A mobile version would allow exploration of its rich strategies in super-quick time.