App Review: Send fantastical armies into battle with Ex Illis on your iPhone

(i)Pawn can turn your iPhone into a board game playing surface, but what if you want to expand your battles onto a much bigger playing field, one with mages and cavalry and archangels and big monsters? Then your best option is Ex illis, a new game that uses your iPhone or iPad as a game computer (technically, the "Rule Keeper software") while you act as general and overlord and maneuver your many pawns around the board. Armed with your painted miniatures and a copy of the software (also available for your Mac or PC), you and a friend can spend the afternoon

This is a fairly light miniatures game - it's not heavy like Warhammer or 40K, but it's way beyond Risk - and the software does a find job of making sure battles are won fair and square. For the rest of us, having the iPhone handle things is breezy and fun. One neat way this game is different from most board games is that your armies can gain strength and extra abilities over time. The web-based software keeps track of how your soldiers (or, ogres or whatever) are doing and gives them special powers depending on how they performed in battle. It's neat and engaging, but also gives big advantages to people who play a lot.

You can't build up your forces by playing against the computer, though, even in practice mode. You can sign up for two accounts and play against yourself to learn the rules, but the idea with Ex illlis is to play against a friend on the tabletop, not over the Internet or versus an AI. The investment to get started is pretty steep (the deluxe starter costs $159.95 while the basic version is $69.95 - each comes with 54 miniatures - and the booster packs of minis cost between $22.95 and $29.95. Hey, at least the iPhone app and the 30-day trial are free), but if you're ready to use your iPhone as a game calculator for your fantasy minis, Ex illis is a great way to go. Read on to figure out more about the world of Ex illis.


Gallery: Ex illis: miniatures and screen shotsTUAWApp Review: Send fantastical armies into battle with Ex Illis on your iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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