Gaming on the Go: Supplementary Apps
April 3, 2012 by dracs
Over the past decade or so we have seen wargaming really start to make its presence known in the field of video gaming. With games like Space Marine and Dawn of War, as well as upcoming projects for Confrontation and Anima Tactics, our hobbies have been making their way from the table top to our screens.
Now, thanks to the wonders of iPod apps, we can even start to game on the go.
I've had a couple of these kind of apps on my iPod Touch for a little while now and I just thought I would take some time to share my experiences of four of them with you.
These apps can broadly be split into two categories; supplementary apps and game apps, with the supplementary apps geared towards assisting in your gaming while the game apps are full games in their own right.
Lets kick off with the supplementary apps. When it comes to supplementary apps Fantasy Flight Games are definitely at the forefront, with apps for both Arkham Horror and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
I have personally found the Arkham Horror Toolkit to be very useful when it comes to playing the classic Cthulhu board game. As many of you who have played the game before have probably noted, the game's set up can on occasion take longer than the game itself does.
This app can make life a lot easier, providing you with all of the bits and pieces needed, from Location Cards to dice. It will also help to keep track of your investigator's stamina and sanity, meaning you can stop fiddling around with markers and get on with stopping the Ancient One getting through.
Another company which has produced a supplementary app is Backspindle Games for their board game Guards! Guards!.
Unlike the Arkham Horror Toolkit, the Guards! Guards! app doesn't aim so much towards providing you with the tools to play the game as it does providing you with tips and tactics.
The app is free to download and covers two points, strategy and characters. The strategy section explains some of the best ways in which to deal with things like recruitment, sabotage et. The character section provides you with a list of the various attributes and strong points of the characters you can recruit. Want the toughest character? Try and draw Dorfl. Want protection from magic? Find Mustrum Ridcully.
All in all, while the Guards! Guards! tips can be helpful when playing the game it ultimately does not provide you with anything which you could not find out yourself by playing the game a few times.
Of these two apps the Arkham Horror Toolkit is by far the most useful for your gaming, allowing you to set up your games quickly and efficiently, leaving you to get on with fighting the big tentacled monsters.
If any of you have used some of these apps be sure to drop us a comment with your thoughts on them. Do you think that apps can make a difference in gaming?
Next time I will take a look at two apps which are full games themselves, namely Fantasy Flight Games' Elder Sign: Omens and Fighting Fantasy's City of Thieves so be sure to keep an eye out.
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The single best free app I have come across for gaming: iBodger for Warmachine & Hordes.
The app works so well that Privateer Press is coming out with their own version ($$).