Militia

Militia is a simple, tile-based strategy game. Each time you start a new game, you go through three floors of randomly-generated battles, with three units out of five classes on your side and a bunch of enemies with an equal amount of diversity on their side. Everything moves and attacks according to specific, easily-understood rules; for example, the Warriors can move two spaces and cleave all three spaces in front of them, and the Imps can only move two spaces diagonally. The goal is to kill all enemy captains marked with a star, but going straight for them is often a bad idea since all units die in a single hit. Keeping track of areas the enemy can attack is as crucial, if not moreso, as it is in more mathematically-complex tactical RPGs like Fire Emblem or Advance Wars. If you manage to get through all three rounds, you gain EXP, and if you gain enough EXP, your rank goes up and so does the difficulty of future games. Losing, on the other hand, makes you lose EXP, which can be a bit upsetting since it feels like an arbitrary time-wasting punishment. Last but not least, there's also "Dark World" mode which has entirely different units from the normal game, as well as Endless and Timed modes. Overall, this game is great if you want something quick to pick up, puzzle through a few rounds, then put down for another time.

I bought this game but quickly got bored with it. Wouldn't recommend.

Another winner from BrainGoodGames! This one is like a chaotic chess match where you have a few different units that move and attack in very different ways. Instead of capturing a king, you have to defeat several captains, which can be any type of enemy unit and are designated by a star. And it's like two games in one because there are light and dark versions, which have their own completely different sets of units. Dark takes a bit more creative thinking sometimes because its units are less straightforward -- a force mage that can deal damage only by knocking one unit into another, and a "weaver" that sets "totems" (bombs). Yeah, I'm not sure how they came up with that name. I would have gone with "demolitionist" or "bomber." Each game is quick, with three short levels, but don't let that fool you into thinking they are easy!. OK, they really are super easy for the first few ranks, but if you want to skip all that, you can "test out of" the easy bits with a placement match. All in all, it's well thought out. Just be sure to avail yourself of the tutorials and info screens because the meanings of the icons are not super obvious the first time you see them. A little trial and error, and you'll be golden!

Fun chess-like game. Has both light and dark worlds (dark is harder). Works great with touch screen, and can run on lesser powered devices.

Sort of a chess-puzzle strategy game. Addictive and tight design. Good for short play sessions.

A simple idea done well. Feels like playing chess on campaign mode. The difficulty seems to scale well and I don't think I've been put in a match that was unwinnable. Some units are able to refresh others, which allows for some fun move combos. A few minor gripes: There is no way to save in the middle of a game. If you quit/go to the menu the current game is considered a loss. You can only quit in-between battles. There doesn't seems to be a way to change sound settings in game, you have to go to the menu...which can only be done between games. In Dark mode the Eye Lasers fire too quickly on the enemies turn, I lost several units without knowing what had actually killed them. The Wand (wizard?) is the only unit that can survive its box explosions, including allies. This is fine, but I didn't feel like it is explained well in the help page. Over all a great game.