Trouble Brothers did a bang-up job of creating an original game that is both familiar and foreign. The strategies are hard to master because of the reliance on alliances--if one of your allies tries to tackle one of your enemies', you might find that the pieces are adjacent and therefore can't attack one another. Or just when you think you've knocked out an enemy, you've found their ally sneaking up on your flank and cutting off one of your start points. For a game that takes queues from traditional games like checkers and chess, the gameplay still feels refreshingly different.

Wizard Hex sounds complicated, and it is--it's not too hard to get the basics down, but it's difficult to master. Each individual game is short and sweet, so there's not a whole lot of replayability if you're going to be playing solo. Instead, Wizard Hex shines on the iPad's larger screen where players can take turns strategizing, fortifying, and attacking. So if you're looking for a fun, attractive board game to play with friends, Wizard Hex is an excellent choice.

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