Iron Tidelines

Iron Tidelines is a strategy game that actually asks you to think about terrain. Your fleets and shore batteries live and die by the tide, which rises and falls on a visible clock, opening and closing routes across each map. Rush in without reading it and you'll get stranded.

The campaign teaches its systems slowly, and by the fourth mission you're managing supply depots, screening lines, and feints all at once. There's no twitch pressure — turns are as long as you want them — which makes it a great commute game you can put down and pick back up.

Skirmish mode against the AI is where we sank the most time. The bots play defensively enough to force you to earn your ground. It won't convert someone who hates strategy, but for the rest of us it's a smart, tidy little war game.

What we liked

• Tide clock reshapes every map
• No time pressure on turns
• Solid, patient AI