iOS, Android, PC/Mac •
Last week Kelsey compared HexWar to Lucy van Pelt with the rest of us taking on the role of Charlie Brown running at the football. Well, let’s just say that the ball has been teed up again, and it’s up to us if we’re going to take the bait. Unfortunately, the football in this case is a pretty great board game from Academy called 1812: The Invasion of Canada, which means I’ll probably end up charging toward the App Store. I’m really hoping I don’t end up on my back this time.
HexWar has just released 1812: The Invasion of Canada for iOS, Android, and PC/Mac. This is a “sequel” to the wonderful 1775: Rebellion which has a not-quite-wonderful digital version, also by HexWar, and uses many of the same systems to tell a different story in American history. The difference is that 1812 can handle five players instead of four, with three players covering the British units (British Regulars, Canadian Militia, and Native American) and two handling the American Regulars and Militia.
If you haven’t played 1775, the games are a nice mix of area control and hand management with a veneer of war game over the top. You’ll chuck a lot of dice, move a lot of units, and do a lot of what you’d expect with the cool addition of team play. The British and American sides win as a whole, so in 1812 it’s three versus two, and that cooperation really makes these titles shine.
Unfortunately, HexWar’s multiplayer options limit online play to only 2 players which takes away a big coolness factor. There is hotseat multiplayer for up to 5, as well as solo play vs. three levels of AI, but that online play thing is kind of a bummer.
I know that when 1775 was released, it had a lot of issues, but many of those were cleaned up via updates. Here’s hoping that the system has been polished enough that the initial release of 1812 isn’t just another football getting yanked away at the last second.
- 1812: The Invasion of Canada for iOS Universal, $10
- 1812: The Invasion of Canada for Android, $13
- 1812: The Invasion of Canada for PC/Mac via Steam, $22.50
Good grief!
I want I want!!!
But I will wait for the sacrificial lambs to test it out first…
Oh-Kay. As I’ve had (am having) a blast with 1775 despite its inexplicable MP implementation, I think my enthusiasm for the genre may overcome my deep ambivalence towards Hexwar and all their works. Dammit.
EDIT: well, I have bad news and just news. The just news is that the MP is exactly the same as 1775. I know, I know, we were expecting it, it still sucks, that’s the just news. The bad news is I haven’t managed to get beyond the initial reinforcements turn in a game against the AI because the app is crash-happy. I’ll restart the iPad, the usual. But goddammit Hexwar, you’re supposed to try and shed a reputation for shoddiness, not embrace it.
And now I’ve spit Ardbeg everywhere!
Still persevering with my first MP game. However, not only is it still crashy, after the last crash it apparently loaded someone else’s game. Plus it’s sluggish to load and has other annoyances, like the green highlighting being laggy.
I’ll report back when it updates, but honestly, right now, not worth your hard-earned.