Tally Ho

Tally Ho for Android is a digital remake of an asymmetrical board game. One player controls the woodland creatures, while the other controls a band of hunters. The two sides fight for control of neutral wildlife and against each other on a tile-based map.

What Makes This Digital Board Game Tick

At its core, this two-player strategy game is all about tiles reveal and moving pieces that resembles chess. The Blue Team comprises bears, foxes, and other forest dwellers, while the Brown Team is comprised of hunters and lumberjacks. Each piece has rules that govern how they can move which creates amazing tactical puzzles. The hunters can only attack in the direction that their weapon points, the bears pack power but move slowly, and the lumberjacks can clear trees in the way of movement. The objective? You can move enemy pieces away, capture neutral animals such as ducks and pheasants to gain more points, and safely run away with your own pieces to the edge of the board before a timer runs out.

The gameplay unfolds in two distinct phases. At the Beginning, Luck dominates as players flip randomised tiles to see friend or foe. But here is where it starts to get interesting. Once most of the tiles are exposed, the strategic depth of the game increases dramatically during the mid-game. You are always using a risk vs reward mentality here where you want to reveal a new tile that might have a strong ally or reposition existing pieces to set up a killer combo. The combination of skill and luck in this game puts it in a different space to more purely abstract, deterministic strategy games with well defined strategies. The retro, nostalgic vibe of the art brings charm to the game and the asynchronous or local multiplayer support allows you to play at your own pace or face the same screen.

The Balance Problem You Should Know About

According to reports from users, an important flaw of tile randomness is that it sometimes begins lopsided and stays that way. In the game, some players find that the game tends to favour one side only as a function of where the pieces fell during setup. This ends up being quite frustrating as skill takes a backseat to chance. To address the imbalance, the community turned to a best of 2 match format to find the winner. Currently, the app has no enforcement. What’s more, you can only play with two players limited to no ai or solo challenge mode and other modern online features like matchmaking and global leaderboards were noticeably missing too.

Who Benefits Most from This Asymmetrical Board Game

The app recreates the original tabletop experience faithfully, with the addition of «piece-specific abilities» and a «hunting theme» and randomized tile setup to ensure replayability. The app is totally free of ads and has no in-app purchases. According to the information provided, me can play offline although it is not mentioned explicitly in all the sources. The catch? This is very much a niche title. Do you like «digital board games» that emphasize quick and lively sessions over long and drawn out campaign games? You’ll love Tally Ho. However, if you are expecting the polish that one finds on other modern board game platforms, you will feel the absence. Ultimately, it’s best suited for people who like traditional strategy games where you play different roles. They can deal with it not being perfectly balanced; it can change with the luck of the draw. They also want a simple two-player battle that they can fit in their pocket.