Iron Frontier

Iron Frontier tries to bring proper RTS to a phone, and mostly it pulls it off. You gather resources, expand your base and fight off waves, all with a control scheme built around pinch, drag and tap groups. It took me a match or two to get comfortable, but then it clicked.

The campaign is meaty and the difficulty curve is fair. There's a skirmish mode against the AI when you just want a quick fight. I appreciated that you can pause and issue orders, which makes the fiddlier moments manageable on a small screen.

It's the heaviest game on this list for battery — expect real drain over a long session, and keep a charger nearby for marathon play. Shorter skirmishes are fine. If you miss desktop strategy on the go, give it a look.

What we liked

• Genuine RTS depth
• Skirmish mode for quick sessions
• Pause-and-order helps on touch