Artillerists is like Battleship on steroids for iOS devices

The new turn-based strategy game Artillerists takes the simple concept of Battleship and amps it up for mobile devices with big explosions, the ability to upgrade your army and more. The gameplay of Artillerists is simple -- just place your units on an isometric game board then take shots at your enemy. The first person to destroy all of their opponent's units wins. The aspect of guessing where your enemy's units are positioned makes Artillerists frustrating, in a good way, and addictive, but the game isn't entirely based on luck.

What separates Artillerists from Battleship is the ability to earn and deploy different types of weapons to defeat your enemy. In Campaign mode you begin the game with two motors, but you can grow your army by earning credits to add more units or upgrade them. You can also complete missions to test out and earn new tactics such as radar reconnaissance, air strikes and more.

Artillerists is addictive due to its level of difficulty thanks to the randomness of the game. You will need to play levels over and over, especially to earn credits so you can get an advantage over your opponent. Even with the added strategy of additional units, Artillerists is still a game of chance where you must randomly guess your opponent's location. Using additional tactics such as radar only doubles your chances of landing a hit, until you earn enough credits to increase your radar's search radius. This will take some time because credits don't come easy, especially when you're losing. Luckily you can also earn credits by watching trailers for other games, a revenue tactic I personally think is great for mobile gaming.

The only IAPs are available after you lose in the form of a Weapon of Last Chance. You can choose to reveal all the remaining enemies on the board for $0.99, buy additional seven shots for $1.99 or just buy a guaranteed victory for $2.99. This may sound like cheating, but trust me, once you play the game you will see why they're tempting.

Artillerists features a campaign mode with 20 main missions and 40 side missions. There is also a skirmish more you can unlock by playing the game or buy for $1.99. Artillerists is available for free on the Apple App Store. It supports all devices running iOS 7.0 or later, including older hardware like the iPhone 4s.