Battling on the iPhone

Not much game playing going on this week. The one exception is that I've been playing the Reiner Knizia game Battle Line on the iPhone.

Battle Line was first published by GMT Games in 2000. It's fairly similar to other Knizia card games. The game includes a deck of 60 cards in six suits (colors) numbered 1 to 10. Players take turns playing cards in one of nine columns. A player's side of the column is filled when three cards are played. The player with the stronger set of three cards (flush, three of a kind, straight, straight flush) claims the column (by taking a marker). There are additional optional cards that add more to the mix, but I haven't tried them out yet.

The iPhone app is a bargain at $2.99. I'd like to get a physical copy of the game, but GMT has sold out two printings (with no more printings currently planned).

The Week in Review

1. I managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory in the History of the World game I was winning at GamesByEmail. Steve slipped into first place on the last turn and won with 194 points to my 189. Oh well, second place is better than I've been doing.

2. Patrick and I played the Battle of Akragas scenario in Commands and Colors: Ancients last weekend. This is probably the 12th time we've played this scenario -- Patrick always takes Syracuse, and I always take Carthage. While Carthage won the real battle in 405 BC, I've only seen them win the scenario twice (which explains why Patrick likes to take Syracuse). This time was no exception.

3. Dennis came over for dinner last Friday, and we played a game of Long Shot. Dennis guided Six Gun to a win and collected $290 for the victory. Andrew bought Last Chance, who came in second, giving Andrew $200. My favorite horse Wonder Bred and I both came in third with $190. Patrick finished with $165.

4. I downloaded the iPhone app for GMT's Battleline. I've only had the chance to play it once, but it's a nice implementation. The game is somewhat similar to another Reiner Knizia game, Lost Cities, but (at least at this point) I like Battleline more.