Last updated on January 16th, 2026 at 02:42 pm
Ancient Battle: Rome – Entertainment Game Review
Ancient Battle: Rome is a Entertainment/Strategy/Simulation game from Hunted Cow Studios Ltd., first launched in 5th September 2013.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 21+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Ancient Battle: Rome Stand Out
Designed from the ground up Ancient Battle: Rome gives a unique wargaming experience on iPhone and iPad. Use Roman legionaries, elephants, catapults, heavy and light cavalry, archers, slingers, fanatics and many other unit types to engage in classic battles.
Reached No.1 strategy game on the App Store in 8 countries and reviews included:
"Hunted Cow’s best wargame yet" – Pocket Tactics
"delivers everything one can expect from a strategy title" – Arcade Sushi
"smart, challenging, and surprisingly substantial strategy game" – Pocket Gamer
Included in this version 'Caesars campaign in Gaul' culminating in the classic siege of Alesia, and the campaign between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, including the battle of Pharsalus.
You can also purchase additional campaigns, 'Britannia' with the highlight of Queen Boudicca's demise at the battle of Verulamum, 'Germania' with the Roman massacre at Teutoburger Wald, and the 'Pontic' campaign against Mithridates the Great.
The 'Pontic' campaign adds scythed chariots and the Greek Pike Phalanx to the game system.
Upcoming expansions include the infamous Parthia campaign where a whole Roman army perished in the desert. This campaigns will also add fully armored cataphracts and hordes of light cavalry archers to the game system.
Key Game Features:
● High Definition Ancient Era Graphics.
● 7 Mission Tutorial Campaign.
● 8 Mission Gallia Campaign playable as the Romans and Gaul.
● 8 Mission Italia Campaign playable as Caesar and Pompey.
● 32 Unique Ancient Units.
● Detailed Combat Analysis
● Flank Attacks
● Hours of Gameplay.
● Universal App (Works on iPhone & iPad)
● Additional Purchasable Campaigns.
Purchasable Extra Content:
● 8 Mission Britannia Campaign playable as the Romans and Britons.
● 8 Mission Germania Campaign playable as the Romans and Germans.
● 8 Mission Pontic Campaign playable as the Romans and Pontic
● 8 Mission Parthia Campaign playable as the Romans and Parthians
● 8 Mission Terra Incognita Campaign playable as the Romans
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© 2015 HexWar Games Ltd All Rights Reserved.
This Entertainment game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Ancient Battle: Rome is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 21st November 2024
Recent improvements include:
Various bug fixes
Download & Availability
Ancient Battle: Rome is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Ancient Battle: Rome on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Normally Im not the biggest fan of ancient warfare, but we found this game to be exceptional in terms of content and gameplay. While we do feel like there are a few missed opportunities, or a few overly easy or impractically difficult scenarios, much of the game itself has a lot to offer and Id definitely recommend it over a lot of the other ancient warfare games. Kinda wish we could play around with the 300-400 AD units thoughId like to see a remake of the Chalons or Adrianople maps. 4/5 for good effort.
We gave it five stars sometime back, but lately some of our units refuse to fight, cant select archers to fire. Ive noticed it across the other ancient games. Very frustrating.
Very fun game like all their others. Challenging enough to keep you thinking. But not frustrating. The units are well thought out.
Wish we could rotate units but otherwise best game in the universe veni vidi vici.
Great game! This game and it's cousins are our favorite turn-based strategy for our iPhone and iPad.
This app is really fun! It runs great ( for us ) …. Historically it's actually pretty accurate. We recommend this game to anyone who likes total war games.
This is a very challenging game, that simulates the different battle elements of the era it is depicting very accurately. One additional feature that we'd like to see, is the ability to change the "facing" of each unit; with so many different types of units, the field of play can become rather sloppy looking as the game progresses, and it loses some of its cohesiveness. That's a shame since the graphics and animation of the units are quite remarkable.That's really about all we'd personally like to see in a future update. Overall, though, a great game, that's worth the money.
This is a stout and well designed game. We prefer strategy games from the gun powder age but we were unable to stop playing until we had completed all of the campaigns. Excellent controls and fast paced.
Awesome game, worth the money. We originally post on 01/17/2015 that the purchased the full version would not load and we had contacted the games support team. They were prompted in making the fix.
Great game but you have to buy additional battles.
Great game, but aggravating at end. Should have the option of continuing after end points reached.
This game is an excellent game. Lots of scenarios to play with interesting units.
It really is a great strategy game.
Great hex based gaming on the iPhone. We really like history and strategy and you've blended these well. Have you considered a medieval title? Please keep up the great work.
We love this game please keep adding more. Very fun to play and keeps you thinking thx.
Game is very enjoyable to play and is generally balanced but on some rare occasions the A.we. Will outright dominate a game scenario from the beginning ensuring a one sided victory. Overall a really good game to play. Time seems to go by quickly while playing, which is often a good sign that a game is worth the initial price if purchase. Only downside is the add-on purchase prices of additional scenarios to play. We're not in favor of games that nickel and dime the purchaser of the game in order to continue to enjoy the initial investment.
Great strategy game. Game pieces are well balanced and the difficulties are well suited. There are some basic settings we're hoping would make the next update tho. We prefer the simple look of the game when it's viewed all the way out, however in this view you don't get to see the health of the unit. Would be nice if we could play it all the way through in this view. Also a setting to where the game speed is always fast would make this game less annoying. We're always tapping the screen after every move to speed it up as we think it moves too slow otherwise. There than that, the game is great and the IAP for each campaign is cheap and well worth the price. This game is well worth the purchase.
Not bad but lacks the brilliant Roman strategies like testudos, box retreats, layering of legionnaire formations, use of defensive walls, etc. Also leaves out the use of woman and children throwing rocks by the Germanic tribes, use of firebrands and lightning attacks from the forests which are too sparse for much of the terrain they fought in (and which gave their enemies an advantage). Also the Romans were often greatly outnumbered but their discipline and training offset that. 2 other issues – Many of the battles we paid for don't work. This is the 3rd time we rewrote a review. The other 2 were deleted when we were told our nickname was already taken. In case that happens again we copied this one so we don't have to rewrite it again.
LOTS of different kinds of units, lots of different scenarios with more to buy cheaply. WAY better than civil war 1862 which was a total disappointment and a waste of money. Feels more like the WW2 tank games from this company, which are also excellent.
Very good strategy game! You can actually see the battle take place without playing with cards.
A stellar game and surprisingly addictive. We really enjoy the strategy, well designed game mechanics, and thoughtful use of Roman history and units. We've purchased all of the extra campaigns and am almost finished with them. Hope you produce more.
Excellent game, please add an in-app purchase for the First and Second Punic Wars of Rome against Carthage. Adding the classic and masterpiece battles of Rome against Hannibal at Trebia, Lake Trasimene and of the climax at Cannae plus the arrival and eventual defeat of Hannibals brother and the conclusion at Zama.
Well we been looking for a game that is close to Rome total war. Well this game you can't do as much as Rome total war but its a great Roman game you can you tactics and if you don't you sometimes won't win. But it a very great game. The price is really $5.00 to $6.00 because you have to by the others campaign.
Very nicely done. We have this game and all its related games from these devs, AND all the IAPs :)) A great value. Scales well down to phone size. No bugs. There are not nearly enough of these hex turn-based games on the ipad.
We have been playing both the civil war and Rome games. They are addicting. Our main criticism is that they could be more realistic in that it is too easy to move units in an ad hoc way, flank and rear attacks aren't as strong as they could be. The games are a little too easy to win. But all in all, a lot of fun. Would love to see American Revolution.
Absolutely love all of the Hunted Cow games. Keep them coming. However, Alexander was running just fine, until the latest update….now it crashes all the time ( we are on an iPad Air).
Too many paywalls. The game is $2 but if you want the full experience than its $7. Which on there part is pretty sad and don't forget tax. But if you decide not to pay another $5 than its good, even though that there's only two campaigns.the battles are turn based for some reason ( don't know what genius decide that ) but if they delete the pay walls, then it will be a better but overall it's a decent game that wants to be a money machine.
It would be 5 stars but we can't buy in-game purchase.
We love all the Hunted Cow hex games. Keep them coming! Outstanding.
This is a fantastic game, excellent gameplay, depth and diversity. Awesome update for retina displays, made a huge difference, Hunted Cow is a great asset for this platform, great job.
Game has great historical accuracy and is a lot of fun to strategize with and play numerous times.
Lots of fun definitely a good game.
We've waited awhile for a decent ancient warfare game with historical battles. So far we are very pleased. There is, indeed, a bug in the tutorials when you get to the elephants. You have to exit and replay it which is annoying. We like combat analysis a lot since we want to know advantages and disadvantages of various units, terrain, etc., but we would still like to know how the final percentage is computed. We also wish we could roll virtual dice or something to resolve battles in order to have a more hands-on feel. Having the computer just compute the success behind the scenes is a bit boring. Also, what about multiplayer.
All the Hunted Cow Hex War games Are very good, but there are some technical problems that need to be addressed. First, it is way too easy to send a unit to the wrong hex (this happens all the time) yet there is no way to redo the move! Often one bad move can mean the game. Second, these games are in desperate need of a "next unit" button as it is often hard find that last unmoved unit. Third, the scenario difficulty seems to have no logic as one will be impossible to win on hard level whereas the next will be a push over.
We love this game but you guys should expand where you can fight to places like Carthage or Greece. Re-enacting the Punic wars would be awesome.
We absolutely love this game. But what we don't love is that we have to pay to play it. You charge us $3 to get the game. Once we get past 2 mission packs we have to pay another dollar to get more missions. Common really? If you made a second roman game we would be glad to play it but there is no point in buying levels to play.
These are our favorite turn based strategy games on iOS period. Well worth the purchase. It combines strategic depth and breadth with tactical decision making and historical tie-ins. 5*s for sure.
Very fun! Really has a feel of Roman war. The way units work really makes it feel like how the army's would have felt.
Smart ai, well balanced game. Guile is needed.
Simple, but challenging enough to be entertaining. Educating on both historical and military facets.
Good game – horrible update being applied across all Hexwar Ancients and Civil War titles. New speedy animations look ridiculous. Cannons move like they are on ATVs. Weeeeee !!! Heavy troops like Hoplites now speed walk like a perky fitness trainer in yoga pants. Hexwar – please put one more level of speed down so that there is an option for heavy troops and equipment to move more realistically like they once did.
Excellent turn-based tactical game: user-friendly controls, simple game play, & lots of fun.
We love the strategy aspect of the game! If u lose just rethink ur plan and try again.
One of the best hex games, because it combines infantry, cavalry, archers, large army scenarios, and unusual units like elephants and catapults.
Could use pass and play, and design your own level. Maybe spawn in units.
May we suggest a custom battle area of the game? Set up different units on both (or more) sides in a map, and then play as a faction of choice.
Great hex game play but we wish the other campaigns were included. Still, nice to play a traditional game without the "buy to win" robbery.
Try the free lite version first, just to see what we mean and make your own opinion. When the battles are more balanced, it can be pretty fun to outwit the enemy. But the battles that are not balanced? We'll just say make sure your phone has a good case and have plenty of cigarettes laying around. Super frustrating! Flanking is almost impossible, the enemy gets reinforcements just when most of your units are depleted enough, and most importantly, the terrain bonuses are really hard to master. However, the most frustrating part is the terrible controls. We don't know how many times we mistakenly moved a unit, or ended our turn early when trying to "ok" an attack (it's the same button!!!). So to make a long story short, get the free lite version and see how you like that first.
Simple stuff like not being able to flank unless you have a giant free area, veteran units still getting wiped by non vet units, basic stuff that you should be able to use to win fights is poorly or not implemented. Especially the flanking is horrible. The whole concept of the Roman cohort was to allow units to be flexible and take advantage of opportunity but in this game you need a square mile of empty space to maneuver. Musket smoke got it right this game is just frustrating.
Make a game where you can create a battle with unlimited units. If you want to see a game like this so you could have an idea of what to do, look at the Age of Empires series. We really want to have a phalanx vs phalanx. It's a great game even without the create mode, but it could be better with the creative mode. It's a great game, and is worth $1.99.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 5.1.0
- Size: 685.58 MB
- iOS: 16.6 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Realistic Violence
- Developer: Hunted Cow Studios Ltd.
Last updated: 21st November 2024 | Genre: Entertainment, Strategy | Developer: Hunted Cow Studios Ltd.