Toy Tactics

Written by Jason Dailey on 9/24/2024 for PC  

As a fan of real-time strategy games, I admit that it is not always easy to recommend some of the genre’s best titles. Oftentimes obtuse and overly technical, deep RTS games can quickly turn newcomers away, while more straightforward experiences are not challenging enough for genre veterans. Toy Tactics manages to embrace both crowds with open arms through its intuitive gameplay design. While RTS-curious players can easily pick-up and play the game, grizzled vets like me will be busy testing new tactics and unit formations for hours on end. In fact, it now sits atop my list of recommendations for anyone looking to get into this sort of game, as well as those looking for something a bit different in the strategy space.

Toy Tactics is so brilliantly and confidently designed that within the first 30 minutes of playing, I sent a message to a Gaming Nexus colleague admiring how good it was. Sometimes you just know when a game is going to be good. Even hours later I still feel the same way, and find myself wondering why more games have not done what Toy Tactics does. Its special sauce is what is known as The Brush of High Command – a paintbrush that lets you draw unit formations wherever, and however, you please. It’s clever, it’s intuitive, and I don’t know if I can go back to RTS games without it. Want all your infantry units in a straight line? Cool. Want them in a box around your king or queen to protect them? No problem. Want to march in a smiley face because it’s silly? You can do it, and it just might work too. The possibilities are almost endless, and the novelty of the mechanic never wore off.

It is simple enough that RTS noobs can quickly understand how to be competent at the game, making it as easy as drawing a line or two on the screen. For example, selecting all your infantry units, pressing the draw formation button, and then sketching two parallel lines means all infantry will divide themselves up and form on those two lines. Selecting your archers and drawing a circle behind the two lines of infantry will see your bowmen take formation in a circle – simple as that. There are also times when your drawing skills will be needed to solve environmental puzzles, such as having a unit stand on a switch to lower a bridge or sending a group of units to rebuild an archer tower at a strategic location. Movement is easy too; Units can be moved independently of each other or all the units in an area can be selected as one and moved around the map drag-and-drop style.

Beyond drawing formations and moving your units around the map, you can also utilize spells, which are simply abilities that can help turn the tide of battle in your favor. Completing objectives on missions will award you currency to purchase more spells. You can equip four spells to take with you into battle, but some have a longer cooldown than others, so it’s not prudent to take four of the higher-end spells or you’ll be lucky to use them a couple of times in a match. There is a nice mix of offensive, defensive, and area control spells on offer. Some of my favorites include flaming arrow volleys, exploding pigs, and the Trojan horse, which does area-of-effect damage after exploding and then spawns a squad of friendly units to attack nearby enemies.

Like unit formations, you draw spells on the map to use them too. There will be times when you need a wide barrage of flaming arrows to deal with a squad of baddies, for example, but others where you can draw a small circle to focus fire on one big enemy. I know it sounds simple on paper, but it’s so wonderfully executed that it almost hurts, in a good way of course. You can also acquire and equip relics to provide passive buffs to your army. Each unit type can take one relic into battle, and these allow you to customize your playstyle a bit more to your liking. For instance, I chose relics for my king and queen that gave them an aura which would buff friendly unit damage and health for all nearby units. In other words, I liked to draw my infantry units in squares or circles around the king or queen to protect them, so it made sense to take advantage of those relics.

Where the challenge comes in is in trying to find the best and most efficient way to get the job done. There are times when one solitary formation is not the correct (or at least only) solution. You may need to split up your archers to flank enemies, for instance, and all you must do to make it happen is draw two separate lines for them to form up on. It may also be necessary to use the tactical pause feature to halt the action, take stock of your units as well as the enemy, and adjust your tactics on the fly. To be clear, Toy Tactics’ intuitive gameplay should not be mistaken for a walk in the park. In fact, there were several maps where the AI wiped the floor with me because I grew overconfident and misjudged my tactics. Don’t let its design fool you – this is still a strategy game that requires you to use your brain, rather than turn it off.

There are a lot of ways to test your mettle in Toy Tactics, with a somewhat surprising amount of content for an RTS. Campaign mode is the main draw, featuring five factions, each with their own set of missions to complete that will keep you busy for many hours on its own. Each faction, from the Roman legion-inspired Imperium to the Draugr zombies, will see you battling to complete the win conditions of each map, with varied objectives that keep things fresh throughout. I also admired the toy miniature character designs of each faction and how it brought lightheartedness to the game. Along those lines, Toy Tactics employs a comedic tone that I found endearing. There is one spell called Explosive Amphorae with a description that reads, “When you fill it with fire and the damage is dire, that’s Amphorae!”, and yes, I laughed out loud. It’s small potatoes, but it adds to the ambience of it being an RTS game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and one that can be enjoyed by all.

There is a lot more game here beyond the campaign mode, including perhaps my favorite mode – puzzles. In puzzle mode, you once again must use your noggin to complete a board in the shortest amount of time possible. The catch is that you have a set number of enemy units to defeat, with a set number of friendly units to do so. So, for instance, you may have to defeat 60 enemies, but only have 40 of your own units to pull it off. It will take some creative and efficient hand-drawn formations to be successful, but like any good puzzle, I loved the challenge and thrill of finding its solution. There is also Skirmish mode, which tasks you with gaining control of all zones on a map to win, Mercenaries mode which is similar to Puzzle mode but with a set budget that lets you purchase units as you see best to defeat the enemies on a map, and finally, there is Sandbox mode, which lets you do just about anything you want. Mix and match units from different factions, pause mid battle to add more units, or see how many minifigures fit on one bridge at the same time – it’s totally up to you.

If there is any stink on Toy Tactics, it’s that its multiplayer mode appears to be unplayable due to low player counts currently. I tried on several occasions to hop into a match of either its co-op or one-on-one multiplayer modes to no avail. I’m reticent about holding that against the game, or any game for that matter, but the fact is that you should not buy it if you’re the rare weirdo who prefers to play their RTS games in multiplayer. Beyond that, I can’t offer much context, other than to say that far more people should be playing this game, to the extent that finding a match shouldn’t even be a problem.

To that end, I will be Toy Tactics’ champion. More people should be playing and talking about this game. It is a lovely RTS experience with intuitive gameplay that lays out the welcome mat for strategy newcomers, but also finds plenty of ways to challenge genre veterans. If it doesn’t capture you in the first 30 minutes, I’d honestly be shocked. On the Toy Tactics vision board, it feels like the developers must have put all the traditional RTS design elements in a box, drew a line out to one word – “simple” – and then circled it as the game’s defining characteristic. Wait a second, that sounds like a new formation I need to test out, and it really is that simple.