Comparison

Kriegspiel vs Ancient Games

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Kriegspiel

Engage in a strategic board game inspired by Napoleonic warfare. The objective is to capture enemy arsenals by deploying lines of communication and blocking enemy movements on a large game board. Offers online and local multiplayer, as well as AI practice.

Highlights
  • 20x25 game board
  • Capture enemy arsenals to win
  • Deploy lines of communication
  • Block enemy lines
  • Online multiplayer
  • Local multiplayer
  • AI practice mode
  • Level editor
Read full description

Inspired by the military theory of Carl von Clausewitz and the European war campaigns of Napoleon, Kriegspiel is a chess-variant played by two opposing players on a 20 x 25 game board. Capture the enemy's Arsenals to win. Deploy your Lines of Communication to keep friendly units in contact. Block enemy lines for strategic advantage. "The surprises of this Kriegspiel seem to be inexhaustible," wrote French Situationist Guy Debord. In Debord's view the game represents the totality of factors at play in wartime maneuvers, what he called "the dialectic of all conflicts." -- Play 2P online against another player -- Play 2P in person on the same device -- Practice against the computer -- Level editor for customizing formations -- Language support for French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and English Kriegspiel is produced and maintained by Alexander R. Galloway. The game is noncommercial. There are no in-app purchases. No advertisements. No Patreon. No GoFundMe. No monetization of player data. There is literally no possible way to take your money.

About

Ancient Games

Explore and play a collection of ancient board games brought back to life with modern app design. Enjoy offline and online play, collect customizable game pieces, and tackle fun challenges. Save progress across all games with cloud saves.

Highlights
  • Play multiple ancient games in one app
  • Offline and online multiplayer
  • AI, friend, and random player matches
  • Collectible game pieces and boards
  • Challenges with rule variants
  • Free cloud saves across games
Features
Read full description

/!\ If you play more than one of my Ancient Games, I suggest you delete the individual apps and install this one. It will allow you to play them all and save disk storage. /!\ -Languages : English, French, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Turkish. The past is full of fascinating games that haves been mostly forgotten. The Ancient Games collection aims to resurrect them as a meticulously crafted mix between what a player wants from an historical game and what he/she expects of a modern application. Features : -Play against the IA, friends and random players from around the world (Coming back soon) -Play Online & Offline. -Multiple collectibles : boards, game pieces, dice, nameplates, etc. -Challenges (Fun rule variants) -Free cloudsave across the collection : your progress in one game is available in all the others. -Much more features to come! Currently, the collection is comprised of four games : the Royal Game of Ur, Senet, XII Scripta and Puluc, but 40 games are in the works! You can see the roadmap here : https://trello.com/b/QYtOXwJi/ancient-games-roadmap Each game will be added to the Ancient Games app and will have its own individual app as well. The privacy policy has been updated in accordance to the latest data protection laws.

Screenshots

Kriegspiel4 screens
Ancient Games3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Kriegspiel at none against Ancient Games's 10. Kriegspiel also leads on ads (none vs shown). Ancient Games's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (287 vs 66). On price, rating, review sentiment and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Ancient Games sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Kriegspiel asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Kriegspiel against 4.6 for Ancient Games. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 66 and 287 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Kriegspiel's written reviews are positive against 78% of Ancient Games's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Kriegspiel ships an update every 6 months, Ancient Games every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Kriegspiel versus Ancient Games: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterKriegspielAncient Games
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (66 ratings)4.6 (287 ratings) — better
Positive reviews74.2% of reviews78.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings66287 — better
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB212 MB
Age rating9+4+
DeveloperAlexander GallowaySullivan Bousiniere

Customer experience

Kriegspiel

All ratings60 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.7%
Written reviews31 reviews
Positive74.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.8%

Ancient Games

All ratings262 ratings
Positive92.4%
Neutral3.4%
Negative4.2%
Written reviews69 reviews
Positive78.3%
Neutral7.2%
Negative14.5%

Bugs and requests

Kriegspiel

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Ancient Games

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • Game freezes after match completion
  • Screen goes dark and becomes unresponsive post-game
  • Ad removal purchase only lasts one game
  • Paid ad removal still shows advertisements
  • Game continues playing after player wins
Show 6 more
  • Cannot make legal moves despite availability
  • XII Scripta piece stacking rules not enforced correctly
  • Purchased board content inaccessible due to subscription requirement
  • Report button links to Mail app instead of App Store
  • Text rendering issues making content hard to read
  • Online play frequently unavailable or non-functional

Requested features

10 requests
  • Two-player local multiplayer mode
  • Friends list and challenge system
  • Leaderboards and ranking system
  • Win/loss statistics and game history tracking
  • Ability to play offline while waiting for online opponents
Show 5 more
  • Permanent one-time purchase option instead of subscription
  • More ancient games added to collection
  • Harder difficulty levels beyond current maximum
  • Better XP progression for unlocking boards
  • Improved customer support contact options

In-app purchases

None

Kriegspiel

No in-app purchases

9 purchases

Ancient Games

Subscriptions1
  • AG+$3.991 Month
One-time8
  • Ancient Artifact$0.99
  • Purchase Game Edition2 variants$1.99
  • Dawn of Civilization DLC$2.99
Show 5 more
  • Purchase Game Edition$2.99
  • Skeleton Key$2.99
  • Purchase Game Edition$3.99
  • Purchase Game Edition$10.99
  • Royal Pass$12.99

Questions

Is Kriegspiel free?
Kriegspiel is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Ancient Games free?
Ancient Games is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Kriegspiel or Ancient Games?
Ancient Games is rated higher. Kriegspiel averages 4.6 out of 5 from 66 ratings, while Ancient Games averages 4.6 from 287 ratings.
Do Kriegspiel or Ancient Games have ads?
Ancient Games shows ads; Kriegspiel does not.
Which is updated more often, Kriegspiel or Ancient Games?
Kriegspiel ships an update every 6 months, and Ancient Games every 3 weeks. Most recently, Kriegspiel was updated on November 2, 2026 and Ancient Games on November 3, 2026.

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