Maquis Board Game Released for Android

Boardnaut Studios have released a digital conversion of the Boardgamegeek.com 2013 solitaire print and play contest winner Maquis for Android. A demo version is available for free download and offers three missions and difficulty levels, while the full version can be purchased in-app for around $2.50 and extends the game to nine missions with six difficulties. It is nice seeing a digital board game premier on Android, instead of iOS for a change .

Marquis is a "euro-style" solitaire worker placement strategy board game. Players take control of a group of resistance agents in nazi occupied France during WWII. The goals of each game are varied by drawing two mission cards at the beginning of the game. The player then places his operatives at different locations on the board in order to gather resources necessary to complete the two mission cards that were drawn. After each resistance agent is placed, a "milice" military-police/nazi collaborator is placed on the board based on a card draw. These officers can arrest your agents by blocking their routes back to the safe house. If you have a gun you can shoot the milice officer and get home, but if you do it is replaced in the draw deck by a wehrmacht officer that cannot be shot.

I have been playing a little of this game and have been enjoying it quite a lot. Of course it isn't for everyone, but the free demo offers the opportunity to give it a try without risk. The game plays in rather short bursts of around 15-20 minutes. It can be played as a sort of casual puzzle game with some pretty interesting strategic elements, and a luck factor that comes with drawing cards. Like most good solo games of this type, winning is not easy. The game gets somewhat tense in later rounds as the fates of your resistance operatives become apparent. It took me a few games to get the hang of it, and I almost won one last night, but ended in a draw (one of the two missions complete). It is a game I look forward to playing more of, and is well worth the low cost of admission if you are a fan of worker placement/digital board games.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.boardnaut.studios.maquis.android

I captured a short video of the game for demonstration purposes. I really like the game, but it is quite challenging. It took several attempts to get a recording of a session that I won, and even then it was just barely. I think I need more practice being the leader of a resistance movement.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.boardnaut.studios.maquis.android