Battle Nations is a very, very good game, assuming you like this style of gameplay...and maybe even if you don't. It's much like a typical resource-management, town-building simulation, only instead of raising bunnies, you get to shoot people in the face! Yes, that's right ladies, it's a city-sim 'for boys'.
Build a barracks, a few pillboxes, and one-metric-ton of mining equipment (...and some cabbages) right up until your base comes under attack. Then you send in your troops to duke it out on a tactical, turn-based battlefield, each unit with differing strengths and weaknesses. Once you annihilate the sniveling enemy soldiers, you return to your camp for some rest and relaxation, only to be assaulted again 5 minutes later by a similar onslaught of pimple-faced, pug-nosed army brats.
It's not just crops and combat, either, as there is a host of very artful characters that move you through the story with unprecedented humor and hijinks. Also expect all the progression, building mechanics, and additive upgrades that you see in games of this ilk. The whole package seems remarkably well thought out, fluid, and fun. This is the closest you'll get to
Empires & Allies on iDevice at this point in time.
The developers took everything they learned from
Trade Nations, which is already best-of-breed in my opinion, and then added a healthy dose of bloodthirsty, nail-biting, neck-punching warfare, which is precisely what I wanted.