Two ships flank a strip of sand in the deployment screen for TABS Pocket Edition. How much space should you leave between the two sides? This physics sandbox for iPhone and iPad lets you place red and blue fighters on the map, start the battle and watch your carefully spaced rows turn into a heap.
Give one side fewer units and a little more space. Move a fighter closer to a gangplank, keep the rest where they were and run the same matchup again. I'd replay that tiny experiment just to see where the first collision happens. You're looking for the moment a different unit reaches the crowd, or for the one fighter who somehow ends up behind the opposing line.
Unit Possession puts touch controls over the battlefield so you can pick a fighter and steer them through the mess you just arranged. I like the idea of handing the least competent member of the formation to the person who put them there.
The campaigns give you an opposing lineup to solve if an empty sandbox feels a little too empty. One US App Store reviewer reported a freeze at the opening screen. That's a useful caveat for anyone setting it up on an iPad before a trip: get as far as the first battle at home.
