VR is good for a lot of things but tends to get pigeonholed into various forms of shooting gallery.  Shooting things is great fun, no question, but so is directing units around a battlefield set on a brass and wood table as both you and your opponent size up each move and build-order the other makes.  Brass Tactics launched on the Oculus storefront today bringing RTS action to VR, and it's a clever shot of strategy wrapped up in a very attractive art style.

The entire battlefield is on top of a large table, like animated miniature wargaming, with just enough steampunk flair to be fun without dipping into cliche.  Clockwork battalions face off against each other, controlled by tagging and pointing where you want them to go.  Each sector of the board has a handful of waypoints to capture, and once you've claimed the territory the points open up so you can build barracks for a specific type of unit.  Build spots are scarce so you need to choose carefully, keeping in mind the makeup of your opponent's forces while also trying to maintain a decent balance of unit types.  It's your standard rock/paper/scissors setup, with each unit being weak against another type, and figuring out how to exploit this while keeping your own butt covered is where the strategy comes in.  This isn't a review, because my idea of strategy is more "Hulk smash!" than "I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocaine powder", but the ease of zipping around the table and pointing the mechanical units towards the next goal makes for a very playable battle.

Check out the launch trailer below to see Brass Tactics in action and get a sense of how the RTS battlefield comes to life in VR.

https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/3607085/type/dlg/sid/UUhgUeUpU24780/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2GCI75Velw