I’ve always been a big fan of turn-based strategy games. Something about the methodical pace of it, the cold and calculating nature of overseeing vast armies as you try to conquer the world or the universe or… whatever else you might feel like conquering at that moment, I guess. That’s why for today’s blog post we’re going to be taking a look at 15 great turn-based war games that you can get right now across a variety of platforms! And we’re going to jump right into it, starting off with…
#15: Strategy & Tactics 2: WWII
(iOS/Android)
Kicking things off, we take a look at Strategy & Tactics 2: WWII, a mobile-based 4X strategy game that prides itself on evoking the feelings of classic PC strategy games. In Strategy & Tactics, you’re the head of state during one of the most violent periods in human history, and it's up to you to lead your country to global supremacy.
Choose from several dozen nations and fight for dominance across a range of detailed maps, which range from historically accurate European battlefields to the shores of America and other locations around the world through a variety of combat scenarios. After choosing one of the dozens of historical figures that each come with unique bonuses, you’ll need to carefully plan out not only your attacks but also how you’ll spend your resources to upgrade your nation. The game also features a system of random and scripted events that will immerse you deeply into the atmosphere of World War 2 and make every playthrough different and unique.
Download Here.
#14: World Conqueror 4 - WW2 Strategy
(PC/iOS/Android)
World Conqueror 4 takes a formula similar to Strategy & Tactics and adds onto it with even more features and details. This turn-based strategy game plunges you into the heart of the most significant conflicts of the 20th century, immersing the player in battles spanning from WW2 to the more modern-day conflicts of the 1980s.
With 50 diverse nations to play and hundreds of historically significant military units to command, ranging from generals, marshals, and more, you’ll be able to embark on over 100 in-game military campaigns, each steeped in historical significance. Victory hinges on your strategic ability, so you’ll need to take care in training units, building thriving cities, and advancing your technologies if you want to edge out the competition.
Download Here.
#13: Headquarters: World War II
(PC/PS4/Xbox One)
Headquarters: World War II is a fast-paced turn-based strategy where your battlefield tactics are as important as your army management skills. You can experience both sides of the war across three major plot-driven campaigns and a number of skirmish battles.
Once you’ve chosen a side, you’ll be able to assemble your combat force and assign heroes, then you’ll need to level up your units and develop Headquarters skills to overcome whichever enemy you might be facing. The visuals of Headquarters are designed with the finest attention to detail to not only be beautiful, but also to immerse you in the visceral, destructive nature of war. Whether you’re in war-torn battlefields or peaceful villages, you’ll witness first-hand how the world is shaped by your soldiers and their tanks as you fight to come out victorious.
#12: The Troop
(PC)
The Troop follows the campaign of British and Canadian forces as they face the German Heer and SS in Normandy, featuring gameplay that embraces the best of tabletop war games and combines it with the immersive interactivity that comes from virtual gaming. From the early hours of D-Day to Falaise, you’ll be able to play both sides of the war as you fight in multiple game modes, ranging from the narrative-focused Story Mode to simple skirmish battles and more.
The Troop promises to give you complete control of your armies and their actions, meaning that you’re free to take your time in a battle, but also that any mistake you make is entirely on your shoulders. The enemy AI doesn’t have any special knowledge or fixed plans, meaning that each battle will dynamically flow and change as the fighting progresses. You’ll need to choose your tactics carefully if you want to win to fight another day in this war that focuses on being more game than simulation.
#11: Unity of Command II
(PC/Mac)
Unity of Command II is an award-winning sequel that prides itself on easy-to-play but hard-to-master gameplay. An authentic tabletop wargaming experience, Unity of Command lets you control hundreds of units at once as you fight to recapture the European front as the Western Allies.
To succeed, you’ll need to control supply and logistics as well as manage your army’s divisions as you fight against the German occupation. From ground troops to aerial bombing runs and battleship artillery attacks, you will have plenty of options at your disposal when it comes to battling the enemy, including sending recon units behind enemy lines to sabotage and destroy enemy infrastructure. With all the tools available, and thanks to the game’s Dynamic Campaign system, no two playthroughs will be alike as you rewrite history one skirmish at a time.
#10: Scythe: Digital Edition
(PC/Mac/iOS/Android)
Rounding out at #10 is one of my personal favorite games on this list, Scythe: Digital Edition. This official adaptation of the award-winning board game takes players to an alternate-history 1920s “Europa” that was ravaged by the “Great War”, a conflict that brought about incredible engines of war known as Mechs. In Scythe, you take control of the hero of one of five factions, and fight to become the most powerful nation in these dark times!
In Scythe, every player starts with different resources, starting locations, and a secret objective needed to help them win the game. The only elements of chance in the game, besides your secret objective, are the encounters you’ll experience while exploring and interacting with citizens, while combat with enemy players is entirely choice-based with no luck or chance involved. Not only can you recruit new soldiers and expand your borders to uncover new resources, but you can also activate powerful Mechs to ward off invading enemies and keep up an ever-changing game of cat and mouse for the fate of Europa. Choose your battles with care, because in Scythe, victory is achieved with and for the people!
#9: Old World
(PC/Mac/Linux)
Take a step back into the Ancient Era in Old World, a 4X strategy game that feels like a blend of the Civilization and Crusader Kings games in all the best ways. In a world full of memorable characters that come with their own distinct strengths, weaknesses, and personalities, you are tasked with leading an entire empire through multiple generations. Old World takes place in an era of great leaders, and it's up to you to decide what kind of leader you want to be.
Family matters in this turn-based strategy, meaning that you’ll marry for political power, raise powerful heirs, and manage relationships with the numerous powerful families that reside in each of the game’s playable kingdoms. Along with your families, you’ll also set out into the world to recruit powerful warriors, philosophers, and many more character archetypes that can further influence the power balance in your kingdom. Discover great heroes, powerful artifacts, lost civilizations, and more as you spread your influence across the world, for better or for worse.
#8: Panzer Corps 2
(PC)
The ultimate Second World War strategy game, Panzer Corps 2 gives its players the feeling of being a WW2 general like few other games can. Play as each of the real-world major powers that took part in the European theatre of WW2 and dominate the war by unleashing 1,000 unique units onto your enemies!
Panzer Corps 2 promises to put the entirety of World War 2 at your fingertips thanks to its painstakingly modeled and animated units, be they human, machine, or otherwise. Experience the war in over 70 different scenarios across the game’s main campaign and other modes, which you can play alone or in co-op, or take the battle online in competitive multiplayer. However you choose to play, in Panzer Corps, you don’t have to outpace your enemies, but outsmart them!
#7: Total War: ATTILA
(PC/Mac/Linux)
In the first of many Total War games we’ll be seeing on this list, players find themselves at the very dawn of the Dark Ages, a time of apocalyptic dangers for the greater European region. In these dark times, it's your choice whether you want to try and survive as the crumbling remnants of the Roman Empire, or if you want to decimate the known world by leading a million horsemen into the heart of Rome. However you choose to survive, one thing remains inevitable: The Scourge of God is coming, and the world will burn.
In Total War: ATTILA, real-time tactics are combined with turn-based strategy mechanics as you fight for complete and utter dominance from the year 395 AD. The game features intense destruction mechanics, such as harnessing the ferocious power of fire to burn down buildings and terrify your enemies, and using the new raze mechanic to wipe entire cities and regions from the face of the Earth. You’ll be able to experience first-hand just how destructive this point in human history truly was in ATTILA, whether you’re just trying to survive, or you’re trying to bring the world to your knees.
#6: Axis & Allies 1942 Online
(PC/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android)
The second digitally recreated board game on today’s list, Axis & Allies 1942 Online is the official digital version of the classic Hasbro board game of the same name. Side with the Allies as America or the United Kingdom, or fight for world domination with the German and Japanese armies as you enter the spring of 1942 and step head-first into the Second World War, one turn at a time!
Axis & Allies allows you to play alone against AI or against a friend using pass-and-play rules on the same PC, alongside cross-platform multiplayer games with up to five players from around the world in the same match. The game features a unique way of playing multiplayer, where instead of sitting there for hours on end going back and forth(which you can do if you want of course), the game allows you to make your turn and then leave to go about your daily business until a notification tells you when the other players have all finished their turns. Choose from two game scenarios and victory conditions, then set off to change history as we know it in this intense turn-based battle for the world.
#5: Total War: ROME II
(PC/Mac/Linux)
Rolling the momentum back to the Total War franchise, Total War: ROME II is perhaps the most popular game in the franchise thanks not only to its addicting gameplay but also for its appropriately brutal depiction of ancient Rome. The reigns of the most incredible war machine of the ancient world are placed in your hands, and you are left to shape the history of the world’s first superpower however you see fit.
You’ll be able to control tens of thousands of men in real-time combat across land and see, whether you choose to play as the mighty Roman Empire or as one of its many rival factions who also populate the in-game world. You’ll get a notably different gameplay experience with each playable faction, but one thing will remain consistent: Your rise to power will bring both admiration and jealousy, even from your closest allies. The only important question there is to ask, is how far will you go for Rome?
#4: Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War
(PC/Linux)
During the colonization of Gladius Prime, an ancient, unspeakable horror was unleashed across the planet, turning what once was a peaceful planet of unity into a desolate prison, where the citizens of Gladius now find themselves in a terrible war for survival. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War is the Warhammer franchise's first turn-based 4X strategy game, and it wastes little time in putting that classic Warhammer grimdark spin on the formula. You’ll play as one of four iconic Warhammer factions, each with its own unique playstyles and technology trees, and fight to take control of Gladius Prime by securing ancient artifacts to give you a powerful edge against your enemies.
Once you choose your faction, you’ll be able to progress through their faction-specific storylines as you help your armies reach their destiny in their efforts to escape Gladius Prime, a world tainted by the warp. Whether it's the enemy factions or the planet’s deadly wildlife, you’ll need to keep spirits high among your soldiers as you construct cities and develop devastating weaponry. By recruiting hero units that possess distinct special abilities, and uncovering ancient relics to further enhance their strengths, you’ll be able to guarantee that you’ll be the last one standing once the dust has settled on Gladius.
#3: Total War: THREE KINGDOMS
(PC/Mac/Linux)
We’re going even further back into the past with this Total War title, as 2019’s Total War: THREE KINGDOMS allows players to step foot into the epic conflicts of ancient China for the first time in the series’ history. Beautifully recreating China in the year 190 CE, players can choose from a cast of 12 legendary Warlords and set out to conquer the realm. Each character and their corresponding factions come with their own unique playstyles and objectives, and you’ll need to utilize those unique qualities to the best of your ability if you want your growing empire to claim victory over China.
THREE KINGDOMS allows you to recruit dozens of epic heroes to bolster your armies, govern your provinces, and all-round strengthen your empire as you delve deeper into the game. Character relationships make up the heart of the game and every choice you make when interacting with this cast of larger-than-life characters will alter the trajectory of your growing empire. Choose between forming brotherly alliances, inflicting heart-wrenching betrayals, and everything in between as you write your legend across China.
#2: Battle Brothers
(PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X-S/Nintendo Switch)
Another favorite of mine we’re seeing on this list is Battle Brothers, where you will become the leader of a mercenary company in a low-power fantasy world filled with a range of nightmarish foes. Where you go, who you hire, and who or what you fight is entirely up to you as you travel across a procedurally generated open world.
In Battle Brothers, it's your responsibility to not only hire the best soldiers for your mercenary group, or just those you can afford, but to also train them and supply them with weapons, armor, and so on as you travel the lands. You’ll travel across the world seeking out places to loot, towns to resupply at, and most importantly, contracts that will see you facing down a variety of deadly monsters that each come with their own gear and mechanics, ranging from simple skeletons to undead abominations that will add your men to their ranks should they die. Do you have what it takes to lead your mercenary company to victory? Or will you crumble and fall like so many others?
#1: Total War: WARHAMMER II
(PC/Mac/Linux)
Closing out our list is another look into the award-winning Total War series, only this time we’re not taking a trip back to the past as we know it, but rather the twisted grimdark setting of the Warhammer Fantasy world. The world is at the brink of ruin yet again due to the return of the Daemonic hordes from the Realm of Chaos, and major factions from across the globe seek to either stop this Daemon plague or take advantage of the chaos. Playing as one of eight Legendary Lords across the game’s 4 playable races, you can choose to stabilize or disrupt The Great Vortex, all while foiling the progress of your enemies.
Total War: WARHAMMER II allows players to do battle with thousands of soldiers in real-time like any other Total War title, only this time you’ll also control powerful creatures like fire-breathing dragons and wield devastatingly powerful magic as you set your sights on any and all of the game’s four massive continents. Statecraft and diplomacy are also possible, if you think you can strike a deal with foes like the Skaven armies, as it wouldn’t be a Total War game without the potential for strong alliances and brutal backstabbings. Whether alone or in online multiplayer, only one faction can come out the victor in the Great Vortex Campaign, and you had better make sure that it’s you before the Realm of Chaos arrives in full.
