# The 30 Greatest Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time

> Squad-level firefights sit beside continent-sized campaigns here, and handheld gems go up against PC heavyweights. Patience is the only skill they all share.

*By YPB Team · Published October 25, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-30-greatest-turn-based-strategy-games-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **XCOM 2** — score 1000/1000
   Firaxis's 2016 sequel in which humanity fights back as a resistance after the aliens have won.
2. **Heroes of Might and Magic III** — score 928/1000
   New World Computing's 1999 fantasy strategy classic of hero armies, castles and hotseat marathons, still played competitively today.
3. **Wargroove** — score 763/1000
   Chucklefish's 2019 pixel-art strategy game in the spirit of Advance Wars, with a full map editor.
4. **The Battle for Wesnoth** — score 611/1000
   The open-source fantasy strategy game of hex battles, unit levelling and day-night cycles.
5. **Valkyria Chronicles** — score 611/1000
   Sega's 2008 watercolour-styled war story that mixes turn-based command with third-person unit control.
6. **Jagged Alliance 2** — score 559/1000
   Sir-Tech's 1999 mercenary tactics game of hiring, gear and turn-based firefights across a rebel country.
7. **Unity of Command II** — score 559/1000
   The 2019 operational World War II strategy game built around supply lines and tight turn limits.
8. **Invisible, Inc.** — score 559/1000
   Klei's 2015 stealth tactics heist game where alarms tick up every turn.
9. **Fire Emblem Awakening** — score 558/1000
   The 2012 3DS entry that saved the series with pairing mechanics and a time-travel story.
10. **Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle** — score 558/1000
   Ubisoft's 2017 Switch crossover that turned Mario into a surprisingly sharp cover-based tactics game.
11. **Heroes of Might and Magic II** — score 500/1000
   The 1996 sequel that set the series' storybook art style and its knight-versus-warlock campaign.
12. **Civilization IV** — score 500/1000
   The 2005 Civilization often called the series peak, with religions, great people and a narrated tech tree.
13. **Final Fantasy Tactics** — score 500/1000
   Square's 1997 tactics RPG of job classes, height-based battlefields and a war-of-succession story.
14. **Songs of Conquest** — score 500/1000
   Lavapotion's 2024 pixel-art strategy game that carries the Heroes of Might and Magic formula into a new world.
15. **Gears Tactics** — score 500/1000
   The 2020 Gears of War spin-off that turns the shooter into aggressive, overwatch-heavy squad tactics.
16. **Heroes of Might and Magic V** — score 500/1000
   Nival's 2006 3D revival of the series, set in the Ashan world with deep hero skill wheels.
17. **Advance Wars** — score 500/1000
   Intelligent Systems' 2001 Game Boy Advance war game of cartoon armies, commanders and tight grid battles.
18. **Fire Emblem: Three Houses** — score 433/1000
   The 2019 Switch tactics RPG that pairs grid battles with life as a teacher at a military academy.
19. **Panzer General** — score 433/1000
   SSI's 1994 World War II hex wargame that made operational strategy accessible to a wide audience.
20. **XCOM: Enemy Unknown** — score 433/1000
   Firaxis's 2012 reboot that brought permadeath squad tactics and cover-based combat back to the mainstream.
21. **X-COM: UFO Defense** — score 357/1000
   Mythos Games' 1994 alien-invasion strategy game that fused a global base layer with lethal squad tactics.
22. **Civilization V** — score 357/1000
   The 2010 Civilization that switched to hexes and one unit per tile.
23. **Into the Breach** — score 357/1000
   Subset Games' 2018 mech-versus-kaiju puzzle tactics where every enemy move is shown in advance.
24. **Disgaea: Hour of Darkness** — score 357/1000
   Nippon Ichi's 2003 tactics RPG of absurd humour, level 9999 grinding and geo panels.
25. **The Banner Saga** — score 269/1000
   Stoic's 2014 Viking caravan saga with hand-drawn art and unforgiving tactical battles.
26. **Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri** — score 167/1000
   The 1999 sci-fi strategy game about factions colonising an alien planet, revered for its writing.
27. **Battle Brothers** — score 167/1000
   Overhype's 2017 mercenary company sim with brutal turn-based battles and permanent losses.
28. **Triangle Strategy** — score 167/1000
   Square Enix's 2022 HD-2D tactics RPG where party votes decide the course of a political war.
29. **Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus** — score 167/1000
   Bulwark's 2018 tactics game of Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests raiding Necron tombs.
30. **Tactics Ogre: Reborn** — score 0/1000
   Square Enix's 2022 remake of Quest's 1995 tactics RPG classic, with branching moral choices and a war-torn island setting.

Tags: games, strategy, turn-based, tactics