Total Nerd The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time  

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List Rules Your favorite turn-based strategy games, on any system.

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For this list we're ranking the best turn-based strategy games of all time for any console or system, including cover art pictures when available. These highly rated turn-based strategy games are ordered by popularity, so only the greatest turn-based strategy games are at the top of the list. Spanning the entire history of the genre, these turn-based strategy games are considered the best in the genre. This list includes all challenging turn-based strategy games that have ever hit the shelves, so it doesn't necessarily have all the more obscure or new turn-based strategy games.

This list features games like Civilization V, Rome: Total War, and many more. This list answers the questions, "What are the best turn-based strategy games?" and "What is the greatest turn-based strategy game of all time?"
list ordered by

1
320 189
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
Deniz added 2012 XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a military turn-based tactical alien invasion/planetary defense strategy science fiction video game, developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. The game is a ...more

2
543 232
Heroes of Might and Magic III:... is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1999 Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade is the first of two expansion packs for the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III. It was developed by New World Computing for ...more

3
568 311
Civilization V is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2010 Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games, released on Microsoft Windows in September 2010, OS X on November 23, 2010, and Linux/SteamOS ...more

4
366 175
Rome: Total War is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2004 Rome: Total War is a PC strategy game developed by The Creative Assembly and released on 12 April 2004 by Activision. The Mac OS X version of the game was released on 5 February 2010 by Feral ...more

5
180 55
XCOM 2 is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
Carlos Benavides added XCOM 2

6
335 142
Medieval II: Total War is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2006 Medieval II: Total War, the indirect sequel to 2002's Medieval: Total War and the fourth game in the Total War series from The Creative Assembly, is a game of turn-based strategic rounds and ...more

7
264 155
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1999 Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is a video game in the 4X genre which is considered a spiritual sequel to the Civilization series. Set in a science fiction depiction of the 22nd century, the game ...more

8
115 34
Heroes of Might and Magic III is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1999 Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing originally released for Microsoft Windows by the ...more

9
264 133
Heroes of Might and Magic II is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1996 Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing and published in 1996 by the 3DO Company. The game ...more

10
102 29
Jagged Alliance 2 is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
JaakkoToivanen added 1999 Jagged Alliance 2 is a tactical role-playing game for PC, released in 1999 for Windows, and later ported to Linux by Tribsoft. It is the third game in the Jagged Alliance series, and was ...more

11
359 195
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sw... is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2007 Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is the second official expansion pack of the turn-based strategy video game Civilization IV. The expansion focuses on adding content to the in-game time periods ...more

12
206 118
Civilization II is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1996 Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by MicroProse. It was first released in 1996 for the PC and later ported to the Sony PlayStation. In 2002, ...more

13
146 94
Final Fantasy Tactics is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
AndrewLull added 1997 Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the first game of the Final Fantasy Tactics series and ...more

14
105 41
XCOM: Enemy Within is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
XCOM: Enemy Within is an expansion pack for the turn-based military alien invasion strategy wargaming simulator XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The Windows and OS X editions require XCOM: Enemy Unknown to ...more

15
192 102
Master of Orion II: Battle at ... is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
Bl4ckSh33p added 1996 Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares is a 4X turn-based strategy game set in space, designed by Steve Barcia and Ken Burd, and developed by Simtex, who developed its predecessor Master of ...more

16
283 144
Heroes of Might and Magic III:... is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2000 Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death is the second of two expansion packs for the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might and Magic III. It was developed by New World Computing ...more

17
153 94
Total War: Shogun 2 is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
ian.teig added 2011 Total War: Shogun 2 is a strategy video game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It is part of the Total War series and returns to the 16th-century Japan setting of the ...more

18
83 33
Fallout 2 is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1998 Fallout 2 is a role-playing open world video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay in 1998. While featuring a considerably larger game world and a far more extensive ...more

19
234 121
Panzer General is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
1994 Panzer General is a computer wargame published by Strategic Simulations in 1994 and set in World War II.

20
72 25
FallOut 1 is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
FallOut 1 1997

21
229 154
Civilization III is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2001 Sid Meier's Civilization III, commonly shortened to Civ III or Civ 3, is the third installment of the Sid Meier's Civilization turn-based strategy video game series. It was preceded by ...more

22
70 28
Europa Universalis IV is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
Johnson Chong added

23
120 96
The Battle for Wesnoth is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
samiboles added The Battle for Wesnoth 2005 The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy video game with a fantasy setting, designed by David White and first released in June 2003. In Wesnoth, the player attempts to build a powerful ...more

24
151 96
Medieval: Total War is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2002 Medieval: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics computer game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Activision. Set in the Middle Ages, it is the second game in ...more

25
168 116
Empire: Total War is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Best Turn-Based Strategy Games of All Time
2009 Empire: Total War is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics computer game developed by The Creative Assembly and published by Sega. The fifth installment in the Total War series, the game ...more