Best Strategy Board Games
What makes a board game a strategy board game? After all, every game has to have a bit of strategy naturally, right? Games would be pretty boring if there was zero impetus on the player’s part.
Strategy games are a genre of board games that limit the amount of luck involved and reward players for planning (and successfully pulling off that plan). Having a clear goal from the beginning and working towards that goal will reward players in this upcoming list of best strategy board games.
Today we’re looking at Strategy board games with a capital “S”. These are all games that reward or punish players based on the actions of the player and their opponents, so prepare to think, plan, backstab, and most importantly strategize.
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Our Top Picks for Best Strategy Board Games
In a hurry? Be sure to check out our top 3 best strategy board games before you dash off.
These are the best strategy board games in 2023:
- Terraforming Mars
- Twilight Struggle
- A Feast for Odin
- Scythe
- Terra Mystica
- Viticulture: Essential Edition
- Orléans
- Castles of Burgundy
- Root
- Star Wars: Imperial Assault
- Caverna: The Cave Famers
- Twilight Imperium
- Rising Sun/Blood Rage
- Dinosaur Island
- 7 Wonders
- Game of Thrones: The Board Game
- Stone Age
- Carcassonne
- Catan
- Photosynthesis
Terraforming Mars
The idea of colonizing Mars has fascinated scientists and sci-fi buffs for years. Breaking free from our gravitational pull and opening up the galaxy and the universe to humanity is mind-boggling, to say the least.
In Terraforming Mars, players take those first few steps in turning a planet into a livable oasis for humanity. Unfortunately, it’s rival corporations that are going to be the first residents of Mars.
The goal is to turn the Red Planet into a bigger, better green and blue planet, but first, the megacorporations need to terraform it.
Players need to monitor and grow their own Martian economy, research, and, of course, ultimately be the corporation responsible for terraforming Mars and paving the way for human settlers.
What we liked
Terraforming Mars is a great engine builder that offers a great puzzle and strategies to the player.
What could be better
For all its options Terraforming Mars can feel like a multiplayer solitaire game with everyone at the table working on their own projects without any interaction.
Number of Players: 1-5 people | Playing Time: 120 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Twilight Struggle
Can there be anything more complex than the politics involved in the Cold War?
Twilight Struggle puts players in the roles of the world’s two most powerful nations after World War II. It’s one of the most politically complex periods in world history and the board game does an incredible job of bringing that political madness to life.
Unlike in most war-themed board games, getting to the point of complete and total war means game-over.
The goal is to dominate the world with influence rather than troops. It’s incredibly strategic and is actually played competitively in many areas. Twilight Struggle has received numerous awards and if you’re looking for an incredible strategic experience, it’s hard to beat.
What we liked
Twilight Struggle’s mechanics and theme make for an incredible tug-of-war game. It’s epic in scope and a fantastic challenge for those that want to conquer the world.
What could be better
There is a fairly large learning curve that can be intimidating at first. Make sure to give yourself a good long while to both learn and play this game.
Number of Players: 2 people | Playing Time: 120-180 minutes | Age Range: 13 and up
A Feast for Odin
When people think of Vikings they often think of the Viking stereotypes: raiders, marauders, and those stupid completely inaccurate horned helms. Seriously, Vikings didn’t have horned helms.
A Feast for Odin takes a more realistic approach in portraying the Vikings and Norse. The ancient peoples were, of course, raiders, but they were also explorers, farmers, and incredible mariners.
In A Feast for Odin, players explore all aspects of Viking life. Not only will players raid and explore new lands, but they’ll also need to farm and create an economic engine to become the most successful leader.
What we liked
A Feast for Odin is one of the best strategy games I’ve played. There are numerous paths to victory and different paths to take. When combined with the Norweigian expansion it becomes even better.
What could be better
There is a lot of setup and upkeep in between turns. This can keep it from hitting the table, especially if you’re looking for a quick game to play.
Number of Players: 1-4 people | Playing Time: 30-120 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Scythe
Post-World War I steampunk mechs? Sign me up!
Scythe took the board game world by storm with its original theme and awesome components. Although rushing to get your first mech up and running is your first instinct, Scythe isn’t necessarily a war game.
It’s actually quite a complex engine-building board game. There are multiple paths to victory and combat is just one of the many ways players can win.
What we liked
Scythe offers a fun puzzle for players. There are tons of different avenues to victory and when combined with the unique theme it becomes something special.
What could be better
There is usually an optimum course of action, and if you’ve played long enough Scythe becomes an exercise in choosing the optimal path.
Number of Players: 1-5 people | Playing Time: 90-115 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Terra Mystica
If you’re not strategizing in Terra Mystica, you’re losing.
Terra Mystica is a fantasy-themed area control game with 14 different races to choose from with variable powers. That’s a lot of gameplay packed into one box.
Although Terra Mystica is an area control game, there’s surprisingly little player interaction in the actual game. Each player race has a preferred biome that they can colonize and as the name implies, the goal is to terraform the land to fit your race.
The strategy comes in balancing terraforming easier locations vs. terraforming areas that will lock your opponents out of the map. There’s no actual combat in the game, but that doesn’t mean players can’t completely block off the good parts.
What we liked
If you’re looking at games based on strategy alone, it’s hard to beat Terra Mystica’s gameplay.
What could be better
If there are a lot of players it can extend the downtime between turns significantly. Also, if you’re a fan of intense player interaction, you definitely won’t find it here.
Number of Players: 2-5 people | Playing Time: 60-150 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Viticulture: Essential Edition
It’s wine o’clock!
Viticulture is, of course, best played after cracking open a bottle of wine for the table.
In Viticulture, players manage every aspect of running their very own winery… without any of the actual work. Luckily for players, the guests and visitors of the fledgling vineyards are willing to roll up their sleeves and put some time into working on the vineyard too.
Viticulture is a worker placement strategy game that takes place over 4 seasons. Each season, players plan and prepare for the next with planting, gaining workers, building facilities, and, of course, harvesting and making the wine.
Just like in a real winery, poor planning will lead to absolute disaster, so make sure not to have too many glasses while playing.
What we liked
Behind the simple theme is a really fun worker placement game. There’s a lot more to running a winery than you initially would think, and you’ll get to play it all out in Viticulture.
What could be better
For a game about wineries, there is a lot of emphasis placed on getting visitors to come to your winery. Who knew marketing would be such an important factor in making wine?
Number of Players: 1-6 people | Playing Time: 45-90 minutes | Age Range: 13 and up
Orléans
Economic planning is always a hefty strategic task and Orléans is no exception. Orléans takes players to the Middle Ages where they’ll amass knights, monks, craftsmen, and more to have the most profitable region in medieval Orléans, France.
Players should plan out their entire strategy from the beginning, however, there’s always a monkey wrench thrown in. Throughout the game, players draw from their bag of resources to use during their turns, which ultimately adds a bit of chance thrown into the mix.
If you seriously need some knights, but unluckily draw a monk tile, then plans get thrown out the window and need to be adjusted.
Orléans is a classic strategy game that looks simplistic at first but has layers of depth once played.
What we liked
Orléans is a great worker placement that offers some interesting mechanics that you don’t see in many other games.
What could be better
The bag-building mechanics are interesting, but if you get unlucky pulls there’s not a lot that you can do about it.
Number of Players: 2-4 people | Playing Time: 90 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Castles of Burgundy
Speaking of medieval France, let’s head down to the Burgundy region where players take control of their own princedoms.
Castles of Burgundy lets players develop their own lands by drafting tiles and building improvements in their kingdom. How players do that is entirely up to them, but each tile placed and each improvement built offers a different bonus throughout the duration of the game.
Castles of Burgundy not only brings strategy but a bit of cutthroat gameplay as well with players fighting over the best pieces of land for their princedoms.
What we liked
From a mechanical standpoint, Castles of Burgundy runs like clockwork. The rules and mechanics all make sense and everything is perfectly balanced.
What could be better
If you’re not a fan of point salad games, you’re going to be disappointed with Castles of Burgundy.
Number of Players: 2-4 people | Playing Time: 30-90 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Root
Not only is Root one of the prettiest board games to hit the Kallax shelf in a long time, but it also hits asymmetrical strategy hard.
The world of Root is vast and contested. Each player controls 1 of 4 factions, each with very different goals. Do you fight for imperialism, glory, freedom, or just yourself?
Each of the 4 factions plays differently with different goals adding a ton of replayability and varying strategies to the gameplay. The main goal of the game is to take control of the forest but players win 1 of 2 ways: either by earning 30 victory points or by playing a dominance card with set goals.
Strategy in Root is always changing with every game and once players think they’ve got it all figured out, there’s another faction to play with a completely different play style.
What we liked
I absolutely love the artwork and thematic elements of Root. It’s cute, but behind the adorable exterior is a strategy-heavy game.
What could have been better
There’s a lot happening in a game of Root, and with 4 different factions that play differently, it can be difficult to teach new players.
Number of Players: 2-4 people | Playing Time: 60-90 minutes | Age Range: 10 and up
Star Wars: Imperial Assault
Star Wars: Imperial Assault pits players against each other in the Most Dangerous Game! Instead of playing against the board, one player controls the Empire, and the rest of the players control a small team of elite Rebels.
Imperial Assault comes with multiple scenarios that are perfect for any Star Wars fan. The combination of thematic gameplay and RPG elements make Imperial Assault one of the more memorable strategy games I’ve ever played.
The base set comes with enough scenarios to wrack your brain and there are plenty of expansions to explore in a galaxy far, far away.
What we liked
Imperial Assault feels like a full tabletop miniatures campaign in a box. It has an incredible story combined with tactical miniature gameplay.
What could be better
Veterans of other tactical miniature and skirmish games will find it a little underwhelming. Until you get deeper into the game or add expansions, many of the actions are simply maneuvering and attacking on the board.
Number of Players: 1-5 people | Playing Time: 60-120 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Caverna: The Cave Farmers
When you think of strategy games, one particular board game designer keeps popping up: Uwe Rosenburg.
Uwe Rosenburg has designed some of the quintessential strategy board games and chances are if you started collecting, you have at least one of his games on your shelf.
Caverna: The Cave Farmers is the spiritual successor to Agricola and expands upon the mechanics from there. In Caverna, players are in charge of a family of dwarves carving out a living in their cave, sweet cave.
Like in Agricola, players have access to a variety of options to improve their homesteads, like mining, agriculture, and farming. There’s never enough time to create the perfect setup, however, which creates numerous paths to victory in this highly strategic board game.
What we liked
Caverna is the spiritual successor to Agricola. Caverna is one of the best strategy-heavy games and is a quintessential Euro game.
What could be better
Caverna can be intimidating to newer players. There are so many options available that you can easily get hit with analysis paralysis.
Number of Players: 1-7 people | Playing Time: 30-210 minutes | Age Range: 12 and up
Twilight Imperium
Twilight Imperium is the granddaddy of big-box space opera strategy.
Twilight Imperium was the big box on the scene before games like Gloomhaven and Kingdom Death started using up 90% of the world’s cardboard supply.
Twilight Imperium is all about grand strategy. It takes place during the fall of the old galactic empire and is the struggle to fill the void left by the power vacuum.
Twilight Imperium does have a bit of warfare involved with the maneuvering of ships and troops, but the political and economic actions are just as important, if not more so.
It’s an incredible strategy and saga that spans the entire universe, but the only tricky part is finding players to sit down for the 4+ hours it takes to finish a game.
What we liked
Twilight Imperium is one of the best epic space strategy games. You’ll play out the results of an epic space opera all on the tabletop.
What could be better
You’re never going to decide to sit down and play Twilight Imperium on a whim. It’s such a big game that you’ll usually have to plan out and dedicate an entire day if you want to play.
Number of Players: 3-6 people | Playing Time: 240-480 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Rising Sun / Blood Rage
Rising Sun from CMON Games has incredible miniatures on a beautiful board, but the gameplay is one of the most interesting to come out of CMON’s doors in a while.
Rising Sun takes place in feudal Japan somewhere between myth and reality. Similar to Blood Rage, Rising Sun draws on the mythological aspects of the culture to bring a gorgeous game to life. It’s not all about samurai fighting with mythical gods at their backs.
Rising Sun offers multiple avenues for victory and having an entire field of soldiers sacrifice themselves for honor could actually be more beneficial than winning a fight.
Rising Sun is an all-around beautiful game that can keep the most hardened strategists busy for quite some time with all the different victory conditions within the game.
What we liked
There are plenty of options here. Players will always feel like there’s something to work towards or choose on their turn.
What could be better
With so many options it can seem like there are long gaps between your turn. This is especially true if you have a larger number of players.
Number of Players: 3-5 people | Playing Time: 90-120 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Dinosaur Island
I’m honestly surprised someone hadn’t made a board game based on a dinosaur theme park sooner. It seems like it would’ve been a huge hit back in the 90s.
Dinosaur Island lets players run their very own dino theme park and every aspect of the business is completely up to them.
Players could build a nice little herbivore petting zoo but will lose a lot of business to the very impressive T-Rex and Velociraptor show next door. To afford those big carnivores, however, they probably had to skimp on the budget elsewhere. Zip ties are totally enough to keep in the raptors, right?
Players manage every aspect of the park in Dinosaur Island from staffing, DNA splicing, and guest management to the all-important issue of security.
What we liked
The thematic elements of Dinosaur Island are absolutely fantastic. There are plenty of paths to victory and you’ll have a great time reliving your Jurassic Park fantasies.
What could be better
The color scheme seems a little odd and there are a lot of different elements that don’t always flow well.
Number of Players: 1-4 people | Playing Time: 90-120 minutes | Age Range: 8 and up
7 Wonders
Nothing says strategy quite like building a monolithic structure for the advancement of human civilization.
7 Wonders is a card drafting game that distills down the entirety of human civilization into a few decks of cards. Pretty neat right?
Players compete to create the most impressive society by building up their own technology level throughout 3 technological ages.
As turns progress, each player will get a chance to pull cards from a shared set. As the ages come to a close, choices will become more and more limited, with only the dregs left at the end.
What we liked
7 Wonders distills the strategy of an entire civilization builder into a few decks of cards. There are plenty of strategies to be had in this easy-to-learn and quick-to-play game.
What could be better
If you’re looking to control every aspect of civilization, you’ll want to check out one of the more comprehensive civilization board games.
Number of Players: 2-7 people | Playing Time: 30 minutes | Age Range: 10 and up
Game of Thrones: The Board Game
Game of Thrones fever may have ended with the horrible 8th season of the show, but some of us still waiting on the final novels by George RR. Until then, we have A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, ready to fill the void.
This may seem familiar to some of you hardcore gamers because Game of Thrones is based on an older game called Diplomacy.
The Game of Thrones board game has everything that you could expect from the franchise. Large-scale wars are possible but the game really shines when focusing on political backstabbing and holding your breath to see if your shaky alliances come to fruition.
Players can make all the alliances and backdoor deals they want but when someone leaves their flank open to attack, it may be more beneficial to break the alliance and shatter both sides.
The political intrigue mixed with hidden orders of the Game of Thrones board game makes for a compelling tabletop story and a highly strategic game night in Westeros.
What we liked
The Game of Thrones board game does an amazing job of distilling the tactics and backstabbing of the books and TV show. You’ll feel as if your decisions have actual meaning and real consequences.
What could be better
The Game of Thrones board game is massive in scope and that does come through with the setup. It’s a big game and it takes quite a bit to set up and tear down.
Number of Players: 3-6 people | Playing Time: 120-249 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Stone Age
I’ve played a ridiculous amount of Stone Age. There was a period when we would play it several times every weekend.
For a simple worker placement game, Stone Age offers a surprising number of different strategies and options. It seems like in every game I play, there’s always another route to victory.
If you’re feeling swarmy, you can focus on building up tribe numbers as quickly as possible. If swarming isn’t cutting it, focusing on technology, trade, building, or just being sneaky and blocking off other workers. These are all valid strategies.
Stone Age is an all-around fantastic strategy game and pulls double duty as an excellent gateway for worker placement games.
What we liked
As a worker placement, Stone Age has numerous paths to victory and options to improve your tribe. I’ve played Stone Age dozens of times and still manage to find a new strategy in every game.
What could be better
End-game points are critical. No matter what strategy you choose you’ll still have to go for end-game points to be in the running for victory.
Number of Players: 3-5 people | Playing Time: 90-120 minutes | Age Range: 14 and up
Carcassonne
For a simple tile-laying game, there’s a lot of strategy distilled into Carcassonne. You can’t simply drop meeples willy-nilly if you expect to win.
The first time I played Carcassonne, I immediately thought, “Well why don’t I go for the higher scoring spots?” and dropped a bunch of meeples on farmlands and cities. As you may imagine, I was completely trounced.
Carcassonne is a very simple game but it can be very competitive and strategic as well, which is all the more impressive since the entire game can fit into a small pouch for gaming on the go.
What we liked
Carcassone is one of the best lightweight strategy games out there. In addition to its massive replayability, it also is one of the most portable strategy games out there.
What could be better
The base game shows its age a bit, and a lot of complaints players had with the original have been fixed with expansions. Many box sets include several rule-fixing expansions, but it’s always a little irritating having to find an expansion to fix rules.
Number of Players: 2-5 people | Playing Time: 40-45 minutes | Age Range: 7 and up
Catan
Classics become classic for a reason. Whether you hate it or love it, Catan defined and helped to create the modern board game scene.
It includes all the family-destroying mechanics of Monopoly with modern-day gameplay that appeals to such a wide audience.
Since 1995, Catan has been furrowing brows and causing debates on the value of sheep for over 25 years. Although there is a fair bit of luck anytime dice are involved, Catan’s placement mechanics and usage of cards add a distinct strategy to the game that mitigates the randomness a little bit.
What we liked
Catan is a classic board game for a reason. Catan has proven time and time again that it’s a powerhouse in the board game world.
What could be better
Catan can be played extremely aggressively and relies heavily on luck. Luck can be mitigated of course, but the main mechanic relies on dice rolls. If you’re unlucky with dice, it can get very frustrating quickly.
Number of Players: 3-4 people | Playing Time: 60-120 minutes | Age Range: 10 and up
Photosynthesis
For a game about the growing process of trees, Photosynthesis requires a lot of thought.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert sunlight into the energy they can use and the game builds its mechanics around this real-world science.
The more sunlight a tree receives, the more nutrients it can pick up through photosynthesis. Therefore, the aim of the game is to fight for control of the best locations so your trees get the most light.
Also just like real-world nature, board game nature can be a jerk. Players can grow their trees in strategic locations to block off sunlight at certain times of the day.
The sun marker of the game rotates around the board and players need to find the optimum zones to absorb the most light, or grow bigger and block the most light from their opponents.
What we liked
Photosynthesis offers quite a bit of strategy in a simple package. It’s one of the games that fall under the category of easy to learn but hard to master.
What could be better
For a game about trees, it can sometimes seem extremely aggressive. There’s only so much sunshine where you can grow trees before you end up in the sun. If your players are vastly different in skill levels it can seem especially ruthless.
Number of Players: 2-5 people | Playing Time: 30-60 minutes | Age Range: 10 and up
Wrap-Up
Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed our list of the best strategy board games and hopefully, you’ve found some good choices for your next game night.
Did your favorite strategy game not make the list? Leave us a comment and tell us about it.
Happy gaming!
