The Battleward game shelf
Search every Battleward listing in one place: board games, miniature rules, RPGs, and PC games. Full Battleward reviews appear where available.
2022 · Grey For Now Games
Small forces of commandos, resistance fighters and sentries conduct night raids against guarded objectives. Alert, stealth, patrol routes and sudden ambushes shape missions with roughly five to twenty 28mm figures per side.
Battleward shelf
A brisk campaign game that makes control of the colonies the argument on the table. Its accessibility is a strength, though it will not satisfy someone looking for a detailed battle simulation.
GMT Games
The naval campaign of 1805 links fleet movement, intelligence, and the possibility of invasion. A campaign-level treatment of sea power, rather than a ship-by-ship recreation of Trafalgar.
GMT Games
Railway investors buy shares and direct companies building routes through the American Midwest. Stock rounds alternate with operating rounds, linking personal wealth to track construction, dividends, and changing locomotive technology.
GMT Games
The opening campaign in France and Belgium examines mobilization, marching armies, and the cost of pressing an offensive. Operational decisions take precedence over individual trench assaults.
GMT Games
Corps-level forces contest the final campaigning year of World War I on the Western Front. Alongside the historical 1918 struggle, a hypothetical Plan 1919 campaign explores an Allied assault against a stronger German defensive posture.
1987 · Victory Games
Joseph M. Balkoski’s Fleet-series game portrays a hypothetical naval war in the Far East. Surface groups, submarines, and air power require careful coordination; the range of scenarios supports both shorter engagements and substantial campaigns.
2021 · Osprey Games
Corporations deploy fleets to complete contracts in interstellar space. The first-edition rules link combat to the cost of committing ships, so winning a firefight is not automatically a profitable decision.
GMT Games
Government, coalition, insurgent, and warlord factions pursue different goals in Afghanistan. The COIN system makes political control and competing priorities integral to the military problem.
2014 · Osprey Games
Small groups reenact martial-arts and action-film encounters with gunplay, stunts, and extraordinary fighters. This is a cinematic skirmish game, with narrative possibilities taking priority over military realism.
2020 · GMT Games
A battalion-level treatment of the Ardennes offensive models divisional organization, command ranges and specialized combat units across the full Battle of the Bulge. Scenarios let players approach the large campaign in smaller sections.
Osprey Games
Small forces fight across a magical version of the Great War, where changed coastlines and awakened powers alter the battlefield. Campaign play mixes military equipment with supernatural threats.
Osprey Games
Small forces fight conflicts of the turbulent years between the world wars. The rules provide a framework for historical campaigns and alternative encounters with irregular troops, vehicles, and scarce ammunition.
Osprey Games
Army-level Napoleonic battles emphasize the choices of high command rather than individual soldiers. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery work together as players manage formations across a larger battlefield.
2024 · Warlord Games
Players command small platoons of individually crewed tanks, assigning actions for movement, aiming, loading and firing. Vehicle characteristics, terrain and developing crews support stand-alone battles and linked campaigns with British, German, Soviet and United States forces.
Modiphius Entertainment
Allied investigators confront occult threats amid a fictionalized Second World War. The 2d20 edition combines military action, investigation, and supernatural horror; it portrays an alternate conflict rather than a straight historical simulation.
Original Battleward commentary
"Across a Deadly Field" (ADF) by John Hill (the same author who designed Johnny Reb III) is an American Civil War miniature wargame designed to simulate large battles on a reduced scale, focusing on clarity, scale, and playability. It allows for…
Dadi&Piombo
Supplement to the original Impetus rules: amendments, clarifications, competition procedures, ambushes, advanced deployment, and flank marches. Requires the original base rules; it is not standalone or current Impetus Second Edition errata.
Original Battleward commentary
"Age of Eagles" is a wargaming ruleset adapted from "Fire and Fury" to recreate the grand tactical battles of the Napoleonic era. It emphasizes historical accuracy, unit organization, and battlefield tactics, allowing players to experience the…
2018 · Little Wars TV
Armies of antiquity fight large battles with flexible miniature basing and terrain cards that shape the battlefield. Historical scenarios, army-building options, and siege rules support games from the Greco-Persian wars through the Roman era; the pictured rulebook is the revised second edition.
Evil Hat Productions
Heroes inspired by Greek myth sail between islands and confront trials devised by gods and mortals. Competitive contests give each hero a chance to win renown while the group pursues its shared voyage.
2019 · Free League Publishing
Cinematic scenarios and campaign play turn stress, scarce resources, and lethal uncertainty into table tension.
GMT Games
Three factions contest Finland during the revolutionary crisis of 1917–18. Political organization and the escalation toward civil war distinguish it from a conventional two-army campaign.
GMT Games
Campaigning in eleventh-century Spain puts provisioning, service obligations, and siege operations alongside battle. The Levy & Campaign system makes assembling and sustaining an army part of the contest.
Original Battleward commentary
America’s Army: Proving Grounds was the U.S. Army’s multiplayer military shooter, emphasizing small-unit tactics and teamwork. Battleward’s original listing highlighted its official Army connection and tactical focus. This is a historical entry;…
GMT Games
Four factions compete through government action, insurgency, and the drug economy. Military operations are one instrument among several, making this a useful introduction to asymmetric political warfare.
1968 · Z&M Publishing Enterprises
A detailed early approach to WWII armor and infantry with HO and micro armor; one of the small-publisher titles that helped define historical miniature gaming.
Evil Hat Productions
Monstrous agents investigate occult mysteries and try to prevent the end of the world. Bonds and dangerous powers shape a campaign about belonging, emotional pressure, and the line between saving the world and threatening it.
GMT Games
An operational treatment of the German Ardennes offensive. Roads, terrain, reserves, and the pressure to keep an advance moving give the campaign its central decisions.
Matrix Games / Slitherine
A real-time tactical game portrays Cold War combined-arms engagements. Terrain, observation, and coordinating different weapons shape the action more directly than empire-level economic decisions.
GMT Games
British and German task forces hunt, evade, and protect shipping in the North Atlantic. Trajectory lines represent uncertain naval locations, making reconnaissance and interpreting reports part of the operational contest.
Magpie Games
Heroes travel through the world of Avatar, pursuing adventures across several supported eras. Character growth and the tension between personal principles underpin the rules, alongside bending, combat exchanges, and relationships.
1981 · Nova Game Designs
An approachable global WWII contest later brought to a mass audience by Milton Bradley.
2023 · Larian Studios
A party-based role-playing game adapts Dungeons & Dragons to a branching adventure in the Forgotten Realms. Turn-based combat, character choices, and interactions with companions shape the journey.
Evil Hat Productions
The Legion retreats before an undead army while players manage missions, personnel, and supplies. Forged in the Dark procedures link dangerous squad operations to the larger campaign and the struggle to reach safety.
2017 · Multi-Man Publishing
Battalion-level formations contest the approaches to Kasserine in Dean Essig's second Battalion Combat Series game. A ten-turn campaign and shorter scenarios emphasize maneuver, command disruption and an Axis objective revealed during play. This is MMP's game, not Conflict Games' Kasserine Pass.
Chaosium
A toolkit for creating campaigns across several genres using percentile skills. It offers a common mechanical foundation with options for different settings, rather than prescribing one ready-made fictional world.
Original Battleward commentary
"Bataille Empire" is a miniatures game covering the Napoleonic Wars from 1792 to 1815, focusing on battalion or regimental level. Players can use any scale of miniatures and the rules are designed for fast gameplay without losing realism. It…
2017 · Hooded Horse / Overhype Studios
Recruit and equip a mercenary company in a procedurally generated medieval fantasy world. Contracts and turn-based battles test the company’s finances, supplies, and ability to keep experienced fighters alive.
Original Battleward commentary
"Battlefront WWII," developed by Fire and Fury Games, is a detailed and flexible system designed for WWII miniature wargaming at the tactical level. The tactical unit is the squad or section. The rules work well with multiple popular scales: 5mm,…
GMT Games
France and Britain contest North America through army maneuver, diplomacy with Indigenous nations, raids, sieges, construction, naval operations, and battle. Historically based cards drive actions without conventional hand management, and scenarios range from a single campaigning year to the full war; this entry identifies the second printing.
GMT Games
A solitaire career game commanding an Italian submarine in the Mediterranean. Patrol events, attacks, damage, and crew survival build a campaign around the fortunes of one boat.
Original Battleward commentary
Released in 1999 this game masterfully combines turn-based strategy with the intricate lore of the Star Trek universe. Players can choose to lead one of five major civilizations – the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, or…
2014 · Pearl Abyss
An online fantasy world combines action combat and character customization with trading, crafting, fishing, and other professions. Players can pursue quests and world bosses or join guild conflicts and siege battles. The game first launched in Korea in 2014, followed by its Western release in 2016.
2015 · Osprey Games
Small teams conduct modern covert missions where stealth and alarms affect the action. The rules offer a different battlefield problem from a straightforward meeting engagement between visible forces.
2009 · Warlord Games
A broad framework for large tabletop battles across the black-powder era, with an emphasis on spectacle and pace.
2025 · Free League Publishing / Free League Workshop
Desperate adventurers seek survival and profit amid war, demons and forbidden magic. This standalone, rules-light game combines swashbuckling action and Gothic folk horror with distinctive firearms, dangerous spellcraft and compatibility with the MÖRK BORG system.
Free League Publishing
Detectives investigate cases in the Blade Runner setting. Evidence, moral choices, and the pressure of an assignment create a noir campaign rather than a succession of conventional combat encounters.
2016 · Evil Hat Productions
Heists, flashbacks, and faction pressure make consequences and momentum part of the campaign engine.
Original Battleward commentary
"Blitzkrieg Commander IV" (BKC4) is praised for being a middle ground fast-play system that offers somewhat realistic results. The combat system is appreciated for its fluidity and quick pace, integrating hits, suppression, and fallback into the…
Original Battleward commentary
"Bloody Big Battles", designed by Chris Pringle, stands out in the wargaming community for its streamlined approach to 19th-century warfare. Praised for its easy-to-learn mechanics, the game allows for large-scale battles to be played out…
2015 · Honour
Players command brigades of infantry and cavalry with massed artillery in large historical or fictional Napoleonic battles. The Scharnhorst campaign system creates the battlefield through pre-battle maneuver, while optional unit cards allow play with or without miniatures.
Magpie Games
Players share different aspects of the Bride as she explores Bluebeard’s mansion. Rooms, disturbing discoveries, and difficult choices create a collaborative horror story with explicit attention to discussing boundaries before play.
2012 · Warlord Games / Osprey
Platoon combat with random order-dice activation; a widely played accessible WWII system.
2024 · Warlord Games / Osprey
The current major edition of the order-dice WWII platoon game; listed separately so edition history stays clear.
2025 · Slitherine / Steel Balalaika
United States and Russian formations clash in real-time battles that combine ground forces, helicopters and aircraft. Players assemble customized units, manage reinforcements and coordinate reconnaissance, fire support and maneuver across large modern battlefields.
Osprey Games
Warbands operating in a mythical Roman world search for powerful artifacts and battle supernatural enemies. Familiar ancient troops meet monsters and magic in campaign-oriented skirmishes.
Osprey Games
Animal warriors form small warbands in the troubled kingdom of Northymbra. Individual equipment, spells, and developing characters make the campaign as important as a single skirmish.
2020 · GMT Games
Caesar campaigns for wealth and prestige while the Gallic player directs independent tribes resisting Roman conquest. Cards drive army movement, political control, uprisings and invasions during the decisive years of the Gallic Wars.
1981 · Chaosium
"Call of Cthulhu" is a horror fiction role-playing game inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. Published by Chaosium in 1981, it's now in its seventh edition. The game utilizes the Basic…
2022 · Steve Jackson Games
Armed cars duel in an arena using prebuilt vehicles, dashboards, cards and large-scale miniatures. Players select maneuvers, manage speed and damage, and combine weapons with driving choices in the faster-playing sixth edition of Steve Jackson Games' automotive combat system.
Original Battleward commentary
On its second incarnation, "Carnage & Glory II" (C&G) is a unique, computer-mediated tabletop wargame covering the years 1740 to 1871 using its "On Campaign" and "Tactical upgrades" and is renowned for its historical accuracy and detailed…
Magpie Games
Characters entangled in the drug trade face dangerous bargains, obligations, and divided loyalties. Powered by the Apocalypse rules focus on a tense adult crime drama, with consequences extending through families and criminal organizations.
Osprey Games
Fleets of flying battleships contest the skies of an alternate early twentieth century. National fleet lists, scenarios, and campaign rules support engagements between aerial ironclads.
GMT Games
A global strategic game beginning before the historical outbreak of World War II. Political instability, diplomacy, and rearmament can create a war with a different timetable and alignment of powers.
1995 · Kosmos
Negotiation, resource production, and an approachable ruleset helped broaden modern board gaming.
1979 · Task Force Games
Human and Cetian forces contest an alien planet, with special forces disrupting military infrastructure. Its ambitious setting deserves attention, alongside published criticism of slow movement and limited strategic opportunities.
2013 · TooFatLardies
"Chain of Command" is a highly praised WW2 miniature wargame focusing on the importance of leadership and command. With a unique command dice system, it simulates the unpredictable nature of war. The game emphasizes platoon-level actions and…
1971 · Guidon Games
Medieval miniature battles with a fantasy supplement; its reach extends into the origins of role-playing games.
1981 · Hero Games
Point-built powers made superhero creation a game in itself, with flexible effects rather than fixed archetypes.
2007 · SkirmishCampaigns
Aircraft maneuver and campaign scenarios with plotted moves, designed for substantial multiplayer air actions.
2025 · GMT Games
Japan, the Guomindang government, Chinese Communists and regional warlords pursue competing military and political aims during the opening years of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The COIN system links territorial control, population support, resources and faction-specific victory conditions.
Osprey Games
Detachments of Napoleonic infantry and cavalry fight small actions rather than full army battles. Unit quality and leaders help distinguish troops while scenarios provide objectives beyond casualties.
GMT Games
Three Allied leaders bargain over wartime conferences while competing for influence over the peace. The central contest is coalition politics, with military progress shaping the negotiations.
Original Battleward commentary
Game Designers’ Workshop's (GDW)"Traveller" was published in 1977 and quickly became the standard for these type games. Conceived by Marc Miller, the retronym Classic Traveller game stands as a landmark in sci-fi RPGs, lauded for its vast…
Modiphius Entertainment
Roman-era adventurers uncover cosmic horrors at the fringes of the empire. Its 2d20 roleplaying rules combine investigation and action with ancient cultures; this is the RPG, distinct from the related Tactics miniature game.
2022 · Pendraken Miniatures
Combined-arms forces fight engagements from the postwar period into the modern era. The second edition supports multiple miniature scales with command rolls, tactical doctrines, artillery, aircraft and anti-tank guided weapons, backed by downloadable army lists.
GMT Games
A two-player COIN game about the French-Algerian War. Insurgency, population control, and the political consequences of military action make a battlefield victory only part of the larger struggle.
2006 · GMT Games
Cards make command, timing, and battlefield surprises central to squad-level combat.
GMT Games
Card-driven infantry combat moves the Combat Commander system to the Pacific. Orders, terrain, and unexpected battlefield events create uncertainty at the level of small tactical engagements.
1986 · Game Designers’ Workshop
Frank Chadwick’s battalion-level WWII system puts command and coordination above the detail of every individual tank shot.
2006 · Test of Battle Games
The later Command Decision line continues the focus on battalion command and historically grounded combined arms.
2019 · Matrix Games
A detailed simulation of modern air, naval, and missile operations with a vast equipment database.
Battleward shelf
Command cards bring friction to ancient battles without burying players in procedures. The blocks and dice are abstract; the tension comes from deciding which wing can act now.
Battleward shelf
Command cards make it easy to see a promising move and still lack the means to order it. The dice are brisk and sometimes cruel; that tension is central to the design.
2013 · Relic Entertainment / Feral Interactive (Mac) / Feral Interactive (Linux)
Infantry, armored vehicles, and support weapons fight real-time World War II engagements. Capturing territory and coordinating different unit types provide the central battlefield decisions.
2019 · Academy Games
Squad- and vehicle-level forces fight the opening battles of Operation Barbarossa on geomorphic maps. The third edition uses an action-point system, firefight scenarios and revised living rules to model the changing initiative and short, violent engagements of tactical combat.
2025 · GMT Games
France and the Allied powers bargain over political issues while directing the campaigns that will decide Napoleon's fate. Diplomacy, government priorities and military operations are linked in a card-driven design for one to four players.
2021 · GMT Games
Japan, the Soviet and Chinese Communist bloc, and the United States-led coalition compete across East Asia and the Pacific. Diplomacy, economic development, hidden blocks and military operations create a three-sided strategic contest beginning in 1936.
GMT Games
Polynesian peoples explore the Pacific, settle island groups, and develop culture and military strength. Limited resources force choices between canoes, warriors, new discoveries, and improvements to an expanding island network.
Free League Publishing
Explorers venture into a dangerous region of space in search of a future for their community. Expedition planning and delving into forgotten structures distinguish this game from its Third Horizon predecessor.
Free League Publishing
A crew travels among the worlds of the Third Horizon, where trade, factions, religion, and ancient mysteries intersect. Spaceship adventures share the stage with the political and cultural setting.
2020 · Paradox Interactive
Medieval rulers manage a dynasty through marriages, inheritance, intrigue, and warfare. Family relationships and the personalities of individual rulers help shape the political map.
GMT Games
A compact four-faction COIN game covering the struggle against Batista. Government forces, revolutionaries, rival insurgents, and organized crime have different ideas about what winning should mean.
Stockholm Kartell / Free League Publishing
Cybernetic outsiders confront a polluted, exploitative future city. A rules-light structure supports dangerous jobs and anti-corporate adventures, with the setting’s excesses integral to its tone.
1971 · SPI
A scenario-based treatment of early medieval battle, with infantry, cavalry, command, and the danger of an army losing its nerve. Its appeal is the variety of tactical matchups within one system. Expect the abstractions and spare presentation of early SPI design; this is a historical battle game, despite a title that could easily suggest fantasy.
1990 · Wargames Research Group
Compact armies, standardized bases and short games helped reshape ancient and medieval competition.
Stockholm Kartell / Free League Publishing
A crew tries to keep a working home and livelihood in a decaying universe. Equipment, repairs, and the pressures of survival make everyday spacefaring problems part of the adventure.
2021 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
An operational Ardennes game emphasizes terrain, logistics, and the movement of formations through a restricted road network. Local breakthroughs must be weighed against the capacity to support them.
2015 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
An operational Barbarossa campaign adds command relationships and consequential decisions to army movement. The design examines the pressures on headquarters as well as the disposition of forces on the map.
2012 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
The German 1942 campaign in southern Russia is portrayed at operational scale. Objectives, logistics, and command decisions complicate the attempt to convert movement across the map into durable success.
2010 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Operational campaigns cover the German invasions of Poland and France. Headquarters, formations, and the pace of an advance determine how effectively a plan survives contact with resistance.
2016 · Arc Dream Publishing
Federal agents and other specialists investigate unnatural threats while secrecy, violence and exposure steadily damage their sanity and personal lives. This player-facing core rulebook covers agent creation, investigation, combat, equipment, federal agencies and the home scenes that show what each operation puts at risk.
1976 · Avalon Hill (bookcase edition)
Seven European powers negotiate alliances and submit simultaneous orders, with no dice to rescue a bad promise. The military rules are compact; reading the other players is the real challenge. Avalon Hill's 1976 edition brought Allan B. Calhamer's 1959 design to its familiar bookcase format. Best suited to a group that enjoys bargaining and can take betrayal in the spirit of the game.
Modiphius Entertainment
Characters explore the Empire of the Isles through stealth, intrigue, and dangerous supernatural powers. Its 2d20 rules use momentum and chaos to connect risky decisions with consequences in a setting shaped by the video games.
2022 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A real-time galactic strategy game links exploration, diplomacy, economy, and fleet operations. Automation can handle parts of the empire, leaving players to decide which responsibilities to direct personally.
GMT Games
Animal groups compete for survival as environments change. Action selection and adaptation make it a substantial competitive strategy game with an ecological subject rather than a military setting.
GMT Games
Aquatic animal groups compete to survive as prehistoric habitats change. Action placement drives migration, adaptation, and population growth across a shared ocean map; this is a separate game from the original Dominant Species.
Osprey Games
Posses clash in an alternate American West under supernatural rule. Gunfights, occult factions, and campaign development combine familiar frontier weapons with monsters and magic.
2015 · Osprey Games
Flexible warbands, monsters, and magic bring fantasy battles to the Rampant family of rules. Unit profiles support an assortment of miniature collections without requiring one proprietary setting.
2025 · Osprey Games
Miniature-agnostic fantasy warbands fight large skirmishes using revised core rules, expanded magic and unit upgrades. Sample armies and varied scenarios support forces ranging from unruly orcs and undead hosts to barbarians, monsters and sorcerous champions.
Free League Publishing
A fantasy adventure system built around a compact set of rules and a broad selection of adventurers. It suits dungeon expeditions and shorter campaigns without requiring an elaborate character-build process.
Original Battleward commentary
"Drang Nach Osten!" by GDW and published in 1973 is an operational simulation of the first nine and a half months of the Russo-German War starting in 1941. As part of the Europa series, it offers a detailed operational experience. The game covers…
Modiphius Entertainment
Communities rebuild on a distant world where enormous machines sometimes awaken. The RPG places exploration, cooperation, and the risks posed by these technological remnants within a hopeful science-fiction survival setting.
Modiphius Entertainment
Agents of a noble House navigate intrigue, duels, espionage, and conflict in the Imperium. The 2d20 system can move between individual action and broader contests involving a House’s assets.
Battleward shelf
Deck-building and worker placement pull influence, resources and conflict into the same contest. It rewards planning while forcing you to adapt to the cards you actually draw.
1974 · Tactical Studies Rules
The original fantasy role-playing game turned a referee, characters, and an open-ended world into a new hobby.
2012 · Osprey Games
Element-based armies fight in post-Roman Britain, with leadership resources influencing battlefield performance. A compact route into the era’s shieldwalls, mounted troops, and rival war leaders.
Original Battleward commentary
"Élan Deluxe Edition" is a tactical-level Napoleonic wargame for 15-25 mm miniatures, offering a refined system that emphasizes historical tactics and command flexibility. Developed in Australia by Phillip A. Jones, it's the culmination of over…
Original Battleward commentary
"Empire" is a set of rules for Napoleonic Era miniatures wargames, first published in 1975. It offers general rules for enacting any battle from this period, including aspects like leader ratings, troop types, frontage, range, and…
GMT Games
A card-driven Pacific campaign combines naval, air, and ground operations. Coordinating offensives across a vast theater is the main problem; individual tactical battles are deliberately abstracted.
2016 · Osprey Games
Individual fighters trade shots and sword blows in swashbuckling encounters. The rules emphasize small groups and dueling decisions, making them suitable for adventure-style scenarios.
2017 · GMT Games
Players plan and conduct the 1942 carrier-launched strike against Japan, balancing operational preparation, the bombing mission and the crews' difficult escape toward China. The design supports solitaire or team play.
Original Battleward commentary
Enlisted is a squad-based Second World War shooter. Battleward’s original introduction focused on infantry squads, combat vehicles, and battles across several theatres. It was listed as a free-to-play title in December 2023; readers should check…
2013 · Paradox Interactive
Guide a state through centuries of diplomacy, trade, colonization, and war. Long-term political choices sit alongside military campaigns rather than reducing the period to individual battles.
GMT Games
Romans and competing Gallic factions struggle over allegiance, resources, and military control. The COIN approach highlights the political fragmentation behind Caesar’s campaigns.
1997 · Interplay Entertainment
The first Fallout, also called Fallout 1, sends a Vault Dweller into the wasteland to find a replacement water chip. Its SPECIAL character system, dialogue choices, and turn-based combat offer several ways to approach settlements and their conflicts.
1998 · Interplay Entertainment
A descendant of the original Vault Dweller searches for a Garden of Eden Creation Kit to save Arroyo. An expanded wasteland connects settlements, factions, companions, and branching quests through dialogue and turn-based combat.
2008 · Bethesda Softworks
Leave Vault 101 and explore the ruined Washington, D.C. region in search of your father. First- or third-person exploration combines with dialogue, character development, and the V.A.T.S. targeting system.
2015 · Bethesda Softworks
A survivor of Vault 111 explores the Boston Commonwealth while searching for a missing family member. Faction choices and quests sit alongside weapon modification, power armor, settlement building, and V.A.T.S. combat.
Modiphius Entertainment
Wasteland wanderers scavenge equipment, face mutated threats, and contend with competing factions. Its 2d20 rules carry the familiar Fallout setting into a group campaign with character perks and survival challenges.
2003 · Evil Hat Productions
Aspects let players invoke character traits and circumstances directly in the fiction.
Compass Games
Allied and Axis players direct armies and corps through the Western European campaign. Strategy cards divide attention among operations, events, replacements and redeployment, while invasion choices and supply shape the advance. Michael Rinella's design includes a full campaign and a shorter Overlord scenario.
2017 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Turn-based ancient battles emphasize formations, morale, and the different roles of troop types. A digital tactical option for players interested in army matchups and battlefield maneuver.
2021 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Medieval armies fight turn-based tactical engagements with distinct infantry and cavalry roles. Historical scenarios and army-based battles put positioning and cohesion at the center of play.
2019 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Ancient states expand while managing economies, provincial development, and the pressures of decline. The strategic campaign can connect to Field of Glory II for resolving battles in greater tactical detail.
2024 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Medieval realms develop provinces, manage authority, and wage campaigns. Political relationships and the maintenance of a realm complement warfare, with optional tactical battle integration through Field of Glory II: Medieval.
2017 · GMT Games
Concealed-strength blocks recreate the uncertainty of the Western Front, while economies, air reconnaissance, naval warfare and technology choices influence the campaign. Scenarios permit both historical and alternate deployments.
GMT Games
A solitaire infantry-command system recreates a rifle company's missions in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Terrain cards and command resources make communications and orders central to managing the fight.
1981 · Game Designers’ Workshop (GDW)
Imperial and Zhodani forces contest the Spinward Marches through fleet operations, planetary assaults and reinforcements. Orders must anticipate the delays of interstellar travel and communication, making the timing of distant campaigns as important as local strength. This is the original standalone GDW board game.
2015 · Osprey Games
Fleet battles in the age of sail emphasize maneuver and the collective fighting ability of squadrons. A naval miniature system for larger actions rather than an exhaustive record of each sailor and gun.
2017 · Green Dragon Hobbies
Individual-soldier WWII rules for squad and platoon actions. Suppressive fire, spotting, defensive fire, and separate training and experience ratings shape the infantry fight. Documentation-based Battleward review examines the publisher sample.
1990 · Quantum Printing
Brigade-level Civil War battles with a celebrated maneuver table and an emphasis on the ebb and flow of formations.
Battleward shelf
Four factions pull the conflict in different directions, so cooperation is temporary and victory means different things to different players. The political and military machinery is rich, but it takes work to learn.
2002 · Battlefront Miniatures
Company-level WWII battles supported by an extensive miniature range and national force books.
2013 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A fictional Cold War clash uses asynchronous orders and resolution to represent command delay. Plans unfold while new information arrives, making timing and imperfect control central to the experience.
2022 · GMT Games
China and the United States compete through diplomacy, economics, regional influence and calibrated military pressure in the disputed South China Sea. Card play forces both sides to advance their claims while preventing tension from escalating beyond control.
GMT Games
Individually rated sailing warships fight actions from the Seven Years’ War through the Napoleonic era. Initiative and command rules keep fleets maneuvering without plotted movement, while wind, broadsides, raking fire, boarding, and damage preserve the character of Age of Sail combat; this entry identifies the expanded Deluxe fourth printing.
GMT Games
A card-driven Union–Confederate campaign links armies, leaders, politics, and strategic will. It offers the sweep of the Civil War without resolving every battlefield at tactical scale.
Free League Publishing
Travel, survival, exploration, and stronghold development define a dangerous fantasy sandbox. The journey between adventures is part of the game, rather than a brief transition to the next dungeon.
Ambush Alley Games / Osprey Publishing
Modern engagements emphasize troop quality, reaction, and mission objectives. The Ambush Alley/Osprey system covers conventional and asymmetric situations, making scenario context important to the balance of a game.
1980 · Avalon Hill edition (original: Jedko Games, 1978)
The Allied campaign from the invasion of Western Europe to the advance toward Germany demands decisions about landings, reserves, supply, and momentum. John Edwards' campaign design originally appeared through Jedko Games in 1978; this entry identifies Avalon Hill's 1980 edition. Its appeal is the operational sweep of liberation rather than the detail of individual Normandy firefights.
1979 · SPI
Kiev, Rostov, Operation Star, and Korsun present four separate operational battles in the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1944. A shared core system supports different problems of breakthrough, encirclement, and survival. The attraction is variety without learning four unrelated games; these are individual battles, not one linked campaign covering the entire army group's war.
GMT Games
Operational scenarios examine the 1940 campaign in France. Breakthroughs, withdrawals, and the placement of reserves make the contest about campaign timing rather than weapon-by-weapon combat.
1979 · SPI
An empire and a rebellion struggle for control through military operations and the missions of individual characters. It combines galactic strategy with the personal adventures that give space opera its appeal. The breadth of the character and campaign systems is the draw, but also the burden: expect considerably more rules and administration than a straightforward fleet battle.
1974 · SPI
Sailing warships maneuver and exchange broadsides in scenarios ranging from single-ship encounters to fleet actions. Wind, positioning, and the condition of individual vessels give the battles their character. A naval board wargame rather than an RPG, it is an appealing subject for players who want ship handling and gunnery to matter, with the procedural detail of its era.
2020 · Osprey Games
Wizards and their hired warbands explore a ruined magical city. Treasure hunting, spells, and campaign development connect small encounters, with survival and advancement providing reasons to return.
1991 · Ground Zero Games
A flexible starship miniature system with a fast basic game and optional detail for larger fleets.
Osprey Games
Pilots in armored machines search a ruined Earth for valuable salvage. Machine customization and campaign resources link battles, making the recovery of equipment central to a force’s survival.
GMT Games
Four factions pursue independence, authority, or revolution in British India. Nonviolent action is part of the COIN system, broadening the catalog beyond campaigns settled mainly through armed force.
2021 · Matrix Games
A demanding Eastern Front operational simulation for players who want logistics and campaign depth.
2014 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A large operational campaign joins ground warfare in Western Europe to a substantial air-war system. It suits players who want planning, logistics, and theater-wide coordination to be major parts of command.
2019 · Osprey Games
Armed vehicles race and fight through a ruined future. Movement templates and vehicle customization make converted toy cars central to the hobby appeal, with collisions and hazardous maneuvers shaping play.
2024 · Reisswitz Press / TooFatLardies
Dave Brown’s second edition puts battalions within brigade commands, using ADC taskings and limited personal interventions to make divisional and corps command a matter of priorities.
Old Dominion GameWorks (ODGW)
Naval miniature rules covering surface gunnery, torpedoes, radar, damage control, aircraft and submarines. Campaign tools include weather, logistics, shore bombardment and amphibious operations, with streamlined alternatives for air and submarine combat.
1986 · Steve Jackson Games
A single core system supports historical, fantasy, science-fiction, and modern campaigns.
Original Battleward commentary
HMG is a set of World War One wargame rules for use with any scale of figure (6mm, 15mm, 20mm, 28mm ...) with infantry companies of between 4 and 8 figures used and use a ‘I go - You go’ sequence of play..
Original Battleward commentary
Warlord Games' "Hail Caesar" is a tabletop wargame that allows players to recreate large-scale battles from the biblical era to the medieval period. It is known for its flexibility, catering to various historical periods with comprehensive rules…
2024 · Slitherine / Starni Games
Turn-based battles follow United States, British and German forces through the Normandy campaign. Directional armor, terrain, line of sight, destructible buildings and individual vehicle crews combine with unit advancement, skirmishes, multiplayer and a scenario editor.
2005 · Paradox Interactive
A globe-spanning wartime command game, joining production, diplomacy, and military operations.
2016 · Paradox Interactive
National production, diplomacy, research, and military planning combine in a global World War II strategy game. Land, naval, and air forces operate within a campaign that can diverge from the historical course.
GMT Games
Athens and Sparta contest the Peloponnesian War through a card-driven block system. Concealed units introduce uncertainty while naval operations, land battles, sieges, and pillaging affect the struggle for prestige.
GMT Games
Six powers contest the religious and political struggles of the early sixteenth century. Diplomacy, warfare, exploration, and religious debate share the same strategic stage.
2020 · War Frogs Studio
Turn-based campaigns cover World War II in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. Players command combined forces against the computer or other players, with cooperative play and a scenario editor extending the available battles.
2021 · MicroProse Software / Konstantin Koshutin
A task force of massive flying warships fights for survival across a hostile future world. Real-time ship combat combines with fleet design, reconnaissance, logistics, resource management and diplomacy as the player tries to regain control of the rebellious Kingdom of Gerat.
Old Dominion GameWorks (ODGW)
Battalion- and regimental-level rules for conflicts including the English Civil War, Seven Years War, Napoleonic Wars and American Civil War. Morale, disorder and ammunition shape unit effectiveness; optional modules cover command, cavalry, skirmishing, artillery and fortifications.
GMT Games
Airborne troops and ground formations fight to connect a chain of bridgeheads. The road corridor and the timing of relief make Market Garden a distinctive operational problem.
Modiphius Entertainment
Crews and explorers travel through the Homeworld universe, encountering ancient mysteries and competing civilizations. A 2d20 adaptation supports adventures connected to the fleets and displaced peoples familiar from the computer strategy games.
2015 · Osprey Games
A set of eighteenth-century battle rules centered on the Seven Years’ War. Command, movement, firing, and morale provide a framework for fighting historical engagements with formed armies.
Osprey Games
Small-scale infantry, vehicles, aircraft, and walking machines fight combined-arms battles. The rules use flexible force construction so players can field models from different miniature ranges.
2025 · GMT Games
The Ptolemaic, Seleucid and Macedonian dynasties compete for legitimacy and influence as Rome and other powers reshape the eastern Mediterranean. Court politics, leaders, warfare and shifting regional agendas drive the struggle among three Hellenistic kingdoms.
Original Battleward commentary
"I Ain't Been Shot, Mum" (IABSM) is a company-level WW2 miniature wargame by Too Fat Lardies, focusing on the narrative and fun aspects of gaming rather than competitive play. The game doesn't come with army lists but has numerous supplements…
GMT Games
France and Britain compete for overseas trade, European alliances, and prestige across the eighteenth century. Peace turns build the position that players will carry into the game's major wars.
1977 · Game Designers’ Workshop (GDW)
The expanding Terran state confronts an established interstellar empire in a two-player strategic contest. Fleet construction, movement between star systems and planetary conquest connect individual battles to a continuing struggle for territory. This listing covers GDW’s original game.
TooFatLardies
Roman detachments and tribal warbands fight on the frontiers of the empire. Leaders, ambushes, and differences between disciplined troops and tribal fighters shape the tactical choices.
GMT Games
Rival cities and political factions campaign in thirteenth-century Tuscany. Supply, service, and siege warfare put the practical limits of medieval armies at the center of the design.
Modiphius Entertainment
Agents undertake missions in the Human Sphere, where rival powers contest information, influence, and advanced technology. The 2d20 rules support physical confrontations alongside hacking and social conflict in the Infinity universe.
Free League Publishing
Explorers seek strange artifacts in a world mixing industrial society with uncanny dangers. Compact character creation and direct combat procedures keep attention on exploration and the consequences of decisions.
GMT Games
Individual Union and Confederate warships maneuver and exchange fire in tactical Civil War naval engagements. Ship and fort cards track the vessels while action and order cards help govern command, gunnery, damage, and the uncertainty of close ship-to-ship fighting.
Original Battleward commentary
Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud is a two-player Eastern Front board wargame from Phalanx. Its compact approach is reminiscent of The Russian Campaign: positioning, supply, changing seasons, and the timing of an offensive matter as much as combat.…
Shawn Tomkin / Modiphius Entertainment
Explorers swear vows and journey through a dangerous space frontier. Oracles and guided procedures support solo, cooperative, or guided play, linking uncertain encounters to the character’s commitments and developing campaign story.
2023 · THQ Nordic
Hire a team of distinct mercenaries and campaign across a fictional country in crisis. Turn-based tactical combat connects to sector control, equipment, and the relationships within the team.
Modiphius Entertainment
Heroes cross the deserts and cities of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom in adventures of daring rescues, swordplay, and strange technology. The game adapts 2d20 to fast-moving planetary romance and larger-than-life characters.
1983 · Adventure Games
"Johnny Reb" designed by John Hill, is a set of rules for the American Civil War, featuring simultaneous movement and strong command-and-control elements. It's designed for 10mm to 25 mm figures, with a turn representing 20 minutes and each…
Original Battleward commentary
"Justice Inc," launched in 1984 by Hero Games, adeptly captures the essence of pulp fiction narratives, transporting players to the adventurous era of the 1930s and 1940s. Unlike its sibling "Champions," which focuses on superpowers, "Justice…
2017 · Capitan Games
Grand-tactical WWII rules with company units grouped into formations. Command-point spending, coordinated activations, and enemy response actions make leadership and combined arms central. Review examines the publisher sample.
1977 · Conflict Games
Axis forces attack through central Tunisia as Allied defenders try to contain the breakthrough. Movement through difficult terrain and the placement of reserves shape the struggle for the passes and road junctions. This listing is specifically the 1977 second edition of John Hill’s Conflict Games design.
Original Battleward commentary
Knights of Honor II: Sovereign combines medieval kingdom management, diplomacy, espionage, and warfare. Battleward’s original listing presented it as a grand-strategy option for players interested in leading a European realm. That introduction…
Osprey Games
Rival fantasy gangs compete for power in the streets of Ordinsport. Playing cards and bribery add uncertainty to small encounters between criminals and enforcers.
Original Battleward commentary
"L'Art de la Guerre" is praised for its thoughtful approach to ancient and medieval wargaming, offering a blend of simplicity in mechanics with strategic depth. It's highlighted for features like the Numidian light horse's ability to engage…
GMT Games
A card-driven geopolitical game portrays counterterrorism and extremist movements after 2001. Asymmetric objectives connect military action to governance and international politics, with a solitaire system for the United States side.
Osprey Games
Survivor groups search for supplies while hostile humans and zombies threaten their plans. A campaign tracks the group between encounters, making losses and scarce resources matter.
1969 · SPI
Napoleon's 1813 campaign in Germany becomes a contest of concentration, maneuver, and coalition pressure. This is a campaign game rather than just a recreation of the final battle at Leipzig. First issued in SPI's Test Series in 1969 and subsequently revised, it offers an early example of the company's approach to operational Napoleonic warfare.
GMT Games
British, Patriots, French, and Indian factions pursue overlapping and conflicting aims. The COIN system emphasizes control, support, and alliance pressures alongside military operations.
Battleward shelf
A compact medieval fight with activation risk and a healthy appetite for dramatic reversals. It gets painted figures into action quickly, though failed activations can sting when a plan depends on one unit.
Hexasim
Divisions and regiments fight the German offensives and Allied counteroffensives around the Marne in 1918. Three-day turns gain additional movement and combat sequences during offensives, reflecting alternating surges and pauses in the campaign.
Magpie Games
Young superheroes protect Halcyon City while deciding who they want to become. Playbooks and shifting labels make relationships, adult expectations, and personal identity central to the action.
1978 · Game Designers’ Workshop (GDW)
Small spacecraft fight on a hex grid using vector movement: momentum carries a ship onward until thrust changes its course. Pilots must plan maneuvers and weapon fire around where opposing ships are heading. This is GDW’s standalone Traveller board game.
2022 · Old Dominion GameWorks (ODGW)
Mein Panzer WW2 miniatures game by Old Dominion Game Works is a comprehensive rule system for company-level combined arms warfare from WWI to the present. The game is known for its balance between historical accuracy and playability, offering…
Old Dominion GameWorks (ODGW)
Zombie-survival miniature scenarios in which players guide survivors toward safety while fighting the undead. ODGW provides a dedicated rules forum and product-download support alongside its historical miniature systems.
1977 · Metagaming Concepts
Strength, Dexterity, equipment, and positioning create meaningful choices in a compact game of individual combat. Reviewed together with Wizard, its compatible magical companion and a foundation of The Fantasy Trip.
Osprey Games
Hoplite armies compete for position and victory in ancient Greek battles. Players manage unit formations and leadership resources while coordinating the heavily armed infantry that define the period.
GMT Games
Three games from Richard H. Berg’s medieval battle series—Men of Iron, Infidel, and Blood & Roses—share a continuous-play tactical system. The collection ranges from early fourteenth-century combined arms through Crusader cavalry warfare and the heavily armored battles of the Wars of the Roses; this entry identifies GMT’s corrected second printing.
2014 · Fulqrum Publishing
Squads and vehicles fight detailed real-time World War II encounters, with direct control available for individual units. Missions and multiplayer battles emphasize combined arms and the equipment carried into a fight.
Evil Hat Productions
A team of hunters investigates strange events and dangerous creatures in episodic adventures. Playbooks define different hunter types, while investigation and escalating threats help structure each mystery and its confrontation.
Ockult Örtmästare Games / Stockholm Kartell / Free League Publishing
A compact dark-fantasy system presents desperate adventurers in a world approaching its end. Its sparse mechanics and strong visual identity suit short, dangerous adventures and unconventional settings.
2024 · Tuesday Knight Games
Crews explore derelict spacecraft and hostile worlds while stress, panic and violent encounters threaten their survival. The streamlined first-edition rules use a percentile roll-under system, fast character creation, wounds, destructible armor and shore leave instead of conventional levels.
2026 · GMT Games
A solitaire president manages domestic policy, Congress, public opinion, diplomacy and crises across a four-year term. Interlocking action systems and unpredictable world events make governing priorities compete for limited time and political capital; this listing is the second edition.
Free League Publishing
Mutants explore the wasteland while developing the settlement they call home. Personal expeditions and the community’s growth connect survival adventures to a broader campaign purpose.
1989 · Avalon Hill
Grand-tactical Napoleonic rules that let players command substantial formations rather than resolve every company’s fire.
2007 · Simmons Games
This treatment of Austerlitz emphasizes battlefield positions, deception and maneuver as Napoleon confronts the Allied armies. The area-based map and hidden information reward reading enemy intentions.
GMT Games
Teutonic and Rus forces campaign around the Baltic frontier. Transport, provisions, seasonal limits, and the obligations of individual lords shape what an army can attempt.
GMT Games
A hypothetical India-Pakistan campaign focuses on Kashmir and the neighboring frontier. Terrain, bridges, outside intervention, and the possibility of nuclear escalation influence the operational problem; it portrays an imagined war.
GMT Games
This hypothetical modern Korean conflict combines land operations with air power and possible foreign intervention. Standard and advanced systems offer different levels of detail; the depicted war is a scenario, rather than a historical event.
GMT Games
A hypothetical conflict around Taiwan emphasizes amphibious operations, naval threats, and control of the air. Its advanced system expands operational decisions, and it can link with Next War: Korea for a wider fictional campaign.
2023 · GMT Games
Seven tactical battles trace the Normans and their successors from Civitate to Evesham, including Fulford, Stamford Bridge and Hastings. Ralph Shelton's Men of Iron volume uses hex maps and counters to examine individual engagements rather than a continuous campaign.
GMT Games
The invasion and early Normandy campaign are handled at operational scale. Beachheads, reinforcement, terrain, and German reserves create a contest over building momentum after the landings.
GMT Games
The 1941 desert campaign turns on movement, supply, and the changing balance of available forces. A theater-specific operational game for examining how far a successful advance can be sustained.
1965 · Flying Buffalo · licensed in 1972
Douglas Malewicki’s 1965 card game mixes propaganda and nuclear attacks. Final retaliation can turn a successful attack into a chain of destruction. The appeal is social interaction and dark satire; Flying Buffalo acquired the publishing license in 1972.
2020 · Osprey Games
Fantasy armies fight within a framework of kingdom building and campaign warfare. Different peoples can be combined within a kingdom, encouraging armies assembled around a setting rather than a single faction aesthetic.
Osprey Games
Gods, legendary heroes, and mortal followers share the battlefield. A force draws on a chosen mythology, with the relationship between supernatural leaders and ordinary warriors influencing play.
1977 · Metagaming Concepts · original MicroGame
One cybernetic tank advances against an army defending a command post. Target selection and sacrifice give both sides distinctive problems. This review focuses on the original compact game, rather than the contents of later editions.
Osprey Games
Pirates and their opponents fight encounters ashore and aboard ships. Crew motivation and leadership influence the actions of small forces during raids and boarding clashes.
Ostfront Publishing
Company- to battalion-level combined-arms rules with platoon infantry bases, armor, artillery, reconnaissance, and support. An optional campaign links tabletop outcomes to map operations. Review based on publisher documentation.
1976 · SPI
A broad science-fiction strategy game about expanding and sustaining a civilization across the galaxy. Its focus is empire management and long-range planning rather than the details of a single space battle. The scale gives it an ambitious sweep, while the administration makes it better suited to players who enjoy managing an interstellar empire than those seeking quick fleet combat.
Osprey Games
Small bands fight encounters in the Crusader states. A campaign develops individual fighters and follows the fortunes of a force through the hazards of medieval warfare.
Battleward shelf
Mark Herman’s campaign system returns in a modern GMT edition. The range from smaller engagements to the full war is impressive, but its operational machinery rewards a committed opponent and a permanent table.
2020 · Slitherine
A modern heir to accessible hex-based operational campaigns, with a broad scenario library.
1994 · SSI
A campaign of linked hex-based battles made operational choices accessible without losing the appeal of combined arms.
1974 · Avalon Hill
The Western Front companion to PanzerBlitz expands the tactical system to Allied forces and new terrain.
1970 · Avalon Hill
PanzerBlitz, published in 1970 by Avalon Hill is a pioneering board wargame set in World War II's Eastern Front, offers players a tactical level simulation. Using hexagonal grid maps and counters to represent military units, the game emphasizes…
Magpie Games
Players portray the stars of a dramatic telenovela, complete with secrets, rivalries, and extravagant romantic complications. Its rules build scenes around emotional escalation and revelations rather than tactical combat.
2009 · Paizo
Pathfinder’s first edition builds on the revised third-edition Dungeons & Dragons rules framework, giving players familiar with that system a recognizable starting point. The second edition establishes a more distinct rules system. Battleward’s…
Battleward shelf
The character options and tactical structure reward a group that enjoys learning a system together. If the table prefers loose rulings and little preparation, the machinery may feel like another player at the table.
2021 · META Publishing / Owlcat Games
Create a party and lead a crusade against demonic forces in a Pathfinder-based role-playing game. Mythic character paths and strategic army management accompany exploration and tactical encounters.
GMT Games
A card-driven campaign covers the First World War across several fronts. Reinforcement, replacements, operations, and political events compete for the same limited strategic attention.
2019 · Dan Verssen Games
Players coordinate the Soviet defenders of Pavlov’s House with the wider 62nd Army effort while German forces press repeated attacks during the Battle of Stalingrad. Tactical defense inside the strongpoint connects to operational support, supplies and the approaching enemy assault deck.
GMT Games
A block-based campaign game covers the Great Northern War and the struggle to end Swedish dominance of the Baltic. Provincial control, concealed forces, and several scenarios support campaigns of different lengths.
1985 · Victory Games
Rival great powers pursue colonial possessions, trade and prestige across the world. Diplomacy and overseas expansion share the stage with military intervention, while escalating confrontations threaten to bring on a general European war.
2019 · Wehrlegig Games
Players build shifting coalitions, influence Afghan power brokers, and compete for dominance amid rival imperial ambitions. Victory requires reading the changing political balance rather than simply controlling territory.
GMT Games
Competing Mediterranean powers raise armies, establish colonies, and manage political stability from 300 BC onward. Long turns and an unpredictable activation sequence portray the development of empires rather than individual battlefield maneuvers.
Chaosium
Knights pursue honor, family, and service across Arthurian campaigns. Personality traits and passions make a character’s convictions part of play, while dynastic continuity extends the story beyond one adventurer.
GMT Games
Four factions navigate the breakdown of Roman Britain. Raiding, migration, rival British interests, and changing political institutions give this COIN game a different character from a simple conquest campaign.
2023 · GMT Games
Government forces, the New People's Army and nonviolent Reformers pursue different paths through the final years of Ferdinand Marcos's rule. Elections, personalities, resistance and popular opposition adapt the COIN system to a three-faction political struggle.
2017 · GMT Games
Athens and Sparta pursue political leadership within their own leagues while directing the wider Peloponnesian conflict. Debate, factional standing, military expeditions and alliance prestige connect domestic rivalry to the conduct of war for two or four players.
2015 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Turn-based battles portray the era of pikes, firearms, and changing cavalry tactics. Campaign play gives the tactical engagements a wider context without moving to individual-soldier simulation.
2015 · Xbox Game Studios
Lead a customizable party through a fantasy world shaped by souls, politics, and ancient mysteries. Exploration, dialogue, and real-time combat with pausing support a campaign built around character decisions.
Original Battleward commentary
The "Piquet" miniatures game offers rules, supplements, and scenarios for various historical periods, from ancient times through the Vietnam era. A feature release, "Battle Command Musket to Rifle 1700-1900," emphasizes command decisions and fog…
Limithron / Free League Publishing
Pirate crews face dangerous seas, strange islands, and supernatural threats. Its rules-light approach supports chaotic voyages and treasure hunting in a setting that blends historical inspiration with horror and fantasy.
2022 · GMT Games
Native nations resist expanding settlement, cavalry operations, wagon routes and construction of the transcontinental railroad across the Great Plains. Random faction order, regional control and card play create a compact contest for one to four players.
GMT Games
Lancastrian and Yorkist leaders raise and sustain forces during the Wars of the Roses. Campaign logistics and political allegiance provide the setting for a contest of rival dynastic claims.
Osprey Games
Fleets of classical galleys maneuver for decisive clashes from Salamis to Actium. Ship formations and the different strengths of ancient vessels shape the naval battle.
2023 · GMT Games
Historical politicians compete for party leadership, parliamentary influence and the premiership during Queen Victoria's reign. Debating bills, calling elections, winning royal favor and recruiting prominent supporters shape a partly cooperative contest for one to four players.
Osprey Games
Adventurers and villains pursue scenario objectives in the interwar years. Explorers, detectives, gangsters, and sinister masterminds can face each other across city streets or far-flung expedition settings.
Original Battleward commentary
"Quartermaster General: 1914" is a World War I card-driven grand strategy game praised for its approachable gameplay and historical engagement. It differs from other WWI games by focusing on logistics and strategy over combat specifics, using…
Osprey Games
Street operatives fight for money and influence in a cyberpunk city. Hacking and technological upgrades add another layer to missions fought by small, customized crews.
2019 · Osprey Games
Small-unit actions cover North American warfare from colonial conflicts to the Civil War. Officer development and flexible company forces provide a framework for linked skirmish campaigns.
GMT Games
The Commune and the Versailles government struggle across political and military spaces during the two turbulent months of 1871. A compact card-driven system makes influence, objectives, momentum, and the final crisis compete for the same limited attention; the linked cover is the corrected second printing.
2022 · MicroProse Software / Bird's Eye Games
A real-time tactical wargame places regimental battle groups in a fictional Cold War conflict along the inner German border. Players reinforce a core formation with task forces, direct combined-arms engagements and manage operations that unfold across several days.
2015 · Camouflaj
Help Hope escape a tightly controlled society by taking command of its surveillance cameras and electronic security. Observation, hacking, and stealth guide her past guards across an episodic story about censorship and control.
The War Times Journal
Free online miniature rules for commanding corps and armies in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Regimental and brigade assaults combine volley fire, melee, and unit reactions, with separate command, maneuver, artillery, skirmishing, and panic rules. WTJ supplies combat charts, troop lists, leader ratings, and historical orders of battle, and also offers Republique 5.0 as a beta edition.
1972 · Avalon Hill
Individual aircraft fight for position in First World War dogfights, with speed, altitude, ammunition, and damage tracked alongside movement on the hex map. The attraction is the tactical problem of lining up a shot while staying out of the enemy's sights. Its record keeping and older movement conventions demand more patience than many modern aerial games.
1974 · Avalon Hill
The European war is fought through national economies, production, and land, air, and naval campaigns. Choosing where to spend a country's resources matters as much as the next attack. This is the original Avalon Hill game, distinct from Advanced Third Reich and A World at War. A substantial strategic undertaking for players willing to learn its detailed procedures.
Chaosium
Police investigators handle magical incidents in Ben Aaronovitch’s fictional London. Procedure, investigation, and the relationship between ordinary policing and supernatural threats form the campaign’s core.
Osprey Games
Players build small crews with individual traits and equipment rather than large armies. Missions and an activation system support clashes between bounty hunters, pirates, traders, and other spacefaring characters.
2013 · Osprey Games
Small groups of warriors fight in feudal Japan, with individual combat choices giving encounters their character. A skirmish option for samurai, soldiers, and other fighters rather than massed armies.
Magpie Games
Animal vagabonds travel through a woodland divided by competing factions. Powered by the Apocalypse rules turn jobs, loyalties, and local conflicts into adventures; this is a standalone roleplaying game distinct from the Root board game.
1978 · Chaosium
Skill-based play and a richly imagined mythic world distinguish it from class-and-level fantasy.
2011 · Gripping Beast / Studio Tomahawk
Warband battles shaped by faction-specific battle boards, keeping small forces tactically distinct.
GMT Games
The Allied Salerno landings and German counterattacks become a compact operational contest. Building a viable beachhead is as important as winning the next local engagement.
2023 · Leyline Press
Salvager pilots cross a corporate-dominated wasteland in scrap-built mechs, recovering parts to sustain their mobile Union Crawler community. A variable d20 system supports exploration, mech and pilot customization, salvage, crafting and encounters with raiders, mutants, bio-titans and corporate forces.
Evil Hat Productions
A spaceship crew takes risky jobs among rival factions in a troubled sector. Forged in the Dark mechanics connect action, stress, downtime, and ship development across campaigns of smugglers, bounty hunters, or rebels.
2024 · MicroProse Software / Triassic Games
NATO and Warsaw Pact forces contest Cold War sea lanes with ships, submarines and aircraft. Real-time scenarios emphasize sensors, advanced weapons, rules of engagement and command decisions, while a mission editor and workshop support extend the Early Access release.
1975 · Richard R. Sartore / SEEKRIEG
A specialist naval system that grew through several editions; the 1981 fourth edition covers the age of the battleship in depth.
GMT Games
A block game about the campaign that decided control of Japan in 1600. Hidden forces and loyalty cards make concentration and political reliability central to command.
2025 · GMT Games
Eastern Roman and Seljuk forces campaign across Anatolia before Manzikert. Medieval logistics, mounted raids, stronghold defenses and uncertain allied loyalties shape asymmetric objectives in the fifth Levy & Campaign volume.
2016 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Turn-based tactical battles portray warfare in Japan and neighboring regions. Army composition, troop roles, and morale provide an alternative setting for players familiar with European pike-and-shot games.
2019 · Great Escape Games
Fast-play rules recreate a hypothetical NATO–Warsaw Pact conflict with armored formations, infantry and supporting weapons in any miniature scale. An action-and-reaction activation system and tactical-advantage cards keep commanders making decisions throughout large and multiplayer battles.
2020 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A military 4X game combines planetary exploration, economic development, leaders, and detailed logistics. Building a functioning state is inseparable from equipping and supplying the forces sent to expand it.
2014 · Paradox Interactive
A team of mercenary operatives navigates a cyberpunk Berlin where magic and technology coexist. Turn-based tactical encounters accompany dialogue, investigation, and decisions about the crew’s loyalties.
Battleward shelf
A characterful way to fight smaller black-powder engagements where leaders and command friction do real work. It suits players who want the incidents around a battle as much as the final tally.
1991 · MicroProse
Build a civilization across eras, balancing expansion, research, diplomacy, and war.
2022 · GMT Games
A solitaire player commands an RAF squadron intercepting German daylight raids over southeast England in 1940. Individual aircraft, card-assisted dogfights and persistent pilot rosters support single patrols or longer squadron campaigns.
Original Battleward commentary
"Smooth & Rifled" by Dadi & Piombo is a set of wargame rules focusing on skirmishes during the colonial era (although with the supplements any period from 1700 to 1900 can be gamed), using 15, 20 or 28mm miniatures (even 40mm and 54mm figures),…
Original Battleward commentary
Don't let the name of the game throw you off, "Snappy Nappy" is a known for its straightforward, accessible rules and operational-level gameplay, capturing the essence of Napoleonic warfare. A lot of the gamers I asked commended its clarity, ease…
GMT Games
Explore a hidden map, develop technology, and commit fleets to expansion and war. Economic preparation and uncertainty about enemy forces matter as much as the eventual space battles.
Original Battleward commentary
"Space Opera" presents a science fiction role-playing game that intertwines complexity with depth, demanding a significant investment from its players. Its intricate mechanics and extensive use of charts and tables may pose a barrier to immersion…
GMT Games
Commercial enterprises explore and develop space across three eras, progressing from nearby planets to interstellar colonies. Card play supports travel, research, infrastructure, and profitable production, with a complete solitaire option.
GMT Games
Tactical battles pit Republican Roman armies against their ancient opponents. The Great Battles of History system gives command, formation, and troop differences detailed battlefield roles.
1977 · Avalon Hill
Avalon Hill's 1977 Squad Leader is a classic board game that offers a rich, tactical warfare experience set in World War II. Renowned for its depth and strategic complexity, the game challenges players to manage infantry squads and armored units…
GMT Games
An operational treatment of the German 1942 summer offensive in southern Russia. The campaign asks how much territory can be taken and held with finite forces and increasingly stretched support.
1979 · Task Force Games · original pocket edition
Energy allocation, impulse movement, shields, and system damage make commanding a ship a demanding tactical problem. This retrospective distinguishes the original pocket game from the much larger system that followed.
Modiphius Entertainment
A Starfleet crew investigates unfamiliar worlds and balances scientific discovery with diplomatic and ethical decisions. The second edition uses 2d20 rules for personnel, starships, and the collaborative work of a bridge crew.
Battleward shelf
A miniature battle game that puts recognizable Star Wars forces on the table. Its draw is the combination of tactical play and the pleasure of building an army from that universe.
2017 · Paizo
A standalone spacefaring RPG that brought Pathfinder-style adventure to starships and alien worlds.
1979 · Task Force Games · original pocket edition
Ships are represented by compact rows of system letters, tying construction and damage tracking to fleet combat. The original tactical game is an appealing design study; later strategic expansions and editions need separate assessments.
1974 · SPI
Interstellar forces maneuver through three-dimensional space using a speculative system of star travel and conflict. Spatial thinking and anticipating enemy movement are central to its identity. Redmond Simonsen's design offers a distinctive alternative to treating space fleets like battleships on a flat ocean; the unusual movement concepts also make the learning curve part of the commitment.
2021 · Osprey Games
A captain and first mate lead a small crew through dangerous salvage and mission encounters. Campaign advancement and flexible character choices suit collections drawn from several science-fiction miniature ranges.
Original Battleward commentary
"Stars n Bars" is a regimental-level game for the American Civil War, heavily inspired by the EMPIRE 3rd edition Napoleonic miniatures rules. It emphasizes the importance of command and control and balances between tactical and grand tactical…
1976 · Flying Buffalo · original postal game
Players submit orders and pursue space empires with differing objectives. Artifact collecting and destruction can reward different players, creating reasons for negotiation and alliances. A postal strategy experience rather than a conventional board game.
2019 · Eugen Systems
Large-scale real-time tactical battles accompany an operational campaign system set during the 1944 fighting on the Eastern Front. Reconnaissance, artillery, armor, and infantry require coordinated employment.
1995 · SSI
Steel Panthers has experienced several transformations since its original release. Initially developed by Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors for Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI), the game was launched in 1995 under the title "Steel Panthers".…
2000 · Matrix Games
A substantial Matrix Games continuation of the SSI lineage, with tactical scenarios and mega-campaigns.
1975 · Metagaming Concepts · original edition
Exploration, colonies, industry, research, and fleets form one strategic contest. The early Metagaming game rewards long-range planning and an interest in the economy behind a war; bookkeeping and a gradual buildup require patience. Initial publication is variously dated 1974 or 1975.
2016 · Paradox Interactive
Explore a galaxy, develop colonies, and negotiate or fight with other spacefaring civilizations. Research, fleet design, and encounters with unfamiliar societies support a wide range of empire-building approaches.
GMT Games
Command a German Fw 190 fighter squadron intercepting American B-24 formations in a solitaire campaign. Pilot selection, approach paths, and aircraft equipment affect the risks of penetrating a bomber formation.
2016 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A European-theater strategic game brings campaigns, diplomacy, research, and production into one turn-based system. The scale favors planning a war over managing individual tactical engagements.
2024 · Matrix Games
A turn-based Pacific campaign offering a more approachable path into theater-wide command.
2018 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
The Second World War is fought across a global strategic map. Production and diplomacy accompany land, sea, and air operations, with decisions in one theater competing for resources needed elsewhere.
2022 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
Union and Confederate campaigns connect land warfare to naval operations, diplomacy, and national resources. A strategic alternative to games focused on one Civil War battlefield.
2019 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A turn-based strategic campaign connects the major fronts of the First World War. Diplomacy, research, production, and national resources frame the decisions about where armies should fight.
1981 · Game Designers’ Workshop
Ground combat for 15mm Traveller forces, including vehicle design and a serious treatment of future combined arms.
GMT Games
Alexander's generals vie for legitimacy and territory after his death in this multiplayer card-driven game. Campaigning must be balanced against the political struggle over the royal family and succession; the linked cover is GMT's third edition.
GMT Games
Rome, the Gauls, Greek cities, and other Italian powers contend for ancient Italy using faction-specific strategy cards. Different abilities and shifting alliances connect military campaigns to political survival.
Free League Publishing
Adventurers explore the forest of Davokar and the conflicts surrounding its ancient secrets. Corruption and the consequences of disturbing the past give the setting a darker tone than heroic treasure hunting.
Free League Publishing
Children investigate strange technologies and mysteries in an alternate 1980s. Everyday relationships and the extraordinary world around the Loop matter more than combat prowess.
GMT Games
Spaceships maneuver and fight with ship information presented on the counters. Energy management and positioning make this a tactical fleet game rather than a galactic empire simulator.
2015 · Battlefront Miniatures
A hypothetical late-Cold-War land fight in the Flames of War family, built for tanks, helicopters and infantry.
2026 · Hooded Horse / Pavonis Interactive
An alien arrival divides humanity among rival ideological factions. Players influence nations, direct research and industry, expand into space and design fleets for tactical combat while competing for control of Earth and the wider Solar System.
1976 · SPI
Award winning "Terrible Swift Sword" (TSS) by SPI is highly regarded in the wargaming community for its detailed simulation of the Battle of Gettysburg. It's celebrated for its depth and complexity, offering an immersive experience of one of the…
1985 · Electronic Arts
A party-based dungeon crawl whose mapping and combat made it a fixture of early home-computer RPGs.
2025 · GMT Games
Two sides contest whether Czechoslovakia should defend its independence or concede the Sudetenland during the 1938 crisis. Cards and influence model domestic resolve, alliance pressure, mobilization and Hitler's escalating demands in a compact political struggle.
2023 · GMT Games
Four connected historical counterinsurgency games examine the final decades of British imperial rule. Each emphasizes the political and military pressures facing governments and insurgent movements.
1978 · SPI
Richard Berg's enormous desert campaign joins land and air operations to exceptionally detailed supply and transport requirements. Moving an army is inseparable from keeping it fed, fueled, and equipped. Its scope is remarkable, but so are its demands on table space, organization, and time. This is a project for a committed group, not a casual evening's contest.
2018 · GMT Games
The North African campaign runs from Operation Compass through El Alamein as British Commonwealth and Axis forces maneuver across a broad desert front. Chit-pull activations create uncertainty while allowing the tempo of retreats, pursuits and counteroffensives to emerge.
2021 · GMT Games
The Normandy campaign runs from the D-Day landings through the closing of the Falaise pocket. Chit-pull activations, weather, Allied air and naval support, and German reactions shape a compact operational campaign.
2013 · GMT Games
The full German-Soviet war is presented at operational scale from Barbarossa to Berlin. A chit-pull activation system creates uncertainty while shorter scenarios cover major campaigns including Case Blue, Kursk and the destruction of Army Group Center.
Osprey Games
Small bands hunt dangerous horrors in a dying science-fiction world. Encounters place rival hunters and a monstrous threat on the same battlefield, creating competing objectives and uncertain alliances.
2002 · Bethesda Softworks
Create an adventurer and explore Vvardenfell's rival houses, guilds, and religious traditions as an ancient threat returns. Skills, spells, and faction loyalties shape the journey; the linked Game of the Year release also contains Tribunal and Bloodmoon.
2006 · Bethesda Softworks / 2K Games
Travel across Cyrodiil as portals to the realm of Oblivion threaten the Empire. Guild storylines, dungeons, and character skills support exploration alongside the central crisis; the linked classic Game of the Year release includes Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles.
2014 · Bethesda Softworks
Explore Tamriel in a shared online world with character quests, crafting, and stories across its provinces. Group dungeons, trials, and alliance warfare offer cooperative and competitive adventures alongside solo questing.
2011 · Bethesda Softworks
Explore Skyrim as the Dragonborn, choosing skills, equipment, and alliances while dragons return to the province. Dungeons, guild quests, and a civil war provide paths through an open world beyond the main story.
Free League Publishing
Travelers journey through an alternate America shaped by strange technology and social collapse. Relationships, encounters, and the mystery of the surrounding world give the road trip its campaign structure.
GMT Games
Tactical scenarios portray Alexander’s battles through the Great Battles of History system. Leadership, formations, and the differing roles of infantry and cavalry drive the battlefield decisions.
GMT Games
A tactical collection covering battles associated with Caesar. Command and troop capabilities matter within the Great Battles of History system; this is a battle game rather than a Roman empire-management game.
Original Battleward commentary
The Great War: Western Front combines a campaign on the Western Front with real-time battlefield command. Battleward’s original listing highlighted its First World War setting and the opportunity to direct either side. It was a brief introduction…
Battleward shelf
A small cooperative card game about enduring the war together, with friendship doing more work than battlefield tactics. It approaches its subject through human strain rather than operational history.
Battleward shelf
An operational treatment of the first year, with the momentum of invasion, intervention and counterattack driving the campaign. It demands time and attention; it is not a light introduction to the conflict.
2019 · GMT Games
Platoon- and company-level actions after the Normandy landings are driven by initiative and an action-reaction cycle. Simultaneous maneuver, fire and enemy response emphasize small-unit behavior rather than a conventional sequence of isolated moves.
2016 · Osprey Games
Large skirmishes cover nineteenth-century colonial conflicts, with leadership and troop behavior shaping activation. The subject suits scenario-driven games with different force types and uneven battlefield situations.
2002 · GMT Games
Europe-wide card-driven strategy in which Napoleon’s campaigns, coalition politics, neutral powers, and the timing of peace all matter.
Battleward shelf
A Middle-earth game built around journeys, fellowship and the shadow hanging over them. It is most attractive when the group wants that particular tone, rather than generic fantasy with familiar names pasted on.
2017 · Matrix Games / Slitherine
A broad scenario-based operational system supports conflicts across different periods. Its attraction is the variety of campaigns within one engine, with movement, supply, and formation behavior carrying the simulation.
2017 · Osprey Games
Companies of infantry and cavalry fight raids and skirmishes in the pike-and-shot era. An officer’s campaign career adds continuity between games without turning every action into a full army battle.
Battleward shelf
A sweeping Eastern Front contest that makes reserves, weather, and timing matter without the bookkeeping of a monster game. It is broad-stroke history, but the strategic pressure is real.
2020 · Fort Circle Games
Two players direct the United States and Tripolitania through the First Barbary War. Card-driven events connect naval movement, piracy, diplomacy, land operations and battles in a low-complexity design that also includes solitaire rules.
2021 · Osprey Games
Small Napoleonic-era teams encounter monsters and supernatural threats. Historical uniforms supply the setting, but the premise is horror adventure rather than a simulation of conventional brigade warfare.
Helmgast
Resourceful friends embark on globe-trotting adventures in an alternate 1960s inspired by Franco-Belgian comics. Percentile mechanics and story points support investigation, chases, and adventurous complications rather than military campaigns.
GMT Games
The Union and Confederacy contest the entire war through seasonal turns and repeated action phases. Armies, leadership, rail movement, forts, blockades, and naval operations make maneuver and sustaining a national strategy more important than recreating individual battles.
Free League Publishing
Survivors contend with the dead and with the choices of other people. Community needs, scarce resources, and relationships give the campaign stakes beyond surviving the next attack.
Evil Hat Productions
Adventurers combine dramatic swordplay with romance, relationships, and emotional complications. Powered by the Apocalypse playbooks support a range of settings, using conflict to develop connections as well as resolve dangerous situations.
GMT Games
Each player manages a team of stock cars rather than a single racer. Card-driven movement can pull several cars along together, while vehicle wear, pit stops, and race events complicate the team's scoring strategy.
Dan Verssen Games
A solitaire campaign game puts the player in command of United States close-air-support pilots and aircraft. Squadron planning, pilot stress, weapons allocation and tactical missions against armor, air defenses and other battlefield targets connect eight campaigns with variable operational situations.
2004 · Days of Wonder
Easy to teach and tense to finish, with route cards turning a simple map into a contested network.
GMT Games
Rival Roman dynasties compete during the third-century crisis through military, senatorial, and popular influence. Deck building connects control of provinces and armies to the actions available on later turns.
2014 · To the Strongest!
"To the Strongest! Ancient & Medieval Rules" is a simplified set for ancient and medieval tabletop wargaming that allows battles to be fought and concluded in less than two hours. It supports both small and large-scale engagements, playable with…
2006 · SEGA / Feral Interactive (Mac) / Feral Interactive (Linux)
Medieval kingdoms compete through conquest, diplomacy, religion, and settlement development. Real-time battles resolve the clashes produced by the turn-based campaign.
2010 · SEGA / Feral Interactive (Mac)
Napoleonic campaigns combine turn-based strategic planning with real-time land and naval battles. Armies, diplomacy, and the demands of campaigning provide the context for tactical engagements.
2013 · SEGA / Feral Interactive
A turn-based campaign of ancient expansion leads into real-time battles between large armies. Diplomacy, provincial administration, and army composition connect battlefield decisions to a broader Mediterranean struggle.
2011 · SEGA
Lead a Japanese clan through the struggle to unify the country, managing provinces and rivals before commanding battles. The campaign places samurai warfare within political and economic competition.
1971 · Guidon Games
Chart-rich armor combat from the early micro-armor era, with attention to individual vehicles and weapons.
1977 · Game Designers’ Workshop
Character careers, starships, trade, and countless worlds make the setting as much a toolkit as a game.
GMT Games
Five Napoleonic battles are presented in a shared battle system, including Austerlitz and Aspern-Essling. Players maneuver formations and resolve combat in scenarios built around each battle's situation.
GMT Games
Three blocs pursue European supremacy between 1935 and 1945 through diplomacy, industry, technology, and military expansion. Concealed block armies encourage uncertainty, and economic or technological success can offer a route to victory alongside conquest.
1975 · Flying Buffalo
Ken St. Andre’s early fantasy system favors accessible procedures, six-sided dice, and abstract combat. Flying Buffalo’s solo adventures offer a way to begin without assembling a group. Later editions are distinguished from the early game.
2005 · GMT Games
Card-driven global influence in which playing an event can advance your opponent’s plans.
Free League Publishing
Soldiers and survivors navigate a Europe devastated by a fictional World War III. Travel, supplies, encounters, and choices about helping others form a military survival campaign, not a historical account of an actual war.
GMT Games
The Soviet summer offensive in Ukraine becomes an operational contest of breakthroughs and counterattacks. Players must judge where to commit reserves as the front shifts.
2023 · Game-Labs
Design warships and command fleets during the transition from early ironclads to twentieth-century naval warfare. Hull, armor, weapons, and propulsion choices shape the ships available for tactical battles.
2017 · Game-Labs
Build an army and lead it through a campaign of American Civil War battles. Recruitment, equipment, and the preservation of experienced formations connect one engagement to the next.
2014 · Game-Labs
Command Union or Confederate forces across the Gettysburg battlefield in a real-time tactical game. Terrain, formation positioning, and the condition of units matter as the battle develops.
GMT Games
Axis, Western Allied, and Soviet factions conduct the European war at strategic scale. Army movement and combat share an activation system, while economics and diplomacy shape the forces available.
2024 · Osprey Games
Corporate security forces and a mining collective fight for control of Callisto's resources with infantry, industrial vehicles and reawakened mechs. This standalone Undaunted design adapts deck-building and battlefield control to science fiction, with linked scenarios and solo, two-player and four-player modes.
2022 · Osprey Games
A two-player tactical campaign follows opposing forces fighting through Stalingrad. Casualties, battle damage and scenario outcomes carry forward, giving individual actions longer-term consequences across the campaign.
2011 · 2x2 Games / Matrix Games
A clean operational system where supply lines determine whether an offensive can survive.
2019 · 2x2 Games
A turn-based operational game of the Western Allies emphasizes headquarters, supply, and the timing of offensives. Campaign choices and the development of command capabilities connect successive scenarios.
1981 · SPI
"Universe," developed by SPI, is a noteworthy addition to the science fiction RPG genre, offering a system that balances simplicity with depth. Its character creation and world-building mechanics help engulf players into a richly imagined cosmos,…
Magpie Games
Vampires, wizards, mortals, and other factions bargain for power in a contemporary city. The second edition uses debts, relationships, and corruption to connect personal drama with the struggle for influence.
Free League Publishing
Investigators encounter supernatural beings drawn from Nordic folklore. Understanding a creature and its history can matter more than fighting it, making investigation central to resolving the mystery.
1991 · White Wolf
A modern gothic game that put character relationships and identity at the center of play.
2020 · GMT Games
The leaders of France, Britain, the United States and Italy bargain over the issues that will shape the postwar settlement. Influence, domestic expectations, demobilization and regional unrest force each delegation to balance national aims against a workable treaty.
2022 · Paradox Interactive
Industry, trade, social groups, and political reform shape a state during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Military power depends on the economy and domestic pressures behind it.
1977 · Avalon Hill
"Victory in the Pacific" is a classic board game designed by Richard Hamblen and published by Avalon Hill in 1977. It's a strategic World War II naval wargame that focuses on the conflict between the United States and Japan in the Pacific…
2023 · GMT Games
The Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Kingdom and Vijayanagara Empire contest the Deccan while Mongol incursions threaten the north. Asymmetric commands, decrees, alliances and building projects portray a century of rebellion and state formation for one to three players.
GMT Games
Six powers compete in the later sixteenth century through war, diplomacy, religion, and overseas expansion. A broad multiplayer design whose political negotiations are part of the game’s substance.
1994 · Game Designers’ Workshop
Large battles from the musket era on practical tables, with stands representing substantial units.
2019 · Ostfront Publishing
Naval miniature rules for small to medium fleet actions. Mandatory wind-dependent sailing precedes alternating ship activations; crew checks determine available orders. Review examines the publisher sample and broad historical coverage.
1978 · SPI
A speculative struggle for Antarctic energy resources pits small forces against distance, isolation, and a hostile environment. An optional scenario introduces a subterranean civilization. The unusual setting is its strongest attraction: this imagines a future conflict rather than recreating a historical war. Players interested in logistical problems and unconventional battlefields will find a distinctive premise here.
1978 · SPI
A theater-spanning monster game with the Pacific war laid across multiple maps.
2009 · Matrix Games
A dense Pacific theater simulation with an exceptional level of operational and logistical detail.
Battleward shelf
An enormous operational and strategic undertaking covering the full Pacific war. The detail and reach are the appeal; the maps, counters, and time commitment are serious obstacles to casual play.
2022 · Firelock Games
Players portray soldiers, tank crews, war correspondents or resistance fighters during the campaign in France from D-Day onward. Starter and advanced rules support personal stories of courage and survival within a broader military campaign rather than treating the war as a sequence of detached battles.
2014 · Eugen Systems
A real-time combined-arms game imagines Cold War conflict in Asia between 1975 and 1991. Ground units, aircraft, and naval forces form decks that define the force available in battle.
1987 · Games Workshop
The first edition of the tabletop system that developed into the dominant science-fiction miniature game.
Battleward shelf
A spectacular setting for large painted armies and decisive clashes. The collecting and painting commitment is part of the attraction for some players and the barrier for others.
Original Battleward commentary
"Warhammer Ancient Battles," (WAB) often referred to as "Warhammer Ancients," is a historical miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop's publishing division. It utilizes a variant of the rules used in the fantasy game Warhammer Fantasy…
1983 · Games Workshop
Mass fantasy battles built around armies, heroes and a setting that became a giant in the miniature hobby.
2024 · Games Workshop
A return to ranked fantasy armies and the Warhammer world, with a contemporary edition and model line.
2024 · Eugen Systems
NATO and Warsaw Pact formations fight a fictional late-Cold-War conflict in real-time tactical battles. Division-based forces and operational campaigns place battlefield encounters within a wider European war.
Osprey Games
Roman armies and their opponents fight battles from the Samnite Wars through the conquest of Gaul. Army lists reflect changes in Republican warfare and include enemies such as Carthage and the Gallic peoples.
GMT Games
A card-driven campaign of the American Revolution combines army movement with political control. The struggle extends beyond battlefield victories to maintaining a viable rebellion across the colonies.
Original Battleward commentary
Westfront offers a strategic gaming experience set in World War I, catering to company to battalion-level engagements with miniatures ranging from 1/72 to 10mm scale. While emphasizing simplicity, the game incorporates various elements such as…
TooFatLardies
Each player commands one or more tanks in small World War II engagements. Command dice limit the actions available to a crew, so acquiring a target and completing the shot depend on more than a weapon rating.
Osprey Games
Investigators confront supernatural threats through linked tabletop encounters. Solo and cooperative play combine fighting with the discovery of clues and the development of a wider mystery.
GMT Games
British and French forces campaign across North America during the French and Indian War. Strategy cards drive raids, alliances with Native nations, fort construction, and larger military operations.
2012 · Ares Games
"Wings of Glory, World War I" is a dynamic tabletop game that allows players to simulate aerial combat during WWI using beautifully detailed miniature aircraft and the use of visually appealing maneuver cards. This dice-less game stands out for…
2012 · Ares Games
Players plan aircraft maneuvers with cards, then move miniature planes and resolve aerial combat. The World War II system models differing aircraft speeds and firepower; the pictured Battle of Britain Starter Set supplies a complete entry point with aircraft, maneuver decks, and playing accessories.
2019 · Stonemaier Games
Bird habitats and card combinations create a gentle-looking but thoughtful engine-building game.
1978 · Metagaming Concepts
Intelligence and magic expand the physical contest established in Melee. Character construction and spell resources give the duels their interest. Reviewed alongside Melee, with the later role-playing framework distinguished from these original combat games.
Lock 'n Load Publishing
NATO and Warsaw Pact formations fight a hypothetical 1985 campaign in West Germany. Platoon-level counters, formation cards and opposed combat rolls keep both players involved as mechanized forces contest the Fulda Gap across linked scenarios.
2012 · 2K Games
Squad tactics and base management give every soldier’s survival strategic weight.
2014 · Goldhawk Interactive
Manage a multinational defense effort against an alien invasion in an alternate 1979. Research, bases, aircraft interception, and turn-based ground missions form interlocking parts of the campaign.
2022 · Osprey Games
A setting-independent large-skirmish system supports science fiction, weird war, and post-apocalyptic forces. Its unit options make it useful for assembling armies from an existing collection of figures.
2020 · Osprey Games
Scavenger crews venture into an anomalous exclusion zone for salvage. Hostile encounters and campaign development support small forces and terrain-heavy games with a survival-horror atmosphere.
This is a growing catalog. Every title currently listed on Battleward appears here; new entries will join this search as they are added.