Best War Board Games of 2024 – Review and Comparison

The war game genre has evolved considerably over the years and with hundreds of options available on the market, picking the best war board game is not an easy feat. In today’s war board games there is more effort to bring forth the strategy and a lot more detailed gameplay that helps to bring the struggle for domination to life.

Wargaming as a hobby got a big kick in the ‘70s and ‘80 with games like Axis and Allies and Risk where it brought this genre to a very large market. Today the war game market is a lot smaller but there is a lot more variety within this genre, and the quality of games now available has risen considerably.

Wargames would be considered a conflict simulation model at its heart, oftentimes basing this conflict on historical events but can also be entirely fictional.

There are three levels or types of these board games: strategic, operational, or tactical. Strategic games try to recreate an entire war on a large scale and add specific resources or politics to the game. Operational games would be slightly smaller and may cover a smaller war or a specific campaign within a large war. Tactical games cover a single battle or a series of smaller battles and use smaller-scale units.

In this article, we take a look at 10 of what we consider to be the best war board games out there. These games have a certain level of strategy needed as well as some cunning and competitiveness to ensure a victory over your opponent.

Top 10 Best War Board Games – Quick Comparison

1. Best World War 2 – Axis & Allies Europe 1940

It can also be combined with Axis & Allies Pacific 1940 (sold separately) to expand the world war 2 stage to a global scale. The gaming mechanics, quality components and strategic gameplay has earned it a spot in our top 10 strategy board games shootout.

One of the greatest things about this game is the board that is included. The board measures thirty-five inches wide by thirty-two inches high, so it is an impressive board to play on. When combined with A&A Pacific 1940, you get a complete board that is five feet across.

There are six hundred and ten individual pieces that represent infantry, armor, bombers, and naval vessels. In addition, you will find eighty chips, one hundred fifty-five various markers for your map, six dice, and five storage boxes to keep all your parts in safety when storing your game.

Gameplay

The game is played with the same mechanics as previous Axis & Allies games so if you have played any previous versions you will find the gameplay familiar. It does, however, introduce new items and cards that are relatively easy to grasp.

Each round of the game has global powers taking turns according to a predefined order. A turn consists of the following phases:

• Spend your points – each power gets a certain amount of points at the beginning of their turn. These points can be spent on more infantry or repairing structures. These points must be used up at the beginning of the round
• Movement – mobilize your units on the map to get that strategic placement. Once combat is completed, then you would declare your non-combat moves
• New unit placement – place any of your purchased units from the beginning of the turn on the board and count your points in preparation for the next turn

Combat is resolved using dice rolls. Essentially the player with the higher dice roll wins the combat, and this is continued until either all units of one player gets defeated or the attacking player calls a retreat.

Axis & Allies is one of the most widely played second world war board games of all time, and many people would have played one version or another in their lifetime. The Europe 1940 edition is a special edition with the ability to play additional countries such as France or Italy, but the core of the game is as great as the original game was intended to be. It is a very long game, so if you have the time and you have the players, it is worth it, even just for the nostalgic sense of it all.

2. Best Cold War – Twilight Struggle

Playing the game can be lengthy and may take up to three hours if you are not experienced with the game, but as you get more familiar with Twilight Struggle, game sessions can take less than an hour.

Inside the box, you get a board game map of the world with full-color art by Mark Simonitch. The game board measures twenty-two by thirty-four inches and represents countries that were around at the time of the Cold War.

Countries are represented by small rectangles that have the countries flag, name, and a number which represents how many influence markers can be used in that country. There are also several tracks on the board related to gameplay such as turn and action round tracks, military action track, and the Defcon track which is used to keep track of how close you are to nuclear war.

There are no plastic game pieces included, yet you get two hundred and sixty small full-color game counters that are used to spread influence across the world by placing them on specific countries as directed throughout gameplay.

One hundred and ten full-color game cards are inside the box, separated into three-deck eras. You get early war, mid-war and late war decks that you include in the game as you play depending on what round you are on. Cards will have a specific event on each of them and can be used to help spread influence or other specific operations depending on that card’s Operations Points.

The game comes with two six-sided dice for events that require a dice roll, a large rule book, and two-player aid cards. The cards are helpful to keep games on track by having easy to follow, basic game directions.

Gameplay

The gameplay itself is quite straightforward. Turns start with dealing each player a number of cards. One more card is needed to raise the Defcon by one and resetting the military actions to zero.

Players select a card from their hand to play as their headline event. The event happens, and the results are applied to the board and each player as necessary. Then players take turns paying a card at a time and following the events or actions on the cards as described. Some of the things may include placing control markers, making a coup or taking military action.

It continues in this manner until all required cards come into play. The turn record marker on the board is moved up at the end of each turn. Once you hit turn four, you shuffle the mid-war cards into the deck and then at turn eight the late-war cards are then also shuffled into the deck. Once you finish turn ten, all scoring is tallied on all the regions, and then a winner is declared.

There are alternative ways of winning before the end of turn ten to make the game even more exciting. You can win by having control of Europe when the Europe Scoring card comes into play. If either of the players triggers a nuclear war by reaching Defcon 1 then the opposing player wins, and if either player reaches 20 victory points at any time, that player wins the game.

The board game has been in Boardgamegeek’s top ten games almost since its release in 2005. This Cold War board game is not for everyone, and if you are looking for a quick game night for two then this is not the best choice. Alternatively, if you want a deeply strategic war experience with an intriguing Cold War theme, Twilight Struggle is the best war board game for the job. We have previously reviewed the game as part of our two-player board game shootout and it made our best two player board games top 10.

3. Best Artwork – Inis

As the primary goal of the game is to become Ireland’s high king, it means the strategy is not always based on conquering as many opponents as possible as this can lead to less unity and thereby making it more difficult to create a unified kingdom.

The unique part of Inis is seventeen unique territory tiles that are placed on the table each turn. The tiles represent jagged puzzle pieces and are covered in amazing artwork. Each piece connects nicely with adjacent pieces and helps to ensure the game board is different every time you play.

A total of forty-eight clan figures come with the game in four different colors; green, orange, white, and blue. Twenty miniature buildings are included with ten of them being citadels and ten being sanctuaries.

There are four different types of cards that come with the game; action cards, advantage cards, epic tale cards, and four different clan reference cards. There are also fifteen different tokens or markers that are used throughout the game.

Game Play

Inis comes with a rulebook with only eleven pages which is quite small for a strategy war game.

The gameplay is pretty straightfoward where each turn consists of two primary phases, the assembly phase, and the season phase. The assembly phase is routine housekeeping phase that keeps the island of Inis in shape. The season phase is where each player takes actions that get him/her a step closer to victory.

Assembly Phase

The assembly phase consists of the following actions:

• Assign the new Brenn, the player who controls the capital city for one round
• Check if any victory conditions are met
• Take Advantage Cards based on the territories players occupy<
• Determine clockwise or counterclockwise play order by flipping the crow token
• Deal action cards depending on specific conditions that are explained in the rulebook
• Draft cards. Choose one card and pass the rest to the player on your left.

Season Phase

Each player has three choices to choose from during the turn – play a card, pass, or take a pretender token.

• Playing a card. This is the heart of gameplay for Inis. Cards let you explore new territories, start clashes with other players or provide bonuses.
• Pass. You can be forced to pass if you no longer have any cards in hand, but you can also choose to pass if you feel it will work for this particular turn strategically.
• Taking a pretender token. You can’t take a token unless you meet one of the win conditions. Taking a token would show other players that you want to finish the game so be ready for a clash or two.

Clashing in Inis is a form of combat which is instigated by playing certain cards. You can choose not to fight if a clash is brought up. At times it is safer not to be involved in these fights and resort to diplomatic ways of resolving conflicts.

All in all, Inis has just about everything you want from a quick and easy to learn war board game. The randomness of the game tiles means you have a different map every time you play. The fact that all the cards are used in each round means you can learn what can be played each round and let you formulate more complex strategies. This is a fun game that offers a unique experience unlike any other war board game out there.

4. Best Negotiation & Bluffing – Rising Sun

Rising Sun comes in a big box with a lot of stuff. There is your main game board with each territory marked out clearly and various track bars around the map to monitor the different events happening throughout the game.

There are fifty-three breathtaking miniatures in each box with some of the most detailed sculpts in board gaming today. Each clan is molded in different colors, and the golds are all done in grey, so there is no mistaking who is where on the game board.

Seventy-two tokens represent everything from strongholds, ships, clans, and counters. There are also thirty coins that get used by each clan in various events throughout the game.

Five clan screens are included so you can do certain events behind the screen and away from the eyes of your opponents. Nine mandate cards are also needed to round off all the parts needed for play.

Game Play

Each game consists of three seasons representing rounds. Each season is broken up into four phases, each with a very specific set of goals.

The first phase is mainly about the setup. You get to draw cards, as well as receive income and hostages from the previous season.

The second phase is where players form alliances. There are many reasons why you want to form alliances as they can increase your chances for bonuses in the next phase.

The third phase is the political phase where you use a stack of different tiles that have various activities affecting all the players. The top 4 tiles are removed from the stack and turned face up. One tile is chosen by the active player, and the remaining three are returned to the stack. The tile is then activated, and players follow the instructions on the tile.

The final phase is the war phase where players battle for contested territories. Each player uses their war advantage board and chooses the advantages they want using coins. Once both players have made their choices, their war board is revealed, and the battle is resolved.

Rising Sun is a great thematic war board game that can last up to two hours in length. The immensely successful Kickstarter campaign and positive reviews from major board gaming sites is a result of a carefully crafted gameplay that is both engaging and addictive.

5. Best Thematic Storytelling – War of the Ring

War of the Ring comes with a large game board with a map of Middle-earth and all of the key strategic locations.

Two hundred and four plastic miniatures are included to represent different armies and characters from the novels.

One hundred and ten event cards that depict various events from the box are needed for, and sixteen action dice coupled with five combat dice are used in conjunction with these cards. Seventy-six cardboard counters are used to keep track of various things throughout the game.

Gameplay

The objectives of the game follow the books as closely as possible. The story goes that the shadow is attempting to corrupt the ring-bearer and obtain the ring or conquer all of the Free People’s nations. For the Free People, there are two ways to emerge victorious. They either need to sneak into Mount Doom and destroying the One Ring or face Shadow Armies in a direct confrontation. Despite the second option being attainable, it is a lot harder to achieve unless you are an experienced War of The Ring player.

While the objectives mimic the books quite nicely, the way you achieve them can be different. The fellowship also begins as it does in the books but you get to decide where and when it makes sense to split the party.

As the game progresses, events unfold by using the included cards. Players draw cards and then play them by using the action dice. Event cards represent all the things that have happened in the books such as the Ents Awakening, Gollum arriving and much more.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan and are looking for something a lot more in-depth than your run of the mill game, War of the Ring would be a perfect fit. A battle game that has a strategic portion to it and has all your favorite parts of the books and movies is a perfect combination for several hours of gameplay.

6. Best Civil War – 1775: Rebellion

There is a good size board that includes all the original thirteen colonies.

Military units are represented by colored wooden cubes. White for American Militia, Red for British regulars, Blue for Continental Army, and yellow for loyalist militia. There are also purple and orange cubes to represent French allied forces and Allied Hessian factions.

Each faction has its own combat dice which can roll a hit, a flee, or a command decision during combat. Command decisions can be used to retreat to an adjacent location on the map.

Each faction comes with their own deck and decks include movement cards, event cards, and one truce cart. For each turn, players play a movement card and their choice of event cards.

There is one additional board, the Treaty of Paris board. This is a smaller board that has spaces on it for the faction treaty cards as they are played in the game.

Gameplay

There are eight rounds to the game and four turns in each round, one turn for each faction.

To start a round you draw one of the four colored dice and place it on the turn track on the game board. Continue to do this for all factions, and this will give you the order for the turns on each round. This means that every round can be different for who goes first and who goes last, leaving a lot of the strategy of the game also up to chance.

Each turn consists of 4 phases:

• Reinforcement phase – build your armies strength by adding additional cubes to the game board in various areas.
• Movement phase – gives you the opportunity to mobilize your units in appropriate directions in preparation for the next event.
• Battle phase – use dice rolls to determine how your forces fight and you follow the hit, flee or command decision choices on each dice roll.
• Draw Cards phase – bring your hand back to the original number of in hand cards.

The gameplay is quite straightforward and not overly complicated, so you are unlikely to find yourself reading a rulebook for any more than a couple of minutes. The game does have an age range of ten or above, so it does not get too complicated, but there is still a certain level of strategy needed to use the cards in hand for your movements.

After the eighth round, the game ends and the faction with most territories wins the game. Alternatively, the game can end any time after round three if two of the factions play their treaty cards.

It is the perfect light war board game for those who want to have some casual fun without complex rules or strategies to play. Also, anyone looking to step up from Risk series board games will find 1775: Rebellion extremely appealing.

7. Best War Betrayal – A Game of Thrones

The game board is a beautiful representation of Westeros separated into territories players can control. There are several tracks on the board that help players monitor the number of strongholds they control, supplies they produce, and influence hierarchy between players.

In addition, the board features a wildling track that represents bad events that happen to Westeros and affecting all players. When the wildling track reaches the end, then the wildlings attack and everyone needs to band together to fend them off.

One hundred and thirty-eight plastic units are included to represent footmen, knights, ships, and siege engines. The tokens look like they are made of marble. They are placed on the board and are moved around as your war for Westeros progresses.

A hundred and five cards are used for various events, to depict various well-known characters, and to give orders to your armies as they are needed.

A player screen is available for each of the six available houses and has information that is useful for each house printed on the inside, and two hundred and sixty-six tokens and overlays are used throughout the game as needed.

Gameplay

Each round of the game consists of three distinct phases – Westeros, Planning, and Action.

The Westeros phase represents special events that affect all players. This is the only time where you get together with other players to potentially fight common enemies, wildlings.

The Planning phase is where you issue orders to your armies in secret. This phase works around diplomacy, negotiation, and deduction.

The final phase is the Action Phase, at which point everyone’s orders are simultaneously revealed. Fierce battles can now occur, alliances crumble, and the fate of each player is decided.

Ten rounds are played, and at the end of the tenth round, castles and strongholds are tallied, and the one with the most is declared the winner. If at any point in the game one player controls seven of these castles or stronghold then the game is immediately won by that player.

Game of Thrones Board Game is a wonderfully in-depth board game that is great for a few well-adjusted friends who are willing to spend two to three hours being immersed in a fantasy world of Westeros. The game works best with six players and decent with five, anything less than that we find to deliver a sub-optimal gaming experience.

While the game can take a little to learn and get the hang of, it is well worth it. The sense of competition, tension, and painful betrayal delivers a unique experience only the best strategic war games can offer. Strategic, cunning, and all-out epic battles are all part of this visually stunning game.

8. Best Fantasy War Board Game – Runewars

Gameplay

Each turn consists of four seasons or will represent a full year. Each season a card is revealed that affects the entire map and each of the players. After each season players will use their cards to represent actions such as grow your army or mobilize. As the seasons progress, they can affect your actions and can also affect your armies in play.

During gameplay, there is also a heroes element that emulates a roleplay aspect of the board game. Heroes can go on quests to develop their characters and become stronger to better assist your faction. By using the strategy with these characters, you can often obtain dragon runes through diplomacy instead of on the battlefield giving each player more strategic avenues than just all-out war.

As with any army or realm, resources play an important role. Armies need to be fed and clothed, and weapons need to be created. Strongholds and cities can be formed and fortified to withstand attacks, or a more nomadic strategy can be used keeping your armies on the move with hit and fall back tactics.

Runewars has managed to find a winning combination of a fantasy theme, strategy, epic battles and combine it with modern elements such as resource management and role play. If you are just starting out with the game, it may come across as overwhelming at first as it does require some learning curve. At the same time, once you get the grips on the game, it delivers an incredibly adventurous and epic scale war game experience only a handful of war board games out there can match.

Each faction of the game is unique and comes with miniatures, cards and special powers. Coupled with a modular game board layout, there is plenty of replayability to make each and every game a unique experience.

9. Best War Game For Beginners – Memoir ’44

The combat is done using a dice roll mechanic keeping the game fairly random. The gameplay can last for twenty to forty-five minutes and ends when one player collects enough medals.

Memoir 44 comes with a dual-sided board with one side having a grassy terrain and the other side depicting a beach area. There are forty-four double-sided terrain pieces that are used differently depending on which scenario you are playing.

There are sixty command cards and some explanation cards with terrain and unit information on them for quick reference. The cards are laid out nicely and as you would expect for a game of this caliber.

One of the most important parts of war board games are miniatures and Memoir 44 does not disappoint. Over seventy plastic miniatures to represent soldiers, tanks, artillery, sandbags, barbed wire, and hedgehogs are included in the box and add that perfect bit of fun when it comes to war games.

Gameplay

Playing the game itself is not overly complicated. There are 5 phases for each turn, and each phase is pretty straightforward and makes sense.

• Command cards – play a card from your hand. These cards let you order units for a zone on the board
• Order – Choose which of your units on the board to be activated for this turn
• Move – you can move any of your activated units. Units all have different rules for how far they can move and how they are affected by terrain.
• Battle – each of your units can not fight with the enemy. This is done in three steps
  • Check your range – check how many hexes away you can attack
  • Check your terrain – see how the terrain can affect your attack
  • Resolve your battle – roll the dice and check your results. There are five different sides to the dice. Infantry is on two sides and then a single side for armor, flag, star, and grenade. For each symbol you roll, if it matches the unit you are attacking, then you kill off a figure in that particular unit. Once all the figures of a unit are gone, the unit is removed, and you receive a medal. If you roll a flag, then you force the defenders to move back one hex.
• Draw a command card – draw from the pile to bring your hand back to its starting quantity.

You can get a good feel for the game in a few turns, and the rules take no longer than 10 minutes to go through meaning you can be up and playing in no time at all.

The rules are simple and easy for anyone to grasp within 10 minutes or so. At the same time, this simplicity does have some drawbacks to it.

The randomness of the card deck can mean that you are driven by the card you get dealt from the deck. A bad shuffle or a run of cards that don’t lead to the desired outcome can ruin your well thought out strategy, so make sure you shuffle them well.

In addition, battles are controlled by dice rolls, which assumes luck and randomness in battle outcomes. You could potentially have a great thought out plan which could get thwarted by a bad dice roll. The good side of dice driven battles is that they are always fun and that you never have the same game twice. Conversely, it can lead to a slight level of frustration if you don’t see the dice rolls you need or get that card you are hoping for.

Overall, there are a number of deeply strategic war board games in our review but Memoir ’44 is not one of them. Instead, it is a light and easy to learn war board game that remains accessible for most players, yet still employs a sufficient level of strategic depth. The gameplay is both fun and enjoyable and with streamlined rules, the game only takes about 45 minutes to play. It is not intended for hardcore war board gamers but rather casual gaming nights and as a perfect way to get yourself immersed in the wargame genre.

10. Best Abstract Theme – Root

 Even the win conditions are different between faction, so each player is sure to have a different strategy on the way to the top.

You get a game map that lays out your playing field. It depicts a woodland type of area with several clearings where you need to gain control over.

There are many adorable Meeples to represent each faction. There are twenty-five Marquise that are cats, twenty Eyrie who are birds, ten alliance who are mice and one vagabond that is a raccoon.

For each of the factions you get a player board to keep track of things, there are two counter sheets, and two dice for various dice throws as well.

Gameplay

The gameplay is asymmetrical as each faction has a different way of playing the game. Cats score points by building structures around the forest. They have three actions for each round and have to watch their supplies of wood to be sure there is enough to accomplish their tasks.

Birds are also out to build structures but do so in a different method than the cats do. Their goal is to build as quickly as possible.

Mice are out to gain sympathy from the forest and then try to create revolutions to achieve unbalance in the woodland.

Vagabonds, the raccoon, is a single piece on the game board but can move not only on trails but through the forest itself. The Vagabond needs to acquire items that he needs to use in his journeys to complete his tasks.

Have we missed one of your favorite war board games? Let us know the war game you would like to see in the above list, by leaving a quick comment below:

Frequently Asked Questions