The best strategy board games in 2024

From Leder Games – the maker of blockbusting strategy games Root and Oath – Arcs: Conflict and Collapse in the Reach is the new strategy hotness of 2024, and frankly, we think it entirely deserves the hype it’s gotten from the board game community.

Ostensibly, it’s a territory expansion space board game, in which you build a fleet of ships, set up outposts on planets, harvest resources, and fight rivals in the dark void. But that’s just the scene-setting for the main strategic event: a truly fiendish trick-taking card game that drives all your competitive actions, forcing you to contend with other players constantly, racing to achieve ever-shifting long term objectives.

Newer tabletop gamers might have a hard time getting to grips with the vast decision space and multiple, often unpredictable paths to victory – but it’s worth learning the ropes, because this cut-throat game of space domination is an instant classic no strategy board game fan should miss out on.

Read our Arcs board game review.

We’ve no compunction in saying Ark Nova is not just the best zoo board game ever made, but in the running for the most thematically accurate board game ever, too. Our reviewer Tim Linward‘s partner (former zoo keeper and manager of ten years) was taken aback by how bang-on it is.

So if that’s your jam, you’re already sold – but wait, because there’s much more on offer in Ark Nova to earn its place in our list.  Through the course of 1.5 to three hours, you’ll gradually build out your zoo’s roster of animals, their special enclosures, and other guest features, to build your ‘Appeal’, make more money, and develop the zoo further.

That’s just keeping the lights on, though – netting a good final score requires careful planning and actions to maximise your Conservation points, representing the work you’ve done to protect and support the wildlife. Success in Ark Nova means balancing economy with conservation work – just like a real zoo – and there’s an ocean of tactical options to make it happen. When we say it’s heavyweight, we mean it – Ark Nova is not for beginners – but for strategy buffs, it’s a unique delight.

As any magnate or industrialist will tell you, the true world-defining battles are not fought on the bloody frontlines of war, but in the movements of the economy, forged on the factory floor at the beating heart of manufacturing. As a two-to-four-player economic strategy game, Brass: Birmingham understands this, challenging you to build, develop, and expand an industrial manufacturing network, playing the market to squeeze every last penny of potential profit.

The game’s core loop is straightforward – choose a selection of actions each turn to develop your industrial output and potential sales. Build another production facility to increase supply, construct new canals or railways to connect with new buyers, take out a loan to fund further development, and, of course, sell your stock to fund further expansion. Build the largest industrial empire, and you’ll receive the most victory points by the game’s end.

But Brass: Birmingham also brings a heavy element of player interaction, especially for a Euro-game. Steal the iron or beer that your opponent was eyeing up, and muscle into their city markets – but watch out. While you’ve been slowly building a network to produce the most profitable consumer goods, another player may have stolen your necessary resources, scuppering your plans. Games can be slow, but this length comes from agonizing decisions, rather than convoluted rules and adjustments – there’s no one winning strategy, and no moment in the game where you don’t have big decisions to make. Brass is heavy duty – but it’s worth the work.

Come for the mechs and stay for the depth. Set in artist Jakub Różalski’s 1920s alternate-history dieselpunk world, which combines industrial modernity with bucolic tradition into an age of rampant, rusted conflict, Scythe’s charm extends far beyond its ambitious thematic setting. Of course, playing as a resurgent East European nation developing its army of heavily armored mechs to conquer territory is appealing enough, but under this lies a refined and replayable strategy game.

An economic, engine building game at heart, Scythe has you command one of five unique factions, building up resource production and military might alongside one another. While war can, and does, happen – the Scythe experience is more about the tension and threat of war, the balance of power, and the bombastic side-eye you exchange with your rivals.

It’s not perfect, and can drag at times – but Scythe is considered a modern classic for a reason, and consistently produces tense, thrilling strategic face-offs. You owe it to yourself to try it out.

Read our Scythe review.

Leder Games’ smash hit asymmetric war board game Root proves that strategic depth and ingenuity need not be married to historical realism. The self-styled game of “woodland might and right” casts off the over-worn fatigues of World War 2 simulators and line battles of Napoleonic wargames, in place of violent animal critters, scrabbling for bloody domination of their forested realm.

Each of its factions plays, and wins, the game entirely differently, from the feline, military-industrialist engine builder Marquise de Cat, to the politics-driven, avian aristocracy of the Eyrie, to the popular insurgency of the Woodland Alliance. Every wargaming trope finds its place here among the cute, furry animal battleground.

Don’t be fooled by the cutesy exterior; this is a crunchy strategic experience more suited to keen board gamers than families. But the design rockstars at Leder Games have also made it more accessible than a game this deep has any right to be – so casual players shouldn’t shy away from this endlessly replayable, joyful, countryside bloodbath.

Read our Root: Digital Edition review.

Aging and imperfect it may be, but the OG Settlers of Catan belongs on any list of the best strategy board games – and we’ve chosen to include it in its terrifying, overpriced, but glorious final form: Catan 3D Edition.

The colorful, island-settling strategy game that launched the entire modern board gaming industry, and the Magnum Opus of the late, great Klaus Teuber, Catan is one of a kind. It’s a strategy game anyone can learn in ten minutes, that’s actually deep and rewarding to play, and which friends and family who aren’t tabletop nerds will actually want to play with you.

For most folks, the regular, $40-60 (£30-40) version is best – but for real enthusiasts with money to burn, this extravagant 3D edition (with extra special upsized, pieces sculpted by Teuber himself) is the ultimate Catan fan statement.

Wingspan was an instant hit when it released in 2019, winning a slew of prestigious awards and quickly becoming a fan favorite of all those in the board gaming hobby – paving the way for many Wingspan expansions.

It’s an engine-building game that sees you and your fellow bird enthusiasts try to coax a variety of feathered friends into your aviaries, planning ahead to combine the coolest birds in just the right areas to score the most points and bonuses.

The strategy here is easy to grasp and not too deep – so hardcore gamers may get bored after a while – but it’s a small price to pay for a fantastic gateway game that’ll enthuse even non board gamers with its gorgeous card art, cute wooden eggs, and Educational Bird Content. An essential buy.

Few games have titles as clear or explanatory as Small World. In this colorful universe of zany fantasy characters, the world is small. Too small. There simply isn’t enough territory around to comfortably seat the sprawling factions of the world, and there is, of course, only one solution – outright warfare for the little space available.

As various instantly graspable, cartoony fantasy races, you’ll distribute troops to capture territory, boot opponents out of your borders, and score points based on how far you can spread your empire’s standard. But its real appeal comes from its combinational variety – you’ll get a different mix of factions every game, and each plays a little differently – creating a changeable cocktail that’s always a blast.

A light strategy game with core mechanics based on Risk, Small World is perfect fare for strategy newbies, and a lovely gateway to more complex territory control games. Plus, the gorgeous artwork and colorful game board draw in even the “I don’t like strategy” crowd.

A sprawling, long-playing, heavyweight historical strategy game set in medieval times, Fief: France 1429 is by far the densest, highest commitment choice on our list – but if that’s your jam, it’s excellent.

Sharing DNA with tabletop titans like Twilight Imperium and some of the best grand strategy games on PC, Fief is a game of ambition. Not content with your life as a low-ranking French noble, you want more for yourself and your family – but to get it, you’ll have to plot mercilessly to climb the ladder of power.

It’s primarily a game of area control, seeing you assert your authority over groups of villagers, kicking out their local lords, and adding their territory to your, er, fief. But there’s more to it: just like in Crusader Kings 3, you’ll be jockeying to install your family members in high places, while using murder, marriage, and conquest to claw your way towards the crown. Fief’s interlocking systems are complex, and the game takes a long time – but master it, and you’ll be hooked.