Strategy Board Games for Every Kind of Table

What counts as a strategy board game

A strategy board game is one where your decisions matter more than your luck. You plan ahead, you react to other players, and the better plan usually wins. There may be dice or a shuffled deck, but they don't decide the game on their own.

That covers a wide shelf. This page lists the strategy and hobby games we track on Amazon US, base games only, sorted by the longest stated play time first. The top rows are big-box games that take a whole afternoon. Further down you'll find games that fit after dinner.

The fields that separate them, as the listings state them:

• Play time: from about 20 minutes to 480 on the box
• Players: from solo to 8
• Age: mostly 10+ to 14+ where the listing gives one
• Solo mode: stated on many of the longer games
• Kind of game: engine building, drafting, trading, area control, route building, hidden roles, legacy

Expansions are left out on purpose. An expansion needs its base game, and this page is about choosing the base game.

What to look at before you buy a strategy game

Play time, both numbers

This is the field I'd read first, and it's why the table is sorted by it. Strategy games range widely. In our data, Twilight Imperium 4th Edition lists 240 to 480 minutes. Eldritch Horror lists 120 to 240. Star Wars: Outer Rim lists 180 to 240. At the other end, Catan lists 60 to 90, Great Western Trail: El Paso lists 60 to 90, and Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West lists 20 to 90.

Read both numbers. The low one is a game where everyone knows the rules. The high one is closer to a first game, or a full table. And the time on the box rarely counts setup and the rules explanation. Plan on more, not less.

A legacy game is a special case. Ticket to Ride Legacy lists 20 to 90 minutes, but that's one session. A legacy game is a campaign of many sessions, and the box changes as you play. So the time on the box is per night, not per game. That's the one place where my math-teacher habit of multiplying everything actually helps.

Player count, minimum and maximum

The range on the box tells you who can play, and both ends matter.

The maximum is the crowd it handles. Eldritch Horror lists up to 8. Twilight Imperium, Unfathomable and the Marvel Zombies games list up to 6. Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails, Lords of Waterdeep, Axis and Allies 1941, Wyrmspan and Scythe list up to 5.

The minimum is the end people miss. Twilight Imperium and Unfathomable need at least 3. Catan, Catan: Starfarers and Catan Histories: Settlers of America need 3 too. A house of two can't play those as printed. Games that list 2 as the floor include Ticket to Ride, Lords of Waterdeep, Blood Rage, Pulsar 2849, Tzolk'in and Axis and Allies 1941.

My one opinion for this page: buy for your usual group size, not the biggest number on the box. A strategy game's play time grows with every player, because every player gets a turn to think. A 5-player game with 5 thinkers is a long evening. If you're usually 2, buy a game that's built for 2 at its low end, not one that tolerates it.

Age on the box

Most strategy listings that give an age say 14+. That includes Twilight Imperium, Eldritch Horror, Ark Nova, Gloomhaven, Frosthaven, Blood Rage, Return to Dark Tower and Dune: Imperium Immortality. Great Western Trail and Agricola list 12+. Castles of Mad King Ludwig 2nd Edition lists 13+. Catan, both Ticket to Ride listings here and EXIT: Adventures on Catan list 10+.

A 14+ on a strategy game is usually about rules length and reading load, not content. Some of these games ask you to track a dozen things at once. A sharp 12-year-old might manage. The site won't suggest a game for anyone younger than its listed age, and a dash in the table means the listing didn't say, not that it's fine for everyone.

Solo mode

More strategy games list a solo mode than you might guess. In our data that includes Eldritch Horror, Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, Ark Nova, Agricola Revised Edition, all four Great Western Trail listings, Gloomhaven, Frosthaven, Scythe, Wyrmspan and Castles of Mad King Ludwig. The Marvel Zombies games list 1 to 6 players with solo play as well.

If one person in your house plays most of the games, a solo mode doubles the use of the box. If you never play alone, it's a nice extra you can ignore.

Kind of game

Our data tags some games with the kind of play their listing names. The tags on this page:

• Engine building: Terraforming Mars, Scythe
• Area control: Scythe
• Drafting: Ark Nova, Blood Rage
• Trading and negotiation: Twilight Imperium, Catan, Catan Histories: Settlers of America
• Route building: Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails
• Hidden role: Unfathomable
• Legacy or campaign: Ticket to Ride Legacy: Legends of the West

Most listings don't name a kind at all, so the table leaves that field empty. Pick the kind first. A player who hates negotiating will not enjoy a trading game, however well it's made.

Edition

Some listings name an edition, and it's worth reading. Twilight Imperium is listed as the 4th Edition, Mansions of Madness and Great Western Trail as 2nd Editions, Castles of Mad King Ludwig as a 2nd Edition and Agricola as the Revised Edition. Great Western Trail also comes in Argentina, New Zealand and El Paso versions, each a separate base game on its listing. If you're replacing a worn-out copy or buying expansions later, match the edition first.

Lucho saw the El Paso box and said his tía will want to know why El Paso got a board game and she didn't get a call.

Components listed

A few listings say what's in the box. Twilight Imperium lists 17 civilizations. Eldritch Horror lists 12 investigators, 300+ cards and 250 tokens. Mansions of Madness lists 500+ components, including 32 plastic figures. A big component count is a sign of setup time and table space, not of value. Count your table before you count the pieces.

Kinds of strategy games, and when to pick which

Eurogames and economic games

In a eurogame you build something and score points for it: a farm, a ranch, a zoo, a trading guild. Luck is low, and you compete by taking the space, card or resource another player wanted. Agricola, Ark Nova, Great Western Trail, Tzolk'in and Terraforming Mars sit in this style. These are the "money board games" and "economic board games" people search for, though the money is usually cubes, coins or cards. Pick one for a table that likes planning and doesn't need a fight.

Engine building games

Engine builders give you things early that make later turns stronger. Terraforming Mars and Scythe are tagged that way in our data. Our Splendor page covers a much shorter example. The first rounds feel slow, then the engine starts paying, and the last rounds go fast. If you've ever enjoyed watching a savings account grow, this is your shelf.

Worker placement games

In worker placement you have a few pieces, and each one claims an action space on a shared board. Once a space is taken, nobody else can use it that round. The tension is in what you leave for others and what they take from you. Our Everdell page covers one in detail. None of the listings on this page tag the mechanic, so I'll only point you there rather than guess.

Tile laying and route building

In tile laying, you place tiles to build a map as you play, and the board is different every game. Our Carcassonne page is the classic example. Route building is the cousin: you claim connections on a fixed map. Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails is tagged route building in our data, and it's the closest thing on this page to the railroad games people ask about.

Big-box adventure and campaign games

Some strategy games come with a story. Eldritch Horror, Mansions of Madness, Gloomhaven, Frosthaven, Tainted Grail and Return to Dark Tower are co-op or campaign games with long play times and big boxes. Several list a solo mode. They suit a regular group that meets on the same night every week, because a campaign rewards coming back.

Conflict and negotiation games

Twilight Imperium, Blood Rage and Axis and Allies 1941 put players directly against each other on a map. Twilight Imperium adds trading and negotiation, and its 240-to-480-minute listing is the longest in our data. Pick these for a group that enjoys direct conflict and won't take a lost territory personally on Monday.

Who should skip strategy board games

Skip this shelf if your group wants to talk more than think. Many strategy games go quiet while people plan, and a table that came to chat will find the silence long.

Skip the longest games if your evenings have a hard stop. A 120-minute game with a rules explanation can run past bedtime, and an unfinished strategy game is hard to pause.

And skip any game for a player under its listed age. Most of these say 14+, and the rulebooks are written for that reader.

Related strategy game pages

• Best board games: picks across every kind of game
• Catan and Ticket to Ride: two shorter strategy games for 10+
• Twilight Imperium and Gloomhaven: the long end of the table
• Terraforming Mars and Splendor: engine building, long and short
• Risk and Monopoly: the family classics people ask about

Brands in the table include Czech Games Edition, the maker of Pulsar 2849 and Tzolk'in.

Read the play time before the box art. The box art is always more exciting than the third hour.