Battle for Wesnoth and games like it

The WhatsNext verdict

Battle for Wesnoth is a superb choice for patient players who enjoy deep turn-based tactics, campaign-scale planning, and endless community content. Its randomness and occasional opacity are part of the identity, but they will frustrate anyone seeking perfectly deterministic strategy.

What it does best

Every battle is a careful tactical puzzle
A deceptively deep strategy game
An extraordinary amount of strategy game for one package
A strategy game that became a community platform

What might put you off

Combat outcomes depend heavily on random rolls
Campaign difficulty can be opaque and punishing

The setup

What you are walking into

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme. Build up a great army, gradually turning raw recruits into hardened veterans. In later games, recall your toughest warriors and form a deadly host whom none can stand against! Choose units from a large pool of specialists, and hand-pick a force with the right strengths to fight well on different terrains against all manner of opposition. Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played. Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir... step into the boots of a young officer sent to guard a not-so-sleepy frontier outpost... lead a brutal quest to unite the orcish tribes... vanquish a horde of undead warriors unleashed by a foul necromancer, who also happens to have taken your brother hostage... guide a band of elvish survivors in an epic quest to find a new home... get revenge on the orcs by using the foul art of necromancy... There are at least two hundred unit types, sixteen races, six major factions, and hundreds of years of history. The world of Wesnoth is absolutely huge and only limited by your creativity — make your own custom units, create your own maps, and write your own scenarios or even full-blown campaigns. You can also challenge up to eight friends—or strangers—and fight in epic multiplayer fantasy battles.