The Best War Board Games 2025

The best board games come in a variety of themes, but war is a particularly popular and thrilling one. War board games offer an epic sense of battle, engaging players in strategic depth that can last an evening or an entire day. These games are perfect for long sessions with friends, complete with snacks and drinks, promising an exhilarating journey into tactical warfare.

To ensure longer games run smoothly, consider these tips: Download a PDF copy of the rulebook, which most publishers offer for free, and have everyone review it beforehand. Encourage players to handle administrative tasks like sorting their hands or counters outside their turn. You might also want to set a time limit per turn if all players agree. Now, let's dive into the games!

TL;DR: These Are the Best War Board Games

• Arcs
• Dune: War for Arrakis
• Sniper Elite: The Board Game
• Twilight Imperium IV
• Blood Rage
• Dune
• Kemet: Blood and Sand
• Star Wars: Rebellion
• Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear
• Undaunted: Normandy / Undaunted: North Africa
• Root
• Twilight Struggle: Red Sea
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game
• War of the Ring
• Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

Arcs

War games with more than two players often struggle to balance the action on the board with the negotiations and alliances among players. Arcs achieves this balance brilliantly, as highlighted in our 10/10 review. Its innovative mechanics, inspired by traditional trick-taking card games, provide multiple strategic options while delivering intense spacecraft battles on a circular board that rewards aggression. Despite its rich features, Arcs allows you to build a full-fledged space empire in under two hours, making it an ideal choice for those looking to explore the narrative campaign expansion.

Dune: War for Arrakis

Not to be confused with the multi-player negotiation game Dune, War for Arrakis is a head-to-head battle for two players, pitting the noble Atreides against the wicked Harkonnen in a fight for the precious spice. This highly asymmetric game features guerrilla warfare from the Atreides and their Fremen allies, along with summoned sandworms, clashing against the larger, wealthier Harkonnen forces. The Harkonnen player must focus on harvesting and shipping spice to maintain economic superiority. With quality plastic miniatures and an excellent action dice system, this game, designed by the same team behind War of the Ring, offers constant strategy reevaluation in a faster-paced format.

Sniper Elite: The Board Game

Fans of the video game series might be surprised by the close-quarters action in this tabletop adaptation, but it retains the charm of stealth gameplay. The sniper player must remain slow and silent under a tight time constraint, while the German player controls roving squads trying to locate them. This game adds a historical veneer and realistic combat not found in the video game, featuring two different boards and various sniper loadouts and squad specialists for the German player, ensuring high replay value and tactical depth.

Twilight Imperium IV

Few games match the epic scale of Twilight Imperium IV, an all-day affair of sci-fi civilization building. Players control bizarre alien races researching technology and building fleets to vie for control over a galactic hex map. While diplomacy and political decrees play significant roles, the game's strategic core remains robust, particularly through its strategy card system, where players choose a special focus each round. This fourth edition maintains its sweeping scope while becoming more accessible by trimming unnecessary complexity.

Blood Rage

In Blood Rage, you lead a Viking clan through the end times of Ragnarök, aiming to gain glory through rage, axes, and horns to secure a place in Valhalla. Beneath its violent theme and impressive components lies a game of strategic depth. Players draft cards to support their actions each round, carefully managing limited warriors and monsters to pillage regions and fulfill quests. The blind battle card system adds excitement to the frequent clashes with other clans, making Blood Rage a definitive classic in conflict-based games.

Dune

Dune, not to be confused with Dune: Imperium, is a futuristic game based on Frank Herbert's iconic novel. Released in 1979, it was ahead of its time, focusing on hidden information and asymmetrical strategy rather than randomness. Each player represents a faction from the book, with unique special powers. The Atreides can peek at auctioned cards, while the Harkonnen know secret traitors. This new edition offers cleaner rules and stunning artwork, capturing the narrative and political themes of the novel brilliantly.

Kemet: Blood and Sand

Imagine ancient Egypt's gods and mythical creatures battling on the desert sands in Kemet. The game features tech pyramids that allow players to tailor their strategies with special powers across attack and defense, which integrate seamlessly into board play. Everyone starts with identical battle cards, leading to intense mind games as players try to outguess their opponents. The unique board layout ensures no hiding, promoting fast-paced, brutal combat where every player is a short distance from engaging in fierce battles.

Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars: Rebellion offers a fresh take on the beloved franchise. The Rebellion player, as the underdog, must survive military encounters while winning planets over to their cause. Meanwhile, the Empire leverages its vast armies to crush any sign of dissent. This asymmetric struggle is filled with well-known characters and events from the movies, yet the narrative unfolds according to player decisions. Tight strategic mechanics ensure every turn is full of challenges and variety.

Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear

Tactical wargames that focus on squad-level or individual soldier actions can become bogged down in complexity. Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear strikes a perfect balance with its simple action point and dice system, offering excitement, realism, and tactical challenge. Starting simple, the game expands to include artillery, vehicles, and tanks for a comprehensive World War II experience. The command point system, allowing extra actions during your opponent's turn, adds a layer of strategic depth.

Undaunted: Normandy & Undaunted: North Africa

While not a simulation, the Undaunted series uses deck-building to recreate the tactics of infantry combat with just a few rules. Officer cards let you add new unit cards to your deck, simulating the issuing of orders and supplies. Unit cards move matching troop counters on the modular scenario map, engaging in combat and seizing objectives. As casualties thin your deck, units become less effective as morale erodes under fire. This series offers an accessible yet engaging way to refight the Second World War.

Root

Root is a shorter game that emphasizes asymmetry with four factions vying for control of a woodland realm, each with unique rules and themes. The Marquise de Cat and the Eyrie play traditional conquest games, while the Woodland Folk engage in guerrilla warfare, and the Vagabond acts as a lone trickster-hero. Despite its whimsical theme and art, Root is a strategic game that raises thought-provoking questions about politics and governance.

Twilight Struggle: Red Sea

The original Twilight Struggle is renowned as one of the best board games, but its complexity and long playtime can be daunting. Twilight Struggle: Red Sea retains the compelling card-play mechanic, forcing players to navigate dilemmas about triggering key events for their opponent, but reduces playtime to about an hour. A new scoring mechanic adds excitement, while history buffs can explore the Cold War's lesser-known East African theater, with real historical events reflected in the game's mechanics and a designer's notes book.

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game

A Game of Thrones: The Board Game captures the conniving and backstabbing of its source material by borrowing from classic Diplomacy—only one player can win, but no player has the resources to do so alone, making alliances and treachery inevitable. The game features a secret order system that keeps intentions hidden until the last moment. Alongside this core mechanic are numerous elements from the world of Westeros that add strategic depth, making it essential for fans of the franchise.

War of the Ring

War of the Ring is the premier board game adaptation of Tolkien's work, featuring two interconnected games on the same board. One is the epic clash of armies across Middle-earth, while the other follows the Fellowship's quest to destroy the One Ring. The genius of this design lies in how these two elements interweave, creating a challenging tactical balancing act for players to master.

Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy

While the Twilight Imperium series focuses on warfare and diplomacy, Eclipse emphasizes long-term planning in sci-fi civilization-building. Its systems for initiative and technology upgrades require players to think several steps ahead as they expand into the galaxy. This tactical depth enhances the feeling of exploration and ship design without relying on luck, ensuring that strategic planning is key to success.

If you enjoy these games, be sure to explore our picks for the overall best board games and the best board game deals.

What Counts as a Wargame?

In gaming circles, the term "wargame" often refers to games that simulate historical conflicts, a niche but prolific genre. These games, like Awakening the Bear and Twilight Struggle: Red Sea, often require extensive historical research and can command high prices due to their detailed components. However, the definition can be broader, encompassing games that simulate hypothetical or fictional conflicts, or those that focus on conflict from various perspectives, such as historical settings without strict simulation or fantasy and sci-fi scenarios. While some may debate what qualifies as a wargame, we've adopted a wide definition to include games that explore conflict in diverse ways. If a specific type of conflict game interests you, enthusiast communities and websites are available to guide your exploration further.