Any good turn-based tacticals you'd like me to know about?

[InferiorBeing]

I've recently been in the mood for turn-based war -or roleplaying games. However; I tend to let these kinds of games pass under my radar, so I'm not quite sure what I should be looking out for.

I've searched Wikipedia for a list of turn-based tactical games, but it simply listed just about every game of this sort ever made; not quite what I was looking for. I've tried googling for "List Good Turn-based"; but  - unsurprisingly - nothing really satisfying turned up.

So I'm asking if anyone here could recommend a turn-based tactical? I'm talking about games in the vein of Advance Wars, Battle for Wesnoth, Laser Squad Nemesis and that sort of thing - and not like Risk or Civillization. Preferably for PC or DS, and I don't really care if it's freeware or not as long as it's good. I'd rather have a newer game if possible, and I'm not really into super-abstract games where a brigade of warriors is represented visually by just a little static flag, or a little statue of a man or something, if you see what I mean...

It would be great if you people could help me out. If you have a game of this kind you really like, this is the chance to recruit me.

 

[Nairagorn]

I really like Steel Panthers

http://www.steelpanthersonline.com/main.asp

Free game, dated looking but very fun. Turn based hex map WW2 tactical. You won't regret playing it.

They also have a version with modern weapons and vehicles:

http://linetap.com/www/drg/SPCamo-4.htm

Err... maybe this is the WW2 game, or it's the same as the first link I posted, but I don't think so. Probably very similar:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/SPCamo/wSPWW2/6.htm

All three of these links are 100% freeware.

 

[Sir Prince]

Hearts of Iron II

It's real time but you can slow down or speed it up and it's almost turn based since you need to pause qutie often especially when fighting.

It's not freeware though and it's not easy to find in stores but can be downlaoded from Paradox Interactive's online store.

 

[thesneakster]

Hearts of Iron II

That's RTS. its not turn based, and its sure as hell not tactical. It is, however, a good game

 

[Sir Prince]

Hearts of Iron II

That's RTS. its not turn based, and its sure as hell not tactical. It is, however, a good game

it's a lot more tactical than many games.

 

[rageshrub]

heroes of might & magic? i haven't played the latest ones but 3 was good fun. its not free of course

 

[Archonsod]

HoMM V, Fantasy Wars, Armageddon Empires.

 

[von Schweinewitz]

Age of Rifles:

Scenarios from 1848-1905 (British colonial wars, American Civil War, Prussian-French War Japanese-Russian War etc.)

Free download: http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1244
Info: http://www.wargamer.com/aor/Default.asp
Yahoo Group: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/age_of_rifles/
(for technical support, scenarios and mods - among this stuff a Napoleonic uniform patch I made last year)


Panzer General II:

Classic turn-based WWII game, many mods and patches available (Napoleonic Wars, WWI, Gulf War etc.)

Free download: http://www.latingenerals.com/
Forum: http://www.panzercentral.com/forum/index.php

 

[Bava]

I´m sure I´ll get flamed into oblivion for this, but I recommend Brigade E5. It has the best squad combat system ever made, tons of weapons and is addictive as hell. If you liked JA2, you have to try this one. But be prepared for a lot of bugs and a somewhat poorly made rpg system.

Oh, and check out Combat Mission: Shock Force (it became really enjoyable after patch 1.05, and 1.06 seems to be very promising, too)


Regards,
Bava

 

[von Schweinewitz]

Yes, the games of the Combat Mission series are highly recommended. Great stuff!

 

[Skyrage]

To be honest I didn't really like HoMM 5 much...it just didn't have the same feeling as the previous games (2 and 3 then - let's just pretend that 4 doesn't exist).

Other good games really worth trying out would be Jagged Alliance 2. It's pretty old by now but still a damn good game. Another oldie would be Mechanized Assault & Exploration, and it's abandonware. Only drawback is that it might end up being buggy if playing against the AI (tends to go crazy/freeze after 150-200 turns). I really really recommend playing this against other people though either hotseat or multiplayer (think the windows(95) version had TCP/IP support, but whether you can get it to run in the first place is a different matter).

 

[Archonsod]

Laser Squad : Nemesis would be great if you're interested in multiplayer.

The modern UFO Series is also quite good. Battles are realtime, but the active pause thing basically makes the boring stuff go by quicker; pretty much any time you're doing anything important you'll be pausing often enough to class it as turn based. Also incredibly useful for those "ridiculously overpowered squad vs. pathetic weakling alien" matches.

Sword of the Stars is quite good too. Again, realtime battles, but the level of detail is pretty much squad level (well, until you get the huge fleets anyway).

 

[EasyCo506]

How about the Total War games?

 

[Bava]

How about the Total War games?

Meh. Shogun is still the best TW game (unmodded) . And thats 7 years old and had 3 successors.

RTW with EB is pure awesomeness, though.

Regards,
Bava

 

[QuailLover]

what about UFO: AI

Winter is involved with it, and has written most of the dialog for it.

Here is the linky

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

 

[Nairagorn]

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

Ahhh sweet. I had no idea about this, thanks for the link!

 

[QuailLover]

Ya its fricken awesome.

I haven't tried the new version yet, but I'm going to soon

 

[phbbbt107]

I´m sure I´ll get flamed into oblivion for this, but I recommend Brigade E5. It has the best squad combat system ever made, tons of weapons and is addictive as hell. If you liked JA2, you have to try this one. But be prepared for a lot of bugs and a somewhat poorly made rpg system.

Oh, and check out Combat Mission: Shock Force (it became really enjoyable after patch 1.05, and 1.06 seems to be very promising, too)


Regards,
Bava

Absolutely amazing game. It's a bit buggy, but it's still very fun. Technically, it's a Real-Time Tactical game, but you'll be pausing the game so much to give orders that it might as well be turn-based. Since everything is in real-time and all actions happen simultaneously, the dynamics of the combat is different from games like Jagged Alliance. It feels much better though, since you don't have to bother with stupid abstractions like AP and non-simultaneous actions.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a fun little Tactical RPG. It's GBA, but your DS should be able to play it.

PS: Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis, and other similar games are by definition strategic games. Strategy is "the branch of military science dealing with military command and the planning and conduct of a war ", while tactics is "the branch of military science dealing with detailed maneuvers to achieve objectives set by strategy" (Both definitions are from Wordnet). It's kind of hard to call it tactical when you control an entire country and 50,000 man armies are nothing more than chits on a big map.

 

[InferiorBeing]

Thanks for all your great replies so far! I just remembered having made this thread and came back to check up. Having read through the replies, I can't help but realise that at least a decent 90% of the recommendations I've recieved are modern-day wargames with tanks and WWII soldiers and stuff. Interesting that the attitude is so simillar around here.

That said; I have a question: Isn't Combat Mission real-time? I've never played it; but I have seen some videos of the modern-day edition. Looked like one of those games that would either be vicioulsly awesome or so boring I'd have to start hurting myself to stay awake.

 

[Archonsod]

Yes and no. You issue commands at the start of your turn, and the turn then plays out realtime for about 5 minutes and you see the result of your actions.