4 – Burden of Command
One thing wargames are often accused of being is rather impersonal, with faceless soldiers and NATO symbols being rather prevalent, disconnecting the player from the more human aspects of warfare. Burden of Command, an absolute masterpiece of storytelling, is one of those rare wargames that offers a truly unique and compelling entry point into the world of wargaming by shifting the focus from controlling units to commanding men.
This game is as much a leadership RPG as it is a tactical wargame, forcing players to grapple with the psychological and moral costs of combat. You command a company, but your most critical resource isn’t ammunition or fuel; it’s the morale, trust, and loyalty of your soldiers. The game’s turn-based, squad-level combat system is intuitive to learn, built around the real-world military doctrine of Find, Fix, Flank, and Finish, which provides a clear strategic framework for new players to learn and apply to other games. By weaving a powerful narrative based in historical reality with a deep, yet accessible, tactical layer, Burden of Command teaches the true meaning of command and makes every decision—and every casualty—feel deeply personal, something other games usually show the player as a number dropping down, in Burden of Command a casualty can mean the death of an experience squad leader in the heat of battle, when they’re most needed. Or at the end of the war, when they should be winding down, and thinking about the life that was to come after the war.
The closest thing we have to Burden of Command would be the Brothers in Arms series of games.
3 – Field of Glory II: Medieval
As we enter the top 3, these are my go-to games if you’re a true novice to wargames and would like somewhere to start. First off, I would highly advise Field of Glory II: Medieval, which is a surprisingly accessible and rewarding title for new wargamers who want to jump into large-scale, historical battles in the medieval and ancient eras. The game’s turn-based, square-grid system is easy to understand, and its core mechanics—which focus on unit positioning, flanking, managing morale, and preventing routs are clearly defined. While there is a lot of depth to master, the game does a great job of abstracting away the more complex details, allowing you to focus on the grand tactics of medieval warfare. The beautiful, historically authentic unit models and the wide variety of armies and scenarios ensure that new players will have endless hours of content to enjoy as they learn the ropes of commanding armies of knights, spearmen, and archers.
If you’re more of a fan of Ancient warfare, such as Rome, Macedonia, and Greece, you also have Field of Glory II, which is essentially the base game for Field of Glory II: Medieval. Better yet, there’s a “time machine” you can use, if you have both games, that allows you to pit armies from both the ancient era and medieval times against one another. So, who would win? The Roman Republic? Or the English army at Agincourt?
2 – Battle Academy
Securing the second spot for a beginner wargame is Battle Academy, which has become synonymous as the go-to wargame for the uninitiated since it came out, and the game became an iconic title for that reason: it was specifically designed to be an accessible gateway into the genre. With its colorful, clear graphics and a streamlined interface, it perfectly emulates the feel of a classic board game without the complexity. The turn-based system is incredibly intuitive, making it easy to understand core concepts like line of sight, suppression, and morale, which are crucial to wargaming but often difficult for new players to grasp. By focusing on small-scale, tactical engagements, Battle Academy provides a series of rewarding, puzzle-like scenarios that teach you the fundamentals of combined arms warfare in a fun and engaging way, making it the ideal starting point for anyone curious about wargames, especially if you’re a fan of more action-packed games.
I would advise you to play Battle Academy before titles like Headquarters: World War Two and The Troop (even Second Front, for that matter), just because it was designed to be so user-friendly for people with no prior experience in the genre. The game also goes for cheapsies quite often, and has a metric ton of DLC to keep you entertained for years. If you’re more curious about the Eastern Front, then Battle Academy 2 is a solid recommendation for those exact same reasons.
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