The 10 Best Strategy Board Games

Martin Wallace's industrial-revolution economic game, set in Lancashire, has you building canals, rails and cotton mills. Every engine had it as its #1: tight decisions, brutal timing and almost no luck.

A cooperative game where players are spirits defending an island from colonizing invaders. Every spirit plays differently, and the tension is superb. It made every engine's top five-or-so, a rare feat for a co-op.

Corporations terraform the Red Planet through a huge deck of card combos and engine-building. Easy to teach, deep to master, and one of only three games every engine placed in its top ten.

The ultimate galactic empire epic: diplomacy, trade, fleets and political scheming across a whole day of play. Gemini had it near the top, Claude kept it in its top five, while ChatGPT never listed it.

A two-player Cold War duel played with cards, where every event you play might help your rival. ChatGPT had it as a clear runner-up, but the other engines mostly left it off.

Deck-building meets worker placement in a tense political race across the desert planet Arrakis. Gemini loved it, ranking it near the top, while the other two engines barely noticed it.

Build a civilization through cards: science, wonders, leaders and wars, with no dice at all. It's long and demanding, and ChatGPT ranked it consistently high. A heavyweight for committed players.

A Roman-era trading game where cards are your actions and your end-game scoring rewards the gods you've favored. It's elegant, low on conflict and easy to teach, and Claude kept it in its top ten every time.

A space-faring 4X game with ten asymmetrical alien factions, each with its own path to growth. It's a crunchy puzzle of efficiency, favored by Gemini and ChatGPT, but Claude skipped it.

The farming classic that made worker placement famous: feed your family, expand your farm and avoid starvation. It's a punishing but rewarding game, and ChatGPT kept it on its list every time.