Turn-Based Strategy Game: Pick a Commander, Tech Up

2026-07-19

If the turn-based strategy game you want is the kind that makes you pick an identity at the start and then grow it, Warfront does both: four asymmetric commanders and a three-age tech line. Your commander pick sets your army colour, the body you actually field, and the strongest one-turn power in the match. Free in the browser, no download, 2–4 players.

Four commanders, four different games

Heroes cannot be recruited; each player picks one in the room and owns exactly one for the whole match. The numbers and the skills are genuinely different:

The difference is not only the stat line: the Warlord and the Ranger can capture buildings, while the Archmage and the flying Sky Marshal cannot, though both can raze. The Sky Marshal crosses water and mountain, so no map ever closes a route to it — and it becomes a very expensive target the moment it enters spearman or archer range.

Picking a commander picks your colour too

Choosing your hero in the room also claims your army colour — there is no separate colour picker. Four heroes, four colours, at most four seats: everyone plays a different commander. A seat that never picks is handed one of the leftovers when the match starts.

Commander Power: one turn, decided by your hero

A 260-point meter fills from the fighting itself: 1 per point of damage dealt, 2 per point taken, and a flat 8 for every unit you lose. The player who is behind reaches it first, which is a deliberate comeback valve. When it fills you spend it on the power in the table above, and the effect lasts that turn only. The Ranger's "all your units act again" carries no stat bonus, because a second wave is already the strongest thing on the list.

Three ages: teching is a power spike here

An age-up is not a checkbox in a menu, it is an event you feel on the same turn: every unit on the field is instantly patched for 35% of its max HP, your headquarters' wall ring upgrades free, and the first seat to reach that age claims the pioneer purse (150 gold for Age II, 300 for Age III). The income multiplier compounds, so a player who keeps postponing the age-up slowly goes broke.

Gunpowder rewrites the roster

At Age III the Musketeer replaces the Archer and the Cannon replaces the Catapult, and the castle starts building the Tankette (16 HP, 5 defence). A replaced unit leaves the recruit sheet, but the ones already on the field keep fighting — teching does not throw away the army you have, it adds a layer on top.

Your units level up too: veterancy

A unit banks a star at 1, 3 and 6 lifetime kills, and each star writes +1 attack and +1 max HP onto that unit, up to three stars. The Field Medic (Age II) exists for exactly this: it heals adjacent friendlies by 3 at your turn start, so keeping a three-star soldier alive becomes a plan. The Standard Bearer, in turn, gives every friendly unit beside it +1 attack.

The asymmetry is not only in the commanders

A three-player team match is deliberately uneven: a pair against a single commander, and that solo seat is equalised with ×1.4 starting gold, slightly higher income, lighter upkeep and +25% hero HP. At three and four seats, though, the default is free-for-all: no allies, last commander standing, and killing a unit belonging to the score leader pays ×1.6 loot.

How to actually play your commander

• The Warlord stands inside the line: Whirlwind needs no aiming and cuts every adjacent enemy, so being surrounded is its best moment.
• The Archmage never leads. At 17 HP it is the most fragile commander, and Meteor reaches four tiles away — keep that distance.
• The Ranger is the pressure pick: its skill recharges every two turns instead of three, so it keeps talking, and it can capture buildings.
• The Sky Marshal ignores rivers and mountains. Its best work is burning villages and siege engines behind the front — never park it in spear or arrow range.

What you choose in the room

Match mode (free-for-all or teams), one of six maps (Twin Rivers by default), the turn limit (15–40, default 30, or unlimited "Ruin") and the move clock (2 minutes by default). There are three ways to win: hold the central Watchtower at the start of four of your own turns in a row, kill a rival's hero, or capture their headquarters.

For the unit table, read the unit guide; for the tower victory and the economy, the strategy guide; for the grid and terrain rules, our grid tactics piece. Play Warfront free.

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