Looking for a free and good strategy/war game

[Muscle Man]

its what the title says but i want something that isnt going to terribly pay to win.a cash grab, or a glorified mobile game i dont really know what to look for or if this is even possible on steam but every time i see a game that looks cool the reviews say if you arent willing to constantly dump your whole wallet into the game you cant win/ get started

[Dadpool]

Starcraft 1 and 2

[imag2OOO]

"blood of steel" is low key a banger but it might be dead now i quit like a year ago when there was like 1000 players

[Anonymous Helper]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/599390/Battle_for_Wesnoth/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1241950/Warzone_2100/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/334920/ZeroK/

Outside of Steam:
https://play0ad.com/
http://www.freeciv.org/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/freecol/
https://freeorion.org/index.php/Main_Page
https://rayfowler.itch.io/remnants-of-the-precursors

https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_lords_of_midnight
https://www.gog.com/en/game/doomdarks_revenge

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Good and free rarely go hand in hand.