TOP 10 Turn Based Strategy Games of 2020

[Sampstra Games]

Hi,
I am Sampstra Games and I have a youtube channel, where I play a lot of strategy games, many of them turn based.
I thought it would be nice to make a post with my top 10 turn based strategy games in 2020.
Each of them wil have a link to a let's play, so you can check it out and I will make an additional post with links to Steam pages.
So let's go!

10. Wingspan
Wingspan is a digital board game with birds. It can be played as both single player or multiplayer. Your goal is to accumulate the maximum amount of points, by either getting eggs, birth-ing new birds, eating birds or fullfilling challenges. The game is pretty deep as most digital board games tend to be. It is fun and exciting and will certainly keep you excited even if you play single player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GszggELmLg
9. Urban Cards
Urban cards is a roguelike deckbuilder similar to games like Slay The Spire. But as opposed to being set in a fantasy world, where you fight monsters, it is set in a capitalist world. The game is played over 3 columns and there are three types of cards: buildings, henchman and workers. Buildings can be placed on a column, henchman can destroy buildings or each other and finally workers give you bonuses/money. Your goal isn’t just to lower enemy’s HP but instead to accumulate certain amount of money, or throw your competitor into debt.
The game is currently in early access and it’s very fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH8OfjplCyA
8. Iratus Lord of The Dead
Iratus Lord of The Dead is a game similar to Darkest Dungeon, except you are the bad guy. The game focuses on party based combat. You can have up to 4 monster in each fight. The game has a huge variety of minions, each with their focus and abilities. The game differs in having two types of damage. Damage focusing on HP (magical/physical) and damage focusing on sanity. Essentially if you stress your enemy enough, you can cause them to have a heart attack and die. The game also has some base building elements, where you can upgrade your lair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWU_kH15UYg

[Sampstra Games]

7. Dead Age 2
Dead Age 2 is a turn based party based RPG. You can have up to 6 combatants on each side on combat. The combat is set in two lanes per side. The game also heavily focuses on base building, where you must upgrade your base to get the right resources and survive. The story focuses on a world after an apocalypse, where you are left off to fight zombies and try not to turn into one of them. The game is currently in Early Access.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBkBhEMIPvo
6. Vagrus The Riven Realms
Vagrus The Riven Realms is also a party based RPG, but this one is grand view RPG. The game has multiple maps and is very narrative heavy (text based story). There are two types of combat. One is turn based and similar to for example Dead Age 2, where you control your minions and choose abilities, but it also has automatic combat. You will also be spending a lot of time focusing on the morale of your caravan and supplies. The game is very deep and has a lot of hidden mechanics, that might be easy to miss (which then makes the game harder). I have a longer let’s play on it and multiple guides. I recommend checking those out or the prologue (it’s free) to see if it is your kind of game. The game is currently in Early Access.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwba43MpMuUTjPIOIBgzQGQR6ZmyhUynh
5. Deck of Ashes
Deck of Ashes is a rogulike deckbuilder similar to Slay The Spire. The way the game differs is that once you run out of cards, you need to pay your HP, to get them back. Also at the end of each combat you can choose which cards you put back in your draw pile. This might not seem like a big difference but it alters the gameplay significantly. Some cards have special effects if they are in your discard or draw pile. The game has a variety of characters, each with very different gameplay style. All an all this is a very good roguelike deckbuilder and if you liked Slay the Spire, I am pretty sure you will like this one too. The game is in Early Acces.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwba43MpMuUTMJ3YgoNbEl04h4Y9fGPw6

[Sampstra Games]

4. Monster Train
Monster train is a rogulike deckbuilder (yes, you can notice a theme XD). This one is played with minions. The game is played in a tower like structure inside a train. You must stop the enemies from getting to the highest floor. Cards allow you to place new minions, upgrade them or use spells to do immediate damage. The game has 5 clans each focusing on different gameplay style. The upgrade system is also quite advanced. All in all a very good game, that you can pour hours into.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M9hQXby3VY

3. Panzer Corps 2
Panzer Corps 2 is a wargame focusing on World War II. The game has a huge variety of units. On top of that you can assign heroes to units, which gives them additional bonuses.
The game has a lot of deep mechanics, that you can learn (need to if you play on higher difficulties) but the game is still playable without the knowledge. At the start of each game you can pick different bonuses and disadvantages. Some of these can alter the game a lot (for example no movement through fog of war or no zone of control). The battles are quite big (compared to games like Unity of Command II for example ) and can take a long time to finish. The game has branching scenario campaign (with over 60 scenarios) for single players lovers, but also allows multiplayer.
If that is not enough you can also create your own maps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n426aXSYpI

2. Help Will Come Tomorrow
Help Will Come Tomorrow is a turn based survival sim. You will be playing as a group of characters trying to survive in Siberian wilderness. During the day you will build your camp, send your people out on expeditions and try to avoid any soldiers. During the night you will focus on keeping the morale up. The game is amazing at getting you into the atmosphere. It is a very sad and hard game, but it is incredibly fun. It is also quite a bit cheaper than other games on this list.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwba43MpMuUQQci1Y_sdoV2DuEaOpHxDn

1. Immortal Realms: Vampire War
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is an empire management game with turn based combat. The combat contains cards but it is not card based combat. Each unit can move, attack and sometime do a special ability. On top of that you have cards, which allow you to use your hero's abilities. Outside of combat you will be exploring the map through different “hexes”. Each hex represents a certain “object” like a village or graveyard or cave... These objects allow you to perform a special action, like recruit a new unit, upgrade your units or hero, gain points and so on.
In the game you play as a vampire trying to take over human settlements. The game has 3 main clans, each with slightly different game mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0dh5xxl3j4

[Sampstra Games]

Here are the steam links I promised:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1024480/Immortal_Realms_Vampire_Wars/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1119600/Help_Will_Come_Tomorrow/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1072040/Panzer_Corps_2/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1102190/Monster_Train/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1016730/Deck_of_Ashes/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/909660/Vagrus__The_Riven_Realms/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/951430/Dead_Age_2/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/807120/Iratus_Lord_of_the_Dead/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1126890/Urban_Cards/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054490/Wingspan/

[Saint Scylla]

This is indeed a very nice selection!

[Stoibs]

Nice :D
Monster Train just came to Gamepass the other day too, will have to give it a look.

Think I played some opt in beta/demo of Urban Cards too a while back. Liked what I saw, will keep my eye out for when it leaves Early Access.

[Two Clicks]

Thanks for sharing your top 10 games. Who knows maybe it will get at big as Steam's top 10! :D

I wont be getting PC2 for at least another year so... the best thing I can do is follow your vids for this game. Ill be watching your vids hoping their dlcs go to 50% discount eventually. Happy holidays.

EDIT:
I also wl Help Will Come Tomorrow, from your entry.
And Iratus from watching your vid. For some reason the game's name put me off and Ive overlooked it in the sales! ^^

[Sampstra Games]

I can only hope Two Clicks.
Thank you guys and happy holidays :)

[Stoibs]

Happy holidays to you too :)

(Played a few hours of Monster Train on Gamepass today before I realised how much time had passed.. I like it better than Slay the Spire )

[Lampros]

Fantastic thread. Thanks, OP!

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Buy Help Will Come Tomorrow was my favorite Sampstra play through all year I believe! it was really good. It was really entertaining and fun even though the game is like depressing.

Her Panzer 2 play throughs are really well done. A lot of the Panzer content creators use a lot "cheese" while playing or just playing for entertaining value and don't know what they are doing. Samsptra's are just well done.

I'm not that into card games or early access though for actually playing but like watching.
I am interested in seeing what happens with Vagrus and Dead Age 2. I did enjoy Dead Age even though it was pretty basic. Dead Age 2 looks like it has lots of potential.

The 1 card game that really looked interesting was Urban Cards. I'll follow that development even though its a card game. Just because it is so unique. No fantasy or war stuff here. Time to build an arcade and hire some suits. Really unique stuff here.

[Cablenexus]

Nice list and you did the community a great pleasure by giving those games some publicity.
I hope you continue to do in 2021.

A lot of deck builder games on your list. I understand why they are popular. You make progress, they are rewarding, but you can play them while having a coffee break etc.
Or play them a whole night. I think those games just fits in the schedule of most gamers nowadays.

I agree with some of your choices on the list.

Monster Train is a accessible low level entry card game with all the blows and whistles of Hearthstone and other Free To Play games in the genre. But at the same time it's a full game on it's own and it is fun to play. Highly agree with that one in the top 10 of 2020

Iratus is in my top 10 as well, the artwork is incredible. The gameplay is steady.

Help will come tomorow I picked up by your reccomondation but I still have to start playing it. And Urban Cards is on my wishlist thanks to you.

There is actually not a single game in your list I highly disagree with, so that's great, but in my personal top 10 I think Approaching Infinity (while not really a new game in 2020 but a re-release), Imperiums (the follow up of Aggressors) and Vic's Shadow Empires.

Keep up the good work and thanks for making those video's and posting about them in the TBT forums!

[Sampstra Games]

Thank you so much for your kind words.
I will definitely continue making videos and showing people strategy games :)
I love posting on this forum as people are always kind and eager to see what's next.

Yeah, I love deck builders because they are easy to get into. Once you play one you can start any other quickly. On the other hand there are always new mechanics to learn. The games typically have depth in figuring out the right card combo and build.
I am a big fan of games that are easy to pick up but hard to master and deck builders are exactly that.

[Sampstra Games]

Hi guys,
I made a video about my top 10 upcoming strategy games of 2021 and beyond, they are not all turn based, so I didn't want to make a thread about it, but since you seem to like my top 10s I figured I would post it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP97iPHjKwI

[Galdred]

Originally posted by Cablenexus:

There is actually not a single game in your list I highly disagree with, so that's great, but in my personal top 10 I think Approaching Infinity (while not really a new game in 2020 but a re-release), Imperiums (the follow up of Aggressors) and Vic's Shadow Empires.

Approaching Infinity didn't really work for me and I didn't play Imperiums, but Vic's Shadow Empires should really be there indeed, because the game does something no other did:
It made supply critical, which in turn makes encirclements really work like they should.
It is pretty hard to pick indeed, but it is a really deep game, with a lot of different subsystems (maybe a bit too many, but it is nice to see a developer implement his vision without caring about the more recent trends).