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Best 2-player strategy board game

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Whether you want to play ,  or even single-player games where the other side is automated, there’s a board game for everyone. These games come in every shape, size and type imaginable. My personal favorites are those games that go a little deeper — the ones that pit you against other players and make you think, not just one move ahead, but two or three. These games are often referred to as strategy games.

This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas.

What’s the best strategy board game?

Because of the variety, it’s hard to pick one best strategy game, but I do really like Windward right now. It’s only been around for a little while, but it’s a firm favorite at our gaming table. With plenty of strategic choices, a striking board and counters, and a shallow learning curve, it’s the best place to start if you’re trying to decide what to play.

But isn’t every game a strategy game?

Strategy board games are games in which players’ critical decision-making affects the outcome. That’s a pretty broad definition, I know, but modern strategy games come in all sorts of subgenres, often delineated by their central gameplay mechanic: 

Many times, these games are organized into larger categories, such as wargames (which center on a conflict between players’ forces), American-style (which prioritizes direct player conflict and has elements of luck) or Eurogames (which largely avoid chance-based elements and usually depend on planning and resource management).

The most important element of strategy board games, though, is, you guessed it, strategy. While there may be small instances where luck plays a part, the overwhelming mechanics of the game need to rely on the player’s ability to think strategically and to outmaneuver the other players on the board. 

Despite all the games on the market, few have the perfect balance of replayability and satisfying gameplay, even if you lose. So after testing dozens of the best games on the market, I’ve put together the best strategy games available.

The best strategy board games

Star Wars: Shatterpoint takes all of your favorite characters from the Clone Wars era and beyond, drops them into a classic squad-based tabletop combat experience, and lets your imagination do the rest of the work. Miniatures are available in simple-to-assemble kits with very little guidance needed, and each can be painted to your personal taste with relative ease. Like the miniatures, the rules of the game do a pretty good job balancing a low learning curve and the flexibility to vary play styles to avoid feeling repetitive. Whether you’re new to the world of tabletop miniatures or a veteran of this classic game style, there’s plenty to like about this game.

Pros:

• Easy-to-assemble minis
• Tons of characters available, given how new the game is
• Excellent starter kit to introduce players to Shatterpoint

Cons:

• Significant time investment before you can start playing
• Replacing broken pieces is difficult right now

Small World is one of my favorites, simply because this conquest game feels so different every time you play it. Essentially, players are vying for control of a Risk-like board with too few spaces to accommodate everyone, hence the name. You bid for one of dozens of fantastical creatures, each randomly paired with an additional special ability — which can lead to hilarious combinations like Were-Will-o’-the-Wisps or Peace-loving Homunculi. Then you spread using your special abilities, collect coins based on the territory you control and leave that race behind for a new one. It’s an addictive gameplay loop, often equal parts funny and competitive, and you can learn and play it in under two hours.

Pros:

• Infinite replayability
• Lighthearted yet strategic
• Easy to learn

Cons:

Agricola is one of the best board games ever designed, and it’s one of the best examples of worker placement mechanics, too. The concept is simple: Players each use their farmer and wife (both called “workers”) to complete various actions as the seasons progress, such as gathering wood or vegetables, upgrading their farm house, building pens, buying animals, having children and much more. Over time, players have children (more workers to use) and expand their farm. The problem during all this, though, is scarcity: Agricola is a harsh game. Even without an opponent blocking you from certain actions, it often feels like you’re just scraping by — getting just enough food to feed your family for the winter. Players often end up with very few (or negative) points in their first game, but when you start to learn, it feels incredibly satisfying.

Pros:

• Great worker placement game
• Strategy is everything

Cons:

• Feels defeatist until you get better!

If you have a full day and want to play a long, rewarding game, you can’t do better than Food Chain Magnate — an incredibly deep game of building and staffing restaurants, designing menus, paying for advertisements and collecting money. What makes Food Chain Magnate so enjoyable is the sheer scope of it: You can hire dozens of different kinds of employees, sell dozens of different kinds of food and use half a dozen types of ads, all with unique effects on your franchise, the customers in the city and your opponents. This fun game is an investment, especially if you get the expansions, but it’s one of the most enjoyable and unique takes on the strategy board game format in years.

Pros:

• Crazy fun
• A full day of playing

Cons:

• Pricey if you get all the expansions

Conquest games have come a long way since Risk, and one of the best is Rising Sun — a game in which players vie for control over the various regions of feudal Japan, using their samurai and other miniatures to spread. What makes the game interesting is the untraditional means and ends of conflict: Alliances lend opponents more power, but betrayals can damage your honor; points can be won by winning in battle, but committing ritual suicide, taking hostages and employing historians to write off your warrior’s honor can actually net you a larger victory. 

What could be a straightforward game about conquering regions becomes about the development of your clan, preservation of their honor and strategic partnerships with your enemies. If you want a game with tons of conflict — but where that conflict is rarely straightforward or obvious — Rising Sun is a perfect game for you.

Pros:

• Beautiful setting
• Fun alliance mechanic

Cons:

• Can be a little confusing

Other strategy games we’ve tested

For good introductions to modern strategy games, I would be remiss not to mention Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne. While most people who catch the board game bug quickly move past these more basic economy and tile-laying games, they are great ways for people to be introduced to the genre.

How we test Strategy Board Games

As you can imagine board game testing is a grueling and often stressful experience. I’m kidding; testing board games is awesome. It is, however, subjective in a lot of ways. I tend to look at certain criteria as to what makes a board game “good, however.”

• Is the board and piece quality good?
• Are the instructions clear?
• How long does it take different age groups to learn?
• How long does the game take to play?
• How fun is it? (This is incredibly important)
• Can you replay it and it still feel fresh?

Because board gaming is a team sport, my family’s opinions are used to help me average out testing. While I may like a 5-hour-long game with 1,000 pieces, my 17-year-old son may not feel the same. Getting a good spread of opinions helps me find the best overall games in each category.

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