Miniature war games take many forms. These games sometimes focus on historical battles, often prioritize customization and kit-bashing, and occasionally are genuinely thoughtful puzzles of strategy and tactics. Since their inception, there have been countless releases, many of which are hard to come by today and have been lost to time. The best have risen to the top, though, and are regarded by players as real winners from the genre.

These are the best miniature war games of all time. While "war games" can be an unhelpful specification, here we will take it to mean strategic games with combat.

A tabletop miniatures game that has been around for decades, sees players building their robot mechs with weapons and equipment to pit against each other on the battlefield. The intricacies of mech piloting are broken down in the rules, with players tracking damage, ammo, and the buildup of heat in the mechanical soldiers' systems.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, players face off against each other on a hex grid. Expansions have added large-scale warfare and extra rules for advanced experimental weapons, RPG campaigns, and air combat. BattleTech has really left an impression on the war gaming landscape.

features super-detailed miniatures that make great collector pieces for Star Wars fans. However, the main draw of X-Wing comes with the ability to play out epic dogfights like those in George Lucas' films against each other. Players choose the maneuvers their ships will take secretly, trying to anticipate the movements of their opponents to try to shoot down their ships.

Crew and equipment can be customized, and the maneuvers plot the path that ships take between asteroid obstacles. Players have plenty of options to expand their collection, picking up ships from different Star Wars timeline eras and adding fan-favorite characters like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Ahsoka Tano.

Fans of the Game of Thrones series have gotten to immerse themselves in the world of the books and the TV show in A Song of Ice & Fire: The Miniatures Game. A simple-to-learn but hard-to-master "rank and flank" game, the battles and characters from the incredible series are all accounted for.

Taking control of one of the houses, players can vary their strategy based on the strength of their army, whether through advancing on the political front that sits alongside the battlefield like the Lannisters, or with elite strong single units like the Targaryens. Although the game has seen regular releases and has been reviewed very well, it can be hard for players to get their hands on new models from this interesting game.

Available entirely for free online with a Patreon available to support the creator, is a strange game where players are restricted to a small number of units and face off with their snobs, toffs, and grunts clashing to claim their place in a world that strange roots have overtaken. Encouraging players to customize and build an army however they please, models are often kit-bashed creations that creep across the battlefield.

Players can choose to belong to a cult, which will change the way that they approach combat, whether through huge artillery, scenery that can crawl toward the enemy and farming models who dig for vegetables while the war rages.

challenges players with putting together their own crew using beloved characters, factions, and groups from the series of games.

Taking control of heroes like Preston Garvey, Dogmeat and Piper Wright as well as some of the most fearsome foes like The Master, an army of Super Mutants and the militaristic Brotherhood of Steel, fans can develop their small gang with upgrades and equipment to progress through a series of campaign missions and even build up and defend a settlement. The game supports head-to-head multiplayer, co-operative play against the forces of the wasteland, and even solo play.

One of the best parts of Warhammer 40,000 is the rich lore. With more than thirty years of history, literature, and models as well as several editions of the game, there is plenty for new players to get stuck into and a huge community to support people getting into the hobby. The setting sees massive intergalactic civilizations duking it out across the stars and can support battles ranging from small skirmishes to grand-scale wars that will take an age to complete.

Whether the iconic Space Marines, the dark forces of Chaos or one of the strange alien races vying for control, the systems of battle that let players take each other out help to bring the personalities of different armies onto the table. Space Marines are walking tanks and the Tyranid forces form a teeming mass of slashing claws.

Utilizing Hot Wheels and other die-cast car toys, is as close to a Mad Max racing tabletop game as any fan could ask for. Building a team of cars to face off in a death race, players can select a loadout of weaponry and an arsenal of special skills that will help them speed past the finish line. Players select a path without checking if it will fit before they place it in front of their car to see where they will end up.

Despite the best intentions of opponents, players will often find themselves crashing, exploding, and spinning out across the track. Add in the ability to completely customize and have fun putting together an outlandish team, and players will quickly find themselves drawn into the fast-paced miniatures game.

is one of the quickest to learn games on this list. Managing to effectively convey the combat of the Second World War, the game allows players to take control of the armies of any of the nations involved in the conflict. With rules that are specific to each unit based on their firearms, skill, and training, players can muster a force of soldiers to compete for objectives.

There are countless expansions for fans of the system that detail every kind of troop and firepower that fans of historical war games could dream of. The gameplay itself is much faster than most miniature war games due mainly to the turn order being randomly decided by dice draw. Players will take it in turns to activate single units, making every decision feel major and downtime between turns much shorter.

might be familiar to fans of the Warhammer video game adaptations. The miniatures game is played on a small board designed in the same way as an American Football field, and for any players who follow the sport, the gameplay will immediately be obvious. Teams based on the races found in Warhammer Fantasy Battles are built, made up of Orcs, Goblins, Elves, Dwarves, Skaven, and Zombies.

They will rush the ball into the opposing team's end zone and score points while inflicting as much hurt on the enemy as they can to thin the ranks of their team and make room for the slower, heavier members of the team. Adding random dice rolls to the calculated risks involved in sport strategy weirdly makes for a wacky but fun game that has countless fans across multiple video games and numerous re-releases since its inception.

The Empire of the Warhammer "Old World" is gripped by civil war after a comet has destroyed the human city of Mordheim. Valuable materials, left by the comet, are scattered across the newly formed wasteland, waiting to be scavenged by the dregs of society that rise to take whatever they can get. First and foremost, is a skirmish game, with players customizing small bands of fighters with armor and weapons that must be bought with their leaders' gold.

Over many battles, characters can gain experience and skill that slowly make the gang more powerful, but part of the swingy thrill of Mordheim is how brutal combat can be. Designed to be played quickly, and featuring fan-favorite factions like the Skaven and the Empire of Man's Witchhunters, this a game that is simple to try and easy to love.