I've spent years reviewing strategy board games, and I'll die on the hill that these are some of the best

Spirit Island has a reputation as one of the hobby's best team games, and it's well earned. Rather than colonizing an island as is so common in the hobby, you play as nature spirits fighting to remove settlers from yours. It was very close to getting a perfect score in our Spirit Island review, so it comes highly recommended on our end.

For those of you who prefer your strategy to come gift-wrapped in a cloak of "cute," I can't think of a better recommendation. Many tactical board games lean into warfare, but not Everdell; it's all about worker placement, and it's one of the best examples of that mechanic in the hobby. As noted in our Everdell review, it's the perfect cozy game.

Looking for a team game you can play as a couple? I'd highly recommend Sky Team. I'd always heard that it was an excellent choice, but hadn't taken the plunge until earlier this year. Oh man, the hype was true. As pointed out in our Sky Team review, it "packs a lot of strategy and fun into a small box." Your aim is to land a plane together, but you can't speak. That means you've got to be paying close attention to what your partner is doing to decide your next move, making it a real tactical challenge as well as one of the best 2-player board games.

Personally, one of my favorite strategy board games would have to be Villainous. While some of that comes down to me being a huge Disney nerd, it's not the main reason I'm so in love with the series; rather, it's because Villainous has truly magnificent gameplay with brilliant back-and-forth between rivals. Besides each character having their own objectives, boards, and decks to use, you can thwart your opponent by sending pesky heroes to take up space or cause a nuisance. This provides a surprising amount of nuance, and loads of replayability - as noted in my Disney Villainous review.

OK, so this one isn't a big price cut - but I couldn't rightly make a list of our favorite strategy games and not include Brass. This is comfortably one of the most popular choices amongst the community, with a practically glowing reputation... and one we agreed with in our Brass: Birmingham review.