Puzzle meets roguelike in this challenging little retro game created for Ludum Dare's minimalism theme. Four heroes sounds like more than enough to find all four magical scepters, but with random dungeons filled with unique monsters, tricks, and permadeath, you've got your strategizing cut out for you.

Darkness has overtaken the land, bringing with it unspeakable beasts, but one woman is no longer content to cower inside. In this open-source retro RPG adventure demo made in just one month, go on a classic quest to find the source of the dark infestation and get more powerful along the way. Engaging and addictive but challenging too, it's a simple, streamlined experience you can jump right into anytime.

You wake up on a desert island with no recollection of what happened, nothing but a few shoddy tools to your name, and you're thinking what we'd probably all be thinking in a situation like that: TREASURE! It's going to take a whole lot of fortitude to make it, but with a bit of ingenuity and plenty of raw natural resources just laying around you'll be throwing together everything but coconut radios before you know it.

The gang is back... plus one! Our heroes from the last game have been helping themselves to everything not nailed down and on fire, but are they to blame for the theft of a village's prized jewel? In this quirky, cheeky turn-based RPG, bow-wielding Anna joins the team to conquer more enemies in challenging, strategic battles and face down even more weirdness than ever before.

Strategists and fans of collectible card games alike are bound to enjoy Highgrounds. Featuring both a single-player and PvP matches, the latter of which takes full advantage of its turn-based nature and allows for asynchronous play like you might see in Words with Friends or similar games. Unlike many games that employ a similar model, microtransactions don't spoil the fun. Instead, players who try the game and like what they see have the option of paying for more without being forced to break out their wallets in order to enjoy themselves.

It's kill or be killed in this turn-based strategy game. Create a team of top-notch soldiers to fight for your side. Study each unit's stats to choose the most efficient way to take out your enemy. Battle in several different pixel-y landscapes against various monsters until you come out on top!

A short and simple game of cards? Well, not THAT simple! In this clever strategy game, you're tasked with assembling a group of heroes, represented by cards, on the playing field before your opponent does. The catch? Each card has special abilities that can hinder or impact your enemy's progress, but they're also being used against you!

All you need is a sword on your back and revenge in your heart to be a hero in this combat-centric RPG from JIMP and Grindhead Games. Venturing outside the city walls in search of the monster that killed your father, you'll slice, dice, and magic-fisherize your way through a series of colourful battles in this simple but fun title.

Choose your hero and embark upon a dungeon crawl in Dungelot. In this roguelike you'll face a myriad of monsters as you fight your way deeper into the dungeon. Collect items to increase your stats as you find the key needed to exit each level. How deep can you delve?

Available in action-RPG or classic turn-based flavour, this moody roguelike from Aaron Steed and music maestro Nathan Gallardo is deliberately mysterious. Descend into a dungeon searching for an amulet with your undead minion, figuring everything from the backstory to the deeper gameplay mechanics as you go. Oh, and tearing off the faces of your enemies and wearing them for bonuses and enchantments. Hooray!

Fight as a team or create a free-for-all where everyone is the enemy; play for points or compete in a deathmatch; or have everyone shooting at once as opposed to individually, the choices are endless. Live chat allows you to talk trash to your fellow players as you try to annihilate each other across the changing landscape. ShellShock Live is back and better than ever with more weapons, more landscapes, more modes, and more explodey fun with ShellShock Live 2 (ShellShockaggeddon?)

Undefined delivers another engrossing, addictive installment in the casual turn-based RPG series full of new races, treasure, streamlined battling, and more. Search for four fragments of a key throughout dungeons that are never the same twice in your quest to become a hero and enter the fortress of a legendary archmage.

Sarah Northway's massively popular zombie survival simulation strategy game gets an update in time for its anniversary on its mobile platforms! With the threat of winter hanging over your head and even more secrets and endings to discover, there's more reason than ever to pick up one of the most addictive turn-based sims around... for the first time, or again and again.

Nitrome sends you on a tiny, puzzling adventure in this 50x50 turnbased game. Plot a course through a dangerous dungeon filled with tricks, traps, and baddies, nabbing coins along the way. It's a small (literally!) and thoughtful little game that will deliver a clever, bite-sized dose of puzzle action.

Love roguelikes but wish all that permadeath would lighten up a little? This fabulously retro and witty game might just be for you. Venture deep into dungeons and other areas populated by bizarre monsters and strange people as you quest towards one of four different endings and unlock a total of 20 classes. Offering a surprising amount of depth, laughs, and addictiveness, it's a great casual introduction to the roguelike genre, and a lot of fun for fans.

A day in The Void just wouldn't be complete without some bandits, skeletons, necromancers and wolves attacking you. Following the first Legend of the Void game without skipping a scene, Legend of the Void 2 by Obelisk Games is an intense, item-heavy browser-based role playing game that takes a very serious approach to the genre, aiming to emulate the experience of a full-fledged console or PC RPG without all the overhead. The result is a great sequel that continues right where the first game left off, dumping you in a world packed with monsters on a quest to, well, just stay alive.

Solving disputes peaceably is for suckers! At least, that's what the family you create who stars in this turn-based strategy game seems to think! They've turned on their neighbours for all manner of seemingly innocuous reasons, and it's up to you to help them duke it out so they can get stronger and earn upgrades. Remember, kids. Violence solves everything... especially when it's three in the morning and the people next door won't stop playing Hey-Ya on repeat.

Beethro Budkin has had to face all sorts of challenges crawling through the first eight floors of Dugan's dungeon. Now though, he stands on the precipice of levels nine through twelve, and they're filled with Deadly Rooms of Death of all kinds! Caravel Games' series of turn-based puzzle-strategy games gets just a bit more hair-pulling in DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 3.

Oh, Deadly Rooms of Death! Never has a redundant name heralded such awesomeness! The easy part of Beethro Budkin's quest to rid King Dugan's dungeon of terrorizing baddies is over, as he descends to floors 5 through 8. But even an expert smitemaster like Beethro may be stymied without a little guidance from you. So ready your Really Big Sword and enter DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon Lite - Episode 2, another great installment in Caravel Games' series of turn-based puzzle-strategy games.

A classic turn-based strategy dungeon crawler, Deadly Rooms of Death finally comes to to the browser in King Dugan's Dungeon, from Caravel Games. Join Beethro Budkin, exterminator extraordinaire as he seeks to slay all the underground creatures in King Dugan's Dungeon. With its emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, Flash DROD is a perfect gateway for those intimidated by turn-based strategy, while still fun to hardcore genre fans looking for the challenge of finding optimal solutions. It's a bit slow to start, but stick around and you'll fall in love with the game's cunning design and impish sense of humor.

Monstrum shows you exactly why they lead the pack in turn-based dungeon-crawling RPG strategy with this follow-up to the immensely popular Monsters' Den: Book of Dread. Conquer three campaigns by mastering the abilities of your heroes as you venture deep into dungeons that will require careful strategy to defeat the creatures within.

Do you have what it takes to be a real Hero Mage? This turn-based, tactical strategy game brings the feel of tabletop RPG combat to your mobile device or browser. Take control of a small group of heroes on their battle-ridden path to victory over darkness in the realm of Papillion. It's like a tabletop game in your pocket!

When someone tries to block, show them that you ROCK! Tempa Labs brings a unique spin to the turn-based RPG genre in this bouncy strategy game where you shoot your heroes around the field, pinball style, dealing damage to monsters and earning levels. Simple but colourful and a lot of fun, it's a creative little title that's well worth a few minutes of your time.

The enthusiasm of "Alice is Dead" developer Hyptosis branches out into the turn-based RPG genre in his new game Relic, where the titular object might destroy the world in the wrong hands and it's up to your ragtag group of sexy and/or adorable adventurers to get it back. Featuring an array of imaginatively designed beasties for enemies and some lovely maps, this is a quick romp you can beat in a few hours. Saving the world needn't take all day.

Mission in Space: The Lost Colony is an extremely customizable turn-based strategy game with an easy-to-use interface and variety of challenges that will please players of any skill level. Plus it has a valuable lesson about the dangers of ventilation ducts. Spoiler alert: they contain aliens.

The time has come for adventure!... well, a little one, anyway! This simplified roguelike from Ido Yeheili offers three different heroes ready to delve into a dangerous dungeon in search of an evil Minotaur what needs slayin'. While definitely not quite as complex as other titles in the genre, Cardinal Quest offers an ease of use and engaging gameplay that's hard to beat and harder to put down.

Be a rogue, mage, or warrior and get your turn-based RPG fix as you struggle to stop an evil villain bent on a demonic ritual. Featuring solid writing, an excellent tutorial, and plenty of side-quests, it's amazing that Legend of the Void was all created by just one person.

Captain Beef is dead, but with monsters pouring out of the ruins and a mysterious masked man pulling their strings, the three town guardians on patrol can't stop to mourn. Stop an invasion in this short turn-based fantasy RPG that offers strategic gameplay and is the first chapter in a larger narrative.

Nine-ball is a unique form of pool in which players take turns pocketing balls, in order, beginning with the lowest numbered ball on the table and continuing until the last ball has been sunk. Turbonuke uses this premise as the basis of play in its latest game, Blueprint Billiards, a single-player, straightforward billiards game with some very nice features.

Aliens everywhere, and Sigourney Weaver is nowhere to be found! Looks like it's up to you and a few of your power-suited buddies to stop them in this good-looking turn-based strategy game. Deal with hostile and increasingly intelligent beasts while commanding a squad of soldiers you can level up and customise to your liking.

Only the best trained monsters can make it through LittleGiantWorld's Monster Arena, a turn-based rpg, adventure, and sim game all bundled into one neat package. Whether you'd love a fire-breathing companion or a game of rock-paper-scissors, Monster Arena has something for everyone to enjoy

As the Baroness Milena, you command the last of the troops of the kingdom of Emaeron, which has fallen to the forces of a demon horde. Using your mouse to control the various aspects of the game, it is your duty in Menara Games' turn-based strategy/tower defense mix, Demonrift TD, to restore the empire and send the enemy back to whatever depths from which they came.

Team Fabulous brings us an LGBTQ-friendly prototype adventure about a young person who ventures into a dark forest in search of their beloved. Battle personal demons as you risk it all for the promise (or even the idea) of a better feature in this flawed but profoundly hopeful narrative that any player can enjoy and identify with regardless of their identity or orientation.

Chess: Favorite pastime of Machiavellian rulers, rogue Artificial Intelligences and cool old guys in the park. The game that Goethe proclaimed as the touchstone of intellect. The sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe. The basis for programs as imposing as the human-crushing Deep Blue and as totally sweet as Interplay's Battle Chess. At JayIsGames, we're always on the lookout for quality casual versions of classic board games, and this release of Great Matemaster is just that. The focus here is on chess puzzles, and its huge wealth of content and polished presentation makes it something you should definitely check, mate.

Customize, train, and gear up your own fox-like creature to reclaim the fragments of the precious Star Stone and drive out the enemy monster invasion! What Vulpin Adventure may lack in depth is more than made up for in charm and a fair bit of nostalgia. You're bound to notice the nods made to beloved games of yore, and it's impressive how well this game manages to incorporate those features.

The Night Circus is a text-based advergame that requires Facebook or Twitter made by Failbetter Games in collaboration with the author of the book by the same title. By turns elegant, mystical, adorable, fantastic, ornate, and even delicious, it will pique your curiosity as effectively as it satisfies your craving for the most beautiful imagery of all: that which you see with your mind's eye.

Riding Shotgun is a Western-themed, turn-based strategy game on an 8 x 8 board where you must win shootouts against different computer opponents. Move your wagon onto different icons to attack your enemy and defend against attacks. It's a nicely-stylized and unique take on a traditional style puzzle game.

The second chapter in the Arkandian Legends series, Revenant provides all the enjoyment and adventure of its predecessor plus more. There are endless possibilities for tailoring this rpg adventure to your playing style, including three races of hero: Arkandian, Necretian and even a Demon/Ascended once you've completed the previous chapter. Finding Wizard Tola's House to catch him dabbling in necromancy or rallying your defenses against an army of orcs on the battlefield are just a tiny part of the vast fun in Revenant. Just don your Bunny Slippers of Brutality, equip your Katana of Alacrity and battle your way to glory!

In this turn-based match-3 battling game, adorable little creatures are locked in combat (in space!) and need you to swap gems, upgrade, and earn rubies to help defeat their opponents. The only mystery is why these cuddly astro-pets feel the need to wail on each other anyway. If snuggly little kittens can't get along with giant squids, is there hope for the rest of us?

Immortal Souls: Dark Crusade is a browser version of the downloadable strategy-RPG by Comic Book RPG. You play John Turner, a reluctant vampire armed with guns, claws, a baseball bat, and a sense of vengeance. In this turn-based game, you form chains of multi-colored icons to attack hordes of richly-animated bad guys in a comic-book like world. A new class system and added features enhance the gameplay over the original.

Hop into the Wayback Machine with Taro Ito's dungeon crawling RPG that hearkens back to a simpler time in gaming. How simple? Well, there's an evil witch, a magic orb, a tiny village, and a big, sprawling set of ruins full of monsters just waiting for you to hack and slash your way through. A loving homage to the earlier days of RPGs, The Haunted Ruins has a few surprises and is a simple but enjoyable romp with a lot of classic flair.

In Undefined's latest, you'll use match-3 to duel enemies and earn loot. Loot which you'll need to pay down the debt that your dad saddled you with while he goes gallivanting off. Wizard dads do that. Gallivant, I mean. The only question now is what Undefined will tackle next now that they've crossed off match-3. I humbly suggest full contact rock paper scissors.

Now that you've defeated that pungeon master, the five-man band is descending into a cave with an even greater threat: humidity. Turns out putting a cave of ice and a cave of fire next to each other isn't that great of an idea. The good thing about Flagstaff: Chapter Three is that it's more of the same, and since the previous games were fun, light-hearted time wasters well received by many in the JIG community as well as myself, more of the same can't go too wrong.

Be legendary! Be powerful! Be... pixellated? Kevin Glass' retro roguelike is currently in continued development, but don't be afraid to dip your toes into this top-notch casual experience designed to be picked up and played at any time by anyone. Sharped your sword, fletch your arrows, and... uh... spark your fireballs? There's adventure to be had!

Flagstaff remains more about the silly story and casual pace than about seriously challenging veteran RPG players, but the design is cute and distinctive, the heroes all have interesting and balanced powers, and the pace is perfect for a light bit of dungeon crawling. Chapter Two builds on the promise of Chapter One, and tantalizes for the next installment of the Flagstaff series.

Christine Love's Lake City Rumble II is not your run-of-the-mill fighting game, but instead offers an experience where choice and interpretation is everything if you want to pack a real punch into your attacks. Will you beat Qaisar, or accept defeat? Time to enter the arena.

Nerdook goes intergalactic with this cute, simple to learn RTS-lite title that stars you as a bounty hunter traveling from planet to planet deploying your robot army in an effort to bring The Bad Guys(tm) to justice. Build and upgrade your army as you take on the worst the galaxy has to offer in this clever little hybrid.

Though I am not usually a fan of turn-based strategy games, occasionally one comes along which is able to engage me with surface simplicity, and, before I know it, has me in the throes of complete addiction. Tic Tac Toe, a game created by Paul Neave as an apparent advertising tie-in for the popular breath-mint line, is one such game. A work that manages to reward cautious planning while retaining its power as a grim reflection on the nature of aggression, Tic Tac Toe presents an amusing challenge along with questions that cannot be easily dismissed.

Even among turn-based RPG games, Flagstaff is deliberate, relaxed, low-stakes. The adorable big-eyed and big-headed sprites only add to that feel. "Who's an adorable little skeleton? You are! You are!" Although you can't save mid-level, each individual level doesn't take too long, which makes this a great choice for a little working day gaming break where you want to relieve stress, not aggravate it.

Grab your shovel, sharpen your sword and get ready to have your debilitating case of gold fever cured, because it's time to do some treasure hunting. You won't even have to experience the back breaking labor or the legal and moral grey areas that come with excavating artifacts. Hunt for treasure, go adventuring, do battle and more in this fun, addictive RPG!

The dead walk! Fortunately, they also blow up pretty good, too. Break Point Studios delivers a fun if somewhat repetitive experience in this beautifully made RPG/turn-based strategy title about everyone's favourite target practice. Play one of three different characters and embark on a search to learn the source of the outbreak, finding powerful weapons and armor and learning to work the battlefield to your best advantage along the way.

While Dungeon Dice is in many ways a typical RPG, its twist on the genre is that instead of fighting monsters with sword and fang, you fight each other with dice, or "magical numeric cubes." In a way, this is no different from any other RPG, but moving a background mechanic to the forefront makes for a different experience.

Combining classic card battling with RPG elements, Ninjakiwi's ambitious fantasy game provides a surprisingly engrossing experience. When you find yourself conscripted into service for a nearby town, you're less than thrilled at this seemingly dull turn of events. But of course destiny has a funny way of working things out. Complex and involving, with the promise of future multiplayer, Aetheron is a meaty experience for fans of the genre, and definitely something to keep your eye on.

Arkandian Crusade is the first chapter in the new Arkandian Legends series from Undefined, a turn-based RPG with defense elements. Create a hero who will venture out into the world at the behest of your kind to combat the demon threat. With over sixty dozens, hundreds of items, magical spells, quests, and much more, expect to be busy for a very long time indeed.

When there's trouble in the galaxy, it's up to you to save the day as part of an elite group of mercenaries in this turn-based tactical sci-fi RPG from Toge Productions. Play alone or with a group of Facebook Friends as a Squad, cracking down on aliens and other trouble in order to level up your character. Featuring easy to pick up gameplay and a lot of polish, Planetary Conflict is a fantastic game best experienced with friends.

An expansion of the dogfighting turn-based strategy hit, SteamBirds: Survival, focuses itself on October 15th, 1940. You must do all you can to hold off the Axis forces over the city of London so that civilians can evacuate. There will never be a victory parade since your defeat is assured, but you will want to last as long as possible all the same. Choose your plane, and Godspeed.

This is your mission in Aah Little Atlantis, a pixelated turn-based strategy game; try to save as much of the Atlantean populace as you can, using nothing but floods, meteors, and the populace's own panicked fleeing. Your tools are floods and meteors, and you will deploy one of each on a single map tile, once every turn. Your charges are little Atlantean sprites, who will flee in terror from the ravaging deluge you let loose upon them, though they are oddly sanguine about meteors and will happily run toward them.

Toxers is turn-based exploration game where you have to save your city from the mutated bugs that have appeared in the wake of an ice cream factory explosion. You'll visit 17 different areas killing bugs, rescuing survivors and completing missions. Escape from the city won't be easy, especially with Bugzilla blocking the only route out of town.

London is Fallen. It has something to do with the Traitor Empress... or perhaps Hell... or perhaps... No, too dangerous to even speculate. You've left the Surface and now make your home there, in the Neath. Why did you do so? Write your own answers in this fascinating multiplayer roleplaying browser game from Fail Better Games.

If you've always wanted to go into space but golf wasn't your cup of tea (HA!), then try out this new spin on FunkyPear's physics series! Utilize the gravitational pull of planets to help you take out the opposing team in this turn-based game of space warfare. Unlock new weapons, earn achievements, upgrade your troops, and try to do it all under par.

Apokalyx is a turn-based RPG with a heavy focus on combat. Set 600 years after an apocalyptic event, you'll create a character and start fighting your way to being the top gladiator. Apokalyx works just as well in small doses as it does for long sessions of play. If you want a turn-based combat heavy RPG then this will keep you busy for a very long time.

In The Dark Times your main goal is to guide your young mage to the top ranking in the titular Book of Mages. The book is a listing of the top 100 mages in the world and you won't make it to number one by just gobbing around. You're going to have to do some real magic, you're going to have to go to arenas and defeat other mages in turn-based combat to raise your rank.

Oliver & The Basilisks is a turn-based, strategy, board game where you'll take control of the wizard Oliver. Your goal is to clear each level of basilisks either by using your magic spells or by maneuvering them into each other or into deadly objects. With three modes of game play and up to 14 spells, Oliver & The Basilisks offers a lot of variety.

It is the year 2000... wait, no, wrong The Humans are Dead reference. This strategic board game by Lethe Games puts you in the metal boots of one of four robot factions who move across the grid to claim resources, spawn units, create defensive structures and more in a clashing of tactical minds.

Warlight is a feature-rich strategy game along the lines of Risk, Galcon, or Dice Wars. It features both single and multiplayer modes that include user-made maps (such as Mr. T!) and a host of interesting gameplay additions such as cards and fog of war. You can even play games by e-mail! Warlight is a fabulous gaming experience for fans of the traditional game of Risk and for those who are yet to experience strategic gameplay and the thrill of world domination.

Epic Battle Fantasy 3 has taken such a huge jump up from the first two games that it seems like a whole new series. Where the previous RPGs focused almost entirely on the turnbased "battle" portion of the title, kupo707's latest effort remembers the "epic" part--provided you're okay with a definition of epic that includes kitten slaying, shark battering rams, cow outfits, the shoop-da-woop face, and copious amounts of Comic Sans.

In 2007, Mardek set a new standard for flash RPG gaming. Now, fans of the series can rejoice as not only the latest installment finally sees the light of day, but the previous titles begin a significant overhaul. The turn-based fantasy themed tale centers around Mardek, a hero who starts off the series with the modest hero-type ambition of rescuing a princess from a dragon, and winds up... well, you'll see.

Looking for a fight? Then try on the highly polished, turn-based combat oriented RPG from MINTgames. Former soldier Tradda just wants to live a peaceful life, but his King has one last mission from him and will not be denied. Journey across a massive map battling dozens of monsters and fiends in your quest to bring down a traitor.

Norapoly is a speedy miniaturization of Monopoly with some extra RPG strategy and survival tactics thrown in for good measure. The clean 8-bit-esque graphics fit nicely with the speedy gameplay, and give the five levels of this game a comfy, old-school feel. So forget the dice, your sword is now your weapon. Go ahead and tackle Norapoly (and possibly win second prize in that beauty contest).

CastleWars 2 is an unassumingly captivating turn-based strategy game that pits castle against castle, wall against wall, and decks of randomly selected cards against decks of randomly selected cards. Take turns with a computer player or a real human being as you draw from your pool of resources to play action cards that build your tower to the sky or crumble your opponent's castle to the ground.

Crush your foes in turn-based strategic sci-fi combat in this engaging game from Indigon. Choose one of three distinct races, each with their own campaign, in the race to uncover a secret unearthed in a far corner of the galaxy. Hoard your energy to build ships while guarding your warp gate and ultimately be the last one standing in this unique, addictive game of strategy.

A turn-based aerial dogfighting game may sound bland in writing, but as SteamBirds conclusively proves, it's the whole nine yards of awesome. Working from a top-down perspective, you fight a series of increasingly difficult enemies with your small squadron of planes. Set your course, unleash a fancy ability if necessary, and try to maneuver yourself to a direct line-of-sight to your foe to set your guns blazing. And, you know, don't get shot down yourself.

Androgynous teenagers with gravity-defying hair wandering a mysterious world armed only with cranky comebacks and improbably large weapons? Yes, everything you either love or hate about Japanese RPGs is waiting for you in a convenient Flash package in Ge.ne.sis, a turn-based tactical RPG by An Lieu.

Forget Beetlejuice, you're the ghost with the most! And you'll have to prove it in this strategic game if you ever want to get out of Hell. Easy to pick up but hard to put down, Hell Tour's addictive, board game style gameplay lacks polish and real punch, but is still devilishly entertaining.

Paradoxion Express is a flash-based version of Paradoxion, a download we featured back in April. Created by Russian game design team VSBgames, this free browser version features 60 levels of elegant logic-based combo-making gameplay.

The popular Battalion series continues with Ghosts, your solution to the daily ain't-go-no-tank blues. It's turn-based strategic warfare at its pixelated finest as the story continues. It's puns, explosions, and tactics galore. Will you emerge triumphant from the ten stage campaign? Or is it back to boot camp for you?

Battalion: Arena is a grand way to get the morally questionable thrill of outwitting a fellow human being with miniature tons of steel and explosives at your command. The multiplayer chapter of the Battalion series may not stray far from its Advance Wars roots, but then, Advance Wars is a great game.

The Metalix have hidden their power source deep within their lair, and it's up to you to seize it! If only you weren't so... naked. Dungeon crawl the night away in this addictive roguelike from Point Zero as you search for gold, items, weapons, and, yes, clothes on your way to stop the Metalix. With randomly generated treasure and dungeons, steel daddy-long-legs, giant eggs and killer babies, you're in for a long trip.

The Leon Wars is a solid gem of a turn-based strategy game, set in a fantasy world where monsters war against humans. It's surprisingly long and can be pleasantly challenging at times, and the tidy, gore-free presentation is easy on the eyes. If you've ever wanted to order a giant flaming sentient orb or a griffon rider into battle, this is the game for you.

Hex Empire is a casual turn-based strategy war game, occupying a comfortable spot between the simplicity of Risk and the number crunching of the Avalon Hill-style board games that inspired the whole soldiers-on-hexagons thing. It lets you jump right into battle without much fuss, and offers enough tactical depth to be addictive even after several wars have ended. A bit of a treat, really.

Bloody Fun Day is a refreshingly original turn-based strategy game from Urban Squall, built around the character of a cute little nihilistic, selfish grim reaper. Your objective is to score as many points as possible by reaping the Cuties, who populate their hexagonally gridded island like dense, colorful game pieces. Their crime is incessant happiness and adorability. Their punishment is a gratuitously violent death. Deceptively well-crafted and deep, Bloody Fun Day is a bloody good time.

Say hello to Campaign, a mud-slinging, fact-spinning, smashmouth brawl of a turn-based strategy game where victory is achieved only through beating your opponent into submission. Diplomatically, of course.

Battalion: Nemesis is a respectable attempt to translate the fast, accessible brain-play of Advance Wars to the realm of free online games, without directly treading on Nintendo's intellectual property. The gameplay is like a complex version of Rock-Paper-Scissors played out on a chess board, with major emphasis on positioning and choosing the right unit to do the right job.

Any avid Jay is Games reader will have, at one point or another, paid a visit to game hosting site Kongregate. The site features hundreds of developers, and has a veritable smorgasbord of games. But until now, the folks behind Kongregate had not created a game of their own. Finally, after months of development and a lengthy private beta, the site has thrown its proverbial hat into the ring with Kongai.

A marble placement, turn-based strategy game. The goal is to be the first player to place five marbles in a row. The rows can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. The game is a bit like Connect Four, but with a twist. Pentago is an award-winning board game from Sweden, and this Flash version allows you to play in a browser.

Land lubbers best be cowerin' below the decks, thar be a Mutiny going on! Some sea dog called Nitrome has riled up the crew with tales of booty and adventure, so grab yer peg leg and cutlass and prepare for a fight, Worms style!

If you've ever longed for a game to bring it on with animal-on-animal warfare, as in the tradition of Red Wall, you've come to the right place. Brute Wars is a turn-based RPG tactical strategy game where you pit your team of six creatures against opposing squads. The placement and order of their attacks adds up to a highly nuanced and rapid game of tactics that you won't want to miss.

Scorching Earth is an intriguing turn-based puzzle game in which you control the actions of an inferno as it seeks to devastate 50 levels worth of landscape. The levels are composed of square tiles, filled with various types of terrain—grasslands, water, trees, and so forth. Your goal on each puzzle is to destroy the required number of tiles. It's a good, solid, innovative puzzle game, and it's fun.

Tainted Kingdom is a lean, tactical warfare game from Krin, the creator of Sonny. You play a young nobleman assigned to a front-line unit in a lamentable war, only to find that your superiors are not who they seem. The gameplay is taut, playing out as a real-time dance of rock-paper-scissors match-ups. Do you have the skill to lead in battle?

Proximity is a classic turn-based strategy Flash game that is somewhat like a cross between Risk and Go. It is surprisingly simple to learn and takes about 5 minutes to play. You can play against the computer, or against a friend at the same computer.

What do you get when you put Global Warming, Peak Oil, Nuclear War and good old-fashioned oligarchy in a blender? You get Fallout meets Elite ...in a browser! Caravaneer is a game by Dmitry Zheltobriukhov that has you playing a caravan leader in a post-apocalyptic desert, trading goods from town to town while fending off hungry raiders. It's got turn-based tactical fighting, strategic economic decision-making, and a political storyline! Tactics, economics and politics!

The goal of Fluke Ball is to throw objects into the mysterious waves of force surrounding the office microwave, and knock out your opponent's objects when necessary. It's essentially shuffleboard, but sideways and with gravity. It sounds complicated, and it is at first, but it feels instinctive after some experimentation. And once you break through the layer of initial confusion, you'll have an whole miniature world of strange physics to explore.

Chess is a classic, easy to learn and hard to master. What would happen if chess was bitten by a zombie and then rose again as an undead shadow of its former self? You'd get Tomb Chess, an intriguing variation on the dynamic, where two ghoulish armies battle across a graveyard.

Coming out of Wildsnake Software, from the chilled steppes of Russia, comes an entry into our 4th Casual Gameplay competition: Chap Hai - Way Of The Dragon. But what is the "Way Of The Dragon"? Does it involve superhuman martial arts, or maybe a method of braising reptile meat? Actually, it involves flicking marbles at each other. It's Zen baby.

The game of Buggle pits 2 to 4 players against one another to see who can befriend the most buggles (which are sort of like ambulatory cloudberries with faces) over the course of 10 rounds. Each round begins with 60 of the little nippers bouncing around in a rectangular play field. Eventually, they will pause and wait for you to pick a location for your control point, which is your primary means of buggle recruitment.

Ballistic Wars is a fast-paced, turn-based strategy puzzle game from our 4th game design competition that earned it the third place prize. Work your way through 15 challenging levels against a mad professor bent on blowing up, well, just about everything. Simply click on your "troops", represented by camouflaged balls of varying sizes and special abilities, to launch attacks against the opposing forces.

Taking a light-hearted approach to a normally serious and complex genre, Strategy Defense is a casual tactics game along the lines of Ogre Battle or Final Fantasy Tactics. It's your job to defend the king from the incoming enemy. Move your character on the field, attack enemies, raise your stats and buy new weapons with an easy-to-use interface. It's a bare-bones tactics game that is inviting even for non-strategy fans to enjoy.

Chat Noir is a turn-based puzzle game based on a very simple idea: darken the spots to confine the cat and keep it from escaping off the edges of the play field. Each new game presents you with a random arrangement of pre-darkened spots, and the rest is up to you.

Replay 2 : The Sequel is a unique sequel in that the first game never saw a release. Instead, the code was rebuilt from the ground up and a "2" attached to its name. This turn-based puzzle game also implements the "replay" theme in a unique and challenging way, one that will force you to think ahead and calculate your moves carefully.

Jelly Battle pits your Jelly gender-nondescript person against three others in a multiplayer, turn-based, fast-paced, destruction-laden, free-for-all battle OF DOOM!!! It's also one of those dastardly games that make it oh-so-easy to play "just one more round."