Best Sandbox Battle Games

Simulating battles on a large scale is exciting. Sandbox battle games give players a chance to throw armies at each other to see who will win, and to engineer a devastating army composition that can stand against any force. Whether it’s in the intricate world of Warhammer, featuring classic fantasy races, or dialed up to eleven with over-the-top action and ragdoll physics, players can test their strategic skills in these incredible sandbox battle games.

8 Easy Red 2

Immersive World War 2 Simulator

• Release Date: November 10, 2020
• Developer: Marco Amadei
• Platform: Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Steam

For fans of the older Battlefield games, Easy Red 2 is an immersive grand-scale sandbox that will plunge players into combat alongside a slew of period-accurate weapons, thundering tanks, and deadly aircraft. With captivating attention to detail, Easy Red aims to create a sense of realism in its massive fields of battle while giving players the freedom to approach warfare with freedom.

Aerial combat and destructive buildings collide to make an ever-changing landscape that leaves fans with a perfect stage to set any kind of fight upon. Sub-objectives also help to point units of soldiers towards small victories – taking out an anti-tank weapon, or capturing an airbase to cut off enemy support.

7 Extremely Realistic Siege Warfare Simulator

Strategic Cartoon Violence

• Release Date: September 8, 2022
• Developer: Screambox Studio
• Platform: Steam

If the realism and immersive nature of Easy Red 2 are too intense, fans of battle simulators should try Extremely Realistic Siege Warfare Simulator. Here, soldiers are faceless and colorful and can be given basic commands on where to go and what to attack.

The campaign will challenge players to use different techniques to be able to conquer the missions, but the main draw here is the ability to take control of an individual soldier to help in the attack — and the multiplayer mode. Online players can give their armies commands and try to make use of cavalry, siege towers, trebuchets, and so much more. Definitely worth a try.

6 Mount & Blade: Warband

Historical Adventuring With Expansive Mod Support

For players who want to have a little more freedom in their approach to a sandbox world, Mount & Blade: Warband lets players take control of a faction and begin their quest in a kingdom ruled by nobles, raided by bandits, and roamed by gangs of merchants who roll from city to city. Players can make themselves powerful allies of the nobles to clutch at power, or start raiding their overlords to bring them down.

The political possibilities are impressive too; with a powerful enough army, fans can take prisoners, marry into wealth and privilege, or simply burn rivals to the ground to become the king of Calradia. The scope of freedom makes this a perfect sandbox to fight for.

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5 Total War: Warhammer 3

Fantasy Fights For The Mortal Realms

One of the most recognizable real-time strategy game titles, Total War‘s Warhammer series pits fantasy races from across the classic Games Workshop setting against each other. Total War: Warhammer 3 lets players take control of a whole host of factions, and for fans that own the past installments in the series, the Immortal Empires campaign includes every single lord that was in the previous games, meaning that the possibilities are huge.

The Skaven rat men, the undead forces of the Vampire Counts, the pox-ridden plague bearers of Nurgle, and the gunpowder-wielding Dwarfs are all there for players to experiment with in real-time strategy combat that puts all others to shame.

4 Rising Front

World War One Sandbox

• Release Date: 14th January 2023
• Developer: Sandstorm Studios Inc.
• Platform: Steam

Another simulated sandbox that seeks to emulate real warfare, Rising Front uses faceless troops to symbolize the masses that fought in the First World War. With period-accurate weaponry and AI that uses any cover formed by explosive artillery as defense, Rising Front is an immersive and deeply strategic game that puts players into the fray from a first-person perspective.

Troops can be commanded, like in a real-time strategy game, but when they die, ragdoll physics is activated and often interferes with the fighting of men behind them. Huge artillery pieces can be commanded, and the thousands of moving pieces all contribute to a battlefield filled with chaos that truly feels like a toolbox for experimentation and excitement.

3 Shieldwall

Silly Roman Strategy Sandbox

• Release Date: 18th April 2023
• Developer: Nezon Production
• Platform: Steam

For those players looking for something lighter, Shieldwall never takes itself too seriously. Putting fans into the shoes of the commander of a unit of Roman soldiers, players will be expected to use ancient tactics to defend their points while capturing those of the enemy.

The game is fast-paced and super light, letting players upgrade their banners and their soldiers’ abilities on the fly, and the fighters will always surround the player, meaning that the game can turn into hack-and-slash mayhem at any point. Players can aim spears that their whole unit will throw for ranged damage and order their soldiers to hold, guard, or charge to fully encapsulate the Roman strategies of war.

2 Total Tank Simulator

Vehicular Mayhem

• Release Date: 20th May 2020
• Developer: Noobz From Poland
• Platform: Steam

Another colorful cartoon sandbox that is packed full of unit types, Total Tank Simulator sees players fighting in a campaign that reimagines World War 2, putting players in control of one country of their choice throughout the conflict. They will be able to recruit various vehicles, weapons, and soldiers to engage with the enemy on every front.

Fans can also jump into control of any of the units, flying planes or driving tanks into the front lines. Special units, specific to each country, allow the game to drift into unserious territory, as Russian players can recruit bears wielding miniguns and the USSR can field an army of explosive kamikaze dogs.

1 Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

The Original Sandbox Battle Simulator

The game that spawned a hundred look-alikes, Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, or TABS as it has come to be known, features online multiplayer, a series of progressively more difficult campaigns, and a free play sandbox, each of which lets players build up an army inside a certain point range to face against an enemy lineup. The units start with what fans of the genre would expect — shielded soldiers and javelin throwers — but quickly spiral out of control, letting players field mammoths, vampires, and gunslinging cowboys.

Fans can always possess the units to assume control and use incredible and hilarious powers for themselves, which will often be needed on harder missions. The freedom, creativity, and sheer scope of TABS make it a must-play.

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