Strategy, tower defense and war games are some of the most popular free games that you can find online. To save you from having to search through all of the rubbish (and there really are some rubbish games out there) I have made this list of what I think are 5 of the best free online strategy games. They are all browser based flash games, which means that you don't have to sign up for a membership account or download any software, you can just follow the link which I have included with each game description to play it straight away. But if you want to play a more advanced game for free, and you don't mind downloading a game client and / or signing up for a free memberships account, then keep an eye on the links which I have included for my reviews of some of the best MMORPG, RTS and FPS games.

Warfare 1917 is a first world war fighting game in which you can choose to take control of either the British or the German army. Like the first world war itself it is all about trench warfare, and you have to create waves of various kinds of troops to occupy your trenches and then when you are ready to go 'over the top' and cross no-mans land to attack your enemies trenches. The further you go through the game the more different units become available to you, such as tanks, snipers, and officers who increase the effectiveness of any other troops they are close to. You can also order various kinds of air attack, mortar fire and gas attack to hit the enemy without having to leave the relative safety of your trenches. One of the things that I like about this game is the fact that there are two different ways to win (and lose) every level. you can either take control of all the territory, or you can make them give up by reducing enemy morale to 0.

Play Warfare 1917 Here

The basic concept of this game is pretty simple, the graphics are nothing special, there is only one map and no different levels or options, but somehow school wars manages to be one of the most addictive free games ever made. When I first found it I played for many hours. The game takes place on a square checked board, with each small square representing 1 piece of territory in a school yard. You choose to play as one of the four coloured teams, each one of which starts in one corner of the board, and each one of which has it's own unique characteristics. To win the game you have to take over the whole yard, killing off the other gangs to do so.

Play The School Wars Here

Gemcraft is on of the most popular free tower defense games online, and I like it because it's a bit different from the standard tower defense games which are so common. You still have a pathway along which waves of creeps will come at you, and your aim is still to destroy them all before they get to the other side. But rather than building towers to destroy them you already have towers in place, and your job is to create and combine gems which are used to give attaking power to the towers. You can use gems as bombs to throw at the creeps, and as you go through the game various new attacking options will open up.

Play GemCraft Here

 I'm not actually sure whether this classes as a strategy game or not, but I guess it probably does. I really love this game, possibly because I grew up playing worms on the original playstation console and this is kind of similar. Basically you choose whether you want to play as angels or as demons and then you wander around the screen finding various weapons to throw across the landscape to hit your opponents by choosing the trajectory and power to use. Number 2 is a definite improvement on the first sling wars game which just had rocks for you to throw, as this one has a selection of weapons including some that explode, some which start fires and so on. You can also spend the points which you earn by winning levels to get better weapons.

Play Sling Wars 2 Here

Frontline Defense is a more standard format tower defense game than GemCraft, but it is a good one. You have 12 different options for towers to build upgrade and sell if you want to destroy the waves of creeps and work your way through the different maps and levels to complete the game.

 Play frontline Defense Here