Battle Brothers

Battle Brothers is a 2017 turn-based tactics game from the German studio Overhype, which left early access that March. You run a mercenary company in a setting inspired by medieval Germany. On an open map you travel between towns, take contracts, trade and recruit, and the company's money has to cover wages and food every day.

Combat is turn-based on hexes with action points and fatigue. Mercenaries are ordinary people with backgrounds, farmers, thieves, disowned nobles, and traits that shape what they are good for. They can be killed for good or come back from a fight with lasting injuries.

It is the best modern game about running a band of hired soldiers. Every man has a history and a price, the world does not care about you, and a single bad battle can end a long campaign. Its combat is tough and honest about positioning, shield walls and fatigue.

It is very hard, and its early hours are a struggle that many players do not get past. Its look is functional.

Battle Brothers is the closest modern relative of Jagged Alliance 2's campaign: a company of named individuals paid every day, a map to roam, contracts to take, and a fight on every turn of the road. It moves the idea to a medieval world and makes it harsher.