Definitions

Strategy (as per dictionary.com): the science or art of combining and employing the means of war in planning and directing large military movements and operations.

Most strategy games revolve around commanding military forces and using strategy to defeat one's enemy. They do not often involve controlling individual unit actions, such as driving and shooting. Rather, most strategy games involve building a war machine (often involving economic control), creating an army, and then controlling the army until the enemy is destroyed.

Not all strategy games involve war. In fact, many games concentrate on other areas, such as building an economy or controlling a person's actions. Examples include the Sims series, SimCity, etc., as well as many free games. However, the main purpose of this blog is discussion of games involving military strategy. So when I refer to strategy games, I am referring to those centered on military control and waging war.

In this realm of strategic games, I personally divide games into one of two categories. The first is operational strategy. Most strategy games fit into this category. These would include many RTS (Real-Time-Strategy) games. They are simpler, generally involving balancing a few resources, building an army, and then controlling the army and units. They are on a smaller scale, with maps taking up the space of a few square miles or less, and unit sizes smaller than divisions. Examples include the Command and Conquer series, Age of Empires, Star Wars: Empire at War, and the like.

My second category is grand strategy. This usually involves controlling an entire country, and involves economics, demographics, politics, and of course, the building of a military. The scale ranges from continents to the entire globe, while the player controls units like divisions, corps, and armies. These games take more skill in my opinion, due to the need to balance large amounts of resources, please your population, and wage war on a large front. Examples of this game style are the Superpower and Hearts of Iron series.

In all posts, comments and questions are welcome, and I will do my best to answer them fully. More game-specific content to come soon.