Total Battle is the outlier on our list, and deliberately so. It has castles, armies and clans like the others, but its world belongs to fantasy rather than history: elves, barbarians, demons, undead, dragons and beasts roam the map, and your army eventually includes titans and elementals alongside catapults and guardsmen. If the other five games are historical novels, this one is a tabletop campaign.
Under the monsters there is a familiar empire builder from Scorewarrior. You develop a city, research technologies at the academy, train troops at a military base and join a clan. The twist is in how the game handles distance and heroes, and in the political contests that give clans something to argue about every week.
A city at the centre and an academy behind it
Your city balances prosperity and defence, and the official site is right to call construction the vital part of the game. Production buildings feed growth, the military base trains your army, and the academy runs research across several technology branches. The progression will be familiar to anyone who has played the other games here, but it moves at a brisk pace that suits players who like frequent visible upgrades.
Research is where you decide what kind of empire you are building. Different branches favour economy, military strength or fighting monsters, and the choices compound over weeks. We found it worth committing to a clear direction early instead of spreading research thinly. A city that specializes in hunting the map's creatures grows quickly; one that dabbles in everything grows slowly and feels aimless.
Portals and the end of the long march
Total Battle's most distinctive mechanic is the portal. Instead of waiting hours for troops to trudge across the map, you place a portal at a chosen point and strike from there. It removes one of the classic frustrations of the genre, and it changes the feel of combat completely. Fights happen in the moment, not overnight, which makes the game friendlier to players who cannot set alarms.
The trade-off is that the slow tension of an incoming attack, the hallmark of Tribal Wars and Travian, mostly disappears. There is less dread and less drama. Some of our reviewers loved that; others missed the feeling of watching a timer and organizing a defence. If marching armies are what draw you to medieval strategy, Total Battle will feel a little weightless. If waiting is what puts you off, it is a relief.
Captains, crypts and a dragon with your name on it
Heroes and captains carry the RPG side of the game. Each has skills for different situations: one specializes in fighting monsters, another in duels. You level them, craft and enchant equipment found in ancient crypts, upgrade it with gems at the blacksmith and eventually raise a dragon of your own, give it a name and summon it against dangerous enemies.
This layer is where Total Battle is most fun and most commercial. Hunting monsters and clearing crypts is satisfying, with a steady trickle of equipment and progress. It is also where the shop focuses, and the game openly includes optional random item purchases. We enjoyed the hero progression without paying, but it was obvious that the fastest captains and best gear on the leaderboards belonged to players who spent.
Clans, the Senate and the weekly throne
Clans give you company and a shared goal, and the political layer is livelier than in most games of this type. There is Senate voting, and a weekly event called Clash for Throne in which diplomacy matters alongside military strength. The ruler distributes rewards and titles and can even trigger global effects, which gives the whole map a reason to care about who sits on the throne.
Our clan was spread across several countries, and the weekly rhythm suited a group that could not always be online together. Contests gave us a fixed time to coordinate, and the rest of the week was spent hunting monsters and building. For a solo-minded player, Total Battle is the most forgiving game here; for a clan player, it offers just enough politics to keep conversations lively.
Total Battle: the first week of the siege
- Follow the opening quests to unlock the military base and academy quickly; they pace early growth well.
- Choose one research direction, such as monster hunting, and commit to it for the first couple of weeks.
- Hunt low-level monsters on the map to level captains and collect early equipment for the blacksmith.
- Join an active clan before the first weekly throne contest so you see how the political layer works.
- Place portals thoughtfully; they are your answer to distance, so learn the map around your city first.
What we love
- Portals remove the long marches that put many players off the genre.
- Captains, crypts and dragons add satisfying RPG-style progression.
- Weekly throne contests give clans a regular, political shared goal.
- The most forgiving game here for solo players with irregular schedules.
What grates
- Random item purchases sit close to the core hero progression.
- Without long marches, attacks lose much of their tension and drama.
- Fantasy units dilute the medieval flavour for history fans.
The lord Total Battle needs
Total Battle is for players who love medieval empire building but also want monsters, magic and heroes they can level like an RPG. It suits solo-minded players with unpredictable schedules, and clans that enjoy a weekly political contest more than round-the-clock warfare.
Total Battle: the last stand
Total Battle is the liveliest game on our shortlist and the least historical. Portals, captains, crypts and dragons make every session busy, and the weekly throne contests give clans something real to fight over. The price of that energy is a shop that leans on random item purchases and combat with less tension than the classics. Pick it when you want fantasy with your castles.
