Strategy games that don't bury you in timers

Mobile strategy has a reputation problem, and it's deserved. Too many games are just waiting rooms dressed up as war.

But the genre still produces real gems. Ironhold Command is one — it asks you to actually think about terrain and supply instead of tapping an upgrade and waiting four hours for it to finish.

When you're trying a new strategy game, the fastest tell is the early game. If the first thing it does is start a build timer and nudge you toward speeding it up, close it. If it hands you a tricky little map to solve, stay.

Good strategy respects your brain. It's out there — you just have to wade past a lot of timers to find it.