Every village matters when one unlucky swing can rewrite the campaign.
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The Battle for Wesnoth is a free strategy game released under Open Source (GPL-2.0). It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, needs about 700 MB of disk space, and requires no account, payment or trial. On a computer, the fastest route is the PlayBound Launcher. On a phone or tablet, use the official store or site instead.
Choose how to install
Install with PlayBound or download from the official source without the launcher.
Install the PlayBound Launcher, then find The Battle for Wesnoth and press Install. The launcher downloads the official release and unpacks it. This is the fastest route and it never uses third-party mirrors.
Alternatively, download The Battle for Wesnoth directly from the official site at https://www.wesnoth.org. Always download from the official source — third-party mirrors of free games are a common malware vector.
The Battle for Wesnoth is also on Steam and is free there. Open the store page and press Play Game to add it to your library.
steam://install/599390Windows
Run the downloaded installer and follow the prompts. If Windows SmartScreen warns about an unrecognised publisher, that is normal for open-source projects without a paid code-signing certificate — choose More info, then Run anyway.
macOS
Open the downloaded .dmg and drag the app into Applications. On first launch macOS may refuse to open it as unidentified — right-click the app and choose Open to approve it once.
Linux
Check your distribution's package manager first, which is usually the easiest route. Otherwise download the AppImage from the official site, mark it executable and run it.
chmod +x *.AppImage && ./*.AppImageLaunch the game and look at the settings menu before your first session — resolution and control defaults are worth checking. The Battle for Wesnoth needs roughly 700 MB of free disk space.
Minimum
1.6 GHz CPU · 2 GB RAM · Any GPU · 1 GB storage
Recommended
2.4 GHz CPU · 4 GB RAM · Any modern GPU · 2 GB storage
Yes, entirely. Wesnoth is open-source under GPL-2.0 with no purchases or advertising. Every official campaign and all community add-ons are free.
The official campaigns alone run to well over a hundred hours across roughly a dozen storylines, and the in-game add-on server hosts hundreds of additional community campaigns.
Broadly yes — hex-grid turn-based tactics with units that gain experience and advance. Wesnoth uses probabilistic combat resolution and terrain-based defence modifiers, and has far more content, but no permadeath outside optional settings.
Yes, both online and hotseat, with an active community and a long-standing competitive ladder.
Yes. Wesnoth has been in continuous development since 2003 and continues to receive releases.
Yes. The Battle for Wesnoth supports up to 8 players. You can join a public community server from the PlayBound server browser, have PlayBound start a dedicated server for your group, and host a game on your own PC. PlayBound Connect handles the setup: start a party with your friends, pick how you want to play, and everyone launches into the same game from the PlayBound launcher, with the dedicated server started for you if you choose one. It also supports hotseat play. There is no subscription and no paid multiplayer tier.