I didn't much care for Heroes 6 or King' Bounty at all. I thought the way they pushed Heroes 6 was dishonest, because it wasn't especially cinematic at all. And the races themselves didnt feel especially balanced, and 5 had that problem as well but was a better game otherwise. And King's Bounty I dont really care for because there's no sense of a singular enemy force. You're just sort of running into random enemies, you're never being chased down by an evil hero or worrying about your home base coming under attack. I found it super dull, honestly.
Civ 5 (as it is now), X-Com, Fire Emblem POR and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 are what immediately came to my mind with this. A2 doesnt get enough credit for how interesting (I thought) the judge system could make things. POR gets a lot of credit for the pure insanity behind the time travel aspect even if the game is waaaaay easier than previous entries because of the team up system (which could have been solved by giving the enemy the same ability). Civ 5 as it works now make conquering harder and cultural victory easier, and it can't be easy to make the options for winning other than "kill everything" more appetizing. X-Com kind of speaks for itself, I feel like it rejiggered the genre in a way that it hasnt been since the original FFT introduced most people to this sort of game in 98 or Disgaea back in 03 (yes it was a decade ago).
I'll go ahead and throw honorable mention at Shadow Run just because its been so long since that universe had a game deservering of the name. Its essentially x-com mechanically, right down to the icons, but x-com with elves is no bad thing. And the hacking stuff, while underdeveloped, was interesting for sure.
And I'm really not sure why people are bringing up Tactics Ogre. Good game for sure, also about a decade older than what the topic is asking for. Reading is fundamental. But if we're bringing up old stuff, Age of Wonders 2 and its expansion are criminally underrated.
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