Sword of Aragorn. 

It had it's flaws. Plenty of them. But there hasn't been anything even close to it on the market before or after. Or if there has been I havent even noticed them because all the flaws the design itself has.. . I absolutely loved it and I guess it was the reason I decided code 'my first game'.

MOM - Master of Magic - It's the rose colored glasses, I expect.

SMAC - Alpha Centauri - I love the idea of a having a story in my Civ game, I don't know why nobody else has pulled it off, I'm hoping FH will.

SP - Steel Panthers - Tactical tank battles, what's not to like, I think they peaked at II though.

FF - Freedom Force - Superheros, what's not to like? It's aged pretty well.

TOAW Operational Art of War - Enough pieces that it doesn't feel like a puzzle game without the interface complexity of some other games. I'm a bit biased though.

One only.  MoM, then? I couldn't really make a poll out of this, not with the sheer number of choices available. But it's interesting how many are choosing MoM or Alpha Centauri.

Can I say Final fantasy tactics? It was strategic, and turn based.

Alpha Centauri and MOOII; only games I still go back to that are WAY old and (should be) obsolete by now; something about the whole character & experience of both games, plus the satisfaction of beating an AI that just flat out cheats (MOOII), and smacking the planet/enviroment itself in AC - how ya liking my carbon footprint now,  mindworms!

Definitely Alpha Centauri. It might not have aged very well (does anyone still play it), but the combination of a good TBS, the setting, and the (philosophical) background information makes it the standard to beat in my opinion.

I've plugged it often enough I think, but for the fans; check out the Planetfall mod for CIV. It really captures the atmosphere while at the same time updating the gameplay.

I played Alpha Centauri last year again, and it still played pretty well.  Graphics are total shit now, hard to even look at, but the gameplay is still as good as just about any strategy game released now.  

Pushing it, really. The battles in nearly every RPG, past and present, are strategic. I really loved the battles in The Magic Candle, and the AI was great, but it was a diehard old style RPG. The only RPGs where battles weren't strategic, such as Arcanum, had really terrible combat systems, in my opinion.

Yeah, I reinstalled it about a year ago, along with the expansion. It stays.

In that order:

X-Com

MoO2

MoM

HoMM2&3

Warlords 3

I have JA2 but never managed to not get killed anytime I tried to play.

Be sure you aren't playing the expansion or the Wildfire version.  Both are hardcore.  Much harder than the original release of JA2.

If JA2 is the problem, just remember cover and flank.  Those are the most important things.

Only one, would probably have to be SMAC. It had a better AI than MOM, at least, that's what I remember.

My top 10 would be:

1. Homm 3 (first and most addictive I played) 

2. Kings of Bounty (awesome tactical battles)

3. Civ 4 (cool soundtrack, pretty hard :-))

4. Age of Wonders 2 (nice graphics + tactical battles)

5. Disciples 2 (better tactical battle than HoMM3 but worse than KoB)

6. etherlords 2 (pretty hard)

7. FE (nice graphics/cool combination of gameplays/great potential)

8. HoMM 5 (close to HoMM 3..had to play)

9. Heroes of war and money (HoMM-world online...and for free)

10. battles of Wesnoth (cool idea...and for free)

Master of Magic. Braindead AI, total lack of balance, yet such an amazing, captivating and replayable game. 

Heroes series. I enjoyed all of them except 1 (too basic for me) and 6 (shit as shit can be). The perfect game to play with friends. The third one was the best.

Jagged Alliance 2. Simply put, the best tactical combat ever. And not only that, the RPG elements were also strong, mercs had much more personality than all emotionally engaging bioware NPCs combined.

Master of Orion 2. Similar to MoM, but somehow less epic and gripping.

Alpha Centauri. The best Firaxis game, Civ2, only better.

Warlords 3. Also a great multiplayer game.

Civilization 2. Fond memories.

King of the Dragon Pass. Amazing game with incredible details, ridiculously obscure.

Not top ten. Just one. That's all.

It's been a long time and my memory dims but ...

Master of Magic was likely my favorite.

War in Russia would be a close second.

Elemental Fallen Enchantress  is really my favorite.  I had mentioned to a friend that I had played GalCiv on OS/2  and had also liked MoM.  He then suggested I might like FE.

My top 10:

Master of Magic (My favorite since we were asked to pick just one)

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic

Dominions 3

Age of Wonders 

Civ 4: BtS + FFH/MOM

Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Rome Total War + Europa Barbarorum

Medieval 2 Total War + Third Age Middle Earth

Castles 2

Shining Force 1/2

Seriously?! I played through it on each available path quite easily. Granted, the blinking creatures were a prob at first. But once I knew what the nescessary spells were, it got quite easy to beat them. Same with the one dude that kept casting spells that increased your casting costs and such.

Could be it. Not sure though since it's ages ago that I tried.

List of game that I am played more than 1-2 times. Order is chronological. I can't choose what is better because they are too different

1) MoM. Dumb AI, nearly unplayable at middle stage but rich tactics and strategies. Kiting sky dragons with Allora was great

2) VGA planets and STARS! I fall in love to multiplayer strategies

3) Dominions 2,3 Complex, Rich, Detailed.

4) MOO2

5) Eador Good tactic combat and best campaign. Campaign in meaning of storyline and gameplay. Conquering shards, making decisions, nonlinear choises and so on ...

ps

FE + LH are also in list war of magic was too unstable on my computer

Age of Wonders 1

still

..followed closely by Heroes of Might and Magic II/III, still.

Tough to choose, I know, but still:

Only one, and it must be turn-based.

If you can't pick one, you are officially a loser, and will only be allowed to play LH against Brad, who really isn't too good at it. Sorry, but standards must be kept.

Combat Mission CMx1

Honorable mentions to Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, Silent Storm, V for Victories series, and Stars!  I have fond memories of these games.  Original XCom, RoTK, MoM, GalCiv and Civ series were/are quite nice too.

Very tough choice. I would have to go for Civ IV BTS because it is the most fun and balanced empire building game I have played.

It was very hard to go past MoM, Master of Orion 2 and Alpha Centauri though, on another day I might have picked one of them.

Alpha Centauri\Alien Crossfire

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is my favorite with Galactic Civilizations 2 coming in close second. FE:LH and Stardrive are both excellent and I'm currently busy exploring and learning them.

I have a very hard time imagining that I will ever again enjoy a turn based game as much as HoMM 3, but I hope I'm wrong about this. :)