There are a number of decent strategy games that can be legally found online for free. While some were creative freeware projects, others were released by their developers, and all can save you a good deal of money. I have listed five of the better strategy games that can be downloaded in their entirety below.
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is by far one of the best games of any genre that can be found online for free. It was released as an ad supported game by developer Stainless Steel Studios with support from the US Air Force, and allows players to command the Roman, Greek, Persian, and Greek civilizations. A unique innovation was added by allowing the player to take control of the civilization’s hero for a first-person experience. The graphics are excellent, but the download is quite hefty at 2.43 GB. More information and a download link can be found at
http://www.megagames.com/freeware/rise-and-fall-civilizations-war-free-full-game?tab=description
Freeciv is quite different from Rise and Fall, but players may still find it quite addictive. It is a Free and Open Source turn-based empire building game that leads players through their chosen civilization’s path of development. The maps can be quite large with a number of players, so the game often takes a while to complete, but this does not detract from its entertainment value. The project can be found online at http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page, along with its most recent downloads.
Bos Wars is a futuristic RTS that has decent enough graphics to recommend itself to the casual player. In some respects, the gameplay is similar to that of Starcraft I, but Bos Wars is original enough to still be fun. Like Freeciv, Bos Wars is an open source game, and it can run on a number of operating systems. The official website which has information and downloads is http://www.boswars.org/.
Battle for Wesnoth is something of a unique turn-based strategy game that involves a number of classical fantasy elements. The game involves some of tactical elements, and may remind the player of older Fire Emblem releases. The game can be played online with others or downloaded completely for free at http://wesnoth.org/. The client size is around 300 MB.
Lastly, no mention of free strategy games could go without Command and Conquer: Red Alert. The game was recently released as freeware, and although it is quite old, the gameplay behind the graphics is still quite sound. The main plot is pretty much Commies vs. Yanks, though for more information you may want to check out the game at http://openra.res0l.net/.
Hopefully, at least one of these games will prove enjoyable enough to save you both time and money. You can have a look at rent Minecraft server here to know more about strategy online games. The servers are really affordable and easy to use. You can host and play your favorite games along with your friends and family as well.