Ascension to the Throne can also be found DRM free at Fireflower games;
http://fireflowergames.com/shop/ascension-to-the-throne/

Thanks for the suggestions. Northmark looks like something I'd enjoy, even if it doesn't strictly meets the criteria, so given the sale price I'd definitiely be buying it.

Yes indeed. Seems like this is a good term to search by for the games I'm looking for.

I've marked Kardwill's post as the since it's most detailed, but thank you to everyone else for the good suggestions. And don't let the fact that the thread is marked as Solved prevent you from dropping more titles.

Tactical RPG is indeed the term most used for this kind of game.

Some recommendations:

First, I'd recommend you give the Heroes of Might and Magic series another chance. Sure, it is more a strategy game with RPG elements than an RPG game with strategic combat but it isn't as strategy heavy as you might think. You don't really have to build cities, they already exist on the map and you can take them (or not if it isn't required by the goals on that map) and the only thing you need to build is some buildings in them that allow you to recruit different units or give you other advantages. The Heroes series is quite similar to King's Bounty (Actually, the very first King's Bounty from 1990 was the predecessor to the Heroes of M&M series!) and if you like King's Bounty chances are that you will also like the Heroes series.

If you had a closer look at the Heroes series and found that you also like strategy games with RPG elements you might also want to check out the Disciples series (Both games are on GOG.) and Battle for Wesnoth. Granted, Battle for Wesnoth is almost pure strategy in a fantasy setting but you can't argue with the price since it's freeware. :-)

If we go back in the RPG direction you will hardly find games in which you command troops since in RPGs you commonly control one or several characters. So the more RPG you like in your game the less likely are you going to find troop recruitement. So most of the below are actually RPGs with tactical turn based combat but without troops.

You were already given a few good recommendations there like Blackguards or Legends of Eisenwald (even though that also reminds me very much of the Heroes series). If you want to try Blackguards there is one important thing you must do before playing: Read the manual! The game is based on an actual RPG system that isn't very well known outside of Germany and if you don't know how the system works and plan your character accordingly you will fail hard!

Then there is also Fallout Tactics. That's a spinoff of the Fallout series that focuses more on the turn based battles and less on discovery or a grand story like the true RPGs.

If you like (or can at least tolerate) anime style there is also the Agarest series. Pure tacticle RPG combat goodness, though it can get a bit repetitive since these games are loooooong. Best played in short bursts.

And last but not least: If you don't mind very old games (which means sound and graphics are far behind what we are used to today) you could also take a look at the Gold Box series. These are actually pure RPGs but they are from a time were battles in RPGs were often resolved in tactical fights. After all these games were made by SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) which was very well know for its tactics and strategy games at the time. If you have never heard of them look at the Forgotten Realms Archive 2 and the Krynn series. Almost every single game in these collections is considered a classic.

Thanks for the recommendations.

I know ;) I played HoMM2 and 3 forwards backwards and upside down. One my favourite games. Playing 4 at the moment.

By the way, I'm yet to start the new King Bounty remakes. How do they compare with the original?

You mean you've started this thread, and haven't played the ne King's Bounty games? THat never even occured to me :D I can't say how they compare to the original- I never played it, but they are among my ver favourite games of the last ten years, and they're definately exactly what you're looking for. The Legend and Armored Princess are probably the best.

Oh, ok. :-) It sounded to me that you were dismissing the Heroes series for being too much strategy and thus not what you were looking for.

Up to now I have only played the first remake (I need to make time for playing the other ones too, somewhen. ;-) ) and found it quite similar to the Heroes series. There are some notable differences though. You only have your main character as hero and his army. You get quests like in any typical RPG and have to solve them (at least the main quest line) to advance the story. This unlocks new troop types which you use to beat more difficult opponents and you basically continue doing so until you finish the game. You have to watch out for losses though. Troops to recruit run out and you will only get new troops when you reach specific points in the story. This can leave you with impossible to beat fights if you had heavy losses earlier in the game. Didn't happen to me since I always try to go for 0 (or at least near 0) losses in games like that.

And I do own most of them on GOG.

By the way, their story isn't in any way related to the Might and Magic universe, is it?

I haven't played it myself yet, but Reverse Crawl looks similar. It's currently featured as Game Deal on IndieGameStand.

No. Which is probably a good thing, at least looking at the current M&M universe.

Of course it is.

I was asking about (new) King's Bounty, not HoMM :)

Oh, I misunderstood you then. No, the King's Bounty games have nothing to do with the Might & Magic world.

Too bad I just can't get over its permanent big-head mode. It's something that has never appealed to me. Why couldn't they go with proportionally sized ones?

Relevant.