I played only King's Bounty the legend and yes, army, item etc... are random (I don't remember level up stats, I played this game more than 1 year ago).
but it's not a problem, you will complete the game anyway (it's not easy but not impossible... I had to wait act 4 to get resurrection magic and I cannot use any cheat because I played it on mac).
it's also up to you to avoid battle that you cannot win, get the best army you can and don't let them die in a battle (also with resurrection magic you cannot resurrect army if you lose them outside a battle, and in the next battle you cannot resurrect army that you lose in a past battle).
it also have a good story (an easy one but good), but it's really, I mean really long (because if you want to finish the game you need to battle almost all the army in the game (to level up enought)).
you can also get a demon wife XD.
King's Bounty the legend is one of my favourite games.

Many good suggestions in here, but Incubation is missing. It is that good, albeit overlooked by many. It is also a bit more lightweight than games like JA.

Turn-based? Slow paced? Lack of lore? Heavy on numbers?
Monopoly.

...I'll show myself out.

You bastard.

door kickers, combat mission and breach and clear are all games i like, all of which are wego rather than igougo. i was wondering if anyone can tell me of any other wego games on gog?

My favorites:

World Strategy:
Civilization 4
Warlock - like Civ, but fantasy and way crappier. I love crappy games though. :)

Battle Strategy:
Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy

RPG:
Temple of Elemental Evil

Other great games I loved:
King's Bounty series
Heroes of Might and Magic
Frozen Synapse
Birthright: Gorgon's Alliance
Lords of the Realm 2


For some light college-heavy gaming, you don't want "Just-One-More-Turn" games, or you're screwed. So out of my list, I'd recommend:
Birthright: Gorgon's Alliance (very old, might not run)
Frozen Synapse
King's Bounty
Temple of Elemental Evil
Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy

Stay away from the others until you have a heap of time on your hands.

https://media1.giphy.com/media/FlLFR5mXLIF0I/200.gif

I know it was already mentioned, but Battle for Wesnoth is a wonderful game
completely free and full of high quality fan-made campaign.

Card Hunter!
http://www.cardhunter.com/

Oh and Bloodbowl, obviously

Nobody's mentioned all of the Spiderweb Software games yet (Geneforge, Avernum, Avadon...).

Battle for Wesnoth is really a very good and polished game. Also, try out </i> for another great free game, and also <i>[url=http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/]Endgame: Singularity, that fits your description perfectly. It is Free Software as well.

Rogue-likes and Dwarf Fortress were already mentioned (is Dwarf Fortress turn-based?), so I'll mention an oldie that is missing from GOG: Jones in the Fast Lane. I wonder if anyone here played it.

A hard choice but I would have to say ROTK XI.

Did ya create your sense of humor or was it inherited? ;-)

My parents are proud of me.
I can tell by their sobs of joy.

At Metacritic, the all-time highest-rated turn-based game for the PC are:

No.11, Sid Meier's Civilization II at 94%, released in 1996.

No. 17, Sid Meier's Civilization IV at 94%, 2005.

No. 41, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, at 92%, 1999. Available on GOG.

No. 61, Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, at 91%, 2007. Available on GOG as part of Galactic Civilizations II: Ultimate Edition.

No. 88, Sid Meier's Civilization III at 90%, 2001.

No. 90, Sid Meier's Civilization V at 90%, 2010.

My personal favorites are XCOM: Enemy Within (86%, 2013) and XCOM 2 (88%, 2016). However, neither is available on GOG.