We used to use boardgames (Imperium for Sci-fi, War of the Ring for Middle-earth/fantasy games, Sport of Kings for most blackpowder games, and Wolfe and Montcalme for games set in North America) for background story telling and so on, but as our games developed we made up our own boards, rules, counters and games to represent our armies (and PCs) and their movements. Home-brew allows one to get closer to your own style of tabletop play.