Fantasy RTS + Tactical Board Strategy

RTS building and unit training combined with tactical board strategy and deck-building, heavily inspired by Battle Realms and Inscryption.

I've had this game idea for a very long time, and finally started working on it!

Currently focusing on the gameplay mechanics, making sure everything works well together. Visuals will come later, and some of the lore is already there too.

The main idea is to combine classic RTS mechanics, like resource gathering, building construction, and unit training, with grid-based board combat.

Controls

Hand

• Left-click and drag - Place a card
• Right-click - Open the action queue

Grid / Battlefield

• Left-click - Select a unit or building
• Left-click and drag - Select multiple units
• Right-click - Open the unit/building menu
• Right-click with units selected - Add actions to their queue

How Does It Work?

1. Cards & Decks

You start with two separate decks:

• Peasant Deck - Level 1 Peasants, similar to Squirrels in Inscryption.
• Development Deck - Random Level 1 units or Level 1 buildings.

Peasants are the core of the game. You need them for pretty much everything, gathering resources, constructing buildings, and training units.

So you need to decide whether to keep your Peasants working, or train them into something more useful for combat.

2. Resource Management

Similar to classic RTS games, you need resources to build and train your army.

Currently there are two resources, Rice and Water.

Peasants need to work every round to gather them, so you can't just build everything immediately.

You need to balance your economy with your army, especially early in the game.

3. Building Construction

Buildings work similarly to RTS games.

You need Peasants and resources to construct them, and each building allows you to train different types of units.

For example:

• Archery Range - Train Archers
• Dojo - Train melee units
• Wizard's Tower - Train magic units

Initially you can only build within your own two rows.

However, you can upgrade a Peasant into a Builder, allowing you to construct Walls and Watchtowers anywhere on the battlefield.

4. Unit Training & Combinations

One of the main mechanics I wanted to have.

Instead of simply buying units, you train your Peasants into different roles, and can then combine those roles by sending units to other training buildings.

For example:

Peasant → Archer → Archer + Warrior → Archer + Warrior + Wizard

So you can train an Archer at a Dojo, then send it to a Wizard's Tower, creating a hybrid unit with abilities from all three classes.

You can combine training up to 3 times.

There are also Medics, which can be upgraded into Combat Medics at the Dojo.

5. Combat

Combat is automatic, but positioning and unit composition matter a lot.

Units attack the closest target within their range.

The game uses a combat triangle:

Magic vs. Melee vs. Ranged

Different unit types have advantages against others. For example, Melee units have 50% damage reduction against Ranged attacks.

There are also:

• Poison and Fire effects
• Buffs and debuffs
• Fog of war
• Day / Evening / Night cycles
• Different attack ranges and special abilities

6. Battle Points & Upgrades

The longer the battle goes on, the more Battle Points you earn.

You can spend these points to upgrade your units through their training buildings.

For example, spend 2 Battle Points at an Archery Range to upgrade all types of Archers.

An upgrade can only be purchased once, and will become unavailable at all buildings of the same type afterward.

Battle Points are also used to purchase Heroes.

7. Heroes

Heroes are powerful units that require quite a lot of resources and Battle Points to recruit.

They have Mana and special abilities.

For example:

• Barrage of Arrows - Attack specific tiles with arrows
• Critical Strike - Deal double damage
• Healing - Restore health to units
• Clan abilities - Blessings, Poison, Zeppelin Bombs, etc.

8. Queue & Flag System

Another mechanic inspired by RTS games.

You can queue actions for units and buildings, so you don't need to manually control everything every round.

For example:

Peasant → Dojo → Archery Range → Move to a specific grid cell

You can also right-click units or buildings to set up their next actions.

This should make managing larger armies much easier.

9. Winning the Game

The first two rows on each side belong to that player.

If your units reach the enemy's territory and their closest target is an enemy grid cell, they attack the enemy Hero directly.

Once the enemy Hero reaches 0 HP, you win.

Four Clans

Currently there are four clans planned:

• Crane Clan
• Viper Clan
• The Empire
• Sun Clan

Each clan has slightly different units and unique abilities.

For example, abilities like Blessing to increase unit damage, Poison, Zeppelin Bomb attacks, or Healing.

The idea is to have different playstyles without making every clan completely different mechanically.

FAQ

Is this an RTS or a turn-based strategy game?

A mix of both.

You have RTS mechanics like building construction, resource gathering, unit training, and action queues, but everything happens on a grid-based board.

Combat itself is automatic, so a lot of the strategy comes from positioning, unit combinations, and planning actions.

Can I control units directly?

Yes, but not in the same way as a traditional RTS.

You can select units, move them, and queue actions. However, combat is automatic, so you don't need to manually order every attack.

Can I create hybrid units?

Yes! You can train units in different buildings, combining up to three training paths.

For example, an Archer can also be trained as a Warrior and Wizard.

Are there different maps?

Yes, the game has random map generation, so each match can have a different layout.

What are Watchtowers for?

You can place a unit inside a Watchtower to increase its attack range, see over trees, and reveal more of the map through fog of war.

Is there an Auto-Play mode?

Yes, currently there are 3 game speeds.

The fastest speed also includes Auto-Play, although I still want to improve it.

Are all clans different?

Yes, but not completely.

Each clan has slightly different units and unique abilities, while keeping the main mechanics consistent.

Is the game finished?

Not yet, still very early in development.

Currently focusing on gameplay mechanics, then planning to improve visuals and expand the lore.

A lot of things might still change as I continue experimenting with the systems.

Development & Feedback

This is a passion project I've wanted to make for a very long time.

Still a lot of work ahead, but the core mechanics are slowly coming together.

If anyone is interested in helping with the project in any way, or just has some feedback or ideas, let me know!

Screenshots