Wallguards of the East Empire is an upcoming strategy game from Garphill Games designed by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. Set during the 821 siege of Constantinople, it combines card-driven actions, deck development and repeated battlefield defenses in a 1–4 player game expected to take about 60–90 minutes.
This page is a pre-release guide based on information published by Garphill Games in September 2026. Rules, components and release details can still change before the final edition.
Wallguards of the East Empire at a glance
- Players: 1–4
- Play time: 60–90 minutes
- Age: 14+
- Designers: Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald
- Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski
- Publisher: Garphill Games
- Status: planned Kickstarter launch in November 2026
What is Wallguards of the East Empire?
Players represent citizens helping defend Constantinople while Thomas the Slav attempts to take the Byzantine throne from Emperor Michael II. The theme is built around preparing the city’s defenses, training warriors, constructing siege equipment, deploying ships and responding as pressure builds across several battlefields.
The main goal is straightforward: finish with the most victory points. Garphill says points come from training Warriors, acquiring Siege and Technicians, improving the Barracks and, most importantly, successfully defending the city’s walls.
How the turn system works
Wallguards uses cards to take actions. Most actions also cause one or more cards to be placed into one of four Battlefields above the player’s board. That creates a tension between using cards for immediate development and pushing a battlefield closer to a defense check.
Once a Battlefield contains five or more cards, a defense is triggered. The player’s strength is then assessed. Winning the defense gives the player a Defector, while losing brings a new Ally. That means even a failed defense can change the player’s future position rather than simply functioning as a flat penalty.
Deck building without a traditional hand
Garphill describes Wallguards as a deck-building strategy game, but early publisher material suggests it does not use a conventional hand-management structure. Cards are upgraded and developed while also feeding the action and battlefield systems. The publisher has specifically highlighted quick turns and a gameplay rhythm reminiscent of Architects of the West Kingdom, although Wallguards is a separate design.
How does the game end?
The game ends when either the Defector draw pile or the Ally draw pile is exhausted. Because those piles are affected by the outcomes of battlefield defenses, the pace of successful and unsuccessful defenses helps shape the overall game arc.
What looks strategically important?
Based on the announced rules outline, several decisions appear likely to matter: how quickly to develop Warriors and siege capability, when to improve the Barracks, how aggressively to commit cards to particular Battlefields, and whether to spread strength or prepare for specific defense thresholds.
The Defector and Ally system also suggests that battlefield timing may be more important than simply maximizing raw strength. Until the full rulebook is final, detailed strategy advice would be premature.
Solo play
Garphill lists Wallguards for 1–4 players, confirming that the released game is intended to support solo play. The publisher has not yet published enough final solo-rule detail for a reliable turn-by-turn solo guide, so this page will be updated when the complete rulebook becomes available.
Release date and Kickstarter
Garphill announced Wallguards of the East Empire on September 15, 2026 and plans to launch the game on Kickstarter in November 2026. BoardGameGeek currently lists the title as a 2027 release, so retail fulfillment should not be assumed to happen in 2026.
Who may like Wallguards?
Wallguards is likely to be most interesting to players who enjoy medium-weight historical strategy games, card-driven action systems and Garphill’s interconnected resource and worker systems. Fans of Architects of the West Kingdom may recognize the publisher’s emphasis on short turns and accumulating tactical consequences, but Wallguards’ battlefield-trigger system gives it a distinct structure.
Sources and update status
This pre-release guide is based primarily on Garphill Games’ September 2026 announcement and current BoardGameGeek release information. We will update the rules, solo details, components and strategy coverage when the final rulebook and production edition are available.