Wallguards of the East Empire has passed NZ$500,000 in tracked Kickstarter pledges, but you do not need its launch-day expansion to get the base game experience. Garphill is crowdfunding the deck-building strategy game alongside Vow of Victory, an optional box the publisher says is intended to add variety after repeat plays.
When checked on November 13, Kicktraq listed 2,433 backers and NZ$504,110 against a NZ$23,000 goal. That is a dated third-party funding snapshot, not delivered sales or proof that either box plays well. Garphill’s own homepage currently marks the Kickstarter as live. GameGuideDog has not playtested the game.
A siege setting, a competitive scoring race
The official announcement lists 1–4 players, 60–90 minutes and ages 14+, with design by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald and art by Mihajlo Dimitrievski. Players defend Constantinople, but the winner is the player with the most victory points. Do not mistake the shared setting for a promise of cooperative play.
Cards drive actions and build up four battlefields above each player’s board. A battlefield with at least five cards triggers a defence check. Winning earns a Defector; losing brings an Ally. Emptying either draw pile ends the game. That gives the pitch a concrete hook: your cards also push you toward another test of your defences.
What Vow of Victory actually adds
Garphill’s November 5 expansion explanation describes 12 Mercenary units, with three used per game, new siege content and purple dice. Those dice can reach five strength but are more likely to roll a blank. The extra box therefore changes setup variety and risk, rather than simply increasing a component count.
The publisher acknowledges criticism of launching both boxes together. It says development of Wallguards finished nearly a year earlier, with the expansion designed afterward, and explicitly calls the base game complete without it. Those are Garphill’s claims, not an independent design-history audit. Its suggested audience is people returning for 10-plus plays.
Start with the base game decision
The official announcement stream above introduces Wallguards from 27:00. Watch the game pitch before adding the expansion out of completionism. This report does not establish current reward prices, a delivery date, shipping or tax totals, or a Polish-language pledge; check those directly on the Kickstarter campaign before paying.
For another base-game-versus-extra-box decision, see our Feed the Kraken pledge guide or browse board games. Strong funding makes Wallguards worth a look. It does not make the expansion necessary.
