War of Fantasia

How to Play

How War of Fantasia works: build an army lane by lane, hold off the waves, send mercenaries at your opponent, and take the duels. A five-minute read.

The idea

You and an opponent each defend a lane. Waves of monsters walk down both lanes at once, and whatever gets past your army hits your King. The first King to fall loses. There are no turns: you build during a short build phase, and then you watch what you built.

A round, start to finish

1. Build. You are dealt five fighters, one from each tier. Buy one and place it on a cell in your lane. Melee in front, ranged behind.
2. Ready up, or wait for the timer.
3. The wave walks in. Fighter placement and promotions are locked during combat. You can still build or upgrade Miners, upgrade the King, and send mercenaries while the wave is underway. Your fighters pick the first enemy that comes into range and stay on it.
4. You are paid at the end of the wave: base income, a bounty for what you killed, and a bonus for letting nothing through.
5. Spend it on a bigger army, on Miners, on promoting what you already have, or on mercenaries to send at your opponent.

The two currencies

Gold buys fighters, promotions and Miners. It arrives every wave and grows with the wave number.

Mana Essence buys King upgrades and mercenaries — monsters you send into your opponent's lane. It is produced by Miners, which are the only thing in the game that pays you back over time. Every mercenary you send also raises your gold income permanently, so sending is an investment as well as an attack.

Three things new players get wrong

• Not sending. Mercenaries are not optional aggression — the income they add is most of a late-game economy. A player who never sends falls behind a player who does.
• Leaking. Letting monsters past costs King health and the clean-wave bonus. Both hurt more than the fighter you did not buy.
• Ignoring promotions. A tier-three fighter can be promoted into one of two specialists. Select a fighter and the options are right there — U upgrades, S sells, M moves.

Duels

After waves 5, 15 and 25 both armies are pulled onto neutral ground and fight each other directly. Nobody dies — every board comes back exactly as it was — and the winner is paid. It is the only moment your board and your opponent's are measured against each other rather than against the horde.

What it costs

Nothing. The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no download and no account. Signing in saves your record and lets you play ranked matches against other people; you can play against the AI without one.