Progress Update #39 🛠️ – Gameplay Overview – Closer Look at Preparation, Income & Research, and Movement & Battles Phases

Fantasy Tabletop Devlog – Gameplay Phases Explained, Deck Market, Research & Siege Battles

Here we are with the next devblog for Frozen Realms!
So today it’s time to take a closer look at the Game Phases, to give you a better idea of how the gameplay actually plays out.

Preparation Phase

Starting off is the Preparation Phase, which we already discussed in a previous devblog (December 1, 2025) – so let’s keep this as a brief recap.

At the start, the player chooses a Race (Human or Zarhi), and then the Faction they will play as (Faction Card).
After that, the player selects 9 Units that will be used for the remainder of the game.

Next comes deck building. Each player builds a Strategic Deck consisting of a minimum of 30 cards, choosing from Battle Cards, Spell Cards, and Campaign Map Cards.

After that, each player starts the game with 6 Gold and 2 Wood.
Finally, shuffle your Strategic Deck, draw 3 cards, and place them next to the deck in a single row. This is your Deck Market.

Here’s an example of a Deck Market for the Zarhi Race:

What is the Deck Market?

The Deck Market is a mechanic that allows players to buy cards directly into their hand.
Each player has their own Deck Market and can normally only buy cards from their own (unless a card or faction ability explicitly says otherwise).

The cost of each card in the Deck Market is the same and equals:
2 Gold x the number of provinces you control.

So when starting with one province, each card costs 2 Gold.

More on the Deck Market in the future – for now, let’s move on to the Income & Research Phase.

Income & Research Phase

During this phase, players receive resources from their buildings and may begin to research Technology Cards.

One important thing about this phase is that the player also draws one card from their Strategic Deck – yes, the same deck used for the Deck Market.

This has a big implication: you don’t have to buy cards from the Deck Market to get new ones. You can simply wait a turn and draw one anyway.
But if you want more options faster – buying cards is the way to go. This gives players extra flexibility, which was exactly our intention.

Movement & Battles

Probably the phase you’re most excited about… right?
Well – so are we! 🔥

This is where you move your armies across the Campaign Map and resolve tactical battles.

We won’t dive into all the technical details here, but there’s one mechanic we really want to highlight: Siege Attacker Supremacy (Not sure about the name yet – “Supremacy” might be a bit much… anyway, back to the devblog!).

So what’s the counter?

That’s where Siege Attacker Supremacy comes in.
If the attacking army includes at least one unit with the Siege Attacker trait – like the Armillo Herd shown here – the waiting time is ignored entirely.

No delay. No regrouping. You go in immediately – pretty great.

This doesn’t make siege attackers mandatory, but it certainly gives them a huge tactical advantage.

And that’s all we wanted to share for today!
More rules and gameplay deep-dives are coming in future devblogs – we’ve got to hurry before the prototype arrives!

Thanks for reading, see you next week – and thank you all for reaching over 650 followers on the Kickstarter pre-launch page!
We really appreciate it… and you will too (with those pre-launch follower bonuses 🔥)!