SHARGAZ EFB - GAME OVERVIEW
Why another fantasy rank & file game? What does Shargaz – Epic Fantasy Battles offer that other games don’t? What miniatures should I use to represent the units? … etc.
So let’s start with the elephant in the room: Why? Why would someone spend so much time creating a new game when so many similar ones (some even free) already exist? The answer is relatively simple: I love fantasy wargames, but every system I’ve played left me thinking it could be improved. If you’re here, you probably also started in the hobby long ago, back in the early days of Warhammer Fantasy. I had a lot of fun back then, playing with friends. But nostalgia aside, the WHF rules were always far from perfect. Even the 6th Edition (in my opinion, the best of them) had mechanics that felt cheesy or awkward in certain situations.
It also didn’t represent a “medieval fantasy setting” very well, where infantry dominates the battlefield, cavalry is scarce, monsters are rare, magic isn’t all-powerful, and heroes aren’t almighty beings who can destroy entire units by themselves.
If, like me, you enjoy history, it’s clear that real battles involved a lot of command friction. Plans were hard to change mid-battle, maneuvering was difficult, and cavalry was a precious asset rarely wasted on frontal assaults against prepared enemies. Most games don’t capture this feeling.
That’s why I decided to create these rules: a system that challenges your mind with every decision. Victory doesn’t come from combos of magic items, spells, or overpowered monsters, but from tactical choices, maneuver, and strategy. Each troop type has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and every army has its own playstyle.
We also use shared turns, with alternating unit activations, making the game more dynamic and engaging than the old-fashioned “I go / you go” structure.
The game is divided in 5 well defined and distinctive phases:
1. Command Phase
You secretly decide what your units will do in the activation phase. This creates a tactical and psychological game: What will your opponent do with this unit? Will you activate first? Can you surprise him with an unexpected maneuver? This is where true generals shine.
2. Initiative Phase
Until now, you didn’t know who would activate first. Sometimes your army’s strategic factor gives you an advantage, but dice can always upset your plans. Factor that in.
3. Hero Phase
As with the command phase, this may look trivial but is crucial. Where you place your heroes can make or break your plans. While they won’t destroy units by themselves, they can provide the help that tips the balance with their leadership.
4. Action Phase
This is where the battle happens. The previous phases have prepared the stage for this moment. Will you move this unit now or wait until your opponent has moved his? How do you counter that flanking maneuver? Can you maintain your battle line under pressure? Do you sacrifice a unit to bait your opponent?
5. Final Phase
Time to regroup your forces and check for victory conditions.
As you can see, the estructure of the turn is familiar. But the fog of war created by the secret orders and alternating activations, makes every choice tense and meaningful. You can launch your units into a charge, just to discover later that they have been flankend and are in peril. Or you counted with a unit advancing, but it got disrupted by enemy shooting and now you have a gap in your center. All this help you to immerse in the action.
This also is enhanced by the distinctive way of playing that has each type of troop, as we will see now. There are 7 main categories of units:
Main infantry units: your main blocks of infantry warriors. Numerous and resilient, they are the backbone of any army. Great for holding objectives and keeping defensive positions but slow and hard to reposition. It will be really difficult that an enemy can break one of this units in a single turn of game, so they are your anvil. But you must secure their flanks.
Infantry with missile weapons: they lack the endurance and the punch of your main infantry units in combat. But they have the capacity to disrupt enemies from a distance. Essential for softening foes but vulnerable if left exposed. They are also slow to move, but their capacity to attack from the distance mitigate that.
Support units: this category covers units with the rule Skirmishers. They are maneuverable, good in rough terrain, and often armed with missiles, but poor in mele. Therefore, they are good units for harassing the enemy with hit and run tactics, but not for keeping your main battle line.
War machines: Devastating ranged firepower but practically immobile and vulnerable. They do not stand a chance in close combat and are vulnerable to missile attacks from the enemy. They must be protected well, specially from flyers, light cavalry and other support units.
Cavalry: if the main infantry units are your anvil, the cavalry is your hammer. Fast and powerful but fragile in prolonged fights. They are perfect for hitting weakened units and break the battle line of your enemy. Don´t be impatient and don´t launch them to early into the frey. Missile weapons and enemy cavalry can cause them severe damage.
Light Cavalry: this category covers cavalry units with the rule Skirmishers. They are extremely fast and disruptive. Perfect for targeting war machines and other missile weapon units, but bad in combat against main infantry units, monsters, cavalry and flyers. They are great for harassing the enemy.
Monsters: there are lot of different type of monsters, but in general they are big, strong and fearsome, hitting hard in mele. They are usually not much faster than infantry and with the same lack of maneuverability (with the exception of those with the rule Flyer). Good at supporting the main thrust of your battle line, but bad at defending a position.
Flyers: They also vary significantly in size and power (from a dragon to giant bats). They are highly maneuverable and with good punch, but they cannot hold objectives and have low resilience. They are also vulnerables to missile weapons. They are good at harassing enemy missile units, counteracting light cavalry and flyers, or supporting charges of your main battle line.
There are currently 6 main races in the game (chaos, dwarfs, elves, humans, orcs & goblins, undead) and each one plays very differently.
Humans: they are very standard, having a good variety of troop types but not excelling in any of them in particular. Their armies have a big amount of units, without being a horde. They have limited access to monsters and flyers, but a decent access to warmachines.
Elves: they excel in almost everything. They are good with missile weapons and in close combat. It is an elite army with high mobility, but reduced in number and very brittle, not enduring well a war of attrition. They also have limited access to monsters and war machines. A good elf general will have to compensate these downsides and try to overwhelm the enemy with concentrated attacks, preventing the enemy from using their numerical advantage.
Dwarfs: they are hard (and slow) as rocks. It is an army mostly composed of infantry that excel in attrition war. With good access to missile weapons and hard hitting infantry, they are great at defending. But they have practically no access to monsters or any fast moving unit. They also have very little access to magic and they are small in number. But a good dwarf general will make sure that the enemy have to get closer to them, instead of wandering around.
Orcs & Goblins: they are clearly an horde army with good access to monsters and cavalry. They have expendable units as the goblins, perfect for spearheading the army meanwhile protecting your main units. The orc infantry has a lot of punch, perfect for saturating the enemy battle line. But their strength and endurance is in their numbers. They will suffer an appalling number of losses and their morale isn´t so good. The correct use of heroes is key. A good orc general will always make sure of one thing... Charge!
Chaos: they are the bad boys of the movie. Mean and evil servants of ominous powers. They gather a huge variety of races, but they all have something in common. They are eager for conquering and destroying the civilization. From humans to demons, you have a big variety of close combat units at your disposal. They have powerful magic (although not so powerful as the elves). But their capacity to deliver ranged attacks is very limited and, unlike the goblins, they do not have expendable units. So they need to close the gap fast if they don´t want to bleed their strength away.
Undead:
Inside of each army book, there are several army list with mandatory units and restrictions that also build up on the thematic flavor. And they are living documents, so there will be new army lists and campaigns according we keep expanding the experience. And the most important part of all... you and your friends can do the same, exploring and creating your own army lists, races and campaigns as you see fitting for your games. The limit is your imagination.
Finally, the rules offer you a wide range of scenarios to play. From a balanced pitched battle to more asymmetric scenarios where one player is the defender and the other the attacker. Personally, I find the latter more interesting and narrative. And no need to repeat that you are welcome to build your own scenarios and share them.
Regarding miniatures and scales, the rule is... that there is no rule. We play with 10mm scale because it allows to play visually appealing battles in a normal size table you could have at home. But it can be played in 15mm or 28mm or any scale you prefer. And you can use any brand of your choice and base them as it is more convenient to you.
Most of the units described in the game are so generic, that you can use practically any miniature range to build an army from scratch. In future posts we will make a review of different brands of miniatures we know and use, but you are welcome to give us your opinion/review about other brands we don´t know so well. The availability of miniatures and scenery has never been higher.
Hope this post has given you a general overview of how is our game and, if you like it, remember you can download it for free in the download section.
Cheers!
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