Bot Garrison: How Tabletop Tower Defence Works on a Painted Table

Bot Garrison is a tabletop tower defence game you play on a table. You paint the terrain, set the paths and build a small world there, then place the bot-creatures you have caught and evolved as towers to defend those paths.

This post explains what Bot Garrison is, how a session works and who it suits. It is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. You can get notified from the product page when it is ready.

What Bot Garrison is

Bot Garrison is listed as tabletop tower defence. The short description on Google Play states it in one line: "Paint a table, evolve bot-creatures, and defend the paths."

The long description expands it: "Bot Garrison is a tower defence game you play on a table. You paint the terrain and set the paths, building a small world there. You catch and craft original bot-creatures, then evolve them with scavenged parts. You place them as towers on the paths. A wave travels the path you painted."

That paragraph is the whole premise. There is one table, one world you paint on it, and the waves travel the paths you set.

The listing closes with a line from the maker: "Bot Garrison is made by aeternusvita.io. A world on the table, where the creatures you evolve meet the waves."

The feature list from the Play copy is six points:

• Paint terrain and paths on a table
• Catch and craft original bot-creatures
• Evolve creatures with scavenged parts
• Place creatures as towers on paths
• Use elemental matchups against waves
• Forty creatures, each with three stages

Those six points are the scope of the game.

How a session works

The brief describes the core loop: build a tabletop world, catch and craft bot-creatures, evolve them with parts, place as towers on paths, defend waves, earn parts, expand the world.

You start with the table and paint ground and paths to lay out the world. You catch and craft creatures and evolve the ones you plan to use. You place them as towers along the paths you painted. A wave then travels that path. After the wave you earn parts and you can expand the world before the next wave, and a daily invasion gives you one set challenge to take.

Painting terrain and paths on a table

The first feature is "Paint terrain and paths on a table." The long description says: "You paint the terrain and set the paths, building a small world there."

In the headset you paint the ground with your hands. The brief adds that you grab pieces, place towers and paint the ground by hand, so the world building is direct.

The paths matter because the waves follow them. The description says: "A wave travels the path you painted." Where you paint the path decides where the wave will go and where your towers can reach it.

After a wave you can expand the world. The Play copy says: "After a wave you earn parts and expand the world."

Catching and crafting bot-creatures

The second and third features are "Catch and craft original bot-creatures" and "Evolve creatures with scavenged parts."

The long description says: "You catch and craft original bot-creatures, then evolve them with scavenged parts." These are original creatures made for the game. The brief notes there are 40 original bot-creatures.

Crafting uses scavenged parts. The Play copy says: "A crafting tree turns scavenged parts into the next build." That tree is how parts become a new build or the next stage for a creature you own. You earn those parts by defending waves: "After a wave you earn parts."

There is no catalogue of parts on the Play page, so this post keeps to the facts on the page: you scavenge parts from waves and the crafting tree turns them into the next build.

Evolving creatures through three stages

Each bot-creature has three stages. The Play copy states it plainly: "There are 40 original bot-creatures, and each has three stages." The feature list repeats it: "Forty creatures, each with three stages."

Evolution uses the same scavenged parts. The brief says you evolve them with scavenged parts and the crafting tree turns those parts into the next build. A creature at stage one can become stage two, and then stage three, through that tree.

Placing towers and using elemental matchups

Once a creature is ready, you place it as a tower. The feature is "Place creatures as towers on paths" and the description says: "You place them as towers on the paths."

Placement is by hand. The long description says: "You grab pieces, place towers, and paint the ground with your hands."

Waves then test that placement. The Play copy explains why you need more than one creature: "Creatures use elemental matchups, so a different wave calls for a different creature."

One creature will not suit every wave. The matchup between the creature's element and the wave decides how well that placement holds. You choose which creature to place where, based on the wave that is coming down the path you painted.

This is the strategy part: you paint the path, choose the creature, place it on that path, and the wave meets it.

The daily invasion

The Play copy says: "A daily invasion gives you one set challenge to take." That is one fixed challenge each day, alongside the main loop on your table.

How it looks on mixed reality and VR

Bot Garrison is built for headsets and the Play copy describes two ways to see the table.

"On a mixed-reality headset, the world sits on a real table in your room. On a VR headset, the same tabletop world is in a virtual space. You grab pieces, place towers, and paint the ground with your hands."

On a mixed-reality headset the table in your room is the table in the game. On a VR headset the table is in a virtual space, but it is still a tabletop world at table height.

The brief lists the target platforms as Meta Quest, Android XR and Web. Nothing has been submitted to a store yet and the privacy page is still to be published before any store review.

Who it suits

Bot Garrison suits players who like tower defence but want it as a tabletop world they can build themselves.

It suits you if you like to set the path, not just defend a fixed one. You paint the terrain and decide where the wave will travel.

It suits you if you like collecting and building up creatures. There are 40 original bot-creatures, each with three stages, and a crafting tree that turns scavenged parts into the next build. You catch and craft, then evolve, then place.

It suits you if you like elemental matchups. A different wave calls for a different creature, so you think about which creature to place where, rather than using one tower for every wave.

It suits you if you want a tabletop game in a headset. Mixed reality puts the world on your real table; VR puts the same tabletop world in a virtual space. Both keep the game at table height.

It is less likely to suit you if you want a large open-world game or fast action away from a fixed arena.

Coming soon and how to get notified

Bot Garrison is coming soon on aeternusvita.io. It has not been released or submitted to a store, there is no price on the page and there are no ratings or reviews yet. The brief lists the release date, price and store IDs as not yet decided.

If you want to hear when it is ready, open Bot Garrison on the site and get notified from the product page. That page has the short and long description this post is based on, because this post uses only facts from the brief and the Play listings.

A world on the table, where the creatures you evolve meet the waves — coming soon. Leave your details on Bot Garrison if you want a note when it goes live.