My first encounter with Valeria: Card Kingdoms at SaltCon 2017 was an absolute blast, leaving me eager for more.

It reminded me a lot of Machi Koro, but I liked Valeria’s fantasy theme much better. Plus, I loved that everyone gains resources on anybody’s turn, not just on their own turn.

I added the game to my wish list soon after, but just never pulled the trigger on buying a copy. That is, until two years ago when Daily Magic Games published an updated version!

The new edition not only had upgraded components and streamlined play, but it was also much cheaper!

I’ve since introduced the game to many friends, and everyone has had a great time playing.

 

How to play Valeria: Card Kingdoms

The kingdom of Valeria is under attack from legions of monsters and your role is to recruit citizens, defend the kingdom, and expand your domain to rule the realm.

Valeria: Card Kingdoms is a dice-rolling, resource-gathering, card-collecting game. The goal in the game is to gain the most victory points through your adept influence.

Set up

To begin, 5 Monster types are selected and those monster decks are placed on the table with the weakest on top. The Domain cards are shuffled and placed with 2 face down cards and 1 face up card in each of five piles.

The Citizen cards are then placed in stacks according to their value. Most Citizen values have two options to choose from. So players can pick which type they want in that game. For example, players can choose either the Merchant or the Blacksmith for the #2 value card.

Players begin with 3 Citizen cards. They get a Peasant (#5), a Knight (#6), and a Herald.

Each player randomly draws 2 Duke cards and selects one to keep for the game. The Dukes will grant points at the end of the game in different ways.

Players also get a board to track their Gold (yellow), Strength (red), Magic (blue), and Points (purple).

Playing

The active player’s turn consists of 3 phases.

1. Roll: The active player rolls both dice. The value of each die as well as the combined value determine which Citizens activate.
2. Harvest: All players collect resources according to the activated Citizens they have. The active player collects the items shown at the bottom left of the Citizen card. All other players will collect the items shown on the bottom right side of their cards. Each copy of a Citizen card will activate. So if a player has 3 Knights (#6) and a 6 is rolled, they will get 3 of that benefit. When collecting resources, players will simply move their matching token up that many spaces on their board.
3. Action: The active player then takes 2 actions. They may, Slay a Monster, Recruit another Citizen, Build a Domain, or Gain a Resource.

To Slay a Monster, they spend Strength equal to the strength of the Monster at the top of one of the Monster piles. Then they collect the Monster card and any benefits shown at the bottom of the card. The victory points indicated at the bottom of the Monster card will be tallied at the end of the game.

To Recruit a Citizen, the player spends Gold equal to the cost of the Citizen (shown on the card). Some Citizens have a “+” symbol next to the cost. Those cost 1 additional Gold for each of that same type the player already has. The player then takes the card into their citizenry and will gain resources for that number when it’s rolled in the future.

To Build a Domain, the player must first have Citizens with the matching Role icons on their cards. They pay the cost indicated on the Domain card and take it. Some Domains give immediate benefits and some grant ongoing abilities. The next Domain card in that stack is then revealed.

To Gain a Resource, the player simply moves one of their resources (Gold, Strength, Magic) up one space.

When slaying a monster, recruiting a citizen, or building a domain, players may use Magic as a wild resource. The player must spend at least one of the required resource and then supplement with magic. For example, if the Monster takes 6 strength to beat, the player may spend 1 strength and 5 magic.

Game End

When a stack of cards (Monster, Citizen, or Domain) runs out, players place an Exhausted card in that place. If the number of Exhausted piles is equal to twice the number of players at the end of a player’s turn, the game ends. The game will also end if all Monsters have been slain or all Domains built.

When the end game is triggered, play continues until all players have taken an equal number of turns.

Then players total up their points:

• Victory points on slain Monsters.
• Victory points on built Domains.
• Victory points on a player’s board.
• Victory points from their Duke scoring.

The player with the most points wins.

Variants

Valeria: Card Kingdoms can be played with a few variants as well.

• Monster Event: Monster Event cards are added to the game by adding a few to the Exhausted card stack. When a pile is exhausted, a Monster Event card may fill that space. These cards have numbers on them that will activate when the dice of that number is rolled. Players can also slay them as one of their actions like any other monster.
• Mixed Citizens: Rather than choosing between which Citizen of each value to add to the game, players shuffle both options together and place 4 face down and 1 face up on the Citizen stack. That way, after the top Citizen is purchased, it’s a surprise which type of Citizen of that value will be up next.
• No Duke: Rather than hand out Duke cards are the start of the game, players simply score set amounts for each role type on their Citizen cards and 1 victory point for every 3 remaining resources at the end of the game.
• Solo: In this mode, a single player plays against a virtual player. During the roll phase, the value on each die also actives a Monster stack (in the corresponding position). When a Monster is activated, the player removes a card from one of the 2 Citizen stacks in that Monster’s column. The game ends when the player has either slain all the monsters, if a monster attacks and there are no Citizen or Domain cards left in that column, or any five card stacks are exhausted. The player then totals their score and compares against the virtual player.

Can the whole family enjoy Valeria: Card Kingdoms?

Valeria: Card Kingdoms is definitely a game families can enjoy playing together – provided your kids are old enough to recognize numbers and to not be frightened by the art on the monster cards.

There are a number of reasons we love playing Valeria: Card Kingdoms.

For starters, the game play and flow is super simple. Roll the dice, collect the resources based on your Citizens that match the numbers on the dice, then gain a couple of cards (monster, citizen, or domain). The catch is just choosing which Citizens to recruit – because that will drive most of your success in gaining more resources.

And speaking of resources, it’s so fun to gain resources on everyone else’s turn!!

That simple game element is good in a couple of ways. First, it drops the downtime between turns to almost zero because you really care about what the other players roll. So you’re not just sitting back waiting. Instead, you cheer when someone rolls a number you hoped for. And second, by the time it does come back around to your turn, you have a bunch more resources to take your actions with.

Plus, as the game moves along and we get more Citizens, we feel richer and richer.

We also love the choices throughout the game. When do you gain more Citizens and when to you go after Monsters? And which Citizens should you buy? Or do you grab a Domain with special abilities before one of your opponents does?

Oh, and don’t forget the choices in game set up as well. This includes choosing which Citizens to have in play as well as which Monster types to fight. There are 8 Monster types in the game, but only 5 are in play during a game. Which means there’s plenty of replay value in the game as well.

While there’s nothing inherent in the game play tied to the game theme, it’s still a theme we enjoy.

We also really like the chunky dice included in the game. They’re bigger than standard D6 dice and are just fun to handle. They’re similar in size to the dice in King of Tokyo.

 

2nd Edition

I’m so happy Daily Magic Games published a 2nd edition of Valeria: Card Kingdoms.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to me was that it was much cheaper than the original!

I was able to buy a new copy of the game for $25. Whereas, when I first put the game on my wish list, the only games I could find to buy were around $50. That’s why I held off. Then when I saw a new version come out at the lower price, I immediately jumped on it.

But that’s not all. Daily Magic Games also improved upon the game.

The most noticeable change was the addition of player boards for tracking resources. In the original, there were a ton of wooden markers for every resource. So when you’d gain 6 Gold, you’d have to grab 6 pieces of gold from the center. And do the same in reverse when paying for something.

Now, players simply slide 1 wooden token up and down on their board. And for each increment of 10, the player simply adds a “10” token to the end of their board to show they’re rounding their track again.

Not only is this easier for players and much quicker to process, but it also means less components are needed for publishing – which results in a less expensive game!

The game box is also smaller with a plastic insert and card dividers that keeps everything super organized.

The Monster Event cards are also a new element added to the game in the 2nd edition.

 

How does Valeria: Card Kingdoms score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Valeria: Card Kingdoms scores very high on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter.

That’s mainly because it’s a fun dice-rolling game where the cards you gain help you get more goodies on future turns. And not just on your own turn!

The game play also flows quickly. So games don’t feel too long. Which in turn makes it easy to set up and play again.

If you couldn’t guess, we definitely recommend picking up a copy of Valeria: Card Kingdoms 2nd edition for your family.

 
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