Valeria is a rich and wonderful world that you've come to know through Valeria: Card Kingdoms, Villages of Valeria, Quests of Valeria, Corsairs of Valeria, and Margraves of Valeria. Each game is unique and brings new experiences to the gaming space and to the lore of the Valeria Universe. Now it's time to look at the Valeria Universe from a darker perspective. The monsters are fed up with the Humans, Elves and Dwarves encroaching on their lands and slaying their populace. It's time for monster-kind to take back what was once theirs. It's time for the Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria!
Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a 1 to 5-player game designed by Stanislav Kordonskiy; developed by Isaias Vallejo, David MacKenzie, and David Iezzi; and illustrated by Mihajlo "The Mico" Dimitrievski. At its heart, Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is an engine-building game where you'll draft Troop dice to complete battle plans, hire Champions to fire up your engine, and level-up your Warden's abilities to pull off amazing combos.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A TYPICAL TURN?
Each player has a Warden token (Gargoyle, Orc, Goblin, Skeleton, and Gnoll) that begins the game on the Camp location on their player board. The first action on your turn is to move your Warden from its current location to a newlocation - any one of the five Shadow Shrines shown on the game board.
When you move your Warden to a Shrine, you immediately take one of the several Troop dice located on that Shrine and add it to a Troop position on your player board. Each die shows a Troop Strength, a Troop Type, and a Discount value that will aid you in certain Shrine actions.
Gem Shrine: After taking a Troop die, take a Gem token from the Gem Shrine and add it to the Gem storage area on your player board. A Gem can be used to flip a Troop die to its opposite side or to make a Troop die wild, allowing it to be any Troop type.
Magic Shrine: After taking a Troop die, gain two Magic on the resource track on your player board. Later in the game, instead of gaining Magic, you can use this Shrine to claim Awards that give you bonus VP for achieving certain goals.
Champion Shrine: After taking a Troop die, use Gold from your resource track to purchase a Champion card from the three draft lines on the right side of the game board. Each line has a different type of Champion: Instant Benefit, Ongoing Power, or Endgame Bonus VP. The Troop die's Discount is used to reduce the cost of the Champion you purchase. The Champion cards are a key component in your engine building strategies.
Gold Shrine: After taking a Troop die, gain Gold equal to the die's Discount value and add it to the resource track on your player board.
Tactics Shrine: After taking a Troop die, use Gold from your resource track to reserve a Battle Plan card from the draft line on the left side of the game board. Battle Plans are most expensive when they are first revealed and become cheaper as older cards are taken. The Troop die's Discount is used to reduce the cost of the Battle Plan you reserve.
COMPLETING BATTLES
After your Warden has visited several Shrines over a series of turns, you'll have a collection of Troop dice and it will be time to put them to work by completing a Battle Plan. To do this, use your Warden's move to return to the Camp on your player board.
Select one of your reserved Battle Plans or buy a Battle Plan directly from the draft line using Gold from your resource track.
Assign dice from your available Troops to match the Troop needed by your chosen Battle Plan. Remember, if necessary, a Gem can make a die any Troop Type you need.
Add the strength values on each selected Troop die to tally your army's strength. At this time you can use a Gem to flip a die to ist opposite side and you can use Magic from your resource track to increase or decrease the value of your selected Troop dice. Certain Champion cards can also grant bonus strength to your Troops.
Once you've determined the strength of your Troops, compare that number to the number of Influence points on your resource track. If the strength is higher, it gets knocked down to equal your Influence. If the Influence is higher, check to see if there's any way to increase your strength a little more.
Now that your Troops are as strong as they can be, compare that number to the chart in your Camp to see how many Victory Points that Battle earned for you.
UPGRADING YOUR PLAYER BOARD
Completing Battle Plans is the chief way of scoring Victory Points, but it also allows you to upgrade your player board to make your game engine more powerful, provide versatile abilities, and the chance to earn bonus Victory Points.
At the start of the game, all of the circles on your player board are covered with Conquest Markers that limit your Warden's abilities. After completing a Battle Plan you'll take one of the Conquest Markers off your player board, unlocking improvements like the ability to collect more Champions, a strength bonus in every battle, more Troop dice slots, expanded resource limits, and much more. Each player can upgrade their player board in a unique way that best suits their evolving strategy.
When you move that Conquest Marker to the Campaign Board, you'll have the option of placing it on any of the available Skirmish Areas on the Campaign board. The Skirmish Area you choose will grant you bonus Victory Points if the Battle Plan you just completed meets various conditions such as the Battle Type, the Troop Types used, or your total strength in the battle.
As the Conquest Markers on your Campaign Board accumulate, you earn additional rewards through Chain Bonuses that trigger when adjacent Skirmish Areas are covered. You'll earn more resources, gain extra Influence, and acquire free Troop dice and Champion cards.
WHAT'S YOUR STRATEGY?
Turns are simple in Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria, but as the game progresses you'll find exciting complexity nestled within your decisions, making every game more interesting than the last.
Do you focus on recruiting Gold producing Champions with On-going effects to create an unstoppable resource machine?
Is your goal to recruit a horde of low-cost minions to help you race to your goal before your opponents and overwhelm them?
How about unlocking additional Battle Plan slots, utilizing their powers to rapidly recruit Troop dice and hire Champions when there are no dice left at the Champions Shrine?
Perhaps your strategy lies with achieving a monumental amount of Influence that allows you to dominate each Battle Plan and shoot for the elusive 21VP conquest?
The choice is yours!
