Valeria: Card Kingdoms

Having had this on our gaming radar for some time, we finally broke down and ordered it. Needless to say, it has lived up to the hype.Initial set-up for the first game took a few minutes, but once staged, the gameplay itself was intuitive and fast. While similar to Machi Koro with the "everyone benefits" mechanic, the execution of it is smooth and the growth in-game is well planned. By the end, we were cheering when certain numbers popped up and gathered a small crowd of curious on-lookers who wanted to join for the next round.As others have noted, the components (other than the cards as noted below) are top-notch. The punch-board multiplier tokens are some of the thickest I've ever used and the dice are impressively large. Rolling feels more like an event instead of a mechanic. Daily Magic Games also provides organization tab-cards that allow you to separate each card type individually for future games (much like how Dominion has labeled slots in their box). This significantly decreases the hassle of finding "Hills monsters" among your Citizens or confusing Start-Up Knights with Citizen Knights. It's a small touch, but dramatically impacts the set-up for every game beyond the first one. So much so that I am more inclined to reach for this now than I would a game where the first 5-10 minutes is spent separating everything. Additionally, the foam inserts provided ensure components remain secure during transport, but allow for future expansions or sleeving of cards to be added without worry that you'll run out of space.There is, however, one critical flaw to what should be a 5-Star game: our copy suffers from the infamous Card Curl. Cards began curving/warping the moment we removed them from the plastic packaging. During set-up of the initial game, we watched as the majority of the cards bent or warped. After the game, we placed them in the proper tab-organizers and packed the foam inserts in tight, but the cards still warped when we checked them the following morning. We'll be contacting Amazon/DMG regarding that matter.Despite the ding in card-quality, the game is impressive. It's fun, fast, and furious. The constant player involvement means little to no down-time. Beginners will pick it up quickly while veteran gamers will enjoy the strategy of figuring out which Citizen, Monster, or Domain to pick to maximize results. Between its speed of play, versatility of tactics, and wide appeal to a variety of gamer levels, Valeria Card Kingdoms now sits near the top of our go-to games.UPDATE #1 - I contacted Daily Magic Games via the form on their website and received an immediate response. They acknowledged that a small lot from the manufacturer was affected by the Card Curl, asked me to send photos, then put my info in the queue to have them replaced with the shipment going out a the end of the month. The speed of response and direct customer interaction places Daily Magic Games head and shoulders above the average gaming company, which makes me even more satisfied with VCK and gives me confidence in their future games. I'll update the rating once the new cards arrive.

This might be the most underappreciated game on the Market right now. If not a fan of fantasy settings......the gameplay overshadows the setting. If you like Fantasy settings, it just adds to the flavor and appeal.Valeria: Card Kingdoms is a resource management game at it's finest. You start with a pair of citizens. Every turn a player rolls a pair of 6 sided dice (provided). Each citizen has an associated number to where you get resources if one die or the sum of the dice match their associated number. Every other player also gets resources based on what you rolled according to their current citizens. Most citizens have different rewards for when you roll those numbers and when an opponent rolls those numbers.You then use those resources to buy land, more citizens, and fight off monsters (which most of these come with their own rewards). You then claim those cards and reveal the card underneath for you or others players to then claim/fight on their turns. The game ends when you exhaust a certain amount of card piles based on the number of players you had. Then everyone flips over a special "Duke" card and tallies up their points based on how many the Duke says you get.Where this game excels is that it gives you more of each of these categories then you can use in a single game, opening up lots of replay potential. With some of the piles being random, goals can shift immediately to either "snipe" cards from others players who could greatly benefit, or force you to change your strategy of which citizens to purchase to afford the now available territories. With resources being generated on EVERYONEs turn, the game has great pacing and generates interest from each player no matter who is rolling the dice.When you start to add in all the special abilities from territories and some characters being able to steal resources and everyone having a slightly different scoring system based on your Duke, you end up with an engaged bunch of players strategically trying to maneuver the chaotic rolls of the dice which they tactically hedged their beats for. I can't game recommend this enough. It meets the needs of Hardcore gamers and casuals alike. It definitely transcends it's fantasy aesthetics and shouldn't discourage those that tend to steer away from those

We finally got to play this last night as a group of four. Because it was our first time and there wasn't five of us we didn't use the dark lord but it was still great. I think it's a nice combination of a deck builder like Legendary and a draft game like Seven Wonders. It was a lot of fun deciding whether or not I should fight or buy, and then what should I buy. Of course I ended up buying citizens that only triggered once or twice but still.The game itself is amazing. The art is fun and detailed. The currency is made of little wood pieces rather than plastic which is amaxing in my opinion. And everything feels really well made. Also, the organization tactic they provide is spot on. I wish legendary did something similar by default. Overall this game is great to play and made professionally. Definitely recommend.

Right out of the box my son and I loved this game. The production is good quality. The art is outstanding. The box storage is better than most of our games.With all of that out of the way, is the game fun? Absolutely!! The rules are very straight forward. We had the game unpacked, set up, played, and packed up within two hours and that was our first time opening the box. The game is simple yet not pointless. If you are wanting a deep, tense, strategic battle you won't find it in Valeria. But you will have a blast. The game is fast-paced, highly rewarding, and feels extremely satisfying at the end. There is a lot going on but plays so smoothly we didn't find ourselves getting lost.I highly recommend this game!