Into Dicey Dungeon Depths with Valeria: Card Kingdoms
Battle a cast of dangerous monsters as brave citizens contribute their many skills to the story in Valeria: Card Kingdoms.
A-ha! I was eager to return to play Valeria: Card Kingdoms again, as I had a lot of fun with the campaign before. With so much content, there are many monsters and citizens to see during each play! The artwork is absolutely amazing here, as are many of the decisions. I settled myself in for another adventure through the dungeon, hoping to survive…
Game Overview
Game Name: Valeria: Card Kingdoms
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: Isaias Vallejo
Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski
Publisher: Daily Magic Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Citizens offer special abilities triggered by dice rolls, and recruiting more of them is necessary to fight off the constant flow of monsters. Expansion content offers up other ways to play solo, and the goal is to manage the timing of battles to survive to the end. Lots of excitement!
First Play
Janaury 8, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
December 25, 2023
Expansions
5
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
14
Play Time
30 Minutes
High Score
128
Game Area
26" x 28"
Low Score
82
A Lovely Play Area
All of the Valeria games look great out on the table, yet I still have to take a moment to appreciate each one! Quality components and excellent artwork make it amazing.
Since I still remembered a lot about the campaign, I returned to the Dungeon Delve in Darksworn. Very neat!
This mode offers a connected and randomized array of monsters and chambers, presented in a book format.
I noticed how much this felt like Siege of Valeria in some ways, which was excellent! This is a bit less of a tower defense game, though, and more about an overall battle.
Missing Some Monsters
Not that it was that big of a deal, yet this expansion solo mode excludes a number of monsters. It makes sense since there are replacement bosses, but I missed the art!
Most of these cards feature unique artwork for some very intimidating monsters. Some of them are the coolest!
I found myself flipping around the rulebooks quite a bit to figure out how to complete setup and play again. It wasn’t the end of the world, but there were a lot of sections.
Part of me would like to go back to the base game solo mode again, though that missed for me in a few ways.
Chapter-Based Play
The campaign is very much focused on moving through chapters in a book-like format, yet the Dungeon Delve uses a similar mechanic… Just within a single chapter.
I loved how these chamber cards were double-sided so that monsters were randomly paired with challenges!
My preference would have been for some larger text on some of the cards, though. Even the iconography was a little hard to see for these tired eyes. Not too bad, though.
Clearly, I had some unfinished business with the Kaharians in these unfinished tunnels. To battle!
Mixed Citizens Variant
While I finalized the citizen stacks, I couldn’t remember why I mixed together every card with the same value. I flipped around a lot, until finally landing on this page.
The mixed citizens variant simply means that each stack isn’t static. Maybe the archer is out there, but underneath could be any other citizen of the same dice value. Neat!
Since I often have trouble picking and choosing, this is an excellent way to use more content with less setup time.
Just keep in mind that the size of the stacks should match the solo mode, which is just 3 cards for the Dungeon Delve.
Collecting Content
So much to enjoy! I love how organized these stacks of cards are with the dividers in the Bigger Box. Setup still took a fair amount of time with all the cards, though.
I do love the fact that there is so much space for future expansions, but the stacked trays barely fit inside the box.
The top tray keeps scraping up the inside no matter how careful I am. Just a few more millimeters of space would have gone a long way! I hate damaging boxes like this.
With this much variety, I’m also hesitant to keep adding on more and more cards. Seems like I have plenty!
The Link Between Too Much and Too Little
On the surface, there couldn’t be more variety here! Citizens are all different, and only a few monster territories are used during each play. That makes for a whole lot of different elements, but the Dungeon Delve progresses in a pretty static manner. The focus is on the bosses, while the actual monsters in play don’t seem to make a big difference.
Since the monsters are shuffled together, this also makes it a bit cumbersome to switch to new monster territories for back-to-back plays. I kind of wish there were goals for each territory to provide a reason to defeat more monsters associated with it. That may mean I should revisit the base game solo mode, although that’s still not quite right.
This is an excellent game system that offers a lot of fun, and I’m just lamenting the fact that it’s so close to being an amazing solo experience for me. With the fairly regular release of new expansions, though, I’m hopeful that there will be something that will eventually work for me! Or maybe I’m simply too much these days and need to calm down. Ha!
The Holiday Spirit
With winter officially here but devoid of any snow, I hoped to find some wintry-themed cards to use. Nailed it!
I chose the monster territories that seemed the most appropriate, including the glacier and tundra. An ice giant towered over the area, and seemed to bring some snow.
The sorceress was the top citizen in the 3-value stack, and it seemed like she heeded the call for winter to begin. Ha!
Once again, this artwork is awesome. Every character is presented in stunning detail, and even the seemingly simple peasants or knights have lovely cards to admire.
Aligning Dice Rolls
Such wonderful dice! I collected all of the sets, even though only 2 dice are ever used during a play. These seemed like the most festive pair. Perfect choice!
Citizens activate based on the dice rolls, both individually and added together. This makes it important to recruit more of them over the course of play for better bonuses.
The gameplay arc is really neat, starting off with almost nothing and then often transforming into huge turns!
I ended up with a pretty neat assortment and got lucky with the dice… Every citizen helped me out at some point!
The Final Task
I started to focus on handling the standard monsters a little too much before I remembered that the Kaharians were the central element! Quickly, I pivoted my strategy.
This is a very interesting way to play, but I was left feeling like it was missing something. Maybe I simply needed to add on more chambers for a greater challenge… Or not?
After playing Siege of Valeria recently, it feels like what I’m looking for falls somewhere between these games.
So close! I’m hoping that a future expansion has a little more for an ongoing solo mode. That would be awesome!
Session Overview
Play Number: 13 & 14
Expansions: Many
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Dungeon Delve from Darksworn
Outcome: 2 Wins
It was a good thing I kept flipping around the rulebooks during play… Nearly forgot all about the special second harvest for the solo mode! I believe it’s almost as good as second breakfast. Ha! There’s a lot to enjoy here, and I appreciate all of the solo content that’s been released. Just needs a little something else, and I’ll likely love the game!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
7
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- Especially when using the mixed citizens variant, there are so many awesome cards to discover and activate.
- Gameplay requires planning how to use a limited number of actions and manage challenges on multiple fronts.
- Activating citizens with dice rolls is a lot of fun, and also encourages thoughtful recruitment over time.
- Initial turns involve practically no resources, yet this shifts over to huge turns neat the end for awesome rewards.
- There are interesting actions to choose from and it sometimes pays to ignore the monsters temporarily to regroup.
- Progressing through the random chambers in the Dungeon Delve is interesting with an assortment of bosses.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Setup is a bit lengthy with all of the different card stacks and shuffling, although this does allow for variety.
- The second harvest phase in the solo mode is very easy to forget without any mention on the reference cards.
- Once the general sequence and optimal choices are figured out, gameplay feels a little too static for easy wins.
- Monsters seem like more of a nuisance than a main element, as they don’t feel tied to the bosses in any way.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Book or Dungeon
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete Book One: The Prophecy.
Complete Book Two: A Trail of Eyes.
Complete Book Three: The Shores of Kosk.
Complete Book Four: Blackest Death.
Complete Book Five: Midnight Whispers.
Complete Book Six: The Final Breach.
Complete Dungeon Delve: The Forgotten Temple.
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the hard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What are your thoughts about Valeria: Card Kingdoms? Do you have a preferred way to play solo? I loved a lot of elements as I dove back in to delve into this dungeon. Ha! Definitely has the potential to be great, and that may mean I’ll return to the base game solo mode to explore it more. Such a wonderful system with practically endless variety!
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