Valeria: Card Kingdoms, the bestselling game from Daily Magic Games, is a tableau-building game that will have you slaying vile monsters, recruiting a variety of citizens, and buying domains for epic powers.

~ A Tableau-Building Game ~

Tableau-building will seem familiar to deckbuilding fans. Instead of drawing cards from a deck to use their powers, cards are placed face-up in your kingdom (or tableau) and their powers are available to you at all times. This simple transition from using a constraining deck to displaying all of your cards in front of you gives a feeling that your kingdom is truly growing and that you are making great progress in the game, turn-by-turn.

~ Citizens of Valeria ~

The main cards you will be adding to your kingdom are the Citizen cards. Each Citizen has a number (or set of numbers) on the top-left corner. When the dice are rolled, your Citizens are activated whether you roll the dice or your opponent does. Once activated, Citizens provide you with resources or minor powers that let you manipulate your resources. It’s common to gain more resources when it’s not your turn, because your opponent’s just keep rolling the numbers that you need! You’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat at the start of another player’s turn to see what resources you’ll pull in to give you more flexibility during your turn.

~ Unlocking the Power of Domains ~

Other than Citizen cards, you can also add Domains to your kingdom. Domains in the game have epic powers associated with them. Some powers are one-time use, but others have special ongoing powers that trigger during specific phases in the game. Either way, buying a Domain not only gives you the power, it also gives you victory points at the end of the game.

But, you can’t just buy Domains whenever you want! First, you must have the prerequisite citizen icons in your kingdom. The prerequisite icons are found along the top-right edge of the card. Thematically, this means that you need to have a soldier-type Citizen to own a castle, or you need to have a holy-type Citizen to own a cathedral. This minor rule not only helps reinforce the theme of the game, but also balances out gold economy engines against other paths to victory.

Each Domain is unique, and Valeria: Card Kingdoms comes with enough Domain cards that you’ll never see the same combination of Domains twice. They add a lot of re-playability and new flavor to each game you play!

~ Monsters Aplenty ~

The kingdom of Valeria is plagued by Monsters and it’s up to you to slay them. Not only will you gain victory points at the end of the game, but you’ll also get an immediate reward.

Monsters are stacked by difficulty, with the weaker Monsters on top. At the bottom of each stack, there is a Boss Monster that is not only strong, but also pays out according to how many of his minions you’ve managed to slay throughout the game. This leads to some interesting timing decisions and is another way the game subtly shows player progress.

~ Familiar Yet Unique ~

Valeria: Cards Kingdoms is easy to learn due to its familiar mechanics, yet the layered strategies, secret objectives, and different setups keep the game unique and engaging, game-after-game.