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For years the humans, elves, and dwarves have been slowly encroaching on your territories and slaying your kind in the name of progress. They've built their citadels, keeps, and villages as they push you further into the darkness. Now is the time to rally your troops and lay waste to their kind and bring forth the reign of the Shadow Kingdoms!
You are a Warden hungry for the destruction of Valeria. You must outwit the other Wardens to earn the right to command an army for the Shadow Kingdoms. Visit dark Shrines to gain minions, magic, gems, and gold to fuel your war machine. Command monsters into battle to conquer the lands and earn Victory Points. The player with the most Victory Points at the end of the game will be declared the winner.
On your turn, you must move your Warden from its current location to a new location. When your Warden enters one of the 5 Shrines, you first take any available die from the Shrine and place it on your player board, then perform the Shrine action associated with the Shrine.
There are 5 troop types (die colors) in the game: Goblin (green), Orc (red), Skeleton (white), Gargoyle (purple), and Gnoll (brown). Send your Warden to the Camp on your player board to use your minion dice to resolve battle plans and place Victory tokens on your Campaign board.
—description from the publisher
- strong engine-building element
- great flexibility in strategies
- balanced dice selection
- standalone game that doesn’t require other titles
- has a solo mode
- wardens outside the kingdom gathering armies to reclaim and fight back
- fantasy kingdom of Valyria
- Valyria Card Kingdoms
- Villages of Valyria
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- battle plans — Players fulfill battle plans to gain points and unlock features on their boards.
- card market — Cards cycle through a market; players can acquire cards to gain bonuses.
- Card/Chit Market — Cards cycle through a market; players can acquire cards to gain bonuses.
- dice drafting — Players pick a die from a shrine, then use it to complete shrine actions; dice values influence outcomes.
- end game bonuses — End-game objectives provide focused goals; first to satisfy seven battle plans ends the game.
- End game objectives — End-game objectives provide focused goals; first to satisfy seven battle plans ends the game.
- Resource management — Gems, gold, dyes, and dice are managed and spent to activate various effects.
- shrines and actions — Five shrines on the board offer actions; players optimize which shrine actions to take.
- solo mode — An automatic opponent provides a solo play option with its own scoring.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- shadow kingdoms of valyria is a dice drafting euro game set in the fantasy kingdom of valyria
- the game features a strong engine building element
- there is a great deal of balance in dice selection
- standalone and distinct game requiring no experience with the others
- a solo mode
- to be released in 2020 shadow kingdoms of valyria
- five shrines each containing four dice in one of five colors
- choose a new shrine take one of the dice and then complete a small shrine action
- the higher the total value of the dice used the more points are gained
- gathering armies to try to fight back and take over the kingdom