Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is live (While Valeria is sleeping...)
Update: Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is live on Kickstarter and the campaign will run for 24 days. You may back for a copy of the game in either English or German. The pledge includes the Shrine of the Titans and Great Battles expansions.
Our preview post below was published on July 4.
Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a 1-5 player dice drafting and worker placement game about monsters building armies and organizing attacks against Valeria. It will launch on Kickstarter on July 7.
In Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria, you play as an evil warden who is gathering troops in order to destroy Valeria and bring on the Shadow Kingdoms. The main board is divided into shrines, each of which offers a special bonus when you visit it.
The solo mode follows most of the rules of the multiplayer game. You are competing against an artificial adversary who moves clockwise around the board and blocks the shrine he lands on (you cannot visit it while he is there). If he happens to enter the space your warden is at, he gets 2 points, and also scores points for battle plans, when he lands on the 'battle plan' shrine.
At the start of the game, you pull dice from the bag and place 2 in each of the shrines on the board. Then, on each turn, you choose a shrine, take one of its dice, and place your warden there to gain the shrine bonus. Dice allow you to purchase battle plans, and completed battle plans unlock abilities on your player board. You may also unlock benefits on your side board and open up paths that give you more points the more you progress.
One of the shrines lets you claim one of the available awards: if you fulfill the requirements of the award, you gain the designated points. On the right hand side of the board there are three rows of Champions. These can be purchased and give you a different bonus each. The game ends after you have collected 7 cards, in which case you tally up your score and compare it to the adversary's.