How to Play

Valeria: Card Kingdoms

1-5 players 30-45 min 7.4 Board Game Geek Rating

In Valeria: Card Kingdoms, players are dukes defending against monster hordes by building kingdoms through tableau-building mechanics. Roll dice to activate citizen cards (yours and opponents' simultaneously), then take two actions: recruit citizens, buy domains, slay monsters, or gain resources. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most points through strategic card acquisitions and monster defeats.

Published 2016

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Create the Center Stacks

Arrange Monsters, Citizens, and Domains in a grid of four rows by five columns

Set up Monster cards

Place five stacks of Monster cards in the top row, arranged by Area icon with lowest Strength on top and highest Strength (Boss) on bottom

Arrange Monster stacks by difficulty

Position stacks so the leftmost has the lowest Strength number and rightmost has the highest

Set up Citizen cards

Place five stacks in the second row with activation numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and five stacks in the third row with activation numbers 6, 7, 8, 9/10, and 11/12

Set up Domain cards

Shuffle all Domains, deal two cards face-down to start each of five stacks, then deal one card face-up on top of each stack

Prepare Exhausted cards

Take 2 Exhausted cards per player and place them in a stack above the Monster row

Distribute player boards

Give each player a player board and a set of 4 wooden tokens (Strength, Gold, Magic, Victory Point)

Position starting tokens

Place Strength and Victory Point tokens on their respective icon spaces (indicating 0), Magic token on the "1" space, and Gold token on the "2" space

Place +10 Markers

Set markers next to the Center Stacks within reach of all players

Give Starter cards

Each player receives 1 Starter Peasant, 1 Starter Knight, and 1 Starter Herald to place next to their player board

Distribute Reference cards

Give each player 1 Reference card

Select Duke cards

Shuffle Duke cards, deal 2 to each player, each player secretly selects 1 and places it face down to the left of their player board

Determine first player

Randomly select the first Active player and give them a Game token (Starting player side up) and both dice

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Roll Phase - Roll the dice

The Active player rolls both dice to determine activation numbers

Determine activation numbers

Each die value individually AND the sum of both dice will activate matching Citizens

Use Roll-Phase Domain powers

Before announcing results, the Active player may use Domain cards that change die values (each only once per Roll Phase)

Announce dice results

The Active player declares the final dice values to proceed to Harvest Phase

Harvest Phase - Activate Citizens

All players receive Resources from Citizens matching the rolled activation numbers

Activate multiple copies

Each copy of an activated Citizen triggers individually

Handle doubles

Rolling doubles activates each matching card twice

Use Herald consolation

If dice values don't activate any of your Citizens, OR if doubles are rolled, activate your Herald Starter card to gain any 1 Resource

Resolve Thief first

Citizens that take from other players activate at the beginning of Harvest Phase before other Citizens

Action Phase - Take two actions

The Active player must take exactly 2 actions from the following options (same action may be taken twice):

Slay a Monster

Select a Monster from the top of any stack, pay Strength equal to its Strength value (Magic may augment but at least 1 Strength required), take the Monster to your Victory stack, and receive the Reward at the bottom of the card

Recruit a Citizen

Select a Citizen from the top of any stack, pay Gold equal to the base cost plus 1 Gold per copy of that Citizen you already own (Magic may augment but at least 1 Gold required), and add it to your tableau

Gain a Resource

Take 1 Strength, Gold, or Magic

Build a Domain

Select a Domain if your Citizens match the required Role icons, pay the Gold cost (Magic may augment but at least 1 Gold required), add it to your tableau, take any immediate Rewards, and flip the next Domain in that stack face-up

Place Exhausted cards

When any stack is emptied by a player's action, add an Exhausted card to that position after completing the action

End Phase - Check end conditions

Determine if end-game conditions are met; if not, pass dice to the player on the left