Whenever the word Valeria appears in my email, I get excited. It has been a series I have instant-backed for years, even before I was a reviewer. So, imagine my surprise when Daily Magic Games said we have three games for you. After dancing around the room, I advised, yeah, I should be able to fit them in.

The first one I sat down to play was Dice Kingdoms of Valeria, a Roll and Write Game that I wasn’t as excited about as the other 2. I haven’t really gotten into the Roll & Write genre, as the few games I’ve played have felt a bit lackluster or felt like over complicated versions of tic tac toe. What gave me a little bit of hope, other than being a part of the Valeria series, was that the great mind of Levi Mote was behind this. Having played several of his games, it gave me hope!

But we will have to see if Levi can write & roll into my heart or roll a one!

Setup

1. Choose whether you’ll play the Summer Sheets or the Winter Sheets, then give each player a Castle Sheet and a Map sheet for that season.
2. The 5 and 6 Citizens are pre-marked as your starting citizens.
3. Divide the Statue cards into two piles, based on their back art. Shuffle each pile individually then place one pile on top of the other to form the Statues Deck.
4. Deal a draft line of 6 face-up cards. Randomly choose the first player

Rules

Player Sheets

Each player receives two player sheets at the beginning of the game, the Castle Sheet and the Map Sheet. There is a Summer set and a Winter set, each with variations to make play a little different depending on your choice. Be sure all players are using the same season

• Citizens Tableau – The Citizen Tableau shows 10 Citizen values numbered 1 thru 8, 9/10, and 11/12. Each Citizen value has a guild allegiance icon (Holy, Worker, Shadow, and Soldier), and two pips that can be filled in to indicate that you’ve recruited Citizens of that value. You can gain Citizens via the Recruit Action, by claiming certain Domains, and by filling in some Reward Pips. When you filling in the pips in the Citizen Tableau, fill in the left pip for a Citizen value first before the right pip. Some Citizens Tableau pips are Reward Pips
• Guild Tracks – There are 4 Guild Tracks, each with 24 pips. During a Harvest Action, your Citizens earn pips to fill-in on their Guild Tracks. Within each Guild Track, you fill in pips left-to-right beginning in the top row and working through all the rows. Some pips in the Guild Tracks are Reward Pips. The end-game is triggered when one player has completed 3 Guild Tracks. Finish the round so that all players have equal turns, then tally up the scores
• Gold Chart – When you fill in a Gold Reward Pip during the game you fill in 1 pip in the Gold Chart. You fill in pips left-to-right beginning in the top row and working through all the rows in the Gold Charts. Some pips in the Gold Charts are Reward Pips
• Knights on the Wall – When you fill in a Knight Reward Pip during the game you fill in a pip on the Wall. You fill in pips on the Wall beginning on the far-left side and working right and then up along the Wall until the Wall is full. Some pips on the Wall are Reward Pips
• Domains Map – There are 4 starting pips on the Domains Map. From those starting positions, a network of pip-roads connects the 13 Domains. You earn pips to fill in on the roads through the Build Action or by filling in Road Reward pips on the sheets. Your first road must begin at a starting position, but thereafter, you can work on any road originating from a Domain you have already claimed or any filled-in pip on an unfinished road.
  To claim a Domain, you need only fill in all the pips on the road leading to the Domain. Some pips on the roads are Reward Pips. When you fill-in the pip that touches a Domain, you have claimed that Domain and mark it in a manner of your choosing. Once claimed, Domain grant a one-time immediate reward (Lightning Bolt icon) or give you a power you can use once each roll when you are the active player
• Monster Regions – There are 4 Monster Regions on the player sheets. You earn pips to fill in on the Monster Regions by taking a Slay action or filling in a Slay Reward pip on the sheets. When you fill in all of the pips in a Monster Region you gain the victory points indicated on the Region. The first player to complete a Region gets the higher VP and all other players get the lower VP if they also complete that Region

On Your Turn

There are three phases to each turn, the Roll Phase, the Harvest Phase, and the Action Phase.

1. Roll Phase – The Active Player rolls all 6 dice.
2. Harvest Phase

• In every turn, all players perform the Harvest Phase simultaneously based on the 2 Harvest Dice. Each Harvest Die and the sum of the Harvest Dice activate the Citizens of the matching values. For each activated Citizen, count the number of filled-in pips it has and fill in that number of pips in the Citizen type’s matching Guild track.
• If you fill in NO PIPS AT ALL in your Harvest, then you fill in 1 pip in a Guild Track of your choice.

3. Action Phase – The Active Player chooses the green, red, or yellow die (plus the optional Blue die) and takes the action associated with the chosen die colour

Reward Pips – Across both player sheets, many of the pips have a special colour, shape, or icon – these are Reward Pips and they give you special bonuses when you fill them in. Most bonuses are immediate, but one Reward Pip is part of your scoring at the end of the game

Statue Cards – There are 2 copies of each Statue card. Each card gives end-game scoring opportunities. When you fill in a Plinth Reward Pip you earn a Statue card. Immediately refill the draft line to 6 cards when one is taken.

End of Turn

After the Action Phase, pass all 6 dice to the next player clockwise.

End of Game

Last Round

When any player completes their 3rd Guild Track, the last round of the game is triggered. Finish the current round so that all players have an equal number of turns, then tally up your Victory Points to see who won the game

Scoring

There are four scoring segments in the Score Tally on the maps sheet.

1. Star Pips – Count the number of Star Pips you have filled in on both player sheets and write the number in the space with the Star icon in the Score Tally chart.
2. Claimed Domains – Count the number of Domains you have claimed on the Domain Map and write the number in the space with the Domains icon in the Score Tally chart.
3. Monster Regions – Total the number of VP you gained for each completed Monster Region and write the number in the space with the Monster icon in the Score Tally chart.
4. Statue Cards – Evaluate each of your collected Statue cards and write each card’s Bonus VP total in a separate box in the Statue Tally chart

Total the value of the VP earned by your Statues and write that number in the space with the Plinth icon in the Score Tally chart. Total the 4 numbers in the Score Tally to show your final score. The player with the most VPs is the winner!

Game Play

This is actually the first time I’ve played a game over Discord. All it took was a printer & some stolen game components from around our houses.

I picked my friend, Mikey to play with me, as he has recently been getting into Roll & Writes. He has backed quite a few on Kickstarter & been bothering me all the time to come over and play this or let’s play this. So, I won’t lie, when this came up, I thought I can play a Roll & Write with him & get him off my case. A bit selfish I know but I just have never enjoyed Roll & Write; & I know he loves them. So I will play one with him, he will hopefully leave me alone & I won’t have to play another Roll & Write again.

The first thing I was excited to find was this was nothing like any Roll & Write game I had ever played. There was depth, multiple components & your game board feels like a personal score tracker, this felt like an actual board game & nothing like the Roll & Write games I’ve ever played. There was a beautiful level of complexity to it, it played & felt like a Valeria game with some similar elements & yet it was a Roll & Write and weirdly, I was enjoying it. One thing I need to say, the Pips did remind me of an old school game or the tracks on Trouble (without the Pop-o-Matic), it was so easy to navigate & just felt like a great game from the Valeria stable.

I had let my fear stop me from enjoying the game, because I was too hung up on the Roll & Write aspect of it. Game 2, I sat down and just let myself enjoy it, all worry was gone. Mikey & I sat down to play about 8 or 9 games into the early morning. It was so much fun. Mikey even made the comment that this sits exactly where he thinks Roll & Writes should sit. It has the perfect level of complexity, not so simple that it is too easy & gets boring & not so over complicated that you need a doctorate in mathematics to figure out the first move.

That being said, Mikey is the person to blame for my stress & worry regarding Role & Writes; when he was first getting into them, he got too many off a free Facebook page & Reddit. Since getting a better knowledge & backing more off kickstarter he has collected quite a lot. Some that have been extremely complex & that he loves, but admits the learning curve has been quite massive & he finds it hard to find people to play with if they haven’t previously played it. He said they normally get bord or tired of the game before they reach the enjoyment stage. But in between those complex ones & the free simple games is exactly where Dice Kingdoms of Valeria sits, at that sweet spot, easy to learn, grows with the player but is really enjoyable whether it is your first time playing or your 50^th.

Art

Art is by The Mico. That is really all your need to know.

If you have ever played a Valeria game, you have seen & love his artwork. He is an absolute maestro with a style so distinct that it could never be duplicated. It as much a part of Daily Magic as the whole universe of Valeria is & I personally love it.

That being said, this has been a simple outing for The Mico. Only needing to do the box art & statues in Dice Kingdoms of Valeria. It is simple but still screams Valeria

Final Thoughts

As previously said, I wasn’t excited for Dice Kingdoms of Valeria. I’ve never enjoyed or thought much of Roll & Writes, so I roped in a friend that likes them & thought I’ll give them another go.

I’m so glad I did, as I’m converted…. well almost…… as I found myself really enjoying it. It felt less like an over-complicated version of Tic Tac Toe & more like a beautiful in-depth game that just happens to have a Roll & Write Element.

If you have never played a Roll & Write game or think that they are just cheap watered down versions of real games, I dare you to play Dice Kingdoms of Valeria. I was one of those people & Daily Magic Games & Levi Mote have proven my beliefs wrong with this beautifully designed game!

If you would like a copy of Dice Kingdoms of Valeria or one of the other two games, you can back them on Kickstarter here