Dice Kingdoms of Valeria Review

Dice Kingdoms of Valeria continues the trend of the Valeria games using different mechanics. Specifically, a roll and write this time around. Each player will take 2 different sheets and then one player will roll all 6 dice. The round begins with the harvest phase where you'll take the values plus the sum of both black dice and fill in on the guild tracks and complete any bonuses you come across as well. Then, players will take turns selecting one of the colored dice and activating the corresponding section of their boards. Red is the monster track and when you fill a section, you'll gain points. Green is the build action where you'll move across the map based on how many pips and if you stop at a domain, you can claim it for permanent bonuses. Yellow allows you to fill in the citizen track. These correlate with the guilds and allow you to fill more dots during the harvest phase. There are also extra tracks such as gold which gives statue cards for end game scoring or the wall which will give you the option to fill in more monster sections. The end game triggers when someone fills out 3 of their guild tracks. Then everyone gets one more turn and final scoring begins. Whoever has the highest will win.

The Good: One thing I've always appreciated about Daily Magic Games is their willingness to try different things and new mechanics. Roll and writes have never been a mechanic that I've resonated much with but Dice Kingdoms provides players with a ton of freedom and there is a lot of manipulation that can be unlocked without sacrificing turns. Almost every turn you'll probably score points or at least get closer to your objectives.

The Okay: For a roll and write, this takes up a fair amount or real estate. A big selling point to this mechanic is how travel friendly it is but I'd have a tough time taking this on an airplane because of the multiple sheets.

The Not So Good: I didn't love the rulebook. I actually had a hard time locating how to end the game. There are some nice points such as the list of how to score each statue card but certain aspects of the layout I struggled with.

Final Thoughts: VDK turned out to be a big surprise for me. There's a lot of thought involved in each turn because you need to optimize your scoring potential as much as possible. Timing is huge here because if you fill that 3rd track, then you'll likely leave points on the table. This is a lot of what I look for in roll and writes, especially with the amount of manipulation that can be done. There is also the winter map which add some new elements if you get bored with the summer map!

Thanks to Daily Magic Games for providing a review copy.