Valeria: Card Kingdoms

To set up Valeria: Card Kingdoms, first, place one row of monster cards, two rows of citizen cards (ensuring each number is represented), and a random number of domain cards (three per stack for 2-4 players, four per stack for 5 players). Remove monster cards with the 5-player icon if playing with fewer than 5 players. Arrange monster cards from lowest to highest power. Determine the number of exhausted cards by multiplying the number of players by two. Each player receives a player board with tracks for gold, strength, magic, and victory points, starting with 2 gold and 1 magic. If playing the second edition, players also receive two duke cards, choosing one to keep and discarding the other. The starting player receives the active player token, and if playing with five players, the player to their right receives the inactive player token.

The main objective of Valeria: Card Kingdoms is to accumulate the most victory points by the end of the game. Players achieve this by strategically defeating monsters, recruiting citizens to build their tableau, and acquiring powerful domain cards. Each of these actions contributes to a player's final score, with duke cards providing additional end-game scoring conditions.

Each turn consists of four phases. First, the active player rolls two dice. Second, in the harvest phase, all players activate citizen cards corresponding to the individual dice results and their sum. The active player uses the left icon on their citizen cards, while other players use the right icon. If a player rolls doubles, they also activate their Herald card, gaining one resource of their choice. Third, the active player takes two actions, which can be: attacking a monster (spending strength and/or magic equal to its power), recruiting a citizen (spending gold, with costs increasing for each existing citizen of that type), or acquiring a domain (spending gold and/or magic, plus specific citizen icons). Fourth, the active player passes the active player token to the player on their left.

At the end of the game, victory points are tallied from several sources. Players score points for each monster they have defeated, as indicated on the monster cards. Points are also awarded for each domain card acquired, with some domains offering additional scoring conditions based on collected icons. Finally, players score points based on their chosen duke card, which specifies unique end-game scoring criteria, often related to remaining resources or specific card types in their tableau. Victory points accumulated on the player board from card effects are also added to the total.

The game concludes immediately at the end of a round if any of three conditions are met: all exhausted cards have been placed, all monster stacks have been depleted, or all domain card stacks have been depleted. Once one of these triggers occurs, the current round is completed so that all players have had an equal number of turns. After the round finishes, players proceed to the final scoring phase to determine the winner.