Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria - Riftlands: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Card Drafting, Deck/Pool Building, Action Selection, Dice RollingPlayer Age: 14+Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 60 - 90 MinutesGame Designer: Stan KordonskiyGame Artists: Mihajlo Dimitrievski
Introduction:
Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is an already great combination of worker placement, dice drafting and engaging engine-building that has me feeling like I am amassing a vast army. Riftlands adds to this base with a unique board filled with plenty of area control scoring for the end of the game and a new relic system. On top of this, each character now has more asymmetry added to them than simply being able to make their dice type wild.
Riftlands:
Riftlands is a board extension that has a new location for players to visit, allowing them to gain a new card type called relics, while vying for area control over the three segments within the riftlands. During round setup dice are not added to the riftland. When a player visits this location they instead can take a dice from any of the other locations. This is great for picking your most desired dice, whether it is the dice type or the discount value that you are after.
To visit the riftlands players must spend magic equal to the cost plus one for every subsequent visit before this one. This is visually aided by expedition tokens so players don’t have to remember how many times they’ve been to that riftland previously. In relation to visitation cost, the discount on the drafted dice will help to reduce the cost. When visiting, a player can choose one of three locations, with a base magic cost of 1, 2 or 3. Each location awards a different allocation of points to the player who has the most expedition tokens here, followed by the player with the second highest amount, then the third.
After a player picks one of the two visible relics to take and places an expedition token, they are done visiting that location.
Relics:
Relics come in five types, each with five unique variations. These relics types are the Dragon Orbs, Evermap, Mask of Asteraten, Thunder Axe, Urdr Staff. The relics are great as they add a new ability and gives the player points based on the amount of each type collected. 1 relic = 3 points, 2 = 5 points, 3 = 8 points, 4 = 12 points and all 5 = 18 points. Each player can equip two relics at a time and a relic can be discarded to make way for a replacement. Better yet, relics can be re-organised as the player sees fit when the dice are replaced. Each relic type has characteristic abilities (explained below).
Dragon Orbs:
Dragon orbs come in each dice type, while the sixth card is a wild increase through spending magic.
When the player drafts the matching dice type this turn, they can increase the strength of any die matching that type that they have in their collection by 2 strength, or two dice by 1 strength. This effect is perfect in preparing for a great siege battle.
Evermap:
This relic has to be one of my favourites. Any time you gain a chain bonus (the bonuses on the campaign maps), you also gain the bonus on the relic. This is usually gained by spending magic.
Mask of Asteraten:
A perfect disguise into battle. Each of these masks allows you change a chosen dice into a wild dice.
Thunder Axe:
The thunder axe gains benefits as the player conquers the sieges.
Urdr Staff:
This relic gives the player a new ability that they can use as the first action on their turn. This may be cycling out a card from its revealed pile, moving dice or moving your character.
New Cards:
Out of 17 new champions there are many new cards in this expansion to explore. Several replace older reoccurring champions and some focus on the riftland elements of the game, whereas others now give players bonuses when they visit certain shrines. My favourite new card has to be 'Alpha Leader' which gives the player a new dice spot, allowing them to hold on to one extra dice.
New Award Cards:
The riftland adds a fourth award location that has a very pivotal focus, the riftland itself. There are five awards that will have one shuffled and allocated to this space randomly as part of the setup. These awards focus mainly on the expedition tokens.
Character Asymmetry:
In the base game, characters are a tiny bit asymmetrical with an ability that can be unlocked, allowing their type to be wild. Riftlands has improved on this three-fold. Firstly, any of that character's symbol that appears in their completed sieges will give that player an extra point at the end of the game. Secondly, an added ability that will activate when they visit one of the five shrines (each character focuses on a different shrine). The skeleton can activate the magic shrine twice on one turn; the goblin can turn some gold into magic; and the orc who has two abilities focused on their shrine. Lastly, each character now has an unlockable ability that is unique to them. This ability can be unlocked in the same way that anything else on a player board is, through completing sieges or finishing awards.
Final Thoughts:
- Much more personality and reason to chose each character.
- The relics are great, where each have their own unique theme and a great way to score points at the end of the game.
- New focuses in scoring points.
This expansion may look big but in reality only adds two new aspects, the Riftlands with the relics and the unique systems to each character. The shift in focus on scoring is enough of a reason to get this expansion. I find that with this expansion you still have a chance at winning even if you are largely behind in the sieges. You really just have to fight for control at the Riftlands. The part I enjoyed the most is the uniqueness added to each character. Any game with reasons to choose a different character besides the art instantly has me intrigued. Each character has three parts that help make them unique as well, so there is now plenty to like about each character. If you already like Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria then this is definitely an expansion you should add to to your collection.
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