Would you like things to be a little more complex when it comes to board and card games? Our tip offers a simple set of rules and a profound feel for the game at the same time.
In addition to family games such as “Catan” or “Cascadia”, there are also somewhat more complex expert games such as “Mixed Forest” or “Living Forest”. This is exactly what happens “The Vale of Eternity” from Pegasus Spiele, which is currently on offer at Amazon 23.74 euros located.
The rules are quite manageable and quickly internalized, but… strategic depth makes this game really interesting. In addition, it comes in a small packaging, which means you can enjoy a lot of content that takes up little space.
The Vale of Eternity view on Amazon
What do we like about The Vale of Eternity?
- + For card game lovers: If you like games with beautifully illustrated cards and lots of different effects, “The Vale of Eternity” is perfect for you. The style is reminiscent of comics and is still beautifully epic, which is mainly due to the creatures and deities that you summon throughout the game.
- + Synergies are key: “The Vale of Eternity” offers elements of a so-called “engine builder”. This means that the cards and their effects build on each other and give you different advantages if you combine them correctly. This usually takes a bit of practice, but as you play it will become easier and feel more rewarding.
- + Simple set of rules with depth: If you don’t like reading long rules, you’ve come to the right place with “The Vale of Eternity”. Even if you’ve never heard of this game before, the rules are quickly internalized. This connoisseur game can also be integrated into a game evening where you may not want to spend too much time on one game.
Who has less fun with “The Vale of Eternity”?
- – A strategic approach is essential: If you want to be successful in “The Vale of Eternity” and achieve victory, you should always follow a certain strategy. Playing the cards randomly usually doesn’t get you anywhere. Sometimes such game elements are exactly what you might not be looking for in a board game.
- – The fantasy game environment: It could also be that you really like card games and prefer to play in a realistic environment. In “The Vale of Eternity” you will encounter various deities, monsters and other characters that are familiar to all fantasy fans. But maybe not everyone likes that.
How does The Vale of Eternity work exactly?
Basically, “The Vale of Eternity” is a card game in which you… Summons creature and god cards. All cards have special effects, some of which build on each other. With each round of the game you try to improve your card display, play new cards and also remove those that no longer serve you as much. Whoever achieves the most points after ten rounds or at least 60 points beforehand wins the game.
Basically, each round consists of three phases:
- The selection phase: There is a tableau on the table between you, on which you place twice as many cards as there are other players during each selection phase. Starting with the starting player, you place a marker on a card and reserve the card for the next phase. Once you have reached the last player, that person places both markers on one card each and then goes counterclockwise back to the starting player. There is now a selection marker on each card laid out.
- The action phase: This phase of the game offers you a total of four options. You can tame a creature of your choice and put it into your hand or sell it and receive the corresponding runestones in return. In addition, creatures and gods that have already been tamed can be summoned from your hand and played. Pay attention to the card texts, because some creatures have an immediate effect, while others are subject to special conditions. This usually brings you continuous points and thus closer to victory. Finally, you can release creatures and remove them from your display.
- Activation phase: At the end, you activate the effects of the cards you played, if you have already played such creatures (they have the hourglass symbol). Here you can sometimes draw a card, collect points or even receive rune stones. Always read carefully how the creatures and gods you play work so that you get the most out of your cards. If no one has reached 60 points at the end of the round, the game continues and the start marker moves clockwise to the next person. If this was the tenth round, the game is over.
Strategic features
Now you know how “The Vale of Eternity” basically works, but there’s a lot more to it than that. This starts with the rune stones that you use to summon creatures. In total, you are not allowed to have more than four stones at any time. This is essential because the rune stones come in different colors and therefore several values.
In addition, you are not allowed to trade with the bank. So if you have three red stones that are each worth one rune point, you are not allowed to exchange them for a blue stone that is worth three rune points. This can be really tricky at times, because over time you want to have higher-quality runestones in order to play stronger cards.
In addition, you may never play more cards than the number indicated in the current round. In the third round you can play a maximum of three creaturesin the fifth round five. That’s why it becomes very worthwhile over time to release creatures and remove them from your display.
Finally, all cards have certain effects and over time you will discover many synergies. But most of the time you have to either play or activate in a specific orderso that lots of points go to your account. You’ll notice that there’s a lot of strategy in The Vale of Eternity. However, this is exactly how the replay value can be significantly increased.
The Vale of Eternity view on Amazon
Game rating: This is what previous buyers say
More than 120 people have “The Vale of Eternity” on Amazon overall 4.6 out of 5 stars evaluated. This is really impressive and the beautiful card illustrations and the accessible rules are what players find particularly exciting.
And with an overall rating of 7.6 out of 10, the game does BGG also a good figure. There it even ends up among the Top 100 of all family games.
Dennis Mandel (Own opinion):
So much in such a small box!
The Vale of Eternity has been on my agenda for so long and I finally got to try this game. After the first round I was straight into it and had fun even during my initial moves.
Managing runestones, which creatures I want to play and when I might release them again just motivated me a lot. At first I didn’t feel like I really had a plan, but I think that’s usually the case with card games like this.
At the beginning you just start playing and in the following games it becomes a little clearer what makes sense at the beginning and what doesn’t. In addition, the rules get picked up pretty quickly and all of these subtleties and subtleties can be internalized with every game.
The cards also look beautifully illustrated and overall this complex game comes in an extremely small box. That would probably have been different a few years ago, but I think it’s great that Pegasus Spiele is focusing on the essentials here, because anything else would have been a waste of space.
I know that if you enjoy The Vale of Eternity as much as I do, there is already an expansion available (check it out on Amazon) which will make your gameplay even more interesting. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to play there yet.
And it’s amazing how strategically and proactively I have to play in the end so that I can use every round perfectly to my advantage. I had to think of “Faraway” by Kosmos (view on Amazon), because it’s very similar. Of course, this can be intimidating if you play more occasionally or prefer games that have their strategic components but rely more on luck-based game elements.
In any case, I can recommend “The Vale of Eternity” without hesitation. For a reasonable price, you get a great card game that has a lot of depth and is sure to bring you together at the gaming table again and again. Play in!
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