What does Rise of Titans add to Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria? Learn in this Valeria board game review
Channel: Tabletop Bellhop
Date: 2023-04-27

In this podcast segment we deep dive the Rise of Titans expansion for Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria. This Valeria board game expansion provides four new modules to add to your Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria board game. 

This review is one segment of episode 205 of The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast, Game Changers, watch it here: https://youtu.be/p34oSsKmGFM

Be sure to subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/tabletopbellhop?sub_confirmation=1 and consider supporting us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/tabletopbellhop. 

Disclosure: Daily Magic Games sent us this expansion as thanks for doing a preview of their Kickstarter.

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Timestamps:

00:00 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
01:47 COMPONENT QUALITY IN RISE OF TITANS
03:14 SHRINE OF THE TITANS
04:09 THE GREAT BATTLES
05:21 ANCIENT SPELLS
05:53 WRAITH DICE
06:36 OUR THOUGHTS ON EACH OF THESE MODULES
15:12 WHO SHOULD PICK UP RISE OF TITANS?
16:40 CLOSING AND WHERE TO FIND MORE

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From the publisher:

This expansion includes 4 Advanced Expansion Modules to give Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria TONS of variety and replayability.

Module #1: Shrine of the Titans – This is a 6th Shrine that occupies the cavern at the center of the game board. After each battle, you will place your highest value Troop die into the Shrine of the Titans. The Shrine can hold a number of Troop dice equal to the number of players. On your turn, you can move your Warden token to the Shrine of the Titans and buy up to 3 dice...if you have enough Gold. This module also includes 5 additional Troop dice.

Module #2: Great Battles – This is a set of 10 oversized Battle Plan cards in which all the players can participate. 2 Great Battle cards are always available throughout the game and each time you complete a regular Battle Plan, you check your dice to see if any of them match the Troop Types noted on the Great Battle cards. If there's a match, you add the lowest strength matching die to one of the Great Battle cards along with one of your Participation Markers. You immediately gain the reward on the Troop Position chosen. When all 5 Troop positions are filled on a Great Battle, the card is resolved and each Participation marker on that card earns you a share of the Victory Points for that Great Battle. This module also includes 20 Participation Markers and 5 additional Troop dice.

Module #3: Ancient Spells – This is a set of 28 cards (44x68mm) with 2 of 6 unique and powerful actions spread throughout the cards in every possible combination. During setup, shuffle the cards and give 3 to each player. At any time during your turn, you may play an Ancient Spell card from your hand to perform one of the two available powers. It's important to note that playing an Ancient Spell card is a free action along with your regular action. These spells are meant to augment and boost specific actions, dice, etc.

Module #4: Wraith Dice – This is a set of 5 purple custom dice (16mm - same size as the other dice in the game). During setup, just toss the 5 Wraith Dice into the bag along with the usual dice needed for your number of players. Each die has Strength of 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, and 3, (opposite sides always add up to 4) so they are weaker than the regular Troop dice, but this also means that they're more likely to give you better Discounts if you draft them at the Tactics and Champions Shines, and more likely to pay out more gold if you draft them from Gold Shrine. Wraith dice are considered WILD when completing any Battle Plan. So, even though they're weak, they can be any Troop Type you need. Wraith dice are also wild if you put them on a Great Battle card (Module #2). When you draft a Wraith die, it DOES NOT take up a Troop slot on your Player Board! You just set it somewhere on your Camp and use it when you need it most. The flexibility of these new dice will add lots of new play options to your game of Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria.

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Links:

Head over to the Tabletop Bellhop blog at https://tabletopbellhop.com 

Read more and check out lots of pictures of the components over on the blog:
https://tabletopbellhop.com/game-reviews/shadow-kingdoms-of-valeria-rise-of-titans/

Check out our Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria written review:
https://tabletopbellhop.com/unboxing/unboxing-shadow-kingdoms-of-valeria/

Pick up your own copy (affiliate links):

Shadow Kingdoms Base Game
US: https://amzn.to/422Gl66
Canada: https://amzn.to/3Lci1Ic

Rise of Titans Expansion
US: https://amzn.to/3NjJIkI
Canada: https://amzn.to/3oOo2mO

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