The Vale of Eternity - We Just Played It!

[@allfunandgames]

Met you at CMON expo in Bangkok, where you recommended this game to me in person. Thank you for the excellent under-the-radar pick!

[@meeple]

Were you able to get a copy of the game on Sunday? Great meeting you at the Expo too! It was a good time with a lot of great people.

[@allfunandgames]

⁠@@meeplequeued up with several others to get a preorder that wasn’t collected at midday on Sunday. Very fortunate to get one - all thanks to your strong recommendation. Many thanks! Hope to see you again sometime

[@gabrielgohier-roy1903]

I played this one at Essen, and it was a surprise hit for me. It could be another boring tableau-builder, but the management of tokens, the draft, and the combos make it stand out.

[@meeple]

Yeah, I played it the week before Essen at the WSBG, and really fell for it.

[@rolling.reggie]

David you were right, this looks right up my alley!

[@meeple]

If you ever want to try it on BGA, let me know!

[@Alrek1979]

Thank you for the review. What do you think of the readability of the cards, seeing as they are arranged somewhat awkwardly when first laid out each round? Does it require a smaller gaming table for better overview? Also, knowing that the deck contains 70 cards - and this would admittedly annoy me perhaps a disproportionate amount - you would need to reshuffle the deck in a 4 player game, do you think an add-on or second edition will come out with 80 cards instead? I don't know the industry at all, so I'll take your guess.

[@meeple]

The readability is fine on the cards themselves, but the layout of the cards around the unique main board can require players to pick up the cards to read them to themselves. In a couple of my plays, someone has mentioned how the main board presents the cards a little awkwardly. I don't think it's a big deal though. With that said, this game would best be played on an appropriately sized round table. But like I said, it's really a non-issue for me to just pick up a card and inspect it. I haven't heard if there will be an expansion, but I sure hope there is. The game doesn't "need" it, but it would be fun to have more cards. Plus it would help the issue you mentioned above when it happens.

[@JumpOnYourHead]

Is this game as fiddly as Seasons? In Season, the tableau became really fiddly in the late-game, where we constantly had problems remembering effects on cards, as there were so many.

[@meeple]

Not remotely as fiddly. The way the rounds are structured in Vale makes it pretty easy to remember what your cards are capable of, and when. As much as I love Seasons, it can be a bit fiddly with tracking things and remember effects. I want to be clear though, Vale feels like a distant cousin to Seasons. They are clearly different games, but I think they push a lot of the same buttons for me (tableau building, unique limitations, a little drafting, etc.)

[@jean-christophecoppeau7565]

Thanks for the preview. How does this compare to Evenfall ?

[@meeple]

This is a much lighter game. Both will appeal to fans of tableau builders of course, but this is a more streamlined type of experience. The management of currency and amount of cards played is what gives it its unique twist.

[@jean-christophecoppeau7565]

@@meeple Thanks, I guess I will look more into evenfall then

[@elqord.1118]

Needs more cards!

[@meeple]

I'm not sure I'd say it "needs" more, but I'd certainly always take more for a game like this. 😁

[@alicia1465]

Might be too fiddly, but players could use some kind of token to visually show how much room they have in their tableau by adding one at the start of each round, and discarding the token when playing a card.,

[@meeple]

It's not terribly difficult to remember the limitation after one play. Plus, everyone at the table will be the first to point out when you start to break that rule. 😆 I like that idea though, just from a table presence standpoint. I might put a bag of little crystals in my copy of the game, and try that.

[@ameenaabouzeid2656]

Great video. I'm quite interested in this one. I haven't tried Seasons but we quite enjoy Res Arcana. How does it compare to that?

[@meeple]

That’s another good example of a game I might reference for gamers who might also be interested in this. Side note: Try Seasons too! If not at the table, it’s on BGA as well.

[@ameenaabouzeid2656]

@@meeple Thank you for the reply. I'll definitely try Seasons and hopefully this one too! I'm loving the "we just played it" segment BTW 😀

[@meeple]

@@ameenaabouzeid2656 Thanks for watching and for the feedback! We'll keep 'em coming.

[@ianw0ng]

how does this compare to everdell, tableau building wise?

[@Raphaelus13]

This seems more snappy than Everdell, which incorporates traditional worker placement.

[@alexanderallison7131]

Having played 80 odd games, I disagree about the volume of luck. The better player will win 99% of the time.