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There are some parts of the hobby I like the sound of, but worry about the implications of them. One of these is trading card games. I worry that if I developed a liking for Lorcana, I wouldn't know when to stop. Recently, I watched a review of the Vale of Eternity, and it was described as having the feel of a TCG, but without needing to break the bank. I've since played a few times, and I think it's a very shrewd investment.
A game of The Vale of Eternity is played either to the end of ten rounds, or once someone scores sixty points. On your turn, you are choosing two cards in a snake draft from the starting player, before deciding how to use the card. Cards can be sold, the value of which depends on which family of cards it belongs to. They can be tamed, meaning they're added to your hand. They can be summoned into your tableau at a cost written on the card. Finally, they can also be discarded, but this is an action I've very rarely seen used.
Mechanically this may sound a little insipid. It doesn't sound like there's much to bring you back to this game. There are, however, a couple of clever hooks to keep it interesting.
The first hook is that every single card in the deck has a unique ability. Some of them might have subtle differences, but The Vale of Eternity never plays the same way twice. Cards have immediate, ongoing or end of round bonuses, so working out when to play cards is very important. Some cards also have a “recover” action, allowing players to take cards back into their hands. The snake draft also means players have to adapt their route to victory as the game progresses. Yes, you might have eyed up that card, but if you are the starting player, there's a very slim chance it'll come back round to you.
Another restriction which keeps games interesting is that you are only allowed to have a number of summoned cards equal to the round number. This stops people from being able to build overpowered tableaus and storming their way to victory. It also means that players might also decide to build up their income before playing cards. That might be a sensible idea, but income is also restricted.
The economy used in The Vale of Eternity are stones. Stones have a value of one, three or six. The problem is that you are only allowed to have four of these stones at any time. None of this "at the end of your turn discard down to four" nonsense. As soon as you have more than four stones of any value, some of them need to be discarded. This means that money is often tight in the game, and having cards which either reduce the cost of playing cards or increase the value of stones become important.
By now, you should have a good understanding of how a game plays out, but how do you decide if it's a must have for your collection? Hopefully the next few paragraphs will help with that decision.
The game is absolutely gorgeous - arrogantly so. How many games do you know come with a standee that the rulebook states is just there for photos? It's a game that begs to be photographed and is very keen to remind us of that. The artwork on every single card is stunning and the components are of a very high quality.
There's a really good balance of engine building, allowing players to craft their turns, whilst still allowing for the occasional momentous big scoring play. There are cards that allow you to steal points, or gain points if you're not winning. End of round cards can also help you build a really good point economy. Only being allowed to have a tableau size relative to the round number mean games can often stay very close all the way.
Finally, and crucially for me, the game is so easy to teach. Having only four possible actions makes teaching straight forward. The information on cards is clearly written, so there's no confusion. Yes, there may be slight bits of frustration at not being able to afford actions, or having to overspend as you can't have change from summoning cards, but the actual teach itself is easy.
There are some things that people may not love about The Vale of Eternity. Firstly, the snake draft can really feel slow in a four-player game. If you are the first player, you then must wait for everyone else to choose their two cards and have to make do with what's left. This can also lead to hate drafting, the subtle art of picking up a card knowing that someone else wants it more. I much prefer the game at two players, but that's personal preference.
Secondly, it's not a particularly big deck of cards, so whilst there's a good level of variety in how the engine is built, you might start to see some cards come up time and time again. For that reason, if you are a fan of TCGs or CCGs, I'm not sure this will scratch your itch.
Finally, I already mentioned hate drafting, but there are other elements which can make for a mean game. There are cards which allow you to remove a card from someone's tableau. This can be a good way of freeing up space to play an extra card without having to pay to discard, but it tends to be used maliciously. That direct conflict may not appeal to some, so it's worth bearing in mind that games can be a little mean spirited.
Despite concerns about long term replayability and meanness, I still think The Vale of Eternity is excellent. It's a game of trying to do a lot with a little in the first instance, but as your tableau starts to build, the momentum really picks up. I've not had a game last the full ten rounds, as someone has normally broken sixty points before then. At two players, you can rattle through a game in less than thirty minutes, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. I really hope an expansion is on the horizons... wait, is this how the TCG bug starts?
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