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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Lost Ruins of Arnak in Tabletop Games
Feb 7, 2021
If you are reading this review, chances are you have heard something about the board game “Lost Ruins of Arnak.” If not, continue forward, as there’s a lot to discover in this jungle adventure experience. “Lost Ruins of Arnak” for those that have not already been exposed to the exciting hype leading up to its release date, is a board game that delves deep into the jungle, not unlike a 1980’s Indiana Jones film. It has treasure, hidden idols, lost artifacts, guardians of the jungle, and exploration in the form of a very large game board. The box boasts of multiple gaming mechanisms that all work in tandem for one epic journey. From deckbuilding, exploration, worker placement, to resource management this game throws the entire kitchen at the players. Whether that is a positive or negative is up to each player. I share my thoughts at the very bottom if you want to skip past the gameplay portion of the review.
Players, or “archaeologists” as the game coins them, will have only 5 rounds to explore as much of the board as possible, which includes a hidden temple as well as the jungle proper. At the end of the 5 rounds, players will add up all victory points they have obtained from the temple, any treasure they have left, points on any cards collected, and guardians they have overcome.
“Lost Ruins of Arnak” takes place on, well… Arnak. It’s a fictional jungle that is teeming with wild animals and guardians which keep watch over various treasures all over the expansive island, from here forward referred to as the giant game board. These guardians appear when you explore a new jungle tile for the first time. They attack only if you stay in the location longer than a turn OR if you return to the location on a subsequent turn. If you eliminate a guardian, they provide a couple victory points towards your overall total at the end of the game, and a slight bonus when collecting artifacts from other locations later. Being attacked by a guardian isn’t the end of the world, but can have detrimental effects on your personal deck of cards if you fail to overcome a guardian too many times.
While in the jungle, you may place a single meeple, or “archaeologist” on your turn to discover a new area, or visit a previously discovered one. These new areas contain a guardian and some sort of gold amount or trinket (idols, artifacts, or jewels). These items can be used to push your token further through the hidden temple (see below) OR to purchase cards to improve your play deck going forward. While navigating this mysterious jungle can seem exciting at first glance, you have to be careful not to let your gold fever take over, as it may leave you with minimal points by not using some worker placement to explore the mysterious temple ruins further.
While the jungle takes up a majority of the board, there is a temple which players navigate through simultaneously on the right hand side of the giant board. While it isn’t as visually appealing as the jungle portion of the board, it serves by far the highest purpose by scoring victory points. As your token travels through this temple, more and more treasure (victory points) await. It is not suggested in the rulebook, but should be noted that failing to spend ample treasure to work your way through the temple is almost a sure-fire means of not having a chance to win the game. The mechanic of exploring the temple is unique, but can be costly in terms of managing your resources properly. In my opinion, this takes away from the luster of traversing through a hidden temple and finding as much fat loots as possible. Rather, it feels like another board game I own, where you are furiously chucking dice just trying to get through with no time to look around.
The final mechanic of the game, which, as I read reviews myself prior to purchase, thought would be more prominent, is the deck building mechanic. You are provided a few cards at the start, which is similar to most any deckbuilding game. These basic cards are your first few resources to use for traveling around the board OR for their monetary value in either gold or scrolls. Using the cards for travel allow you to explore different levels of the jungle on the game board. The lower areas of the board require less travel points, while the more lucrative spaces higher up in the jungle require more. To get more travel points, you will need better cards from the decks provided. By using your gold, also an aspect of each card, you may purchase stronger cards from the supply. So, there is a balance you must find between using your cards for travel or for purchases each turn. This can be very limiting with only having the 5 rounds in which to play.
My final thoughts: I am a total sucker for pretty much anything that says the words “deck building” on them, and this game was no exception. I went into this game thinking there was going to be this new way of using a deck building mechanic to also explore a really well crafted game board. I could not have been more wrong. The deck building aspect got so lost in the other mechanics, that I felt like I rarely had the opportunity to actually build my deck. After 3-4 plays of this game, with varying player counts from 2-4, I always ended up with a deck no bigger than about 15-20 cards. When I think deck build, I think of those powerhouses like Marvel Legendary, Ascension, or Star Realms where you are really transforming your deck into a large deck by the end. On top of that, most highly regarded deck builders require you to strategize somewhat in which cards that you buy to compliment your current deck further. Arnak completely leaves both of these elements out. Most times I found myself only able to purchase 1 card in the supply due to lack of resources that I did not have any choice in how that card would compliment my deck or not. It was merely just collecting a card to try and give my deck any sort of a distinct advantage going forward. Now, don’t get me wrong, like the game board, the artwork on the cards is stunning. By far this saves the poor mechanism of the actual cards themselves.
To me, the amount of mechanisms in the game is what gets in its own way. Its that classic, everything but the kitchen sink expression. The exploration gets in the way of the deck-building, which gets in the way of the worker placement, which gets in the way of the resource management. When I found myself wanting to build my deck, it was more crucial that I move up the temple one step. When I wanted to move up the temple, I was missing a certain idol, so I had to resort to wasting cards for gold to purchase a card for my deck that I really didn’t want. So while I think the premise is really thrilling for what this game could have been, in my opinion it just fell short. I left me wanting to explore the upper part of the jungle I never got to. I left me wanting to look at more of the artwork on the cards I never was able to purchase. In the end, I made it to the top of the temple. I couldn’t wait to enjoy my heaping pile of fat loots that awaited my studded archaeologist. However, once I turned over the treasure token, I only acquired another measly 12 victory points. This feeling left me wanting more from this game that was so hyped for its gameplay. I no longer felt like Indiana Jones, and more like I was in a bad B movie hoping for a better acting career.
Players, or “archaeologists” as the game coins them, will have only 5 rounds to explore as much of the board as possible, which includes a hidden temple as well as the jungle proper. At the end of the 5 rounds, players will add up all victory points they have obtained from the temple, any treasure they have left, points on any cards collected, and guardians they have overcome.
“Lost Ruins of Arnak” takes place on, well… Arnak. It’s a fictional jungle that is teeming with wild animals and guardians which keep watch over various treasures all over the expansive island, from here forward referred to as the giant game board. These guardians appear when you explore a new jungle tile for the first time. They attack only if you stay in the location longer than a turn OR if you return to the location on a subsequent turn. If you eliminate a guardian, they provide a couple victory points towards your overall total at the end of the game, and a slight bonus when collecting artifacts from other locations later. Being attacked by a guardian isn’t the end of the world, but can have detrimental effects on your personal deck of cards if you fail to overcome a guardian too many times.
While in the jungle, you may place a single meeple, or “archaeologist” on your turn to discover a new area, or visit a previously discovered one. These new areas contain a guardian and some sort of gold amount or trinket (idols, artifacts, or jewels). These items can be used to push your token further through the hidden temple (see below) OR to purchase cards to improve your play deck going forward. While navigating this mysterious jungle can seem exciting at first glance, you have to be careful not to let your gold fever take over, as it may leave you with minimal points by not using some worker placement to explore the mysterious temple ruins further.
While the jungle takes up a majority of the board, there is a temple which players navigate through simultaneously on the right hand side of the giant board. While it isn’t as visually appealing as the jungle portion of the board, it serves by far the highest purpose by scoring victory points. As your token travels through this temple, more and more treasure (victory points) await. It is not suggested in the rulebook, but should be noted that failing to spend ample treasure to work your way through the temple is almost a sure-fire means of not having a chance to win the game. The mechanic of exploring the temple is unique, but can be costly in terms of managing your resources properly. In my opinion, this takes away from the luster of traversing through a hidden temple and finding as much fat loots as possible. Rather, it feels like another board game I own, where you are furiously chucking dice just trying to get through with no time to look around.
The final mechanic of the game, which, as I read reviews myself prior to purchase, thought would be more prominent, is the deck building mechanic. You are provided a few cards at the start, which is similar to most any deckbuilding game. These basic cards are your first few resources to use for traveling around the board OR for their monetary value in either gold or scrolls. Using the cards for travel allow you to explore different levels of the jungle on the game board. The lower areas of the board require less travel points, while the more lucrative spaces higher up in the jungle require more. To get more travel points, you will need better cards from the decks provided. By using your gold, also an aspect of each card, you may purchase stronger cards from the supply. So, there is a balance you must find between using your cards for travel or for purchases each turn. This can be very limiting with only having the 5 rounds in which to play.
My final thoughts: I am a total sucker for pretty much anything that says the words “deck building” on them, and this game was no exception. I went into this game thinking there was going to be this new way of using a deck building mechanic to also explore a really well crafted game board. I could not have been more wrong. The deck building aspect got so lost in the other mechanics, that I felt like I rarely had the opportunity to actually build my deck. After 3-4 plays of this game, with varying player counts from 2-4, I always ended up with a deck no bigger than about 15-20 cards. When I think deck build, I think of those powerhouses like Marvel Legendary, Ascension, or Star Realms where you are really transforming your deck into a large deck by the end. On top of that, most highly regarded deck builders require you to strategize somewhat in which cards that you buy to compliment your current deck further. Arnak completely leaves both of these elements out. Most times I found myself only able to purchase 1 card in the supply due to lack of resources that I did not have any choice in how that card would compliment my deck or not. It was merely just collecting a card to try and give my deck any sort of a distinct advantage going forward. Now, don’t get me wrong, like the game board, the artwork on the cards is stunning. By far this saves the poor mechanism of the actual cards themselves.
To me, the amount of mechanisms in the game is what gets in its own way. Its that classic, everything but the kitchen sink expression. The exploration gets in the way of the deck-building, which gets in the way of the worker placement, which gets in the way of the resource management. When I found myself wanting to build my deck, it was more crucial that I move up the temple one step. When I wanted to move up the temple, I was missing a certain idol, so I had to resort to wasting cards for gold to purchase a card for my deck that I really didn’t want. So while I think the premise is really thrilling for what this game could have been, in my opinion it just fell short. I left me wanting to explore the upper part of the jungle I never got to. I left me wanting to look at more of the artwork on the cards I never was able to purchase. In the end, I made it to the top of the temple. I couldn’t wait to enjoy my heaping pile of fat loots that awaited my studded archaeologist. However, once I turned over the treasure token, I only acquired another measly 12 victory points. This feeling left me wanting more from this game that was so hyped for its gameplay. I no longer felt like Indiana Jones, and more like I was in a bad B movie hoping for a better acting career.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria in Tabletop Games
Jan 5, 2022
As you’ve read in our previous reviews, we are BIG fans of the Valeria-verse games. Whether we have to recruit adventurers for quests, build a thriving village, or traverse the lands to protect its people from various Monsters, we are all about this realm. For this newest installation in the series, the tables have been flipped on us – because doesn’t it get tiring always being the ‘good guys’? Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria allows players to embrace their inner dark side and fight back against these ‘heroes’ to reclaim dominance over the lands. Sometimes, it just feels good to be bad!
Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a game of worker placement and dice drafting/pool building in which players are trying to amass the most VP by the end of the game. Played over a series of rounds, players will take turns moving their Warden, drafting dice, and performing various actions. To setup, place the main board in the center of the play area. Shuffle and place the Battle Plan deck, Award cards, and Champion decks in their corresponding locations. Fill the dice bag with the requisite number of dice for your player count, and draw/roll/place the listed number of dice in each of the 5 Shrines (areas) of the main game board. A specified number of Gems are placed in the appropriate Shrine, and each player places their score marker on the 0 space of the score track. Each player receives a player board, random Campaign Map, Warden and Conquest Markers in their chosen color, as well as markers for Gold, Influence, and Magic. Choose a starting player, and the game is ready to begin! The setup for a 2-player game is pictured below.
On your turn, you will move your Warden from its current location to one of the other 5 locations on the board. Whichever location you choose dictates what actions you may take this turn, and are as follows: Gem Shrine, Magic Shrine, Champions Shrine, Gold Shrine, Tactics Shrine, or your own Camp. When placing your Warden at any location (with the exception of your own Camp), you will first select one of the dice found at that Shrine and place it on an open space of your player board. You may not move to a Shrine if it has no dice! After taking a die, you may perform the action associated with your chosen location. The Gem Shrine allows you to take 1 Gem, which can be used to manipulate dice in future turns. At the Magic Shrine, you may gain 2 Magic or claim 1 Award card. Magic can be spent in the game to manipulate dice or partially refresh the Champion/Battle Plan decks, and Award cards give you VP and can be claimed once you have met their requisite conditions. The Champions Shrine grants you the opportunity to buy a Champion card. Champions can provide either Immediate, Ongoing, or End-Game effects. The Gold Shrine allows you to gain Gold (used to purchase Champions and Battle Plans), and the Tactics Shrine allows you to buy a Battle Plan to be placed in your reserve on your player board.
The final location, your own Camp, is on your player board. When you place your Warden here, you are committing to perform a Battle. To do so, select which Battle Plan you wish to complete (either from your reserve, or pay Gold to buy directly from the Battle Plan line), and place it on your player board. All Battle Plans have certain dice requirements that need to be met in order to be completed. Select and manipulate which dice you want to use for your chosen Battle Plan, and add up your total Strength. Compare your Strength to your Influence marker – the lower of the two will be your total strength for this battle. Check the chart on your player board to find the number of VP you earn for the total Strength level achieved in the Battle, and immediately move your score marker the appropriate number of spaces. After performing a Battle, you get to level up your player board. During the game setup, each player receives 10 Conquest Markers that are housed on their player board, blocking/locking certain bonuses, abilities, and dice slots. After a Battle, you may remove 1 Conquest Marker from your player board (granting you a new bonus/ability for future turns), and place it on your Campaign Map. Campaign Maps have nine different slots that will grant you differing rewards. Once you have moved your Conquest Marker, return all dice used in this Battle to the dice bag, and move your completed Battle Plan card to the side of your player board. Your turn then ends and the game moves to the next player.
The game continues in this fashion, with players moving their Wardens, collecting dice, and performing actions, until one player has completed their 7th Battle Plan. The round continues until all players have had an equal number of turns, and then players add up any remaining VP. The player who has accumulated the most VP is then declared the winner!
It really should come as no surprise to you that I love this game. Beyond just the Valeria-verse theme, though, the gameplay is more strategic than I originally thought. Yes, it’s a worker placement and dice drafting game, but the underlying strategy is really what makes it great. You see, the dice in the game have 3 different elements that affect your strategy. First is the color: each color matches a Faction, and different Factions are required to complete specific Battle Plans. Next, is the actual die value: you want higher numbers to get a higher Strength, which equates to more VP when completing Battle Plans. And lastly is the discount: depending on the face value of the die, you will receive a discount towards purchasing Champions, Battle Plans, or collecting gold. The lower the face value of the die, the higher the discount, and vice versa. So yeah, maybe taking a 1 value die won’t really help in the Battle Plan, but the amount of gold it allows you to collect might be worth it. You have those 3 things to consider for dice alone! And that doesn’t even take into account which Champions you might want to buy, or what Battle Plans would be beneficial to you.
Another neat strategic element are the Conquest Markers on your player board. Everyone starts with the same number/placement of Conquest Markers, but as the game progresses, players may resolve them in various ways. There is no ‘correct’ order in which to move Conquest Markers – it all comes down to your strategy. Maybe you want more dice right off the bat, so you remove those first. Or maybe you want to be able to reserve more than 1 Battle Plan at a time, so you go for that one. It’s going to be different for every player, and it’ll be different every game. It all depends on the layout of the main board, and which dice and actions are available to you at any given time. There are so many strategic considerations throughout the entire game, and it keeps all players actively engaged.
Components. No surprise here, but the component quality is great, which is to be expected of Daily Magic Games. The cardboard is all thick and chunky, the wooden tokens nice and sturdy, and the cards are easy to manipulate and clear to read. The artwork is, in my opinion, one of the greatest things about the Valeria games, and Shadow Kingdoms is no exception. When getting the game set up, sometimes I find myself just looking through the cards and really appreciating the artwork. So all in all, great production quality here.
Does Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria climb the ranks to my favorite Valeria game? Not quite, but I have to say honestly that it’s getting there. The gameplay is solid and straightforward, the strategic implications are vast, and the components make the game feel awesome. And to get the Monster perspective in this universe is a neat twist that I otherwise would not really have thought of. If you’re a fan of the Valeria games, definitely check this one out. Or if you’re just a fan of worker placement, with some unique elements of drafting, then I highly recommend this one as well. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a mighty 5 / 6. Check it out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria is a game of worker placement and dice drafting/pool building in which players are trying to amass the most VP by the end of the game. Played over a series of rounds, players will take turns moving their Warden, drafting dice, and performing various actions. To setup, place the main board in the center of the play area. Shuffle and place the Battle Plan deck, Award cards, and Champion decks in their corresponding locations. Fill the dice bag with the requisite number of dice for your player count, and draw/roll/place the listed number of dice in each of the 5 Shrines (areas) of the main game board. A specified number of Gems are placed in the appropriate Shrine, and each player places their score marker on the 0 space of the score track. Each player receives a player board, random Campaign Map, Warden and Conquest Markers in their chosen color, as well as markers for Gold, Influence, and Magic. Choose a starting player, and the game is ready to begin! The setup for a 2-player game is pictured below.
On your turn, you will move your Warden from its current location to one of the other 5 locations on the board. Whichever location you choose dictates what actions you may take this turn, and are as follows: Gem Shrine, Magic Shrine, Champions Shrine, Gold Shrine, Tactics Shrine, or your own Camp. When placing your Warden at any location (with the exception of your own Camp), you will first select one of the dice found at that Shrine and place it on an open space of your player board. You may not move to a Shrine if it has no dice! After taking a die, you may perform the action associated with your chosen location. The Gem Shrine allows you to take 1 Gem, which can be used to manipulate dice in future turns. At the Magic Shrine, you may gain 2 Magic or claim 1 Award card. Magic can be spent in the game to manipulate dice or partially refresh the Champion/Battle Plan decks, and Award cards give you VP and can be claimed once you have met their requisite conditions. The Champions Shrine grants you the opportunity to buy a Champion card. Champions can provide either Immediate, Ongoing, or End-Game effects. The Gold Shrine allows you to gain Gold (used to purchase Champions and Battle Plans), and the Tactics Shrine allows you to buy a Battle Plan to be placed in your reserve on your player board.
The final location, your own Camp, is on your player board. When you place your Warden here, you are committing to perform a Battle. To do so, select which Battle Plan you wish to complete (either from your reserve, or pay Gold to buy directly from the Battle Plan line), and place it on your player board. All Battle Plans have certain dice requirements that need to be met in order to be completed. Select and manipulate which dice you want to use for your chosen Battle Plan, and add up your total Strength. Compare your Strength to your Influence marker – the lower of the two will be your total strength for this battle. Check the chart on your player board to find the number of VP you earn for the total Strength level achieved in the Battle, and immediately move your score marker the appropriate number of spaces. After performing a Battle, you get to level up your player board. During the game setup, each player receives 10 Conquest Markers that are housed on their player board, blocking/locking certain bonuses, abilities, and dice slots. After a Battle, you may remove 1 Conquest Marker from your player board (granting you a new bonus/ability for future turns), and place it on your Campaign Map. Campaign Maps have nine different slots that will grant you differing rewards. Once you have moved your Conquest Marker, return all dice used in this Battle to the dice bag, and move your completed Battle Plan card to the side of your player board. Your turn then ends and the game moves to the next player.
The game continues in this fashion, with players moving their Wardens, collecting dice, and performing actions, until one player has completed their 7th Battle Plan. The round continues until all players have had an equal number of turns, and then players add up any remaining VP. The player who has accumulated the most VP is then declared the winner!
It really should come as no surprise to you that I love this game. Beyond just the Valeria-verse theme, though, the gameplay is more strategic than I originally thought. Yes, it’s a worker placement and dice drafting game, but the underlying strategy is really what makes it great. You see, the dice in the game have 3 different elements that affect your strategy. First is the color: each color matches a Faction, and different Factions are required to complete specific Battle Plans. Next, is the actual die value: you want higher numbers to get a higher Strength, which equates to more VP when completing Battle Plans. And lastly is the discount: depending on the face value of the die, you will receive a discount towards purchasing Champions, Battle Plans, or collecting gold. The lower the face value of the die, the higher the discount, and vice versa. So yeah, maybe taking a 1 value die won’t really help in the Battle Plan, but the amount of gold it allows you to collect might be worth it. You have those 3 things to consider for dice alone! And that doesn’t even take into account which Champions you might want to buy, or what Battle Plans would be beneficial to you.
Another neat strategic element are the Conquest Markers on your player board. Everyone starts with the same number/placement of Conquest Markers, but as the game progresses, players may resolve them in various ways. There is no ‘correct’ order in which to move Conquest Markers – it all comes down to your strategy. Maybe you want more dice right off the bat, so you remove those first. Or maybe you want to be able to reserve more than 1 Battle Plan at a time, so you go for that one. It’s going to be different for every player, and it’ll be different every game. It all depends on the layout of the main board, and which dice and actions are available to you at any given time. There are so many strategic considerations throughout the entire game, and it keeps all players actively engaged.
Components. No surprise here, but the component quality is great, which is to be expected of Daily Magic Games. The cardboard is all thick and chunky, the wooden tokens nice and sturdy, and the cards are easy to manipulate and clear to read. The artwork is, in my opinion, one of the greatest things about the Valeria games, and Shadow Kingdoms is no exception. When getting the game set up, sometimes I find myself just looking through the cards and really appreciating the artwork. So all in all, great production quality here.
Does Shadow Kingdoms of Valeria climb the ranks to my favorite Valeria game? Not quite, but I have to say honestly that it’s getting there. The gameplay is solid and straightforward, the strategic implications are vast, and the components make the game feel awesome. And to get the Monster perspective in this universe is a neat twist that I otherwise would not really have thought of. If you’re a fan of the Valeria games, definitely check this one out. Or if you’re just a fan of worker placement, with some unique elements of drafting, then I highly recommend this one as well. Purple Phoenix Games gives it a mighty 5 / 6. Check it out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
