Vale Expansions Update

[BananaHarambe]

Sorry, no announcement about expansions coming to BGA, this is only about “real life” Vale.

Curse Expansion has had limited early release and should be available in many countries soon. I have updated the wiki to include all Curse Expansion details here:
https://valeofeternity.wiki.gg/wiki/Curse_Expansion

I also wrote a review on Curse here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/357287 ... rse-expans

Curse is the second expansion for Vale. If you have been living under a rock (or only on BGA) you may not have heard about the Artifacts Expansion which released about a year ago. Details can be seen here:
https://valeofeternity.wiki.gg/wiki/Ar ... _Expansion

Vale of Eternity is expected to be “finished”, no more expansions from Mandoo. The game has been quite successful in their eyes, but a remake seems preferable at this point. Perhaps it will use “Vale” or “Eternity” in the name as a connection?

This doesn’t mean that “Vale of Eternity” is finished. New cards and expansions can be created by players in the community. I have created a 14 card expansion with the help from the community which can be seen here:
https://valeofeternity.wiki.gg/wiki/14_Card_Expansion

A print and play PDF is available for download available on BGG here: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/3176 ... ansion-pnp

These cards have been through quite a bit or design iteration and playtesting since August. They spice up the game quite a bit with the main focus being on further synergies (vertical synergy) supporting the base cards, but with a few new archetypes snuck in there (Fire+Greedy Dragons). Some cards look pretty wild in the best case scenario, but keep in mind that the deck dilution makes these dream combo scenarios unlikely.

Another Vale enthusiast has created a custom card creator which can be seen here: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/36416 ... -generator. This is what I used to make the cards.

[ipseitR]

Hi Banana, that is really cool!

I'm waiting to be able to buy the Cursed expansion in France.

I have a real question, since I'm still new on BGA: how can we have these extensions (at least the Artefacts one) on BGA?

1) Do we have to find a dev to do it with the cards you put on wiki?

2) Are there extensions on other games on BGA? Do they allow arena games with extensions?


Thanks for your answer

I really want to make it happen so I'm asking you haha.

[BananaHarambe]

Hi Banana, that is really cool!

I'm waiting to be able to buy the Cursed expansion in France.

I have a real question, since I'm still new on BGA: how can we have these extensions (at least the Artefacts one) on BGA?

1) Do we have to find a dev to do it with the cards you put on wiki?

2) Are there extensions on other games on BGA? Do they allow arena games with extensions?


Thanks for your answer

I really want to make it happen so I'm asking you haha.

Hi ipseitR,

Hope you enjoy Curse once you get it. Mass release has been slower than expected for some reason. First copies were available early August to reviewers and then for Essen Spiel in October. They were under a time crunch to finalize the expansion to prepare for Essen.

I am not directly affiliated with Mandoo Games so I cannot comment on their intentions for adding expansions to BGA. Adding stuff to BGA requires permission from the publisher (Mandoo) and a developer to implement it. It then needs to go through alpha and beta testing on BGA. Mandoo would have compensated ($) the developer Moof for the BGA implementation.

Vale was added to BGA around its initial physical release for promotional purposes. It seems to have been successful since I know many people that either tried Vale online randomly and proceeded to buy it or used BGA as a way to trial the game after it hearing good things about it, but before buying it. Vale of Eternity is a premium game on BGA which means they get paid by BGA from a portion of the BGA subscriptions based on the game's popularity. This payment system is explained somewhere on BGA.

Expansions are far less common on BGA since there is far less benefit to the publishers. From what I have read on BGA forums expansions are more niche and sell less copies than the original games. They require more upfront development cost, but with far less payback than original games.

Each game approaches BGA differently. related to 2), the game Faraway has leaned very heavily into BGA for promotion since they have released base game (2023) PPB expansion (2024) and Stars expansion (2025) as early releases on BGA. The PPB expansion is included in arena mode and is the preferred way to play for the majority of players. The Stars expansion is too new for arena at the moment, but will likely get voted on for inclusion next season. Faraway games are simple and fast. The game is popular enough combined with short length that the real time queue is super fast.

Since Vale hasn't had expansions released online yet I wouldn't expect them to be added. I interpret the decision as them wanting to keep only the base game on BGA for discover purposes (or addiction for some people ) and keep the expansions as a unique experience for IRL gatherings.

Adding more Vale options to BGA would also divide the player base, which would create issues with finding games with the settings you want. There is already some wait time for real time queues most of the time and an expansion would make it longer. If queue times become too long the game could be considered "dead" by many players as they lose interest waiting for games.

Thankfully Vale base game has quite a bit of depth which is keeping players interested. I would personally have preferred to have a simple expansion of "just cards" to shake up the deck a bit without affecting game duration or complexity. My 14 card expansion (BH1) was created to make the kind of simple expansion I was interested in.

[ipseitR]

Hi Banana,

Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed answer, I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to thank you for all the great tutorials and explanations you share. They taught me a lot and really helped me understand the depth of the game and improve my play. Vale of Eternity is by far the best board game I’ve played so far.

Your explanation about the economics of BGA and the risk of splitting the player base makes a lot of sense, even if, as players, we always want more content It’s reassuring to know that the base game still has a lot of depth and replayability, and that these choices are made with the long-term health of the game in mind.

If we ever end up getting an expansion on BGA, it will mean that Vale of Eternity has become extremely popular and that’s all I can wish for us.

[BananaHarambe]

Hi Banana,

Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed answer, I really appreciate it.

I also wanted to thank you for all the great tutorials and explanations you share. They taught me a lot and really helped me understand the depth of the game and improve my play. Vale of Eternity is by far the best board game I’ve played so far.

Your explanation about the economics of BGA and the risk of splitting the player base makes a lot of sense, even if, as players, we always want more content It’s reassuring to know that the base game still has a lot of depth and replayability, and that these choices are made with the long-term health of the game in mind.

If we ever end up getting an expansion on BGA, it will mean that Vale of Eternity has become extremely popular and that’s all I can wish for us.

Hi ipseitR,

You are very welcome. It has been enjoyable trying to build a community around Vale on BGA. There are still slow updates to the wiki, including a new scoring example on Advanced Strategy page and we nearly got every card page added. I only have time per week to keep 1 thing moving along, which is currently the 14 card expansion art, designs, final touches.

If anyone would like to contribute to Vale outside the game, please feel free to reach out. There is plenty of stuff to do on the wiki website, which I always intended on being a collaborative project, not a solo project (WAYYYY to much work).

I also appreciate help or feedback on the 14 card expansion. Some people have helped make art for the cards or contributed to design/card balance discussions which has been amazing. A community designed expansion has excellent potential since it has more people available for designs, playtesting, and art than a board game studio would every have and without the same time/money/marketing pressure. If we can make a good expansion ourselves with enough positive feedback and hype there is a small chance that it gets made for real and/or put on BGA. I am doubtful, but it is possible if the BGA Vale community is vocal enough.

[BananaHarambe]

The BH1 expansion is now available for download on BGG here: https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/3176 ... ansion-pnp

If anyone is tired of waiting for their Curse expansion preorder to arrive, please give this a try . Also if the cards look good, please thumbs up and comment to increase visibility.

I will gladly publish BH1 in other languages, but I will need help with translation. I currently have help with Japanese. Most notable for Japanese is they only got the base game, no proper expansions in Japanese