The Vale of Eternity
Draft legendary creatures, sell cards for magic stones and summon a scoring engine while managing a strict four-stone limit and a tableau that grows by one space each round.
The Vale of Eternity is a fast, interactive tableau-building board game by Eric Hong. It combines a snake draft with careful resource management: every card can either provide valuable magical stones or become part of your growing engine.
The official rules define the game’s unusual economy: four stone tokens maximum, only as many summoned creatures as the current round number, and recurring effects that resolve in a separate phase. Understanding those rules will improve your first game more than memorizing individual cards.
What makes it different?
Summoning stronger creatures is only half the challenge. You also need the right mixture of stone denominations and enough available spaces, while judging whether a fresh creature is worth removing an older one. Those decisions create strategy without requiring a lengthy game.
Game at a Glance
Hunt
Draft two creatures from a common display.
Act
Sell, tame, summon or remove cards.
Resolve
Activate recurring creature effects.
Win
Finish a round at 60+ points, or complete round ten.
How to play The Vale of Eternity
The Vale of Eternity is a creature-drafting engine-building game designed by Eric Hong, originally released in 2023 by Mandoo Games. Each round has three phases: Hunting, Action and Resolution. Players draft creatures, sell some for magical currency, tame others into their hands, then summon combinations of creatures that provide points and additional abilities.
There is no combat phase. The challenge is choosing creatures that build a scoring engine before an opponent reaches 60 points, while respecting limits on magical stones and summoned cards.
Setup and first-player scoring
- Give each player two drafting markers and a player tile.
- Shuffle the 70 creature cards and prepare a discard pile.
- Place the round marker on round one and arrange the magic-stone supply.
- Set each score according to opening turn order: the first player starts at 1, the second at 2, the third at 3, and the fourth at 4.
- Give the first-player marker to the starting player. Nobody begins with magic stones.
The player board and optional dragon standee serve as a central drafting display; players’ creatures remain in front of them.
Hunting phase: how the snake draft works
Reveal twice as many creature cards as there are players and sort them around the central board by family. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, everyone places a marker on one unselected card. Drafting then reverses: the last player immediately chooses their second card, and selection continues counterclockwise until every player has marked two cards.
For example, at three players, six cards are available. Picks run A–B–C–C–B–A. The draft does not immediately put cards into your hand. During the Action phase you must decide whether each marked card will be sold or tamed.
The four actions during the Action phase
| Action | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Sell | Discard a drafted creature for magic stones based on its family. | Provides currency to summon creatures. |
| Tame | Take a drafted creature into your hand. | Preserves a card to summon now or later. |
| Summon | Pay a creature’s cost and place it in an available area. | Activates permanent, instant or recurring effects. |
| Remove | Pay magic stones equal to the current round number to discard one of your summoned creatures. | Frees space for a stronger combination. |
On your Action-phase turn, actions can be taken in any order and repeated. Both drafted cards must be sold or tamed before you finish. You cannot leave your draft markers on unprocessed cards.
Magic stones: values, limit and change
Magic stones come in three values: red = 1, blue = 3, purple = 6. Selling creatures earns stones according to their family as shown on the board, not according to the creature’s summoning cost.
You may hold at most four physical stones, regardless of total monetary value. That is a stone-count limit, not a limit of four currency units. If an action takes you above the limit, discard stones until you are back to four before continuing.
You cannot simply exchange a purple six-value stone for smaller stones at will. When you pay more than a summoning or removal cost, you receive no change. This makes denominations strategically important.
Summoning limit: one additional area per round
Your available creature areas equal the current round number. In round one you can have only one summoned creature; by round five the limit is five. If all areas are occupied, you cannot summon another creature until you remove one or an effect creates room.
Example: In round four, three of your four areas are occupied. You can summon one additional creature. To summon another afterward, you need to free an area first. Removing a creature in that round costs four currency units, which can make replacing a weak card expensive.
Instant, Permanent and Active effects
| Effect type | Timing | Example application |
|---|---|---|
| Instant | Triggers as the creature is summoned. | Gain stones, cards or points immediately. |
| Permanent | Remains in effect while summoned. | Reduce future costs or alter a rule. |
| Active | Triggers once during each Resolution phase. | Generate recurring points or resources. |
Active effects may be resolved in the order you choose during the Resolution phase, which can matter when one effect draws cards and another scores based on hand size. Abilities are generally mandatory when they can be resolved, and a card’s instructions can override the normal rules.
Five creature families explained
The base game has five families: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind and Dragon. Family determines a card’s category and influences the magic stones received when you sell it. Creature effects can also care about specific families already summoned or held.
Don’t assume one family is always a scoring family and another is always an economy family. The right choice depends on the individual card text and the engine you are developing.
When does The Vale of Eternity end?
Check for the end of the game after the Resolution phase of each round. The base game ends if any player has reached at least 60 points or after the end of round ten, whichever comes first. Finish that round before comparing scores; reaching 60 partway through it does not stop the round immediately.
The highest score wins. Ties go to the player with the most summoned creature cards; if still tied, the players share the victory. Card effects can reduce scores but not below zero.
Eight practical strategy ideas
- Draft with a purpose. Evaluate each card as potential income, a hand card and a future summoned engine piece.
- Count physical stones, not just value. A small pile of high-denomination stones can be powerful but may create costly overpayment.
- Think about timing. An early Active effect can earn value over many rounds; a late Instant effect might be better when the game is nearly over.
- Plan for creature-area capacity. Summoning an average creature in a crowded tableau can delay a better play.
- Check whether removal is worthwhile. The replacement must repay both its own summoning cost and the round-dependent removal cost.
- Sequence Active effects deliberately. Draw cards before scoring for hand size, for example, when that increases the reward.
- Track the leader’s score. Once an opponent approaches 60, long-term investments lose value relative to immediate scoring.
- Keep cash flow flexible. Selling both drafted cards may produce stones but starve your hand; taming both may leave you unable to summon.
These are original rules-based recommendations, not claims of firsthand playtesting.
Curse vs Artifacts: which expansion changes what?
The Vale of Eternity: Artifacts adds artifact selection, additional creature cards and new combinations. It increases the score threshold to 80 while retaining the maximum of ten rounds. The publisher lists 11 artifact tiles, 28 cards and additional components.
The Vale of Eternity: Curse is a different expansion centered on its own added mechanisms; it is not included in the base box. Check its separate rulebook before mixing content, especially for setup and effect timing.
For a first game, play the base rules before introducing either expansion. Artifacts is the clearer choice when you want an additional strategic layer focused on drafting a special power each round.
Best player count and solo options
The official base game supports 2–4 players, with a typical game length of 30–45 minutes (Asmodee Italy lists 40). BoardGameGeek’s community recommendations favor three players, though the game works at two.
There is no official solo mode in the original base-game rulebook. Community-created solo variants exist on BoardGameGeek; these should not be represented as publisher-supported modes.
Is The Vale of Eternity worth buying?
This is a good candidate for players seeking an approachable, tactical engine builder with impactful card abilities and a short overall game. It provides meaningful tradeoffs: sell versus tame, now versus later, and resource flexibility versus raw value.
It is less suitable if you want direct tactical combat, a long campaign or detailed world-building. The artwork and creature theme frame a mostly economic race to construct an efficient scoring tableau.
The base box includes 70 creature cards, 42 magic stones, the central board and scoring components. Expansions are separate products.
The Vale of Eternity FAQ
How many players?
Two to four in the official base game.
Who designed it?
Eric Hong.
How long does it take?
Generally 30–45 minutes.
How many cards do you draft each round?
Two per player, using a snake draft.
Can you keep drafted cards in your hand?
Yes. Use the Tame action instead of Sell.
What is the stone limit?
Four physical stones, regardless of denomination.
Do you receive change when you overpay?
No.
How many creatures can be summoned?
At most the current round number, unless a card effect explicitly changes that limit.
How do Active effects work?
They activate once each during the Resolution phase, in an order chosen by their controller.
Does the game end immediately at 60 points?
No. The current round is completed first.
Is there a solo mode?
Not in the official base rules, although community variants exist.
Does Artifacts change the victory threshold?
Yes, to 80 points.
Sources and editorial scope
- Renegade Game Studios: official base-game rulebook
- Asmodee Italy: game specifications and current expansion listings
- Asmodee Italy: Artifacts expansion and scoring threshold
- BoardGameGeek: community listing and player count
Reviewed October 10, 2026. This is an independently written instructional guide based on published rules. Strategy is editorial analysis, not a claimed firsthand playtest. Refer to the official rulebook for full card text and unusual timing cases. Editorial policy and corrections.