Dice Throne

Designer: Nate Chateller, Manny Trembley
Artist: Gavan Brown, Manny Trembley
Published: 2018
Players: 2-6
Playing Time: 20-40 Mins
BGG Rating: 8.1
BGG Ranking: 304
Publisher: Roxley
Mechanisms: Dice Rolling, Hand Management, Duel Game, Take That, Variable Player Powers
Sleeves: TCG 63,5x88mm

Game Description:

It's a fast-paced 2-6 player combat game (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 2v2v2, or free-for-all). Select from a variety of heroes that play and feel completely distinct from one another. Attack opponents and activate abilities by rolling your hero's unique set of five dice. Accumulate combat points and spend them on cards that have a large range of effects, such as granting permanent hero upgrades, applying status effects, and manipulating dice directly (yours, your teammate's, or even your opponent's).

Quick play overview:

Each player will control one character with its set of dice and powers etc.. this can vary from fantasy to comics to more realistic characters…

Each turn players will draw one card from their deck and add 1 COMBAT POINT to their pool to spend for playing cards.

The main part of the turn is the dice rolling and re-rolling.. up to 3 total rolls. Players try to roll certain sets that will cause DAMAGE and possibly cause some negative effects to the opponent and/or positive effects to you.

Opponents can play cards that might make you reroll or change dice to disrupt your turn.

Once both sides let the roll stay as it is, most of the character will have a defensive roll that can block some damage and/or reflect damage back to the attacker.

Repeat this process for several turns until one player wins by the skin of their teeth.

Final thoughts:

The game is a dice fest.. but a beautiful one at that. With many interesting characters that each have specific abilities to add more damage or avoid it…

I repeat.. it is a luck fest and you shouldn't get into it expecting many strategic decisions. Oh, yes, you will start the game with a strategy in mind but you will soon realise that lady luck is holding the controllers in her hands, not you.

SCORE:

Gameplay & How often I want to play it: 8/10

All the stuff about luck that I wrote... this game is still fun. As long as you don't take it seriously, you should have a good time trying to hit the right sets of dice.

I plan to play this game once every month or two as the game provides a relaxed dice chucking gametime.

Art & Graphic Design: 10/10

The box, the insert, the presentation is amazing. This game pops on the table.

Graphic design is great. The icons are clear and each dice set is unique and very well designed.

Rules & Complexity: 9/10

Rules are very simple.  

Each character plays differently and you will have to spend a minute to read his/her abilities.. after that the game flows very smooth.

Theme & Mechanism fit: 7/10

Character fighting fort he (dice) throne? Eh, dueling games and their themes.

Dice rolling is a fun activity and activating different attacks with different sets of dice, does give life to the theme.

Fun & Replayability: 7/10

Rolling dice trying to get the big attacks in, is exciting. Unfortunately this might happen once per game, while the rest are just some weak-ass attacks 😊

I have a »season« set with 8 characters and thus there is some replayability available.. but it's not like each character plays totally different. It's more a question of flavor than actual different gameplay.

FINAL SCORE: 8.2/10