In my latest review of Batman Gotham City under siege, I mentioned two other superhero games, one of them being Dice Masters.
Dice Masters by Wizkids has been around for awhile and has sets from both Marvel and DC, as well as Dungeons and Dragons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and one of the latest set being Warhammer 40k. It is an extremely affordable Collectible game to get into, starter boxes run under $10, and the larger big box sets range from 20-40 depending on where you shop.
In addition to being affordable, it is a great game. The basic concept is two players build a team of characters, and battle it out. Just like Magic the Gathering, each player has 20 life points. First person to deal 20 damage to their opponent is the winner.
Mechanics wise, it is a deck builder but with dice. Players start out with 8 basic dice, and use them to purchase character dice to add to their pool.
To buy a character die, each character has a type of energy and a cost. There are 4 basic energy types differentiated by a symbol (lighting bolt, mask, fist, and shield). The 8 basic dice have one of each, plus a wild card, and a generic character.
The character die have 3 sides with an energy type, and 3 with the character and their various cost, strength, and defense.
To start, each player takes 8 character cards and corresponding dice, two event cards and their 8 basic dice. Set the character dice on or adjacent to their card, take 4 action dice and do the same on each event cards. Take their 8 basic dice and put them in their dice bag. Use anything you choose to keep track of your life points, set it to 20 and you are ready to go. There are 4 areas of the playing area (battlefield) used in the game: Used pile, Prep area, field zone and attack zone. The field zone is where character dice are staged until brought into the attack zone. Die in the attack zone are used to attack or defend with and remain until they are either KO’D or returned to the field zone.
On your turn, you shake your dice bag, draw out 4 dice and roll them. You can make one reroll for each die. Then the player takes actions with those dice. You can purchase a character die as long as one of the 4 has the matching energy type and you have enough power (energy points) to pay for it. If you buy a die, you place it aside with your other used dice. Event dice can be bought with any energy type, you just need enough power to buy it.
If you have a character die that you want to use, you pay the power cost and place it in your field zone area. That die can now be moved into the attack zone if you want to attack your opponent.
Combat is very simple. To attack, move any number of dice into the attack zone. Each attack goes against the players life points, unless the defender chooses to move dice into the attack zone to defend and block. The dice are matched up attack vs defense, and whatever number is higher, defeats the other one. If they are a tie, they clash and return to the field zone. The losing dice are defeated (KO’D) and sent to the prep area. Any dice that win in combat, are sent to the used pile.
Dice in the prep area are then rerolled in addition to the 4 dice drawn from the dice bag.
When there are no dice in the bag, and dice need to be drawn, all dice in the used pile are returned to the bag, shaken and the number of dice needed to pull 4 are removed and rolled.
The game continues until one person loses 20 life.
In addition to basic attack and defense, most dice have a special ability that is character specific. For example a Flash charachters dice cannot be blocked unless there are 3 or more defenders. Batman when he is KO’D returns to the battle zone at his lowest level. Martian Manhunter has over crush, like the Hulk, meaning any additional damage above after they KO a defender, goes directly to the defending players life points.
Event dice offer 2 points of generic power or trigger a special ability.
While Dice masters has a simple mechanics, it has deep strategy. Deciding what charachters to buy, and how to have defenders at the ready, as well as building a strong offense is critical to winning. Taking advantage of team benefits and special abilities can give one that edge to obtain a win.
My wife and I consider it one of our favorite 2 player games, and we have quite a collection of Marvel, DC, and D&D dice. We even invested in two of the neoprene mats that display each of the zones, and a life track.
Replayability is very high, as you never get the exact same combination of dice drawn, making each game a unique experience. Add to that, using a stack of characters and randomly drawing 8 to play with can be quite interesting. Having Batman and the Joker on the same team can create some unique storytelling.
I highly recommend you consider this as a staple 2 player game to add. If you enjoy dice and deckbuilding with great themes and simple mechanics, Dice Masters is a great choice.
Written by Ed Carter
