The Mad King has never lost. He has sat in his throne for over a thousand years, waiting for a challenger to come and take him down. Each year, he hosts a tournament of champions and the prize is His Throne. Will you be the hero to rise through the ranks and gain his seat of power?
Dice Throne is designed by Nate Chatellier and Manny Trembley, illustrated by Manny Trembley and Nick Malara and published by Roxley Games.
Overview:
In Dice Throne, you are a hero taking one other heroes in head to head battles of dice and card management and play. Each round players will roll dice and activate hero abilities to attack your opponents.
Components:
Each character is unique and has a set group of components which include:
-Hero Board
-Hero Leaflet
-Tokens
-Health Dial
-Combat Point Dial
-Deck of cards
-5 Dice
Gameplay:
Regardless of your hero, the gameplay steps for each hero are the same. Each player takes turns through the steps then the active player is changed. These steps are:
1-Upkeep Phase
2-Income Phase
3-Main Phase (1)
4-Offensive Roll Phase
5-Targeting Roll Phase
6-Defensive Roll Phase
7-Main Phase (2)
8-Discard Phase
Each player begins at 50 health points and starts with 2 Combat Points (CP). CP is spent to pay for cards and sometimes for player abilities. On your individual player board, you have multiple player abilities that are Offensive or Defensive abilities. Each ability has an Activation Requirement that requires specific dice to be rolled on your turn. There are also Passive Abilities that are always active and available for use. And finally there is an Ultimate Ability at the bottom of the player board that is the most powerful attack your hero can roll. These effects are unstoppable.
Each hero also has unique Status Effects that are represented through tokens. Each can have a positive or negative effect for yourself or other heroes. Some heroes also have Companions with their own custom components.
In your deck of card there are Hero Upgrade cards and Action cards. During your Income Phase you draw a card and gain a CP. Each card has a designation on it of the CP cost along with the phase that you may play it during. Hero Upgrade cards allow you to upgrade one of your Hero Board spaces to make it more powerful. Action Cards will allow you to have either an Instant effect or an effect that occurs in a specific Phase.
Damage is dealt in a variety of ways that differ from each attack and each character. There are also Attack Modifiers that can be played before or after a Defend Ability is activated. The defending player has a chance to play a Defend Ability on their turn to incoming attacks.
The game can be played in either 2 player 1 v 1 games, 4 player team games, and King of the Hill modes. Each brings a different and unique twist.
Battle 2 Specifics:
This set is the Season 2: Battle 2 pack of Tactician vs Huntress. The characters each have unique abilities and skills that they bring to the battlefield.
The Huntress is a female warrior who was rescued as an infant by her companion Nyra the Saber-tooth tiger. They have a unique bond that they are connect soul to soul and that bond is shown in they way they attack and defend together. They fight together as a unit.
The Tactician looms large on the battlefield, confident that he is the best and strongest competitor in the arena. He used his Tactical advantages on his opponent target and constrict their attempts to stop him.
I really enjoy the back and forth of these two characters-they are well matched and I have a had a chance to play with both of them a few times. I lean more towards The Huntress personally, I really like the combo with Nyra and her together. The Status Effect tokens for them both are great, and the Bleed one is my favorite, that slow steady life removal that is a little tough for the opponent to remove.
The Tactician brings some serious damage especially with his Ultimate roll Higher Ground. His defensive rolls are solid as well, rolling four dice with quite a few option s to spend them on.
Overall Impressions:
Things that could be better:
Tokens. I love the variety in this game but there are a lot of things to learn when you change from character to character. Each have their own fairly unique tokens and abilities, and it takes playing them each a few times to get a feel for them. Once you do, it clicks well.
Things I like:
Gameplay. The combat, the dice rolling, the yahtzee-like ease of matching up attacks, the back and forth of attacks and defense-I love every aspect of it. I cannot get over how easy this game is to jump right into but how deep it really is as well. Dice Throne gives me the right amount of card play and dice rolling to scratch the itch I have for both. I love the 1 vs 1 combat setup-it is done so well.
Art. The art design on these cards is gorgeous. The characters all really pop and stand out-they are everything thematic that I want in a game like this. You can really tell that there was time put into the detail and the design that make it top notch.
Custom Dice. I am a sucker for these-the more the better. These all look great and are well put together from a design standpoint. I look forward to exploring a few of the other designs and characters to see how they stack up.
Storage. I got the two player battle and it has great storage-a simple Gametrayz for each character. It all packs in nice and neat, leaves room for some potential extras in the future and gives us a great storage solution for these. Grab your favorite character and go-it’s all right there ready to use.
Overall:
I love this game. I can’t get enough of it and I am excited to dig back into season 1 and pick that up as well. Roxley Games has a major long-term hit on their hands and if their Kickstarters are any indication, I am not the only one to feel this way. I cannot recommend this one enough-it has surely made it to the top of my must place list. Make sure to grab it if you get the chance and see what the dice and action bring to your table. If you are looking for a fun combat game with the right amount of dice rolling, card management and combat tactics then Dice Throne is the game for you!
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