Okay, so Dice Masters is like another Deck-Building game, but it's more about Dice-Building. You set up a hand of heroes and villain cards and the take a number of dice to represent each one. You roll the dice in your pile, starting with a number of simple power (sidekick) dice, and use whatever power is rolled to 'purchase' the hero dice from your cards, or action dice from the communal area. Those 'purchased' dice and the expended energy to the discard pile, which are eventually cycled back into circulation and rerolled. When a hero or villain die shows their stats instead of power, you must spend power to 'field' them and use them attack and block the other player's hero/villains.
The game is so simple to play that my wife actually enjoys it! That's right, my wife, the anti-gamer, the stereotypical 'bitter wife', actually learned and played a few times! (I know, I'm still impressed myself!) The only problem with the game is that some cards become rare, while the rare and ultra-rare cards are exactly that. This means, as with any collectible card, er, dice game, you will spend way more money than you expected. And in the process, have waaaaaaaaaay too many dice.
Admittedly, there is an advantage to that problem- it makes 'trading' so easy. Since dice are so plentiful and also so restricted, gamers are willing to share their dice (and extra commons and uncommons) with each other for little or no exchange. Really, it's because nobody wants to be saddled with all that extra, unusable crap that means absolutely nothing. It's barely one step from just giving it away, and that's not a bad idea if it brings in some more gamers...
Now, the current sets are Avengers vs. X-Men, and The Uncanny X-Men, definitely with a bit of a Marvel slant. It's based on the comic books, not the movies, so there are many incarnations of each of the characters. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I've dropped Marvel (except my Spidey 2099) and love my DC stuff, especially Supes! Luckily for me, there's a new set coming out soon...
Go pick the game up (the starter kit is only $20 and boosters are only a buck each, and they are SELF CONTAINED, meaning that you don't need the previous or upcoming sets to play!) and let me know what you think. I love it and it's really fun and, most importantly, it's affordable!
Happy gaming!
Looks simple enough ... I am looking for a game that can hook my son into any form of gaming other than the virtual kind. I take it the rules are pretty simple?
ReplyDeleteMost definitely! My wife can actually play this game, and she is EXTREMELY resistant to learning from me. While she struggled mightily learning the LotR minis rules (the easiest there are) and still failed, this game actually makes sense and she 'gets it'. I know it's a strange litmus stick, but she is the proof of the ease there.
DeleteThe coolest part, too, is that your son will enjoy having the four different versions of each hero/villain and trying to choose which rule he likes the best. So, once you collect all the cards, it really promotes itself by making your choose. And what boy doesn't want to debate over the best Iron Man? :-)