Game: Diceland

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fractaloon — 2008-05-27T02:52:55+00:00

A few copies of the tiles available for download from the publisher.

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fractaloon — 2008-05-10T10:04:03+00:00

The tiles sheet. Three copies of the sheet are in the box.

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mothertruckin — 2008-03-03T20:36:44+00:00

Endgame: Blue Victory (top view).

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mothertruckin — 2008-03-03T20:36:16+00:00

Endgame: Blue Victory (side view).

Thread: Re: User Review

ctrzn — 2008-02-06T04:38:12+00:00

My daughters LOVE dice so I bought this for them. the game was so bad I decided to look at your review. I was sure we had to be playing wrong. We weren't.
At least I picked it up from Tanga. So I got a lot of dice and some nice hex's for little money. Maybe the girls will come up with some use for the pieces in a role playing game.

edited my spelling. I should prob proof read more often.

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:53:45+00:00

Mountains hex

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:52:55+00:00

Plains hex

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:52:24+00:00

Forest hex

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:51:39+00:00

Towns hex

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:51:03+00:00

Hills Hex

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pekin2121 — 2007-10-31T13:46:58+00:00

Game components in box

Thread: Re: Is Invasion Mandatory

Spartaco — 2007-10-23T10:43:42+00:00

The reply of chris is right. The fill-the-void rule, that makes mandatory the invasion, is optional. Personally, I think that it adds some interesting strategical options to the game, but it's just my opinion.

Thread: Different kinds of territories.

fenwic — 2007-10-19T21:35:10+00:00

DiceLand really lends itself to making some creative Territory tiles. There are a few posted on the www.kidultgame.com website, but with just a smidge of creativity, the game can be expanded indefinitely.

Here's a bunch that I have come up with (and yes, yes, I have spent WAY TOO MUCH time thinking about this)...

BARBED WIRE -- "Barbed Wire gives soldiers under attack a bit of protection. Or, at the very least, a little payback."

When attacking an army that is in a Barbed Wire hex, the attacking army will always lose 1 due to damage inflicted by the barbs. On a perfect attack, the attacker’s die is reduced by one. On a valid attack, the attacker’s army is one less than his/her die roll. On a failed attack, the attacker’s die is reduced by TWO.
EX: Blue has a 4 in a Barbed Wire hex, and Red has a 5 adjacent to it. Red attacks…
If Red rolls a 5, Blue is eliminated, but Red is reduced to 4 by the barbs.
If Red rolls a 3, Blue is reduced to 1, as usual. And Red goes to 2 (normally it would be 3, Barbs reduce him by 1).
If Red rolls a 6, the attack fails, Blue is unaffected. But Red is reduced to 3. (One for the failed attack, one for the barbs.)

BARRACKS -- "The Barracks have a building which allows room for a second army in that hex."

You can move a second army into this hex during movement phase. If there are two armies in this hex the two can be used in a combined attack on an adjacent hex, but don’t have to be. (NOTE: The limitation of the Hills and Mountains still holds – you can never use a combined attack against these spaces. If a Hill or Mountain is adjacent to a Barracks, only one of the armies in the Barracks can attack.) If there are two armies in a Barracks hex, the only combined attacks possible are with these two armies. You can’t combine one of the armies in a Barracks hex with an army in an adjacent one. If there is just one army in this hex, a combination attack with an adjacent hex can be performed, as usual. Armies can move out of a barracks during normal movement, and must follow the usual rules (can’t move if adjacent to an enemy, for example).
NOTE: When placing initial armies at the start of the game, only one army may be placed in the barracks. The second army must be moved in later in the game.

BUNKER -- "The bunker gives you total cover; thick walls with small holes to shoot through."

The Bunker hex is reinforced with a structure that allows an army to attack from a bunker, but can never be attacked. It's a bit of a squeeze into the bunker, so a 6-valued die can NEVER enter a bunker, only 5 or lower. An attack from a Bunker can never be part of a combined attack, even with an adjacent Bunker. (The only way to move into a bunker is in initial placement, or during movement phase. Since it can’t be attacked, occupation of it as a defeated territory is not possible.)

CANYON -- "The Canyon hex is a tight spot that larger armies cannot navigate."

The Canyon hex is off limits to movement by a die showing a 5 or a 6. Any others can pass through it normally. A large army can attack into a Canyon from an adjacent hex, but cannot occupy that territory afterward. All other movement and attack rules remain the same (for example, it is just fine for an army in a Canyon to be part of a combined attack with a large army adjacent to it out of the Canyon). The Canyon hexes can be chained together to form a ‘Grand’ Canyon which can be hard to navigate.

PAVEMENT -- Due to the smooth, solid nature of pavement, a Pavement hex is extra easy to move through.

If you move onto a pavement hex during your movement phase, you may move an additional hex. If multiple Pavement hexes are adjacent, you may be able to move multiple spaces on the turn. Once you move off a Pavement hex, your movement must end. Also, all regular movement restrictions are in effect -- you can't move through other armies, and if you get adjacent to an enemy you must stop, as well.
NOTE: Occupation still only gives you one space of movement. If you defeat an army on a Pavement hex, and decide to move your army into that space to occupy it (or you’re forced to because you are playing the Fill the Void variant), you must remain there, and can’t move that army during that turn’s movement phase (your army is tired from battle!); Pavement only helps during the movement phase. The Pavement hexes can be chained together when creating a map, effectively making roads that any army can use to move troops quickly.

SNIPER TOWER -- "From the Sniper Tower, a single soldier can take a stealthy shot."

If you have an army in this space, and it has a value of exactly 1, any attacks it makes from a Sniper Tower hex will always succeed (as if a ‘1’ was rolled); no actual dice roll is done. Any other die value is unaffected by this hex, and just moves or attacks as normal. No matter what the value of the army, this hex can be attacked as usual.
EX: Blue has a die with a 1 in a Sniper Tower hex. Red has a 4 adjacent to it. Blue declares the attack of that die… Red just immediately goes down to 3. (Blue’s 1 may be attacked as usual on the next turn. Sniper Tower provides no defense.)

SWAMP -- "The Swamp makes an attack a bit harder than normal, due to the rugged terrain."

When attacking either from or into a swamp hex, that attack die roll is reduced by one. Due to the unpredictable nature of the swamp terrain, this may actually HELP the attack.
EX: Blue has a 3 in a Swamp hex. Red has a 5 in an adjacent Plains hex. Red attacks…
If Red rolls a 6, that counts as rolling a 5, and it is a perfect attack! Blue is destroyed, Red stays at its current level, and can occupy the Swamp hex if desired.
If Red rolls a 4, that counts as rolling a 3. Blue is destroyed, Red is reduced to a 3, and can occupy the Swamp hex, if desired.
If Red rolls a 1, that counts as rolling a ZERO! Blue takes ZERO damage, and Red is reduced to a value of ZERO (a critical failure of the attack!), removing it from the board.
(If, in the above example, Red were in the Swamp hex, and Blue was in the Plains, everything would happen exactly the same.)

TACTICAL OUTPOST -- "The Tactical Outpost allows you to redeploy armies, to some extent."

Instead of regular movement, during the movement phase you may switch an army adjacent to a Tactical Outpost, with the one in the Tactical Outpost. This counts as your movement phase. NOTE: No army involved in battle can use the ability of the Tactical Outpost. If you occupied an Outpost because of winning a battle, no Tactical switching can occur. If you attacked from a Tactical Outpost and are still occupying it, the army is too tired… you can’t use the Outpost ability. Any army adjacent to a Tactical Outpost which occupied it that turn from battle, or was actively involved in a battle, cannot be switched into the Outpost, either.

TRAINING GROUNDS -- "The Training Grounds can return troops to the game."

(It is probably one of the only special terrains that must be vacant in order to be used!) If you have lost a die at some point in the game so far, AND if you have at least 3 dice bordering a vacant Training Grounds hex, and none of those dice have been involved in battle this turn, you may, instead of the usual movement phase, take one of your destroyed dice, roll it, and place it on the Training Grounds hex. Reinforcements and new recruits have arrived!

TROOP TRANSFER -- "A Troop Transfer hex can be used to move troops from one hex to another."

Instead of regular movement, you can reduce the die of an army in the Troop Transfer hex, or any adjacent one, and increase the die of an army in the Troop Transfer hex or any adjacent one by the same amount. (So, it is possible that the army on the Troop Transfer hex doesn’t change at all, just tweo armies that are adjacent. The troops sort of ‘pass through’ this hex.) This counts as your movement phase. NOTE: No army involved in battle can use the ability of the Troop Transport. If the Troop Transport hex was occupied because of winning a battle, no Troop Transport can take place. If you attacked from a Troop Transfer hex and are still occupying it, the army is tired from the attack… you can’t use the Transfer ability that turn. Any army adjacent to a Troop Transport which occupied it that turn from battle, or was actively involved in a battle, cannot have any troops transported in or out of that hex.

TURRET -- "The Turret has a gun emplacement which can be used to increase the value of a battle die."

When attacking from a Turret hex, you may increase the die roll by one if you wish (you do not need to use the turret). You decide AFTER you roll the die. NOTE: If part of a combined attack, the Turret ability may not be used.
EX: Red has a 4 in a Turret hex. Blue has a 2 adjacent to it. Red attacks….
If Red rolls a 6, there is no hope. The attack fails, Blue is fine, and Red is reduced to 3.
If Red rolls a 4, it’s a perfect attack! No need for using the Turret. Blue is destroyed, and Red stays the same.
If Red rolls a 3, the Turret can be implemented to increase its value to a 4! Blue is destroyed, and Red stays the same.
If Red rolls a 1, the Turret can be implemented to increase its value to a 2. It’s a valid attack, and Blue is destroyed and Red is reduced to a 2.

If you want to have high-res images (thanks for the requests!) you can get them here: http://ccmgameclub.blogspot.com/2007/11/new-tiles-for-dicela...

Cheers!

Thread: Re: Is Invasion Mandatory

fenwic — 2007-10-18T14:55:12+00:00

I think I actually can answer this one!

So far as I can tell: it's actually up to you. I think the Author's notes are assuming you are playing with the "Fill the Void" variant. I'll reproduce that for you here (it's right above Author's Notes in the instructions)...

Fill-the-void
If the attacker’s die drops to 0 points and is eliminated, the defender’s die must move into the territory left vacant. This rule radically modifies how the game is played and adds a new element of strategy. For this reason it should only be applied by expert players who have already thoroughly explored the potential of the basic game.
To me this clearly states that the invasion/occupation of defeated territories is a rule you can implement or not. I've tried it both ways, and I think it's MORE tactical for it to NOT be mandatory.

In a related note: If you are playing using the attributes of the different territories (and really, you CAN'T play without the regenerating cities! That's the best thing ever...), even with Fill the Void in place, the Mountains can NEVER be reoccupied.

Best thing to remember with Diceland is that it is sort of a game system. The above is the "official" line, but mess with the rules all you like, and make it work for you! Fun game...

Thread: Is Invasion Mandatory

dotburn — 2007-10-17T19:35:44+00:00

In the English Rules - after successful opponent elimination, the rules state that you CAN invade the conquered region. The authors notes section speaks of mandatory occupation. I tend to trust the authors note as it is easier to believe a translation error in the previous section, than the creation of this authors note in error.

Any one have the clear answer on this one?

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2003-12-10T14:25:46+00:00

Familiar components abounded when I opened the box of Diceland (Kidult Games, 2002 – Spartaco Albertarelli). As a dice lover, I was pleased to see forty dice, in two different colors – I thought that this could only mean good things. Hexes are also included, of different types of terrain (shades of Catan). And another two-player game would be good for my collection!

And my initial pleasure at seeing the components faded a little at reading the rules, and then faded a bit more when actually playing the game. The problem is that the game is – frankly – boring, and that the strategy and tactics is so outweighed by luck to cause the game to become quite unfun. This may surprise some, as I’m a big proponent of luck in games, but the luck is obscene in this game to the point of making some games pointless to play.

The basic game consists of the players building a board with the hexagons, using from eight to the maximum of thirty-six. Each player then takes an amount of dice to use in the game (equal to half of the tiles used to make the map + two). Both players roll all their dice, and the player rolling the most sixes places one die on any space on the map. The next player follows suit, and the players continue until every hex contains a die. Dice are left face up on the side that they were rolled, and whichever player has the higher total from the dice left over (the most clever mechanic in the game) gets to go first.

On a player’s turn, they do two things: attack (mandatory if possible), and move (possible, with restrictions). When attacking, a player can use any die on the board to attack any adjacent die. The attacking person rolls one of the dice that is to the side of the board and compares the number rolled to the number on the attacking die. Three things can happen…
- If the numbers are the same, it’s a “perfect” attack, and the defending die is lowered by that many points. If the defending die goes below one, it is eliminated.
- If the number is less than the number on the attacking die, then it is a “valid” attack, and the defending die is lowered by that many points, again eliminated if it goes below one. The attacking die is then replaced by the die that was rolled.
- If the number is greater than the number on the attacking die, then it is a “failed” attack, the defender is unchanged, and the attacker’s die value is lowered by one.
A player can attack with two dice, as long as they are adjacent to each other, and attacking the same space. He then rolls two dice, and can use either number, comparing it to either die to resolve the attack. After one die “kills” the other, the attacking die moves automatically into that die’s hexagon. After attacking, a player may move one other die one hexagon, as long as it’s not in contact with any enemy dice.

If, both players CANNOT attack each other two turns in a row, or if one player’s dice are eliminated, the game is over. The player who has the highest value of the dice left on the field wins the game (ties go to the player who moved first).

Several rules can be added for the advanced game. “Fatal Attraction” forces moving dice to move into contact with the opposition, if possible. “Grouping” allows a player to combine dice (meld a “1” die and a “4” die to get a “5” die). “Territories” adds special properties to certain hexes:
- Forests – Dice in forests can move away from adjacent opponents.
- Mountains – Mountains cannot be moved into during the game.
- Towns – At the end of a turn, a player can increase the die’s value by one.
- Hills – Combined attacks cannot be made against dice here.
- Plains – nothing

Some comments on the game:

1.) Components: The box is very sturdy (and bright) and has a great plastic insert that holds the pieces quite well. As I said earlier, it’s great to get forty red and blue dice in the box, and I can see that they would come in handy (for other games). The hexes would be neat, if I never saw another game. They’re pretty much the same size as Settlers of Catan, but the art isn’t that great, and they didn’t punch out of the frames very easily. When the board is set up, with the dice on, it does look fairly snazzy, though. Maybe it’s just all that dice on one table.

2.) Rules: The rules are printed in five languages in a thin, full-color booklet. There are seven pages of rules, which is frankly too much, and they aren’t very clear, with some translation errors. One was extremely important – the rules stated that when attacking with two dice, you had to choose the “highest” value. Rather, you can choose the “best” value. This is rather important to the game. The game is easy to teach, and the advanced rules are fairly simple, so they can really be taught in the first game.

3.) Website: Before I deride the game, let me again say that they should get major kudos for their website with downloadable hexes, rules, etc. Nice site!

4.) Luck: I’m sorry, but the game is just too based on luck. I dislike Risk, because the soundest strategy in Risk doesn’t work much of the time, because of dice rolls. The same holds true here. If your initial dice rolls are bad, you are frankly out of luck. And, throughout the game, it seems that luck is just a massive part. Does it matter if you attack with a six or a one? They both can lose, almost as easily. The advanced rules add a little to the strategy, but not much. The author spends almost a page in the rules trying to convince the reader that strategy plays an important part in the game, but I just don’t see it. We played the game and just were frustrated that one’s options were so obvious, there really weren’t many choices to be made.

5.) Theme and Fun Factor: A better theme might have helped. I’m a big fan of using dice as pieces in a game (I’m designing one myself), but I just can’t get into the theme of this game. And the game wasn’t really that fun. I tried to hype myself up as I rolled each attack die, but it just didn’t do it. Maybe as a multi-player game, but as a two-player game, I want something light and fun (that my wife would like), or something a bit heavier (for my gamer friends). The kids that saw the game pretty much just said “bleah”, and asked for Dice Run again (just as lucky, but a lot more fun.)

Well, I didn’t like this game, and neither did the folks with whom I played it with. No one said that it was a bad game, the word used was “boring”. And games should NEVER be boring, but should be fun! I’m not even sure what demographic this game is trying to appeal to. Is it war gamers? Casual gamers? It doesn’t seem to fit or satisfy any niche, but not for lack of trying. I applaud the designer for some original concepts and ideas, but gently chide him for forgetting to put “fun” in the box. If you want to get a good two-player game, I’m not sure this one should be on your list.

Tom Vasel