Them Magical D6s

I've played quite a few games, and I especially love games that come with dice. Before I got into boardgaming for real, D6s were all I knew, mostly from Monopoly and Snakes and Ladders, and then I got into boardgaming and my first few games with dice were "custom" dice, Battlelore, Heroscape and Descent (though the first two technically are just D6s with different symbols on them).

I've come to realize though that of the games with dice that I do enjoy playing, there is nothing that comes close to generating tension than the plain old simple D6. There's something visceral about rolling 6s that appeals to me. Sure custom dice may be cool, but sometimes they just slow the game down.

Descent - though the dice are 6-sided, the dice have been customized to a point that it's pretty much unrecognizable. still, you can feel the essence of the D6 there, as there is an X/blank value (1s) a high value/surge (6s) and other results in between the two. I guess they had to make the dice customized to support the combat of the game, but to be honest, this is one of the most dragging parts of the game. Combat slows down because you have to do so much calculation after the dice are rolled. Rolling Xs are awesome (for your enemy at least), why? There's instant recognition. "Haha, you rolled an X, you are fucked." The rest of the time, you have to count range, then count damage, convert surges to damage/effects, then subtract armor and then figure out if the target is dead yet. Zzzzz. I honestly believe it could've been done better with just a whole bunch of D6. Better weapons let you roll more D6s, then just add special effects on the weapons themselves, or have a few customized dice.

Heroscape - on attack, hits on 4+, on defense blocks on 5+ The thing with Heroscape is that it actually makes it work with the symbols. It makes it faster for people to figure out combat, and the symbols help make the pace of the game faster -- the opposite of what Descent does. the result? The combat here flows much much better, and it's more satisfying.

Tide of Iron - this one is kinda like Heroscape, in that you have attack dice and defense (armor/cover) dice. I like how the attacker rolls both dice and just cancels them out one for one. for some reason the combat is unsatisfying though

Nexus Ops - simple, and fast. the simple D6s manage to model the different firepower strength of the different units and coupled with the initiative order in combat, makes some units incredibly more powerful in combat 

Summoner Wars - having the units hit at 3+ makes this game less about luck and more about tactical positioning. I like that. knowing that when you attack you have a good chance of killing your enemy, while not being 100% sure about the result allows you to carry out a battle plan, and still makes you think about a back-up plan in case the attack fails. uncertainty is an important part of combat, as it makes you adjust and go with the flow and how to make the most out of a messed up situation (rolling all 1s and 2s)

Space Hulk - those long corridors with genestealers bearing down on you. knowing that your space marines are pretty much dead when the genestealers get to them makes dice rolling in this game very very exciting. overwatch is fucking awesome, and every shot you take that doesnt hit amps up the tension. there is nothing like killing a genestealer that just stepped on that square adjacent to your terminator. i've heard a lot of "fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. YEEEESSSS!" during our games of Space Hulk, and that's awesome. the chance of getting doubles and locking up your gun just adds to the excitement. Melee combat is pretty intense too, as it's pretty much over for your terminator, but he's being given one last chance to live, and sometimes he'll pull it off, and actually beat that genestealer to a bloody pulp 

Chaos in the Old World - Ulric's Fury. Rolling 6s in this game is pretty much Ulric's Fury from WFRP, rolling for additional hits is crazy good, and allows a player, usually khorne, to just rampage across the board. Every single unit you have on the board in this game is important. This makes the combat very exciting, as one death could spell the difference between getting the VP or not getting the VP (zzzzzzz). pretty good use of dice... for a eurogame.

WotR - limiting the number of dice to a maximum of 5 dice with rerolls sets the dynamics of the game, and helps make the game more thematic while at the same time helping with the balance. bigger armies are harder to coordinate, so bringing in 10 units does not translate to 10 dice, you just want bigger armies for the HP. With leaders/Nazghul though, you are able to utilize your armies more efficiently, giving you re-rolls, which are basically more dice to be rolled. Forts/Strongholds/Cities give you a defensive bonus, and card effects and siege engines also help. One of my favorite combat systems. Such a deep system, but at the same time, it's pretty simple and it doesnt get bogged down with calculations. in the end, it's still a matter of rolling more dice than your opponent and counting 5s and 6s.




Counting 5s and 6s. That's what dice combat systems should revolve around, everything else is just added chrome.