Otaku, Cedric's weblog

Game of the week

The game of the week is Dice Wars. It looks a lot like Risk but with simpler rules: your armies are dice, and when you attack another country, all the dice involved are rolled. If you lose, all your dice but one are eliminated, and if you win, all your armies but one move to the conquered territory.

That's it.

Well, almost: after your round, you receive a new supply of armies based on the number of conquests, which are then randomly assigned to your countries (and incidentally, I still haven't figured out how this number is calculated, so if you know, please share!).

Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the rules, as they allow for some singularly sophisticated strategies. For example, you might be tempted initially to pick a pile of six dice and plow through enemy territories until you run out. This will get you a nice supply of new armies, but it will also leave a wake of countries protected by only one dice, which will undoubtedly be taken back by the opponents at the next round (which will also allow them to insert a wedge through your possessions, another bad thing). However, you also quickly realize that a pile of eight dice is useless if it's only surrounded by friendly territories, so in some way, you want to invite the enemy to come nearby so you can unleash your stockpile...

The game allows for two to eight players, but I strongly recommend starting with four and work your way up from there...

Enjoy!

Posted by cedric at July 22, 2006 10:38 AM