Board games, more than any other entertainment medium I can think of, rely heavily on medieval times as a backdrop. I guess ever since the invention of Chess – when it was actually contemporary at the time of its creation – the two have been inseparable. While I’m all for playing a great board game of any sort, medieval and fantasy themes generally don’t do it for me. In this post, I shine the spotlight on some of my favourite themes that don’t harken back to the middle ages!
Making its debut in 2014, the Dice Masters series of games won me over in a huge way with Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men. Once I got a hang of it, I found the game to be fast and entertaining while keeping the spirit of the characters intact through their card abilities and generally-excellent dice designs. It also didn’t hurt that the game is generally sold at a very attractive price point. That said, I also had a few problems with the terrible paper bags that are used to contain dice and the fact that only one playmat came with the game as a centrefold in the manual.
Next in the lineup is Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men. Fully compatible with all Dice Masters games, this starter set has the same general pros and cons of the original, including those crappy bags and only one playmat in the middle of the manual. The key difference is that the game comes with a new set of basic action cards, character cards and character dice.
Given the chance, I will sing the praises of the Yomi series every chance I get. Compared to anything else on the marketplace that is trying to replicate the Street Fighter experience in tabletop form, Yomi crushes them all. I love the core concept of Rock Paper Scissors combat, which is an accurate analogy for how fighting game combat works. I love being able to manage all of the different maneuvers that each character has and the nuances that make them different. For the hardest of hardcore fighting game fans, there are so many nods to how a real fighting game plays that it scratches the exact same itch for me.
Despite that, this marquee title from Sirlin Games suffers from a steep pricing challenge. The complete first edition, packed with 10 characters and two playmats, will set you back about $100 if you’re lucky enough to find it nowadays. I’m certainly glad to have it, but it’s a very difficult proposition for even the most enthusiastic customers. Instead of anchoring the series down with a complete big box – and potentially an even bigger box with the additional 10 expansion characters on the way – Sirlin Games is moving in a different direction.
Holy cow! Steff and I recently exchanged anniversary presents, and I opened up an entire Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men booster box! According to my research, there’s 90 booster packs in each, which means there’s 180 dice and cards in there! If that ain’t love, then I don’t know what love is. Thank you love! I hope the gift I gave to you was equally awesome!
I probably would have torn through all of them by now, but Steff’s condition is that I’m only allowed to open one per day. I’m probably going to document this process in some way, though I haven’t figured it out just yet. Stay tuned!
One aspect of the Marvel Dice Masters experience that I really like is the game’s low price point. Starter sets are only $15, while booster packs featuring two dice and two cards are only $1. The problem is that the starter pack is short on supporting materials to play and store the game. The paper bags used to shake up your dice are of poor quality, there’s only one dice placement guide tucked away in the manual, and the actual box itself doesn’t hold many extra dice and cards beyond the ones that it already contains. Clearly, these concessions were made to keep the price down, but some players – like me – would prefer the extra bells and whistles.
This is where the Marvel Dice Masters: Uncanny X-Men Collector’s Box comes into play. Besides being a nice and large box to hold your stuff, you also get just enough stuff for one player to get going. I crack it open so that you can see if this is worth adding to your collection.
In Third Person 