Dice Throne Season 1 by Roxley Game Laboratory

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Shadow Thief ready to strike!
Latest review is for another older game that I am quite fond of: Dice Throne Season 1 by Roxley Game Laboratory. This is one of those games that people either really enjoy or don't want to play. The first thing you have to accept is that you are going to be tied to the luck of the roll and the luck of the card draw. Depending on the character you choose cards can mitigate some randomness of the dice and some dice rolls can get you more cards.

If you can accept this randomness, then it's time to dive into game play. The premise is simple 2 (or more) characters battle it out to win the Dice Throne. Season 1, which is the one I am reviewing comes with 6 possible characters to play. I have played all of them once now and each has a unique feel. And in 6 plays, every game has been close. Even when it seems like my opponent is running away with the game, I am ale to put myself back in with some smart card play and dice choices.

The game does have a push your luck mechanic and there can be times when going for a great roll results in getting nothing at all.

Some characters in Season 1 do feel like one trick ponies. The Paladin I played against in these photos basically used only 1 or 2 of his player board options. As long as he was able to keep hitting, he could attempt to wear me down (especially since my Shadow Thief was not ale to prevent wounds, only deliver damage back when attacked.)  I didn't feel quite the same way about him, but there are enough variations of characters in Season 1 that it should be easy to find a choice for any player. Season 2 makes it even easier.
The large straight, actually managed to
get that twice in one game (but needed
cards to do it.)

My only complaint and one that was shared by others, was that the card text is very generic. The "Vegas Baby" card seemed completely out of place in the game and took me out of the moment. When playing the Shadow Thief, I wanted to read copy that meant something to that character. I understand that the way it was done meant that the learning curve between characters was a bit less steep since you could easily determine most card copy if you had seen it with another character.

And as usual, I don't want to have to turn to a video to learn the rules for a game, the rulebook for this is easy to follow and the first time I played, there were 3 people new to the rules and we had no problem getting up and playing. A glossary in the back explains all the key terms as well.
I plan on playing this game as much as I can because in an hour I can easily get 2 games in and with an experienced opponent, possibly even 3. Good as 2-player, plays quick, and it's got a theme I enjoy, all great points to me.

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