DICE THRONE: ICEMAN VERSUS SPIDER-MAN

While they may have been amazing friends at one point in time, Iceman and Spider-Man don't hold back when it comes to the brutal battles of the DICE THRONE gladiatorial arena. The OP Games has made matches between some of your favorite Marvel superheroes possible in their Dice Throne character packs. Iceman is available in Marvel X-Men Dice Throne Box 1 which also includes Psylocke, Storm and Wolverine. Spider-Man is included in the Marvel 4-Hero Box that also includes Loki, Thor and the Scarlet Witch. Fight Avengers versus X-Men or compete against any of the heroes in the standard edition of Roxley Games' Dice Throne tabletop game which range from a samurai warrior to Santa Claus.

A mutant who can create snow balls out of thin air may not seem intimidating to opponents at first glance, but don't take Ice Man for granted. He can be a dangerous foe! Bobby Drake likes to keep it cool as he glides through combat freezing opponents in their tracks. Don't let his chill demeanor fool you as he can freeze you in your track with his dice attacks. Plus, his Defense Roll often can both dull the damage of opponents' attacks as well as give a punch back that can sting.

Iceman has a complexity level of 4 out of 6 scale. Skillfully handling his status effects of Dice Cube, Ice Shard, and Glide can make Bobby Drake a formidable adversary against any Dice Throne character. Inflicting a Dice Cube negative status effect on an opponent forces that player to use the lowest value die from their first Roll Attempt during an Offensive Roll Phase handicapping an attack against him. On the other hand, utilizing his Ice Shard positive status effect can boost Drake's abilities, increase damage in his attacks or lets him glide while on the offense.

If Iceman's Offensive Roll Phase results in an attack that has a Glide Path, triggering Ice Man's glide status effect allows this character to get a second attack after the other player's Defensive Roll Phase. Arrows displayed on the player dashboard show which Offensive Ability is activated by Iceman's Glide Path.

Dice Throne's Spider-Man is the Millennial adaption of the character, Miles Morales. After being bit by a radioactive spider, Miles decided to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the original Spider-Man (aka Peter Parker). He has similar powers plus the ability to turn invisible. Miles patrols the streets of Brooklyn while still trying to graduate high school.

Spider-Man has a complexity level of 2 out of 6 scale. He has a pretty simplistic set of offensive abilities but can still pack a punch. He has TWO Defensive Dice rolls whenever attacked. The first is a 3 die roll that provides a counterpunch to his opponent. The second roll lets him roll 2 die to try and block damage when he is attacked. Additionally, he has three status effects that when used strategically can give his adversaries a real headache. Spider-Man is all about constantly dodging and web slinging around an opponent wearing them down while trying to get a knock out. 

Spider-Man's Combo is a positive status effect that provides him with an additional Offensive Roll Phase after an opponent's Defensive Roll Phase. He keeps rolling with the punches! His Webbed negative status effect is inflicted during one turn and in the next turn any damage caused by Spider-Man becomes undefendable. Miles also has a unique status effect that when triggered allows him to become invisible. When Spider-Man is invisible if his opponent launches an undefendable attack, Miles can then utilize his Spider-Sense defensive ability to try and prevent damage. 

So the die was cast for these two friends to combat one another in the Grandmaster's Dice Throne competition. Iceman threw the highest number in a toss of the dice to see who would go first. Let the battle commence!

Iceman spins four of a kind in ice symbols to hit Spidey with Frostbite causing 6 points of damage. Spider-Man's defensive dice roll provides a counterpunch that hits Iceman with 1 point of damage. Miles can also do a second spin to use his Spider-Sense to avoid damage but doesn't get a successful roll of the dice to allow him to avoid any damage from Iceman's frostbite. Score: Iceman (49) Spider-Man (44)

Spider-Man's Offensive Roll Phase activates his C-C-C-COMBO which deals out 5 points of damage to Iceman and gains Miles a Combo special effect token. Iceman's Rime allows him to deflect 2 pts of damage from Spidey's attack and hits back giving Miles 3 points of damage. Score: Iceman (46) Spider-Man (41)

Spider-Man uses the combo token he just earned to hit Iceman again. He rolls a four die punch worth 5 pts of damage. Iceman's defensive roll hits Miles back causing 3 pts of damage. Score: Iceman (41) Spider-Man (39)

Iceman lands another four die Frost Bite attack on Spidey worth 6 points of damage. Miles can't deflect any damage from the attack but is able to counterpunch for 1 point of damage against Iceman (40) Spider-Man (33)

Spidey pulls a card from his hand that heals 3 points of damage. Then he scores a punch worth 4 pts of damage. But Iceman's defensive dice roll allows him to block all the damage. Score Iceman (40) Spider-Man (36)

Iceman's Offensive Roll Phase activates a THAWSOME attack which inflicts a Dice Cube on Spider-Man and 6 pts of damage. Spidey isn't able to block any damage but lands a counterpunch worth 1 pt of damage. Score: Iceman (39) Spider-Man (30)

Miles plays a BOOYAH! card from his hand which gives him a Combo token. Because of the Dice Cube negative status effect on him, Spider-Man has to use the lowest dice rolled this turn for his attack and can't reroll them. Players are allowed to reroll up to three times to determine which offensive ability they want to use, but this move by Iceman limits the dice that Spidey can reroll. Miles' dice roll activates Spider-Reflexes attack which causes 4 points of damage and gives Miles another combo attack. Iceman hits back causing 3 pts of damage on Spider-Man. Score: Iceman (35) Spider-Man (27)

Spider-Man's combo token lets him continue his attack with another round of die rolling for him. Miles inflicts 5 more points of damage on Drake; but Iceman hits back subtracting 4 more from Spidey's hit points. Score: Iceman (30) Spider-Man (23)

Spider-Man has yet another combo token to play and he keeps pressing the attack. He subtracts another 5 pts of damage from Iceman but once again the X-Man hits back causing 2 pts of damage as well on Spider-Man. Score: Iceman (25) Spider-Man (21)

Iceman has a THAWSOME attack on Spidey worth 6 pts of damage. Miles is able to block 1 pt of damage and counterpunch back subtracting 2 pts from Drake. Score: Iceman (23) Spider-Man (16)

Spider-Man lands a Super Reflexes attack. Iceman is able to block 2 pts of damage and cause 2 pts of his own against Spidey. Score: Iceman (20) Spider-Man (14)

Wow! Iceman's defensive roll not only absorbs all the damage from Spider-Man's attack this turn but also inflicts 1 pt of damage on the Web Slinger. That hurts! Iceman (20) Spider-Man (13)

Spider-Man uses a combo token and gets another attack! He lands a punch that should be worth 5 pts of damage; but Drake is able to block 4 pts of damage and hit back with 1 pt against Miles. Iceman's defensive rolls have been killing Spidey throughout this game! Score: Iceman (19) Spider-Man (12)

Drake hits Miles with a 7 pt Frostbite attack. Spidey can't block any damage! He does hit back with a counterpunch but it is starting to look like too little too late. Score: Iceman (18) Spider-Man (5)

Iceman goes for the death blow! He plays a Glide token! It activates EVERYBODY CHILL worth 6 pts of damage. The Web Slinger's defense rolls hit back with 3 pts of damage but can't block damage from the Iceman's attack. Miles is knocked out! Bobby Drake wins! Score: Iceman (15) Spider-Man (0)

Spider-Man took a beating! Have to say I didn't see that coming! Iceman moves on in the Dice Throne Tournament. Next up Deadpool versus Wolverine!

This post has affiliate links, which means this blog could earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn't cost you anything extra, ageekdaddy.com just has to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

DICE THRONE: STORM VERSUS THOR

Sparks are flying as the X-men's Storm takes on the Avenger's Thor in a match of the Marvel Universe edition of the tabletop game DICE THRONE. Strategize the use of upgrade and action cards combined with rolling dice to activate abilities, attacks and defenses in a gladiatorial duel. A fast-paced game where it takes both skill and luck to obtain victory as players take on the role of one of the game's characters which include heroes from Marvel's Avengers and X-men as well as other interesting personas ranging from a Cursed Pirate to Santa Claus.

In today's electric matchup the Asgardian "God of Thunder" Thor battles a mutant named Storm who can manipulate the weather. Dice Throne combatants are assigned a complexity rating to let players know how much use of special effect tokens and playing cards need to be utilized to utilize a character to its full potential. If a player simply needs to roll various combinations of dice to activate attacks and defenses a character will have a complexity level of 1 or 2. The more that cards need to be played and rules manipulated to utilize a character's attributes, attacks and defenses the complexity level increases up to a ranking of 6. 

Thor has a complexity level of 3 mostly based upon the incorporation of his magical hammer Mjolnir into gameplay. Storm has a complexity rating of 4 because her attacks can be "charged" providing extra damage and bonuses by obtaining lightning tokens through a variety of methods.

The roll of dice can trigger a number of attacks from the mutant known as Storm that can unleash the power of rain, lightning and wind upon her foes. Generate a thunderstorm that deals out 7 points of damage while charging future attacks to make those more powerful. Another combination of dice can create a wind gust and another creates a maelstrom. Spin four of a kind of one type of symbol can generate a lightning strike while four of a kind can stir up a blizzard. Each kind of attack has different benefits that can impact the direction of the game. Being aggressive or conservative in going after the different dice combinations that trigger particular attacks can have a major impact on winning or losing a match.

Storm has a number of special attributes that can greatly influence the game and account for mid-range complexity level. If one of Storm's offensive abilities has the outline of a Lightning token next to its name, it may be "charged." These tokens can be earned by dice rolls or utilizing certain action cards from her deck of cards. A charged offensive ability can add to damage totals or even make damage indefensible. It can also sometimes generate a tornado or wind shear for Storm to direct at her foes.

When Storm obtains a tornado token she may spend it at the start of her Offensive Roll Phase. For each token spent, she can gain one of her opponent's die to use during the turn. These dice may be included in all Roll Attempts during her Offensive Roll Phase of a round. So instead of rolling five dice, Storm can potentially use six, seven or eight at a time. That can provide a big advantage!

Playing as Storm also provides the opportunity to use wind shears. When she obtains one of these tokens, it can be utilized when Storm is attacked to counter an assault against her. First it allows her to prevent 2 points of incoming damage. Then she hits back against the attacker inflicting 2 points of undefendable damage on her opponent. Additionally, every time Storm is attacked, she can respond with a Tempestuous response by rolling 5 dice. Depending on how the dice land, Storm can gain Tornado or Lightning tokens as well as block attacks allowing her to avoid 2 points of damage.

Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. With that in mind, this character's attacks mostly revolve around his magical war hammer Mjolnir. So much in fact that in addition to dice rolls to trigger attacks there are also a number of other special attributes that involve throwing and retrieving Mjolnir that provide a player with extra ways to inflict undefendable damage on an opponent.

A powerful tool for Thor is his ability to earn Guard Break tokens. When Thor attacks, this token can be spent to enhance his assault. A player rolls one die and if the outcome is 1 to 3 the attack becomes undefendable. 

Another special ability Thor has is called Electrokinesis. If the player earns three of these tokens, they can be turned in at any time to be able to draw 1 additional card in the character's deck to be moved to the player's active hand. With cards such as "invulnerability" that can prevent "all incoming damage" and "helping hand" which allows Thor during an opponent's Offensive Roll Phase to select one of the dice to be re-rolled; this special ability can quickly swing the momentum in a game.

When Thor is attacked, he can also roll three die to defend himself. Depending on how his dice fall, he can counter-attack with Mjolnir, avoid damage from the attack or gain Electokinesis tokens. Even when Thor may seem to be down, he is rarely ever out for the count with his defensive capabilities. 

Storm is available in The Op Games' Dice Throne: X-Men Heroes Box 1 which also includes Iceman, Psylocke & Wolverine. Thor is available in The Op Games' Dice Throne: Marvel 4-Hero Box that also includes Loki, Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man. While the contents of both game boxes are similar and compatible with one another, I have to say I prefer how the Avengers characters are individually packaged compared to how the X-Men content is bundled together inside its packaging. 

Hopefully, if future installments of Marvel characters are released they will be packed more like the Avengers then X-Men as I found that format more convenient for game prep and clean up. I would be so GEEKED if they released a Dice Throne Marvel Villains box with Doctor Doom, Magneto, Thanos and the Green Goblin. A Fantastic Four hero box for Dice Throne would be a great addition too! 

Each player starts with 50 health points. Storm started off the match with a lightning attack that inflicted 7 points of damage on Thor. His defensive roll countered with Mjolnir inflicting 1 point of indefensible damage against Storm. Score: Thor (43) Storm (49)

Thor's first die roll triggered "Mighty Summon" which inflicted 3 points of damage on Storm, healed 2 points of damage, and provided 2 Guard Break tokens. Storm's defensive die roll allowed her to block 2 points of damage though. Score: Thor (45) Storm (48)

Storm rolled three of a kind on her first toss of the Offensive Roll Phase. Each player can roll up to three times on attack during a round. She went aggressive trying to go for four of a kind to engage her Blizzard effect which would inflict 8 points of damage and give her 3 tornado tokens. Doah! That didn't pay off ... she wasn't able to get that last die to roll her way resulting in zero points of damage against Thor. Score: Thor (45) Storm (48)

Thor's dice roll activates the Chain Lightning attack generating 10 points of damage against Storm. She hits back inflicting 10 points of damage back on him. Thor's defensive roll impacts 1 point of damage back at her. Score: Thor (35) Storm (37)

It is a close game so far! Storm hits Thor with another lightning attack for 7 points of damage. Thor counters though blocking 2 points of damage and sending 1 point of damage back at Storm. Score: Thor (30) Storm (34)

Thor utilizes "Mighty Summon" again with his dice roll! Score: Thor (32) Storm (33) It is a really close back and forth game between these two Marvel superheroes. 

Using a charged lightning attack, Storm inflicts 4 points of undefendable damage on Thor. He hammers her back his next turn inflicting 6 points of damage but she is able to block 2 points of that. Score: Thor (28) Storm (29)

A few more rounds of back and forth between the two find them tied at 23 - 23 in health points. The first player to be knocked down to 0 health points loses! Who do you think it is going to be?

Next Storm unleashes a thunderstorm on Thor inflicting 7 points of damage! He responds with a Mjolnir counterattack. Score: Thor (16) Storm (22).

Thor starts off his next turn using a Guard Break token and rolls a 2 to activate the special effect. Whatever attack that he triggers with his dice roll will be indefensible by Storm. Oh my ... Thor's roll activates the "For Asgard!" attack resulting in 16 points of damage! Score: Thor (16) Storm (6).

Storm hits back with another lightning attack worth 7 points of damage. Thor defends himself though with a successful die roll that reduces Storm's attack by 2 points and inflicts another point of damage on her. Score: Thor (11) Storm (5).

Thor triggers a ricochet attack with his dice roll causing Storm 3 points of damage. She's down but not out yet! Score: Thor (11) Storm (2)

Before Storm can start her next attack, Thor turns in 3 Electrokinesis tokens that has earned through his prior turns. This allows him to pull a card from his action card deck to be playable in his active hand. Wow! Luck would have it, an "invulnerability" card is pulled that can prevent "all incoming damage." He plays the card and Storm can't inflict any damage on him this round!

Thor's next hammer attack hits Storm with 7 points of damage. Storm's last die roll can't even block any of it coming up empty on having any countering effect on Thor's attack. Game over! Thor wins!

As is often the case with Dice Throne games, it took both strategy and luck for Thor to pull ahead to get the win. He had some luck in getting the dice combination to trigger the powerful "For Asgard!" attack that really was the deathblow in this match. Utilizing his Electokinesis tokens to pull a card for use in the final rounds of the game was also a nice bit of strategy that contributed to his win though he was also very lucky to pull probably the best possible draw he could have gotten.

The Asgardian bested the mutant in this contest of two powerful Marvel Comics characters. It was a fun, exciting game of two fairly equally matched adversaries. These characters are available in Dice Throne hero packs from The Op Games which feature some of Marvel's fan favorite Avengers and X-Men ranging from Black Panther to Wolverine. Marvel hero pack characters are also compatible to play against other Roxley Games Dice Throne characters such as Krampus and The Headless Horseman.

Next up is Spider-Man vs Ice Man in the Grandmaster's Dice Throne tournament! How do you think these Amazing Friends will fare battling one another? 

This post has affiliate links, which means this blog could earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn't cost you anything extra, ageekdaddy.com just has to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

POPULAR TABLE TOP GAME INSPIRES ANIMATED TV SHOW

Corvus Belli’s popular table top game Infinity, an intense wargame of counter-espionage set in a sci-fi, high-tech future universe, is the inspiration for a new animated television series courtesy of renowned producer/director Jay Oliva, the animator responsible for nine Warner Bros. films, including the two-part Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Produced by Lex+Otis Studios and TeamTO, the series – Infinity: Paradise Lost – features the vocal talents of Raffi Barsoumian (DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Seal Team, The Code), Abubakr Ali (Grendel, Law & Order: Organized Crime), Emily O’Brien (Days of Our Lives, Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham), Nick E. Tarabay (Spartacus, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Roshelle Simpson (Gather by the Ghost Light). The show will feature an original score composed by Frederik Weidmann (Star Trek: Picard).

Infinity, the game and its animated series, finds mankind nearly 200 years into an alternate future where humanity has departed Earth and colonized multiple star systems. While there is a shared, albeit tense unity among these planetary factions, conflicts still exist as great nations attempt to maintain control of resources in order to further enhance their grip on power. Aliens are believed to have gone extinct in these star systems – until they begin to arrive. This is where Infinity begins.

“Most table top games are either big armies or smaller models, but Infinity is more like a skirmish game with tons of terrain, like you’re playing on a little diorama – and that visual side really drew me to the game and inspired the animation, Oliva communicated to ageekdaddy.com. There’s a cyberpunk aspect, but also a very Ghost in the Shell feel with holograms and futuristic weaponry. The influences include Dune and some classic sci-fi of the past. It all translated very easily to animation.”

Are you geeked to see a table top game being the basis for a new television show? The sci-fi wargame aspect of Infinity: Paradise Lost definitely has my interest piqued. For more interest about this upcoming science fiction tv series and the game sensation that inspired it, head over to infinitytheuniverse.com