I recieved my first buttonmen as comps from a friend at cheapass games. It didn't click with me, as I had nobody to play with.
Then I found this online site at www.buttonmen.dhs.org and it clicked.
What happened is that the programmer ran into me at a trade show while I was wearing some buttonmen and told me about it.
Now, hardly a day goes by where I don't check my games and make my moves.
In a tale too complicated to retell here, this site has been approved by cheapass games and is now the official buttonman website. (it used to be the unofficial buttonmen website) So far as I can tell, nothing much has changed, which is just fine with me.
If you haven't already, check out the existing reviews of buttonmen. They're listed under c for cheapass or b for buttonmen.
Some of the earlier reviews don't mention the new wrinkles added to the line. Some expansions introduce new types of dice which alter the game significantly. An example - the set illustrated by Brom (awesome artist, maybe you've heard of him) introduces the poison die. In a nutshell, a poison die is worth negative points. That simple distinction completely changes the way you play when poison dice are on the table.
And that's just the beginning. The website incorporates (almost) all the existing die types on published buttonmen AND it incorporates a number of experimental or developmental die types that would be difficult to handle outside of a computer. Not to mention dozens of buttonmen designs that are not and probably won't ever be published.
Fortunately, most of these buttonmen are organized into sets. The original set is designated Soldiers, illustrated by Brian Snoddy. There is also the aforementioned set by Brom, the Brawl set by Ryan Kinnaird, Dork Victory by John Kovalic, and so on. When you either start or join a game, you can see or choose which sets are allowed into that game, so you know what you're getting into. Some games just allow any tournament legal bm (buttonmen) in and some allow any bm.
Alternately, you could select them by name, which allows for some goofy theme tournaments. One such tournament included a number of BM that sounded like euphemisms for sex. (Bang, Hammer, Lucky, etc)
All you have to do is log in, create an account and join some games. If there aren't any to join, you can always start one. If you join games, you should pick carefully so you know what rules the game will be using. If you create one, you should also pick carefully so you will be playing by rules you are comfortable with. As mentioned earlier, there are some BM that incorporate dice types that don't exist outside of the website, so just allowing in any BM is perhaps asking for trouble.
Once you're in a game or two, all you have to do is wait for the mail. The site will mail you once your opponent has responded. Depending on who you're playing, the game could be over in an afternoon or it could take a month. If you aren't getting enough action, you can always join or start multiple games. The website keeps records seperately, so jumping from game to game isn't much of a problem.
In addition to the games, the site also features a database of all supported buttonmen, all supported dice types (including a list of illegal/invalid combinations), links to other bm sites, bm rankings, player rankings, message boards and internal mail. As related in the ratings, the look of it is unremarkable from a graphics standpoint. But then again, graphics isn't what I'm there for. If anything, having more graphics would just slow my games down. All I want is better die rolls, really.
If you think this is a good way to indulge your craving for dice-capturing goodness, jump on over to the website and challenge CatToy. My favorite buttonman this month is Kublai, from the original set.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)