Players: 2-7+
Time: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: 3 (of 10)
This is actually a review of three different Diceland sets which make up the Diceland: Space game. Diceland: Space Terrans vs. Urluquai (CAG524, $14.95) and Diceland: Space Garthans vs. Muktians (CAG 528, $14.95) are the core game sets which each include the core rules and each allow for three or more players to play at the same time. Diceland: Extra Space (CAG 529, $6.00) is a tiny little supplement which can be used for a two-player mini-Diceland game or as one extra army for Diceland: Space. You only need one of these three sets to get started, and each is totally standalone (though if you pickup Diceland: Extra Space without anything else, you'll need to download the rules from www.diceland.com).
This review is partially based on my original review of Diceland: Deep White Sea, because the two game systems are almost identical. If you've already read that review and/or are quite familiar with the original Diceland game, you should pay particular attention to the three-game component listing, the Game Play sections on Building an Army and Special Powers, as well as the start of the Game Design section, since they contain the majority of the non-repetitive text.
The Components
Diceland: Space comes in three different packages, which each contain a different mix of dice. Here's what you'll find in each of those packages:
Diceland: Space Terrans vs. Urluquai
- Terrans. An 11-die race. Suggested armies include a 27-point "Fighter Swarm" which contains 8 dice and a 32-point "Multipurpose Fleet" which also contains 8 dice.
- Urluquai. An 8-die race. Suggested armies include a 30-point "Cloaker Fleet" which contains 6 dice and a 33-point "Maximum Firepower Fleet" with just 4 dice.
- Zorg. A simple 5-die army worth 34 points.
- Klackar. A 16-point frigate that can be combined with another army using the army construction rules.
Terrans vs. Urluquai easily allows 2 or 3 players to get started with Diceland: Space.
Diceland: Garthans vs. Muktians
- Garthans. An 11-die race. Suggested armies include a 31-point "Fighter Swarm" which contains 8 dice and a 32-point "Heavy Army" which features 6 dice.
- Muktians. An 8-die race. Suggested armies include a 27-point "Fighter Wing" which contains 6 dice and a 31-point "Multipurpose Fleet which contains a different mix of 6 dice.
- Tan Ru. A simple 5-die army worth 33 points.
- Kawangi. A singleton die worth 50 points; it's its own army.
Technically, Garthans vs. Muktians allows 2 to 4 players to get started with Diceland: Space, but the Kawangi actually doesn't work well in multiplayer play (and has thus been banned from our local group); figure this is another 2 to 3 player entry into Diceland: Space.
Diceland: Extra Space
- Lightspeed. An 8-die race. The dice are carefully color-coded either red or blue, allowing you to divide this set into two twenty-five point armies for 2-player play. For multiplayer play, you have 50 points worth of ships to choose between when creating a legal 30+ point army.
Diceland: Extra Space is a very nice two-player introduction to Diceland,. It's cheap, doesn't require army construction, and features only the simplest special powers. It's also a nice addition to the core of Diceland: Space if you want an army for a seventh player, without having to use the Kawangi, or if you just want a little variety.
With all that said, here's a bit more on the dice and rules which make up the game:
Dice: The dice which are the heart of the game come unassembled. Your first time out, there's thus a bit of inserting tab A into slot B, but it goes pretty fast, especially once you've done a few. There are 25 dice in each of the two core Diceland sets and another 8 dice in Diceland: Extra Space. (We sat down and assembled all 50 core Space dice the first time we played, and it took 30-45 minutes.)
The dice themselves are made of a decently sturdy card stock which seems to hold up to play without trouble. The graphics on the dice are full-color and appealing, and the colors on the edges of the dice clearly denote which "team" each dice belongs to (though, as with the original game, some of the colors were too close in color, particularly a couple of oranges; fortunately each race's ship design methodoly is pretty distinct, and that helps tell the too similar colors apart).
The game also makes superb use of various icons, colors, and words on the dice to quickly depict what each dice does. As described in the Game Play section below, each side of a dice clearly shows: offensive power, offensive range, defensive power, defensive resistances, special powers, die side, and how to flip the die.
In addition the "1" side of each die provides the die's name and point-value, along with a helpful synopsis of the die's classification (e.g., "fighter", "frigate", "commander", etc). The synopsis is terrific when you're trying to figure out which die to throw next. But, the point value only appearing on the "1" side can be troublesome in-game when you're trying to decide which die to shoot, and have to do extensive head craning to figure out the value of everything on the table. (In a few cases we just had to shrug our shoulders and admit we didn't know a die's value because its "1" side was face-down on the table.)
Rules: The rulebook which comes with the game is a full-color double-sided glossy sheet. It does a good job of explaining the rules concisely, and also proves very useful as a reference when you're looking up special powers during a game. You can also find these rules on the net as a PDF.
Storage: My only complaint regarding the game's physicality is that once you've put together all your dice, it's quite bulky. Storage can be a problem. We've discovered that a shoe box works well to store the pieces, though Cheapass Games also helpfully offers a carrier box that's just the right size for a set of 25 Diceland dice.
Overall, the game components are quite high quality and attractive. Diceland: Space is more expensive than Diceland: Deep White Sea was, if you pick up all three sets, but in return you get armies for 7 players, most of which are heavily customizable.
Overall, Space earns the same Style rating as the original Deep White Sea: "4" out of "5".
The Game Play
If you're already familiar with the Deep White Sea game, you may only want to read the sections on "Building an Army" (at the top) and "Special Powers" (at the bottom), which describe the changes in this new variant of Diceland.
Building an Army: A game of Diceland: Space starts off with selecting an army. This is a grouping of 1 of more dice which represent a player's units during a game. The original Diceland game, Deep White Sea, made this all simple by supplying 5 pre-generated armies. Space adds some complexity, and increases strategy and replayability, by giving you the opportunity to build your own armies.
Each die has a point value. These can be as low as 2 or, in one case, as high as 50, but the mean point value is somewhere between 5 and 8. Each die also has a race ("team"). There are for example 11 different dice for the Terran race while only 8 for the Muktians.
You build an army using points. You get a total of 30 points. If you're building an army of mixed races, that's it. If you're building an army all from one race, you get bonus points equal to the smallest unit in your fleet (meaning, essentially, that you get 30 points plus your cheapest unit is free). For example, if you had an army that included a two-point ship you'd have 32 points available; conversely you could build an army with three 15-point units from the same race, because you'd have 30+15 points available.
The easiest way to build an army is by just sticking to one race. Each of the 8 and 11-die races have more units than you can actually use, so you can pick and choose (or select one the two armies listed as suggestions in the rulebook). The 5-die races already come as one pre-generated army each.
If you prefer more complexity, you can put together an army mixing any of the Space units--you can even throw in Diceland: Deep White Sea or Diceland: Ogre units if you wish, because they all use the same system. (Though mixed armies will really only work in two-player games, as there's no good way to keep track of what units are in what mixed armies, and so you're likely to get confused if there are lots of dice on the table.)
When selecting your army, you'll of course want to understand what all the dice do ...
Describing the Dice:Each side of a die has different values, with a die typically getting better on each face, from 1 to 8. All of the information about what the die's current face can do is helpfully located on that face. This includes the following:
Attack: A small triangle in either one, two, or three corners provides all the attack info for a die.
First, what's its line of site? One attack triangle means that a die can only see "in front of it" (e.g., the 180 degrees in front of the rear side of the up-face of the die), while three attack triangles means the die can see in all directions. (A couple of dice also have two attack triangles, which leaves a little sixty-degree dead spot to a ship's aft.)
Second, what's its type of attack? This is a color inside the triangle. In the original game these meant things like red for fire, light blue for ice, purple for magic, etc. What the colors are supposed to mean in the Space game is unclear, because they're not listed in the rules. However, the important bit is to match attack and defense colors, as described below.
Third, what's its range? This is the shape of the triangle, which can either be short-range (hits the closest target), long-range (hits a target of your choice), or all-range (hits all targets).
Fourth, what's its damage? This is a number inside the triangle. It's typically somewhere in the 1-15 range. (A few ships have different damage values in different firing arcs--typically a higher number in the front arc than in the rear arcs.)
Defense: A small shield to the lower left of each die face describes the defense info for a die.
First, does it have any invulnerabilities? If so, the shield is colored. When the color of the defense matches the color of the attack, the die is invulnerable to that attack.
Second, what's its defensive value? Again, this is a number, typically somewhere in the 1-15 range.
Color Text: A simple explanation of what the attack "is", e.g. "Light Cannon" or "Plasma Beam".
Special Powers: Some die faces have special powers like "Jump", "Call Fighter", and "Shield". These appear in a special space on the die face, above the color text. They're described more below. (And it's of note that though some of the Deep White Sea special powers appear in Space, there are a lot of new ones too.)
Dots: Finally, each die face has dots which show how to move the die. The red/damage dot is used when your die is harmed, and typically moves it to a worse face. The green/movement die is used when you're trying to improve your die, and typically moves it to a better face. These are placed way in the corners of each die, so that if you press the dot, the die moves. Very clever.
Rounds of Play: Each turn of gameplay goes like this:
- Take One Action from this List:
- Throw; or
- Maneuver; or
- Shoot
(This version of the game doesn't have any continuous effects that need book-keeping, like Deep White Sea did, thus simplifying the turn order.)
If you throw this means you take a die from your army that's still off table and toss it on the table. There are a couple of rules for how you do so. You must release the die at least a foot from the table and you must stand on "your" side of the table. (So say the rules, at least. In all the games I've played people were allowed to wander and throw from any side they liked; this particularly works better for multiplayer games--since otherwise you have to start using, for example, a five-sided table for a 5 player game.) Once you've thrown you can either maneuver or shoot the die that you just threw.
You can instead choose to maneuver a die currently on the table. This means you select a die then push one of its green movement dots.
You can instead choose to shoot a die currently on the This means you either activate its weapon or activate its special effect if it has a special effect.
Combat: Combat is very simple, and occurs when you shoot a die. After determining your target (the closest die; or a die or your choice; or every die on the board, starting with the one closest to your shooter), you compare your attack to its defense.
If your attack is larger than or equal to its defense or if the defender is already on its 1 side then the defending die is destroyed.
If your attack is less than the target's defense, the defending die is wounded. Push the red/damage dot. Note that if the die can't flip in that direction due to an obstacle (usually another die), the die is destroyed anyway.
You of course need to remember resistances here, as they can entirely prevent damage.
Once a die has been destroyed, two things happen: (1) the attacker gets the die's point value added to his score; and (2) the die goes into the reserves, which means it stays out of play for one full round of gameplay, at which point its owner retrieves it.
Special Powers: All that's left are the special powers, which are what make the game truly interesting. They're what create the strategy which causes you to try and set up pairs, triplets, or armies of dice on the table, which are all benefitting each other. The special powers are:
Call: Allows you to throw an additional die. Usually restricted to a certain class of die (e.g., "Call Fighter"). Some dice let you call multiple dice, one at a time (e.g., "Call 3 Fighters").
Cloak: A continuous effect. Die can only be seen by enemies with all-range arrows.
Command: Enables you to cause the rest of your dice on the table to take action. Some commands are restricted (e.g., "Command Fighters").
Dodge: A continuous effect. Die can only be seen by enemies if it is the closest visible target (meaning it sort of treats all range arrows like short-range arrows).
Jump: Allows you to reroll that die.
Move and Shoot: Enables you to maneuver then shoot die in same turn.
Remove: Allows you to remove an enemy die from the table to the enemy's hand (not reserves). No points are scored.
Shield: A continuous effect. Has a value of "X" (e.g., "1" or "2"). Die is immune to all attacks of value X or less.
Shoot and Move: Enables you shoot a die then maneuver it in the same turn.
The interactions of dice on the table can prove quite powerful once you have a couple available. E.g., you can use a "Command Fighter", then bring down a larger ship by firing from several fighters in the same turn.
Winning the Game: The game ends after a player gathers 50 points through killing dice. At that point players get final turns so that everyone has gone the same number of times, and then the game end. The player with the highest score at that point is the winner.
Relationships to Other Games
Diceland: Space is, of course, a member of the Diceland family of games. Diceland: Deep White Sea was the first. Another recent addition is Diceland: Ogre, a solely two-player battle against the Ogre tank. Each of the Diceland games is totally standalone and independent, but also totally intercompatible. If you want you can mix your Space ships with the teams of Deep White Sea or even fight against the Ogre.
The two core Diceland: Space sets share a background with Strange Adventures in Infinite Space a 15-minute computer adventure game also available from Cheapass. The spaceships in Diceland: Extra Space are drawn from Light Speed, another Cheapass Game.
The Game Design
Diceland: Space works, I think, even better than the original Diceland game. Here's some of the best gameplay of this new set:
Great Replayability: The ability to construct your own armies, either totally freeform or from larger racial groupings, makes the game immensely replayable. With just the original game, I'd started to grow a bit bored with the limited number of permutations, but now those possibilities have been multiplied by a large amount.
Improved Strategy: The ability to form teams also gives you the ability to plan strategy before the game; if you do a good job in your army construction, you can also have improved strategy within the game.
Although really related to the overall game system, the following thoughts hit me more when playing these Space sets than when I originally played Deep White Sea:
Player Numbers Dramatically Affect Gameplay: Diceland is a lot of fun to play with multiple players, but it's always clearly been most intended for two players. The more players you have, the more the game shifts from the strategic to the tactical field. In a 2-player game you can try and set up future moves, while in a multiplayer game, you just can't predict if your dice will survive to your next turn, so you have to make an individual best-tactical move each turn. This isn't either a complaint or a compliment, but rather something that you need to think about when playing a multiplayer game. Well-commanded teams and teams dependent upon large dice are less likely to work in a multiplayer game for the reasons noted above.
Here's some of the game design that I like generally in the Diceland games, and which I've printed in my previouse Diceland: Deep White Sea review:
Simple System: The core system is simple--throwing dice, maneuvering dice, and comparing attack and defense values. There's very little room for confusion.
Additional Complexities: With its special effects, Diceland adds on complexity, which gives you more strategic choice in the game (e.g., which die to use), but again the new powers are simple enough that they don't cause any confusion. (They seem even simpler in Space than in Deep White Sea, though that's at some cost in strategic complexity.)
Physical Aspect Fun: Usually I don't enjoy physical dexterity getting mixed in with my strategy games, but it's such a core part of this game that I don't mind. And, beyond that, it's fun. You can try and throw dice behind other dice or in specific parts of the table. Likewise, you can try and hit other dice, to knock them off "good" sides. And, when other players try and do these same things and fail, sailing their dice off the table, you can mock them mercilously.
Very Original: There are games out there that use dice, some of which even use them in somewhat original manners, as tokens in a game. But I'm not aware of anything like Diceland: Deep White Sea which gives so much character and differentiation between the different sides of a die. This originality adds a lot to the replayability, because you won't have anything else like this one (unless you buy the other Diceland games too).
I really don't have any complaints about the Diceland system. Merged with the very good iconography of the dice, and the fact that it's flat out fun I give it a full "5" out of "5" for Substance (and I personally like Space better than Deep White Sea, which I'd also given a "5").
Conclusion
I find all of the Diceland games fun and recommend them highly. But, with so many sets out there, you might wonder which to buy. here's my suggestions:
Diceland: Deep White Sea is a good purchase if you're confident you'll like the game, but you want an easy game to draw in non-gamers. The fact that all the teams are pregenerated means that you can start playing at once (after you fold your dice).
The two core Diceland: Space games are a good purchase if you're confident that you'll like the game, and want a game for serious gamers who'll like the strategic complexity of building armies. CCG players in particular will like this aspect. If you only get one set, get Garthans vs. Muktians, because that 50-point Kawangi die will give you a very different two-player game. Remember that you'll want both sets for 4 or more players.
Dice: Extra Space is a good, cheap purchase if you're not sure about this whole Diceland concept. You'll be able to download the rules from the web, then play out some two-player battles and see what you think. If you like it you can then move straight on to Diceland: Space with one extra army in hand.
