Marvel X-Men Dice Throne Box 1 and Box 2 Review

The Marvel X-Men edition of Dice Throne allows you to play as and battle some of the most iconic mutants. Box 1 contains Wolverine, Storm, Iceman, and Psylocke while Box 2 includes Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, and Gambit.

I was provided with the Marvel X-Men Dice Throne Box 1 and Box 2 free for review by The Op Games. The opinions I have shared are my own.

If you want to increase the likelihood of me checking something out, just slap an X-Men sticker on it and ensure Storm/Ororo Munroe is featured in some way or another. So, of course, when I learned about the world of the Dice Throne board game expanding with the Marvel X-Men line, I was excited to try it out!

For those who might not be familiar, Dice Throne is a tabletop board game that is basically about letting characters battle each other. Depending on what you are interested in, you can find Dice Throne games themed after various powerful entities, including Santa vs Krampus.

As the name states, the gameplay uses a bunch of dice, with specific abilities being activated depending on the number and symbols on the dice. You are allowed up to three re-rolls (or even more depending on the the nature of certain abilities and cards in your deck). So, yeah, the primary gameplay mechanics is quite Yahtzee-like.

The cards in your character-specific deck can be played to your advantage. The benefits include changing the value of a die or you can mess up your opponent’s roll.

A game developed by Nate Chatellier, Manny Trembley, and Gavan Brown, let’s talk about the Marvel X-Men version of Dice Throne by going over Box 1. Featuring original art, you get four playable mutant characters in a single box. You can battle it out 1vs1, 2vs2, 1vs1vs1vs, or whatever you prefer.

Box 1 includes Hero Boards, Hero Leaflets, Health Dials, Combat Point Dials, and Card Decks for Storm, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Iceman. Each character comes with hero-specific dice. You also get a Rulebook and a bunch of Tokens specific to abilities.

There’s definitely a whole lot of text to go through. But I will say that you shouldn’t allow all of the words to overwhelm you. The game doesn’t have a ticking clock. So, take your time to read through everything and cut yourself some slack when it comes to making mistakes during play sessions. Once you get the basic mechanics of Dice Throne down, playing with any character will be quite easy. These are supposed to be quick battles.

The Hero Complexity Level has more to do with setting up their abilities rather than them being comparatively tougher to play as. For example, Storm has a Hero Complexity Level of 4. From my understanding, this is due to being able to Charge certain abilities as Storm by using the Lightning Tokens and then using said Charge to deal instant damage or increase the impact of her abilities. Storm also lets you steal and then use your opponent’s dice. Thus, the setting up stage requires your attention instead of Storm being “hard” to play as a character.

When playing, you select your character and place the Hero Board in front of you. All Hero Abilities are detailed on the board, with the Ultimate Ability mentioned at the bottom. For a 1vs1 game, each hero begins with 50 Health Points and 2 Combat Points. Shuffle the deck and draw the Top 4 cards. You can decide who goes first, but according to the official rules, both players roll a die and the one with the highest number is the first player. The game is won when one Hero is knocked down to 0 Health Points.

You begin with the Upkeep Phase. This is where you do any necessary maintenance such as addressing Status Effects or Passive Abilities. 

Then we have the Income Phase. You get 1 Combat Point and draw a single card. Take note; the first player skips the Income Phase for the starting round.

In the Main Phase, you can spend Combat Points to play certain Main Phase Action cards from your hand. You can also Upgrade your abilities if you are able to. Cards can also be Sold for 1 Combat Point.

Now, it’s time for you to Roll. As mentioned, you can roll the dice up to 3 times. Each die has character-specific symbols that relate to activating certain abilities. For example, the symbols on Storm’s 5 dice are Wind (Value of 1, 2, and 3), Rain (Value of 4 and 5), and Cyclone (a Value of 6). If your roll gets you three Wind Symbols, you can use them to deal 5 Damage to your opponent by Activating her Lightning Field Ability. 4 Wind Symbols deal 6 Damage, and 5 Wind Symbols deal Damage. If Lightning Field is already Charged before Activation, you get to do 3 Additional Damage.

Following the mechanic, the Light Up Ability requires 1 Wind, 2 Rain, and 1 Cyclone Symbol. Thunderstorm needs 2 Wind and 3 Rain Symbols. Opposites Attract costs 3 Wind and 2 Cyclone rolls. Blizzard is 4 Cyclone Symbols. And Storm’s Ultimate Ability ‘Tempest!’ requires 5 Cyclone Symbols.

Along with the Symbol-Activated Abilities, there are also the Value-Activated Abilities. Gust requires a Small Straight or a Large Straight to deal a variety of damage to the opponent. Storm’s Maelstrom is the Largest Straight you can go for with 6 Dice (remember, Storm can steal an opponent’s dice to play as her own).

You can address an opponent’s attack by doing a Defensive Roll. Storm’s Tempestuous requires 5 dice. On 3 Wind Symbols you gain the Tornado Token (which can be spent to steal a die), 2 Rain Symbols help you prevent 2 Defendable Damage, and a Cyclone Symbol lets you gain Lightning to Charge certain abilities.

The Wind Shear Token lets you spend it when Attacked to prevent 2 incoming Damage. Not only that, but you can choose an opponent to receive 2 Undefendable damage.

Yeah, as a fan of Storm, I liked how she was portrayed in Dice Throne.

You can use certain cards from your hand to mess up an opponent’s roll by changing the side of the die and hopefully restrict them from activating a troublesome ability. Take note; Ultimate Abilities can be stopped by altering dice.

One of the most enjoyable moments I had during the Marvel X-Men Dice Throne play sessions was seeing my opponent excitedly work toward activating the Ultimate Ability only for me to play a particular Instant Action Card to rain on their parade. And yes, I have had that done to me too in return. It’s fun and frustrating!

With Marvel X-Men Dice Throne Box 2 you get Cyclops, Jean Grey, Gambit, and Rogue. The characters follow the same gameplay mechanic. Jean Grey is a Level 6 Hero Complexity. She comes with a Dark Phoenix form which helps make her Passive Ability a lot more Offensive. The character will shift between the two forms during the play sessions.

All of the characters are compatible across the world of Dice Throne. This allows you to make the mutants fight other Marvel characters and, if you want, even Santa and Krampus.

You can learn more about Dice Throne by visiting the official website. You can buy the Marvel X-Men Dice Throne Box 1 and Box 2 from The Op Games.

Have you played Dice Throne? What do you think of the Marvel X-Men edition?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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