The Marvel of Mastering Dice -Marvel Dice Masters Avengers Vs. X-Men Review

Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers Vs. X-Men (Board Game Geek page)

We were one of the lucky ones in that we received a copy of the Marvel Dice Masters Starter set.  We also received a box of boosters which we are still slowly opening.  Marvel Dice Masters (MDM) is a game similar to Quarriors for those of you that know what that is.  You select a “Team” of heroes represented by cards and dice and start with eight Sidekick Dice in a bag that you will draw from.  you roll the dice and hope to get the necessary energy to purchase your super hero dice which are then put into your trash pile.  When your bag is empty you will refill the bag with all dice in the used/trash pile and start drawing again.  A turn consists of drawing four dice, using the energy to buy dice, fielding character dice if a character side is rolled and can be payed for and if characters are in the field you can choose to attack your opponent. Part of the strategy is actually attacking or blocking with your characters to get them “Knocked Out” which places them in your prep area to be rolled next turn.  If you have knocked out dice you will still draw four dice and roll them along with any dice in the prep area.  You can create a huge turn by attacking or blocking with a hand full of characters that you know will get knocked out, take those dice and your four drawn dice and roll a handful creating either a large army or providing tons of energy to purchase more expensive characters on your team.  In the starter game each player has two characters each with two dice and a total of ten life points for each player, in the standard game your team consists of six card and up to 15 dice divided as you choose based on limits stated on the card and 15 life for each player.  The tournament rules allow for eight cards and 20 dice and 20 life for each player.

There are four types of energy Fist, Bolt, Shield and Mask.  Each character requires that one of the energy used to buy them be of a designated type of energy.  There is also generic energy on action dice and “?” energy on sidekick dice which can be used for any energy needed.  There are also action cards.  In the standard and tournament formats each player chooses two cards and they are available for purchase by either player.

 

My daughter and I have played this game about ten time since receiving it last week (4/23/2014) and we love it.  It is quick, easy to understand after the first beginner game and has a ton of variability.  I grew up a comic book kid, primarily Spider-Man but enjoyed many of the characters.  To be able to “play” the different heroes is fun.  To have Spider-Man fight the Hulk as a strategic move makes the game interesting.  I can’t recommend this game enough.

Suggested Movie: The Avengers or X-mex (this was a little obvious huh?)

What Movie do you suggest?  Let me know in the comments below.

Basics:

Game Type:Collectible Dice (Don’t worry, boosters are cheap and any dice for a character works for all the cards for that character.  Should not result in Magic the Gathering type expenses)

Ages: 7 and up

Size: Small to medium depending on collection and storage method

Ratings:

Me – 10 (right now I would play this game every day.  It’s quick and fun.  Again, buy this game)

My Wife – 8 (My wife enjoyed this game.  She thought it was easy to understand and enjoy the speed of play)

Daughter – 10 (My daughter thought the game was great.  After the first game she had the mechanics down.  After the a few more games she was starting to plan out her plays a little.  A few more plays and she will be fully planning her strategy.)

AVERAGE SCORE – 9.3