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?
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