The idea of the add on sale or accessorizing a purchase is nothing new.  Buy a new outfit?  Well naturally you need new shoes/ tie/ belt etc to go with it!  Burger joints try to sell you fries with your order, or upsell your purchase with an apple pie or larger drink.  We’re so used to it we barely notice and often ignore it… but today I want to suggest (sell?) to you a way to accessorize your games and up the enjoyment factor to 11!  (Well it’s one more than ten, right?)

Dice!

Yup, that core component of so many of our games that goes unnoticed and near invisible with the pathetic high volume cheap dice we use.  Now I’m not sure how I came to be preaching the idea of boycotting plain dice, but somehow they’ve always offended me.  As soon as I started buying board games, I started noticing the white dice were boring and lacked creativity – so made it my quest that for each board game I bought, I’d try to upgrade the dice.  For zombie games, I’d look for a disgusting puke colour to complement the pallid flesh.  For military games, I looked for Olive Drab dice.  Do you like to play RPG’s?  Your fire Mage could have fire themed dice, or how about etched Elven runes for your Legolas wannabe?   Sometimes it’s easy to find, other times it can be a fun challenge… and I love it!

I remember deciding to collect an Arcane Legions army with my buddy.  I chose the Han faction of Asian dudes and painted them all to look like terra cotta warriors.  (Yes, admittedly – so I could spray and dip them!)  My buddy chose the Roman faction, and off we went to scour the extensive GenCon vendor hall looking for perfect complementary dice.  I was very proud of myself when I found dice that resembled Jade, and figured I had “won” with the perfect Asian theme.  To my horror, my buddy found dice with Roman Numerals on them!  I conceded the victory as honourably as I could.

Dice create an opportunity to add a unique flavour to your games that is worth considering, and there are lots of different ways to go about it.  I play a lot of miniatures games, and have tried to find appropriate matching dice for them – here’s a few examples:

When I was playing Warhammer 40k, I found blue dice that matched the studio paint scheme of my Space Marines perfectly, but for my Imperial Guard I found dice with etched dog tags and barbed wire.  They really looked awesome, and got lots of compliments from other players.

 

Now that I am playing Warmachine, I have looked for dice that fit the factions I play:  For my Circle army that is comprised primarily of Warp Wolves and living beasts, I found dice that look like they were etched with claws.  For my Searforge faction (And YES I think of it as a “real” faction!) I found dice with dwarven hammers on each face.  In fact, I even found that same design in solid metal dice, but they rip up game terrain like crazy, so I don’t use them.  And what did I find for my Talion Charter pirates??  Yup, pirate map dice!  (OK, I found the dice and now want an army to go with it, I admit.)

 

So where can you find cool dice?

I start with my friendly local game store, where they often stock lots of different colours and sizes to choose from.  The game manufacturers are also getting into the dice thing, like the recently released Warhammer Imperial Guard dice set that comes in a metal ammo can.  (/drool)   Privateer Press recently announced a whole line of dice for Warmachine factions made by Q workshop. How easy is that?

 

  

Most game conventions have multiple booths selling dice, like Chessex and Q Workshop.  If you can’t get to a convention near you, you can also order dice online if you can’t quite find just what you’re looking for.

 

 

One tip I have found is to try to get dice that are easily readable.  Though fantastically cool to have lots of etchings, you don’t want your opponent to think you’re cheating because they can’t easily read your dice.  Remember to be a good sport if this does happen, and respect their concerns by switching dice, or at least not picking them up too fast after you roll so they have a chance to see them.

It’s fun and easy to accessorize your games.   It gives you an opportunity to add some flair to your army, and adds an extra dimension to your collection.  Whether it’s a board game or miniatures game, it lets you differentiate yourself from your friends and be unique.   Now sometimes it’s hard to get past the idea of adding cost to your game, and some dice can be very interesting but expensive – like dice made from semi-precious stones.  (Real Jade stone dice FTW!)   When you consider that dice are the core mechanic to these games, and are used every turn – why not consider upgrading them and getting that much more enjoyment out of your games.?

So… would you like dice with that??

 

– Steady