New Game Round-up: Two Takes on Dice-Building with Rattlebones and Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men

New Game Round-up: Two Takes on Dice-Building with Rattlebones and Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men
Board Game: Rattlebones
Stephen Glenn's Rattlebones — first mentioned on BGG News in Feb. 2011 just after I started posting game news on this site and in the works since 2009 — finally has a game page on the Rio Grande Games website. In an August 2013 newsletter, Jay Tummelson from RGG said that Rattlebones will be out by the end of 2013. I hope so, as right now the BGG description gives a taste of gameplay but lacks details:

Quote:
"Welcome, girls and boys. My name is Rattlebones, and you have been cordially invited to spend the day at my Fabulous Festival of Dice! Play games! Win prizes! Ride the train! I'll be wandering about the park, and if you're the first one to find me, you win! Won't that be delightful?"

Rattlebones is a game about building dice. You start with standard six-sided dice, and throughout the course of the game you can remove sides and replace them with other sides that let you do all sorts of wonderful things. Every time you score points, you get closer to finding Rattlebones and, er, winning the game. Yes, winning! It's an experience to six-sided-die for!
Board Game: Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men
• U.S. publisher WizKids Games is launching a new game series — really a series of game series — with Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men, due out December 2013 January 2014. Let's start with a basic description:

Quote:
Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men is a collectible dice-building tabletop game designed by Quarriors! creators Michael Elliott and Eric M. Lang.

In this game, each player fields one of the superhero teams, with each hero — Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and more — being represented by custom-tooled dice; each team must be composed of 15 dice, and a player can "purchase" dice only from his team. Each hero also has one or more character reference cards, which show the special abilities for the characters based on the die rolls. Different versions of these cards will be available in booster packs, allowing for more customization of your team. Players use these dice to collect energy, recruit new heroes, and battle head-to-head. In addition, each player brings two basic action cards to the game, which are placed in the center of the table; both players can purchase these cards. A player wins once the opposing player has been reduced to zero life.

The Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men Starter Set comes with 44 custom dice, 38 cards, two dice bags, and a core rulebook. Booster packs include two dice with two matching character cards.
So the core of this game originated with Quarriors! — making it the "quar", I suppose — then Lang and Elliott transformed the game system into a head-to-head, dice pool-building game with optional pre-game set-up and customization in which players can swap in different characters and dice. Tired of looking at Cap? Then swap him out and give Hawkeye a chance to finally lead the team. (Yes, this could happen, sure.)

This "Dice Masters" system already has one other title announced — Yu-Gi-Oh! Dice Masters, due out Q1 2014 — and each of these games works the same way and a team from one set can be played against any other Dice Master team. The Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men Starter Set retails for $15, while each Booster Pack costs $1.

Board Game: Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men

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