Marvel Dice Masters

WizKids

If nerds love one thing, it’s rolling dice. WizKids’ latest collectible dice-building game offers dice-rolling in excess and the always-popular Marvel Universe as the backdrop for dice-based combat and strategy. The starter deck, Avengers vs. X-Men, includes 44 various dice and the cards they control, a collection so large and diverse that the replay value and customization out of the box is impressive. Players take turns rolling dice to earn energy needed to buy more dice and bring various comic heroes and villains into the battle. While earning new dice and knocking your opponent’s health down a notch is straightforward, the die symbols, combat system and playing field are a bit convoluted if only in remembering the different ways dice move about the playing field. Part combat and part resource management, the jumble of strategies—and the rules associated with them—can occasionally suggest the game is trying to do too much. For some, that may be the case, but this is a game meant to be played in the back rooms of comic stores with comic and game fans who don’t let tangled game play get in the way of rolling a couple dozen dice.