Dice Forge

Dice Forge, designed by Régis Bonnessée, is a dice-crafting game for two to four players. Its signature twist is physical: each die has removable faces, and over the game you strip the weak starting faces and clip on stronger ones, quite literally forging a better die. Combine that with a hand of one-shot and ongoing powers and you have a fast, satisfying engine-builder set among mortals seeking the favour of the gods.

The dice & how you roll

Every player has two dice, and each of the twelve faces can be prised out and replaced. Faces show the game’s resources rather than plain numbers, so a better face means a richer harvest. Broadly, the resources are golden shards used at the Forge, plus sun and moon resources, gold, and faces that grant victory points directly.

At the start of your turn you harvest by rolling your two dice and taking the resources shown. Because you designed those faces, a well-forged pair reliably pays out what your plan needs — the heart of the game is shaping the dice so good rolls become the norm rather than the exception. Early on your dice are stocked with modest starting faces, so the opening turns are about scraping together enough shards to begin the transformation that makes later turns pour out resources.

How to play

Turns are quick and follow two beats after the harvest:

• Harvest. Roll your dice and collect the resources on the faces that land up.
• Take an action. Then do one of the following:

• Forge a die face. Spend golden shards to buy an upgraded face from the Forge and physically swap it onto one of your dice, replacing a weaker face for good.
• Buy a card. Spend sun, moon and gold on a Heroic Feat from the central board. Cards give victory points, one-time bursts of resources, or ongoing powers that improve future turns.

Play continues for a fixed number of rounds. Because you only take one action a turn, every choice between improving your dice and cashing in for cards and points matters. When the last round ends, add up your victory points from cards and point faces — the highest total wins the gods’ favour.

Strategy

• Invest in your dice early. Upgraded faces compound — the sooner you forge a strong harvest, the more resources every remaining turn produces.
• Don’t forge forever. Dice you never cash in score nothing. Pivot to buying point cards before the game runs out of rounds.
• Match faces to a plan. Building toward sun-and-moon cards? Forge faces that pay those resources rather than a scattershot of everything.
• Value both dice. A single super-face on one die still leaves the other weak — upgrade in balance so your average harvest climbs.
• Watch the card board. The best Heroic Feats get bought; grab a key card before a rival does, even if you’d rather forge.

Common mistakes

• Over-forging. A gorgeous pair of dice with no points banked loses to a player who converted resources into cards in time.
• Unfocused upgrades. Buying whatever face is cheapest scatters your output; commit to the resources your card plan needs.
• Ignoring one die. Pouring every shard into a single die leaves the other paying pennies — half your harvest wasted.
• Forgetting the one-action limit. You can’t forge and buy in the same turn; plan the sequence so nothing you need slips away.
• Leaving points too late. The round track is short. Start converting to victory points before the endgame catches you resource-rich and point-poor.

Curious how much a “better” die really shifts your odds? Roll a couple of dice in your browser and picture swapping the low faces for something richer.

Keep reading: the character-crafting draft Roll Player.