“Oh little dice of Bethlehem…” Ok so I am fully aware that is not how the song goes, but in the Christmas spirit, Halfsies Dice has just a few days left in their Christmas edition dice. And unlike most kickstarters, you can get both sets THIS CHRISTMAS! You have two choices of dice sets red berry/ dark holly green or pine green, and snow white (these are my personal favorite) and every order comes with a holiday bag. Spread some holiday cheer to the gamer in your life with Halfsies Dice.

A slightly revised edition Claustophobia 1643 by Monolith has been put up on Kickstarter. 10,000 numbered pieces with no pledge manager and delivery in January (That’s two short delivery windows this week).  One player controls a small group of humans and the other an army of demonic creatures. The human characters are stronger, but the demon characters have strength in numbers. The game at its core is P vs. P combat/resource management. There are twenty scenarios in the book, which to me gives it solid replay value.  Whether you chose to play as the humans or by demons be driven, you can sign up for your preferred faction in Claustophobia 1643.

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Valhalla is a card game with dice placement mechanics. Each player takes the role of a Jarl who builds a team of warriors and equips them to fight. In battles, player roll dice to activate warriors and play special tactic cards. The winning party sends their activated warriors to Valhalla, and whoever has the most points at the end, wins the game.

The things that caught my eye about Valhalla is that the goal is to win a battle and send winning warriors to Valhalla. So your fighters die a glorious death to gain victory points. This game is designed by Łukasz Woźniak, who has created almost a dozen games including one of my personal favorites, King and Assassins. Valhalla has been crushing stretch goals (11 as of this post, plus they included the 26 from the successful Polish campaign for this game) and the art looks amazing. Are you ready to choose your Jarl and engage in battle?

When someone names their dice on kickstarter “Table Breakers” those have to be some heavy dice.  And with a tagline like “A Polyhedral Solid Metal Dice Set with a Size and Weight that will not only be game breaking, but also break your DM’s table!” they are not messing around! Several stretch goals have already been unlocked including a custom carrying case. Do your like your dice in Bronze? Gold? Silver? Black? All of these colors are unlocked and at your disposal. Check the campaign out here and roll you natural 20 with authority!

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Dog Might’s Kickstarter campaign for their Traveler Dice Tower ends in four days. They’ve sent me one.

I don’t have much to say except it’s pretty cool.

You like well-made wooden dice towers? Yes? Then you should get one of these. Thanks for reading.

Bye.

Oh. You’re still here.

Fine.

Let’s talk about Dog Might. They make wooden things: dice trays, storage cases, dice towers, and other awesome wood things for gaming. They say they make “Kick Ass Gaming Gear”, and that’s pretty much accurate. A friend of mine purchased an Adventure Case from them at PAX Unplugged, and we all just ooo’ed and aaah’ed over it. Sturdy. Heavy. Pretty. It was a gorgeous piece of gaming goodness for storage of stuff that doubled as a dice tray and tripled as a GM screen.

This thing they sent me, they didn’t send for review. But I’m reviewing it anyway because I’ve had a chance to chat with some of the people at the company and they’re great people making nice products. Also, the Traveler Dice Tower is really cool.

See, this thing is only six inches tall by three and a half inches wide (and less than two inches thick when closed). It comes in three parts attached by those strong rare earth neodymium magnets they use on most of their products, with an optional two on the side of the bottom tray unit so you can add this to their component collector product (see right). With these magnets, you get a fit that won’t jostle the dice tower around when rolling dice. Flip the small ends around and you’ve got a travel storage solution for your dice. (I was able to get sixteen 16mm Fate dice in the unit.)

While I don’t prefer to use dice towers — I love dice trays — this is one I might consider using because of two — no, make that three — factors.

It’s really portable. The entire thing snaps up into a unit that doesn’t take up much space nor does it weigh too much. I could throw this into my messenger bag and run right out to game night. Most other dice towers I’ve seen are large and bulky. While small, it does the job, randomizing dice rolls.

Did I mention it’s small? It takes up as much space on the gaming table as a square coaster for a drink. At six inches in height, when assembled, it’s about the height of a pint glass, or slightly taller than a 12 ounce soda can. It doesn’t clutter a table and doesn’t get in the way.

And they look good. Dog Might uses real wood and have a large selection of woods and finishes and decorations to add to it. Look, here’s the one they sent me.

I don’t mean they sent me that wood type for the dice tower, they sent me that one. That’s Kentucky Coffeetree, with the Laurels engraving on front and the Stag sculpted design on back, which is a design you can get for $55. You can get a simple, plain Whitewood dice tower for $45 — and even without a design, this is a neat looking tower. At $60, the wood type upgrades to African Mahogany, $5 more gets you to the stained colored Flame Birch series, and then for a few dollars more you can upgrade to Cherry, Maple, Red Oak, Benge (featured in the first image), and on and on until you’ve dropped $135 on a tower carved out of Bolivian Rosewood which is absolutely stunning. (And if you are the type of person that can afford to spend $135 on a dice tower, this is the one to drop it on.)

So, should you get it? Well, do you like well-made wooden dice towers? Yes? Then you should get one of these.

A Kentucky Coffeetree Traveler Dice Tower wasn’t provided for review by Dog Might, but we decided to review it anyway.

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Images generated by NASA from radar data of asteroid 2017 BQ6 as it passed near Earth earlier this month reveal a highly-angular object resembling a polyhedral die. Lance Benner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said:

The radar images show relatively sharp corners, flat regions, concavities, and small bright spots that may be boulders. Asteroid 2017 BQ6 reminds me of the dice used when playing Dungeons and Dragons. It is certainly more angular than most near-Earth asteroids imaged by radar.

What do you think, d8?

[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR]

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At auction by Freeman’s November 16th is a scrimshaw lot including various game pieces, including dice, dominoes, and a fish-shaped token. Estimated selling price $800-1,200.

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The thing about these dice is you probably don’t need them. On the other hand, if you’re a fan of the games they go with, you’re really going to want them.

Available now from Q-Workshop are BattleTech Dice with individual sets at $15 for Houses Kurita, Davion, Liao, Marik, and Steiner. Each set with two house dice plus one die for each of four combat commands.

Coming soon from Q-Workshop are dice sets for Cubicle Seven’s roleplaying games, Doctor Who, The One Ring, and Lone Wolf.

And direct from Games Workshop, a set of Ultramarines Dice, 20 for $20.

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Carbon dating of walrus bones found in Iceland may lend some support to the theory that the famous Lewis chessmen originated in Iceland instead of Norway. The Lewis chessmen, discovered in 1831 in the Outer Hebrides, are made mostly of Walrus ivory and are one of the few surviving examples of complete Medieval Chess sets. Most scholars, focusing on the style of the carvings, believe that the Lewis chessmen were produced in Norway. An alternative theory, however, asserts that the chessmen more likely originated in Iceland because only there were bishop pieces based on church figures, as is the case with the Lewis set. Now some believe that carbon dating of a series of walrus bones found over a period of years proves that Walrus ivory was available in Iceland at the time the Lewis chessman were made.

Among the items found at the excavation of a Roman village in Gernsheim, Germany are dice and game pieces. The pieces date back to the second century and are made of bone [image credit: Thomas Maurer].

Mikhail Tikh was fascinated by the idea that dice originated with uncarved animal bones. Yet when he tried to procure for himself a set of traditional knucklebones, he found it quite difficult. So to make it a bit easier on the next person who might be interested in some hands-on playing with history, Tikh cleaned and scanned some sheep bones, then uploaded the 3D models to Shapeways. A set of four in white nylon runs $27.50.

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When your friends come over for a party and you are trying to convince them to play board games with you, chances are they just want to drink. Well, now you can have it both ways with Drinking Dice.

This set of eight-sided dice is meant to replace any game’s six-sided dice. The two extra sides are for drinking. One side is the “Take a Drink” illustration and the other is the “Give a Drink” illustration.

You can add a single die to any game for casual drinking fun, or switch out all of the dice for a hullabaloo.

The retail box includes 24 dice in a variety of colors with both pips and numbers. It also comes with directions for how to play 15 Micro games that only use the dice.

Drinking Dice retails for $25 and is estimated to be available at local board game stores starting in July. However, you can still preorder the dice pack at a discounted price of only $20 directly from Bigfoot Games right now.

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Marvel’s newest super hero team-up movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is now in theaters. A week from now, WizKids’ Marvel Dice Masters: Age of Ultron will be on store shelves. So, grab some popcorn and head to your local theater to get caught up on all of the action so that when the Dice Masters game launches, you’ll be ready.

Marvel Dice Masters: Age of Ultron is the third Marvel-related Dice Masters game and will include new characters, such as Rocket Raccoon, Captain Marvel, and Daredevil. Plus, old characters like Iron Mad, Hulk, and Captain America, will get a refresh.

Dice Masters is a dice-building game created by the same team that designed Quarriors. Players take control of a super hero team composed of 15 dice. The goal is to reduce your opponent’s team’s life points to zero by battling head-to-head using character dice and their special abilities.

The starter set, which includes 44 dice, 38 cards, two dice bags and a rulebook, will cost $19.99. Booster packs with two character cards and matching dice will also be available for $0.99 each. Marvel Dice Masters: Age of Ultron will be in stores May 6.

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An 8 oz. goats-milk soap in the shape of a 20-sided die. For $10, the d20 soap is available from Fizzy Fairy Apothecary via Etsy in more than 50 scents, including Sea Spray, Magic Potion, Dark Graveyard, and Iron Man.

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