Dicey Devices KS Preview— Destroy defenders' displays

Dicey Devices takes the dice slot machine genre people loved in Space Base and Machi Koro, and tosses a bounty of layers on top to make it a BOARD GAME of mad scientists trying to kill each other with death rays. In order to build the best laser, they'll engage in area control, set collection, a bit of take that, and a whole lot of dice chucking and manipulation. I know that I just threw around a bunch of vague terminology with no specifics, so let's just dive right into the anatomy of a turn.

First thing you do on your turn is fire your death ray, given that you've assembled it and aren't knocked out (more on that later). That part’s pretty simple: you roll attack dice according to the number of sets you have, your target rolls their defense, and if you rolled better, you score a hit, either weakening their shields or knocking them out if they have none (if you roll worse, you miss but you get a madness cube that you can cash in to boost future attack rolls). If you were knocked out, you instead try to revive, rolling for the free attempt then paying 6 scrap if you've got it on hand.

Moving onto the lab phase, things get a little more complicated. First, you'll drop your pocket battery in a room, potentially changing its resource output but more importantly guaranteeing it'll activate. Then, you roll 2d6, with the option to either  drop them both in the room of the combined result, activating it and every room to the left in its row (and the rooms above and below if you rolled doubles), or split the dice, which comes with its own bevy of options. As usual, you can just dump them in the rooms of the results to activate them, but there's also the opportunity to bank results to modify any future roll, including attack and defense (obviously you want to keep a 6 banked if you can). You also have the opportunity to remove a charge cube from rooms 10 or 12 to use any battery or wild shot abilities you've previously acquired if you're feeling it. Once you've activated your rooms’ cards and collected your new scrap and/or deployable bots, it's time to move on to the collection phase.

Put your dice from the lab phase into the corresponding sections of the game's area control board; these are going to be resolved this turn. If you rolled doubles, add a modifier tile to that section, not only is it the only section that's going to be resolved this turn, it's also gonna be super special awesome from here on out. Starting with the lowest numbered active sector, the player with the most bots returns one to their inactive pool to either gain one scrap or buy the card on offer there, with second place doing what wasn't chosen. Cards you grab here are not only extra abilities for rooms activated in the lab phase, they're also colored for the previously mentioned set collection game for your death ray. Your first set just turns it on, but subsequent ones give you more shots, better rolls, and draw you unique modifier cards from the deck. 

Last, you've got the deploy and clean-up phases, the most straightforward parts of the game. Any freshly deployable bots go out to the area control board and Igor the choice of the summit for an immediate scrap, his perch for a lab reroll, or the area control board for a little boost, all with the caveats that bots have to be deployed so that you're in the lead in any section they're dropped into and Igor stays home with you if you've been knocked out.

Play wraps around the table until there's only one mad scientist left standing, who takes home the scrapyard trophy (not included). If any of that sounds up your alley, the campaign launches soon, go give it a follow!