How to play Empire of Dice

The rules of the hex wargame, in one page

Empire of Dice is a turn based strategy game for 1 to 6 players on a map of hexagon tiles. Every unit is a die: the number showing is how many divisions it has left, and every battle is rolled. You found a Capital, plant flags on the land around it, turn that land into resources, and spend the resources on an army. The game ends when somebody holds enough land, saves enough resources, or takes another player's Capital.

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It runs in any modern browser with nothing to install, and there is an Android app. A Local game puts people and the computer opponent, the Bot, at one device in any mix, so you can play alone against the Bot or pass the phone round a table. Multiplayer plays online with friends, each on their own device, and only needs a free account. The Tutorial teaches all of this by playing it.

The map

The board is dealt at random from six kinds of ground, eighteen tiles for every player. Each kind of ground produces one resource a turn for whoever holds it.

Mountains, Canyons, Forests and Deserts are rough ground. Moving a unit onto rough ground costs double and ends its move for the turn, unless you have built a road on it. The map can be set to wrap, so its left edge joins its right and its top joins its bottom, and it can be dealt face down (Pioneer mode), so you discover the land as you march into it.

How you win

Victory is checked at the end of every round. Any one of these wins the game.

• Territory: hold 18 tiles, your Capital included.
• Conquest: capture any other player's Capital.
• Treasury: save 100 resources in total.

A game can also be given a round limit. If nobody has won when it runs out, the highest score takes it: a point for every flag, a point for every unit on the board, and a point for every six resources saved. And if every player at the table agrees to peace, everyone wins.

Founding

Every player chooses 24 starting resources, in any mix they like, and places their Capital and one Infantry on a Plains tile. Capitals must be at least two tiles apart. The Capital produces 6 Gold or Food a turn in any combination you choose, and every tile you have flagged produces one of its resource, as long as a supply line reaches it.

A round

1. Bid for initiative. Everyone secretly bids Gold, and every bid is paid. The highest bidder chooses their place in the turn order; everyone else rolls a die for theirs. A tie means nobody wins it and everyone rolls.
2. Produce. Your Capital, your Workers and every supplied tile you hold pay out.
3. Move and fight. Every unit may move once, paying its movement cost. Walking onto a tile nobody defends plants your flag on it at the end of the move and takes down whatever flag was there. Walking into a defended tile is an attack.
4. Build and repair. Buy units onto or beside your Capital, lay roads, raise your Worker, and mend wounded units that did not move or fight this turn.
5. End your turn. Anything you forgot is lost. You can also trade with other players, or with the bank at three of one resource for one of another, during your turn.

The units

Each unit is a die, placed with its highest face up. Every hit it takes turns the die down one, and at nought it is destroyed. You may own three of each kind.

• Infantry and Armor are melee units: they take ground, capture Capitals and kidnap Workers. Armor is the only unit that may keep moving after a fight.
• Auxiliaries and Bombards are ranged units: they fire from where they stand and take no return fire, but they cannot take ground and may only stand on your own tiles. A Bombard can also shell an undefended tile, which produces nothing until its owner pays Gold to repair it.
• A Worker does not fight. It stands on one of your supplied tiles and produces its level in that tile's resource every turn; raise it at your Capital, one level a turn, up to 6. An undefended Worker can be kidnapped by a melee unit.
• A road on rough ground you hold removes the double cost and the stop, and carries your supply line across it.

Combat

Every battle is rolled with six sided dice, one die for every division on each side. The attacker scores a hit on every die at or under its attack value, and the defender scores a hit on every die at or under its defence value, both at once. A full Infantry rolls ten dice and hits on a 1 or a 2; a full Bombard rolls four and hits on anything up to a 4. If the defender is destroyed, a melee attacker moves in; if it survives, the attacker steps back to where it came from. Ranged attacks are rolled the same way, but the defender does not roll back.

Attacking rough ground costs what walking onto it costs. A unit that moved or fought this turn cannot be repaired this turn, so a garrison that sorties gives up its mend.

Supply lines

Everything you do needs a supply line: a path from your Capital over Plains and roaded rough ground, through neutral land or your own, to the tile in question. Only an enemy flag cuts it. A tile the line does not reach produces nothing, and a unit the line does not reach cannot move or be repaired, though it still defends. Cutting a rival's supply line with one well placed flag is often worth more than a battle.

Trading and peace

On your turn you can offer any other player resources for resources, and the bank always takes three of one resource for one of another. A trade can carry a truce: a set number of rounds in which neither of you may attack the other. The computer opponent trades and sues for peace by the same rules you do.

Ways to play

• Local: one device, any mix of people and Bots, from a game on your own against the computer to six people passing a phone round.
• Multiplayer: online, each player on their own device, with a turn timer if you want one, and a seat for the Bot wherever a chair is empty.
• Tutorial: every rule above, taught one idea at a time by playing a short guided match.

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