Overview

Dragon Dice is a collectible dice game where players command armies of fantasy races battling to control terrain. Dice represent units (6-sided), monsters (10-sided), dragons (12-sided), terrain (8-sided), and magical items (4-sided). Each player divides their forces into three armies and places them at terrain dice. Players take turns maneuvering terrain, engaging in melee, missile, or magic actions, and summoning dragons. The first player to capture two terrain dice wins.

Components

• Unit dice (d6): Come in 4 sizes — common (16mm, 1 health), uncommon (18mm, 2 health), rare (20mm, 3 health), champion (22mm, 4 health). Each belongs to a race.
• Monster dice (d10): 4 health. Belong to a race.
• Dragon dice (d12): 5 health. Do not belong to a race. Come as drakes (winged) or wyrms (wingless) in 6 colors.
• Terrain dice (d8): Major (large, from starter sets) and minor (small, from expansions). Faces numbered 1-8 representing distance between armies.
• Magical Item dice (d4): Common, uncommon, rare sizes plus medallions. Do not belong to a race.
• Artifact dice (d10): Follow magical item rules.
• Races: Coral Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Lava Elves, Firewalkers, Feral, Swamp Stalkers, Frostwings, Scalders, Treefolk, Amazons, Undead, Eldarim, Dragonkin.

Setup

1. Decide total force size: Players agree on health points per player (18, 24, 36, or 60 recommended). No more than half can be magic users.
2. Bring dragons: Total force / 24 (round up) dragons required per player.
3. Assemble three armies: Home army, Horde army, Campaign army. No single army can exceed half total health. Each army must have at least 1 health.
4. Set the battlefield: Each player places one terrain as their Home terrain; each proposes a second as Frontier terrain.
5. Determine order of play: Roll Horde armies for maneuver results. Highest chooses: go first or select the Frontier terrain. Second highest gets the other choice. Remaining players take turns in decreasing maneuver order.
6. Place armies: In turn order, place Home army at your home terrain, Horde army at another player’s home terrain, Campaign army at any remaining terrain.
7. Determine starting distances: Roll each home terrain die (reroll 8s, reduce 7s to 6).

Turn Structure

Each turn has up to 7 phases in order:

1. Spell & Effect Expiration (Beginning of Turn)

All spells and effects you cast that expire “at the beginning of your next turn” expire now.

2. Initial Effects Phase

Resolve in order: Racial abilities (Feralization, Swamp Stalker mutation), Eighth face special location icons (City, Temple, Dragon’s Lair, Grove), Royalty Die abilities.

3. Dragon Attack Phase

If any dragon is at a terrain where you have an army, resolve dragon attacks:

1. Resolve Eldarim special abilities (Dragonlord/Dragonslayer/etc.).
2. Roll dragon dice.
3. Resolve all Breath results (deal damage to army).
4. Resolve all Treasure results (promote a unit).
5. Dragon vs. Dragon: Different-colored dragons at the same terrain attack each other instead of the army.
6. Army responds: Roll a combination roll (melee + missile + saves). Need 10+ melee or 10+ missile results to slay a dragon (5 health + 5 automatic saves).
7. Killed dragons return to summoning pool; army may promote units.
8. Dragons that rolled Wings return to summoning pool.

4. First March

Choose one army. You may attempt a maneuver and/or take an action.

5. Second March

Choose a different army. Same options as First March.

6. Reserve Phase

• Reinforce: Move any units from reserve to any terrain.
• Retreat: Move any units from terrain to reserve.

7. Spell & Effect Expiration (End of Turn)

All durational effects that expire “at the end of your turn” or “at the end of your next turn” expire now.

Actions

Maneuver

Announce a maneuver attempt to turn a terrain die up or down 1 face. Opposing armies at the same terrain may counter-maneuver. Both sides roll their armies for maneuver + ID results. If the acting army equals or exceeds each counter-maneuvering army’s total, the maneuver succeeds. Uncontested maneuvers automatically succeed.

Melee (Sword icon on terrain)

Attack an opposing army at the same terrain. Roll your army for melee + ID results. Each point of melee inflicts 1 damage. Defender rolls for saves + ID results. Unsaved damage kills units (owner chooses which). Defender may then counter-attack (same procedure in reverse). Action ends after counter-attack.

Missile (Arrow icon on terrain)

Attack an enemy army at the same terrain or up to one terrain away. Roll for missile + ID results. Defender rolls saves. No counter-attack allowed.

Magic (Starburst icon on terrain, or reserve army)

Roll army for magic + ID results. Magic points are colored by race aspects (e.g., Dwarves cast red/gold). Spend magic points to cast spells from the spell list. Announce all spells and targets before resolving.

Terrain Advantage: Units rolling ID icons at a terrain matching their race’s color can double those magic points.

Reserve Magic: Can only target own units/armies/DUA. Cannot double magic. Amazons fire missiles from reserve instead.

Capturing Terrain

When you maneuver a terrain die to face 8, you capture that terrain. First player to capture two terrains wins.

ID Icons

ID icons always count as whatever results you are currently rolling for (melee, missile, saves, maneuver, or magic), with value equal to the unit’s health.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Win: Capture two terrain dice (maneuver a terrain to its 8th face while controlling it), OR be the last player with surviving units.

Capturing terrain: When face 8 is showing and you are the only player with units at that terrain, you control it. The terrain and your army there are removed from the battlefield.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Dead Unit Area (DUA): Killed units go here. Spells can bring them back. Located to the player’s left.
• Buried Unit Area (BUA): Some effects permanently remove units from the DUA to here.
• Summoning Pool: Dragons, Dragonkin, and minor terrains start here (left of DUA).
• Promotion: Replace a unit with a one-size-larger unit of the same race from DUA. Common -> uncommon -> rare -> champion/monster.
• Recruitment: Take a common unit from DUA to the acting army.
• Damage assignment: Owner chooses which units die, but must discard exact health coverage when possible (cannot over-assign to larger units if smaller units can cover it).
• Racial Aspects: Each race has two elemental colors (e.g., Coral Elves = blue/green). Determines what magic they cast and terrain advantage. Amazons derive aspects from the terrain they’re on.
• Magic user limit: No more than half your total force health can consist of units with magic icons.
• Dragon attacks are mandatory: If a dragon is at a terrain where you have an army, the dragon attack phase must occur.
• Avoidance rolls: Some effects allow units to roll to avoid damage individually (using their ID icons or specific save results).
• Special Action Icons (SAIs): Rare/champion/monster units have unique faces with powerful special abilities detailed in the SAI list.
• Spells: Organized by color (black/death, blue/air, gold/earth, green/water, red/fire). Each has a point cost, target, and specific effect.

Player Reference

Turn Sequence: Spell Expiration -> Initial Effects -> Dragon Attacks -> First March -> Second March -> Reserve Phase -> Spell Expiration

March: Maneuver (optional) -> Action (melee/missile/magic, optional)

Unit Health: Common 1

Uncommon 2

Rare 3

Champion/Monster 4

Dragon 5

ID Icons: Count as whatever you’re rolling for, value = unit’s health

Dragon Slaying: 10+ melee OR 10+ missile needed (5 health + 5 auto-saves)

Win: Capture 2 terrains (maneuver to face 8) or last player with units

Terrain faces: 1-2 = far (missile), 3-4 = medium (magic), 5-6 = close (melee), 7-8 = very close (melee/capture)