Age of War Dice Game

Product Information

Each conquered castle grants you the number of points printed on the front of the card, but if you manage to unite a clan, you’ll gain a number of points greater than the sum of each individual castle. For example, the Tokugawa clan in Age of War consists of three castles: Inuyama, worth one point; Kiyosu, worth two points; and Edo, worth three points. But players clever enough to conquer all three castles and secure the loyalty of the Tokugawa clan receive two bonus points, for a total of eight points. The game ends when the last castle card is conquered and the player with the most victory points wins. The story behind this game is that each player represents a Fuedel Lord that seeks to overcome other clans and their respective castles. This is accomplished through players rolling 7 dice that have been designed with graphics to represent Infantry, Cavalry, Archers, and a Daimyo (sp?). Through rolling the dice (and susequent rerolls) players amass the military units required to conquer a chosen castle based on the military requirements listed on the card. A sinmple but effective mechanic in this game has players reducing the number of dice they roll based on achieveing the miliatry requirements for each castle. You are either able to conquer a single castle in a single turn or you aren’t, its that simple.

At the beginning of a game of Age of War, the fourteen castle cards belonging to the six clans are laid out in the center of the play area. Each turn, you must attempt to conquer a castle by laying siege to it with your forces. Each dice face has a symbol for cavalry, archery, daimyo, or 1–3 infantry denoted by swords. Each castle has one or more battle lines of these symbols, all of which must be completed for the castle to be conquered. A single roll of the dice pool must provide all the symbols required for a single battle line for it to be completed. If a battle line cannot be completed the dice pool can be re-rolled having set one die aside. A turn ends when the castle has been conquered or the dice pool has been exhausted. A player starts his turn by rolling seven dice, the six sides of which show archery, cavalry, daimyo, and 1-3 infantry. He then selects a card and uses the symbols rolled to conquer exactly one of the battle lines on this card (by placing the appropriate dice on that line). If he can do this, he then rolls the remaining dice, ideally conquering another line; if he can't conquer a line, he removes one die from play, then rolls again. His turn ends when either he conquers every line on the card (in which case he claims it) or he no longer has dice available to roll.

Even Zombie Dice has more depth. I love Zombie Dice and can play it again and again but this game is a game where I feel that it asks for too much for a dice rolling game. It is just really really tough to roll for certain items such as 10 swords. I think we got it once out of 50 rolls but we rolled it when we didn’t need it. I also admit my first impression was one of surprise and disappointment. The box is tiny – just 5 inches square. How can a great strategy game on par with Fantasy Flight’s many offerings fit into such a small parcel? There are five stages of evolution in Age of War. You can advance to a new age when you’ve earned enough XP from killing your enemy’s troops! The five ages are: The game, as seen on the box cover, can have 2-6 players. I feel like strategy changes up significantly with 4 or more, moving to a more stealing heavy emphasis. 3-4 seems most optimal, with 6 feeling a little chaotic.

The board is set with 14 castles in the centre of play, each of which is colour coded according to their clan, and with a points value. A player turn consists of rolling an initial set of seven dice and based on that roll selecting a castle to conquer. Later, when castles have been conquered and sit in front of an opponent, they too can be conquered if they have not been scored as part of a clan set, though there is extra challenge in doing so. If you fill each battle line on the besieged castle card, you conquer it and add it to your play area. If you fail to complete all of a castle’s battle lines on your turn, however, your assault has been defeated, and you must wait until your next turn to besiege a castle. When a player fills all battle lines on a castle card, he has conquered the castle. He places that card faceup in front of him. Important: Once a player fills his first battle line for the turn, he cannot fill battle lines on other cards during that turn. All battle lines that he fills must be on the same castle card. Each card is worth a number of victory points. You can conquer cards owned by other players, but you need to conquer an additional daimyo line in the process. If a player owns all the castles of one clan, however, those castles are secure and cannot be stolen. What's more, these castles are now worth more points because you've united the clan under one ruler (you) and strengthened your hold over Japan.The castles have varying point values that, to a degree, reflect the ease with which they may be conquered. Having not done the math, I suspect the difficulty is not necessarily a linear match between battle line difficulty and points value. Over much play, I imagine certain castles will gain a reputation for being a walk-over whereas others will prove to be army breakers. When the final unconquered castle is taken from the play area, the game ends, and players tally their points by adding the point values of conquered clans and individual conquered castles. The player with the most points succeeds in uniting Japan under his banner and wins the game! I was at a board game night at a local pub and I was excited to play it and then as I rolled dice and rolled some more dice and then rolled some more dice again, my excitement level got lower and lower and lower to the point where I was just forcing myself to have fun.