Diceland - OGRE Rules
Diceland - OGRE Rules
Diceland - OGRE Rules
Building an Army: When fighting against an Ogre Mark III, you are allowed to build an army of 30+X points, where X is the size of your smallest unit. You also get a Command Post. Against an Ogre Mark V, you can use a Command Post and up to 50+X points. These are called the basic scenarios. Other scenarios are given below, and you can feel free to make up your own. There is no limit on the number of a particular unit you can include (you can use dice from multiple Ogre sets if you wish), and you can play two armies of 30+X points against each other rather than playing against an Ogre. In such a game, you can opt to give both players a Command Post, or leave the Command Post out. If you want to run a larger game, you can give each player an army worth 50+X points, or give each player an Ogre Mark III and an additional 30+X points (with or without a Command Post). If you wish to include units from another game in the basic scenario, any mixed army (i.e., units from more than one Team) is limited to 30 points. In general, mixing teams kills your +X bonus. Its legal to use a 30+X team from another expansion (three Terran Destroyers, for example, from Diceland: Space) and still get a free Command Post when fighting against an Ogre. Uniqueness: There are no unique dice in this set. If a die were unique, you could put only one copy in your army, and there could be only one copy in play. To learn about uniqueness, read the complete rules at www.diceland.com. Who Goes First: In the basic scenario, the Ogre player places the Ogre in the middle of the table, or roughly 20 inches from the Command Post, in any orientation he wants. The opposing player places his Command Post at the middle of his edge of the table, and that player takes the first normal turn. In a two-army scenario, the player whose army is the smallest, i.e., the one that has the smallest total point value, can always decide who goes first. If the point values are the same, flip a coin to determine who will go first. Instead of taking a normal turn, the player who goes first must place one of his dice in any orientation in the exact center of the table to begin the game. Going first is an advantage in one respect, since you get to place the die however you like. The obvious disadvantage is that you can never score points on the first turn, since you dont shoot. If both players have an Ogre, start the Ogres in play about twelve inches apart in the middle of the table. If the teams are the same size, determine randomly who will go first. Unless you really want to, Ogre dice never get thrown. Winning: The first player to score 50 points wins the game. You score points by killing enemy dice, which means attacking them with enough power to take them out of play. Dice that are killed return after a pause to their owners hand, and most dice will be thrown many times in the course of a game. What matters is that each die that is killed is worth points for the opponent. In the basic scenario, the Ogre must score 50 points before it is killed. The Ogre player scores nothing for destroying the Command Post, but destroying the Command Post is helpful in severely weakening the opposing team.
Core Definitions
Enemies and Allies: All dice in the game are either Enemies or Allies. All the dice in your army are Allies, and all your opponents dice are Enemies. This is true no matter what Team they belong to. All the dice in Diceland: Ogre belong to the Ogre team, but if they are in opposing armies, those dice are not considered Allies. On the other hand, dice from multiple Teams are considered Allies as long as they are in the same army. Every effect in this game, from a basic Weapon to the most complex Special Effect, is defined in terms of Enemies and Allies. In Play, In Reserve, and In Hand: There are three places a die can be: in play, in your hand, or in reserve. All dice start the game in your hand. Dice in your hand are off the table and ready to be thrown. Keep these dice someplace off the table, though not necessarily in your hand! All dice on the table are in play. A die that has just been killed is on hold, or in reserve. This die is out of play, but its not back in its owners hand. Dice stay in reserve for one round (one turn for each player), then they return to your hand.
Game Overview
Diceland is a unique tabletop game that uses paper dice as the pieces. The game requires a mix of strategy, luck, and skill. Diceland: Ogre is a stand-alone expansion for Diceland, and contains eighteen dice based on the classic Steve Jackson games Ogre and G.E.V.. Seventeen of these dice are normal-sized Diceland units (Tanks, Infantry, etc.), and the eighteenth is a giant Ogre die. All these dice are compatible with each other, and with all other Diceland sets. In Diceland, players take turns throwing and maneuvering their armies of paper dice. Players score points by shooting each others dice, and the first player to score 50 points wins. An average game lasts about 20 minutes. Diceland contains concepts and game mechanics which are unique even to experienced game players, so take your time in learning to understand it. Once you grasp the basics of this game, you can expect a fantastic gaming experience. This rule sheet contains the basic 2-player rules for Diceland: Ogre. More information about Diceland is available at our Web site, www.diceland.com. Youll find game variants, multiplayer rules, strategy hints, design articles, artwork, and much more! Special thanks go out to Steve Jackson and Steve Jackson Games (sjgames.com) for help in making Diceland: Ogre a reality!
Throwing a Die
Because this game has the physical element of dice-throwing, there are specific rules for how to throw the dice. Your opponent throws from behind this line.
top view
Table
You throw from behind this line.
Choosing a Table
Your playing surface will dramatically affect the quality of the game. The table should be large, level, and free of obstacles. The best surface is a cloth, vinyl, or felt-covered table. Slick surfaces are not great for Diceland. They allow the dice to slide instead of gripping the table, which makes maneuvering your dice much trickier. If you have a slick table, you might want to put down a tablecloth before you begin.
When you throw a die, you must release it behind your edge of the table (see top view, above), and at least a foot above or behind the edge (see side view, below). Note in the figure above that even if the table is round, your edge of the table is still a straight line.
Table Surface
On Every Turn
Each player can take one action on each turn, either throwing one die and activating it, or activating a die thats already in play. You will often take more actions as a result of the first one; however, everything that happens on your turn must begin with just one primary action. Throwing dice is described in the box at right. To activate a die means to either maneuver it, to fire its Weapon, or use its Special Effect. All of these terms are defined on the next page. You do not have to take any action on your turn; you can pass. However, if your opponent also passes, you cannot immediately pass again unless you have no other option. (This rule is meant to avert a stalemate condition, but it is rarely invoked.) Because of effects like Command and Call, you will often take several actions in the same turn, all stemming from one action. When youre done with all your actions, its your opponents turn. Play proceeds until one player has scored 50 points. Activating the Command Post: The Command Post has a Command All ability, described later. Activating this card is just like activating one of your dice, and counts as your primary action for the turn. Playing the Ogre: If you have an Ogre, you will never throw the die. Your strategy revolves around moving and shooting with the Ogre. If you want to invent a scenario where an Ogre starts the game in your hand, just be warned that it may crush anything it lands on. Deep White Sea Players Take Note: The rules to Diceland have undergone one revision since the release of Deep White Sea. A die is allowed to maneuver when it lands, which was not the case in the original version. In Deep White Sea, a new die could activate its Weapon or Special Effect, but could not maneuver, when it landed. While there have been other updates in newer versions (such as the definition of the word shoot), this is the only change that actually affects game mechanics. The new rule is retroactive to Deep White Sea, so when you play with that set we encourage you to use the updated rules.
If you release the die anywhere inside the blue area, the throw is a foul. Your opponent has the option to either allow the throw, prohibit the die from shooting, or to make you take the die out of play. A die removed for this reason goes into reserve. Unless your opponent allows the throw, this kind of foul immediately ends your turn. You cant throw a different die, and you cant take any other pending actions. Dice Off the Table: After you throw your die, any die that is not resting flat, with all three corners on the table, is considered off the table and must be removed from play. Dice that are leaning against other dice, leaning against an obstacle, or have a corner hanging off the edge of the table are all technically off the table. Remove them from play immediately. Dice knocked off the table do not go into reserve, but return directly to their owners hand. If the die you throw goes off the table, there is no extra penalty. However, if you knock any other dice off the table, your opponent scores the point values of those dice regardless of who owns them. This can be costly, so throw carefully! Hitting Other Dice: As long as you dont knock them off the table, its perfectly legal to disturb other dice with the die you throw. Hitting other dice is an important element in Diceland, because you can weaken enemy positions with well-aimed throws, as well as help your own. Examples: Your opponents Heavy Tank is sitting on a very powerful side. Regardless of what you throw, you will probably want to hit that die, trying to knock it to a weaker side. Or, suppose you have a key unit that is on an inconvenient side. Instead of maneuvering it, you could hit it with a new die in an attempt to repair it and also get off a shot with the new die. It is essential for any Diceland player to spend a little time learning how to throw. However, youll notice pretty quickly that its almost impossible to knock over the Ogre. After the Throw: When you throw a die, that die can be activated immediately upon landing. This means it can maneuver, shoot its Weapon, or use its Special Effect. Note: Even a die that knocked others off can still activate!
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side view
Maneuvering a Die
To maneuver a die, choose any corner with a green dot and press down on that dot. The die will gently roll in that direction and reveal a new face, as shown below. If a die is up against an obstacle, such as another die or the edge of the table, it cant legally move in that direction. Even if the die would only brush the obstacle, the move is illegal.
Use the green dots to maneuver.
Shooting Range
The shape of the Sight Arrow dictates the Range of the shot. There are three types of arrows: Short-Range, Long-Range, and All-Range. Short-Range Arrows: This is the smallest arrow, a simple triangle with a concave base. This type of shot can only hit the closest visible target. Enemies, not Allies, are the legal targets of Weapons, so if there is an Ally in your field of view, you will ignore it when determining the closest target. Note that range has nothing to do with absolute distance, just relative distance. In other words, the closest die is always a legal target, even if its a hundred feet away. The next closest die isnt. When checking the distance between two dice, always measure between the closest points on the top faces. In the Sight Arrows diagram at left, Die 1 is closer to the Infantry than Die 2, so the Weapon will hit Die 1. Die 3 is even closer, but its not visible and therefore its not a legal target. Long-Range Arrows: This arrow is a bit larger than the Short-Range arrow, and has a two-piece pinched bottom edge. A Long-Range shot can hit any single target it can see, not just the closest one. If the Infantry had a Long-Range shot, he could choose to hit either Die 1 or Die 2. All-Range Arrows: This is the largest arrow and is distinguished by a long tail. A shot with an All-Range arrow hits every visible target. The Ogres AP (Antipersonnel) is also an All-Range arrow, as is the Command Posts Command All. When you shoot an All-Range Weapon, you cant pick and choose from the legal targets; you will hit every legal target. If the Infantrys shot in the diagram at left were an All-Range arrow, he would hit Die 1 and Die 2. Remember, even an All-Range Weapon hits only Enemy dice, so you wont hit your own dice with an All-Range Attack. Because All-Range arrows have multiple targets, its important to time their effects correctly. Instead of hitting the targets all at once, an All-Range shot hits the closest target first, and works its way outward from there. (The Command Posts Command starts at the edge of the table and moves forward.) In this way, there is no question about which target is affected first. This matters if hitting the targets in a different order would have a different result.
Special Effects
Some dice have Special Effects which they can use when they take an action. All the Special Effects in Diceland: Ogre are listed below. For a complete list of special abilities, including all expansions, and notes on how they interact, visit the Diceland Web site, www.diceland.com. Call: Call affects Allies. To Call means to throw a new die from your hand into play. The die can be activated when it lands. If that die can also Call, you could use it to Call a third die, and so on. Infantry and G.E.V.s are especially talented callers. You cannot Call a die that is in reserve. Calls in Diceland: Ogre are specialized, as in Call Infantry or Call Tank. The die you Call must be in your hand and match the criteria in the restriction, so when you Call Tank, the die you throw must be a Tank. Command: Command affects Allies. A Command All tells all your Allies to take an action. This can be very powerful once you have several dice on the table. Each die that receives a Command can take one action. It can move, shoot, or use its special ability. Only the Command Post has this ability in Diceland: Ogre. Because a Command has multiple targets, you must execute the Commands in the right order, starting with the Command Posts edge of the table. Technically, you give a numbered Command Flag to each die thats received a Command, then remove those flags as the Commands are executed. The counters on the interior box flaps are designed for use as Command Flags, in case you actually need them. Usually, a good memory is adequate. When a die executes a Command, follow through all the effects of its action before moving on to the next die. For example, if a die is Commanded to Call, the Called die comes into play and takes its action before the next Command is followed. If the Called die can Call another die, that die will also land and act before the next Command is followed. New dice cant get Command Flags after the Command has been issued! Dodge: Dodge is a continuous effect, which means that it does not require an action. It is functioning for as long as it is showing. A die with Dodge is invisible to all Enemy Sight Arrows, including Weapons and Special Effects, unless it is the closest visible target of those arrows. In other words, Dodging units treat all Enemy Sight Arrows as if they were Short-Range arrows. (Allies still see it normally.) Jump: To Jump means to pick up the activated die and throw it again. The die can activate again when it lands, just as it could after a normal throw. If the die lands on another Jump side, it can Jump again, and so on. Jump also removes Poison counters (an effect from Deep White Sea). Shoot and Move: The Ogre Die has Shoot and Move. This ability allows the Ogre to fire its Weapon and then maneuver in the same turn. This is one of the things that make the Ogre especially hard to kill.
Shooting
When you shoot with a die, you are using the dies Weapon. A Weapon is any shot that has an Attack value, i.e., a number written on the Sight Arrow. None of the Weapons is defined in this rule sheet, because they are all completely summarized by their Sight Arrows.
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Color Immunity
If a unit has a colored shield icon, that means its immune to everything of that color. Attacks of that color do not damage it, and other effects of that color do not affect it, even friendly ones like Command. A white shield means a die has no immunity. Immunity is the only reason that Attacks and Special Effects have colors. In Diceland: Ogre, nearly all the Weapons are yellow. There is only one immunity, the Ogres immunity to Purple. Only the Ogre has a purple Attack, so this immunity will come into play only when two Ogres are fighting each other, or when you introduce dice from other Diceland sets. Missile Tanks: Falling somewhere between the Light and Heavy in armament, the Missile Tank is too expensive to throw against an Ogre. Its ranged Attacks are meaningless when up against only one opponent, but it shines against another mixed-unit army. Heavy Tanks: Twice the firepower for twice the cost of a Light Tank, the Heavy still isnt tough enough to survive a direct hit by the Ogre, but its exceptional sight lines and Weapon strength make it a long-lasting killer in any battle. Howitzer: A gigantic gun with almost no move and a pathetic range of Blocks, the Howitzer is the ultimate Tread-killer. Plan on throwing it into the Ogres blind spots, if it has any, and use its massive Attacks to wreck the Ogres Main Battery and Treads. Mobile Howitzer: With slightly lower hits and range than the static Howitzer, the Mobile Howitzer is at least maneuverable enough to get itself out of a jam. Youll have to decide whether its worth sacrificing the Attack to gain the moves. Ogre: As the Ogre, your choice is whether to kill the Enemy Units immediately, or to try to weaken the Enemys Attack by killing the Command Post first. What course you choose will depend on the tactics you expect your opponent to use.
2 Sight Arrows The Ogre has multiple Sight Arrows, but in its case each arrow is a different color, and thus represents a different Weapon. When the Ogre shoots, it chooses one Weapon and fires only that. Each Weapon defines its own sight line based on its position, and each Weapon sees only the half of the table above its baseline. The Ogres AP (Antipersonnel, the purple triple arrow) represents a purple All-Range arrow in all directions; i.e., the AP hits every target on the table for the amount of damage indicated on the AP icon. When the Ogres Weapon systems are destroyed, those Weapons cease to function.
Unit Descriptions
Here is a brief discussion of the eight units in Diceland: Ogre. Hints for army building are at www.diceland.com. Infantry: These lightweights cost just 2 points, but they only work well in teams. With an Infantry-heavy army, your goal is to hit the Ogre as many times as possible on every turn, using the Call Infantry ability to field several units, then using the Command Post to activate the lot. Beware of the Ogres AP, though; it can clear the board of Infantry in one shot. G.E.V.s: G.E.V.s (Ground Effect Vehicles) are lightweight, fastmoving units. Like Infantry, they work better in teams, and they can be fielded quickly since they have Call G.E.V. on three sides. They are the only units with Jump and Dodge. They also Call Tank, so to be on the safe side it wouldnt hurt to throw a couple of tanks into your G.E.V. squad. More expensive than Infantry, G.E.V.s are also much less susceptible to the Ogres AP. Light Tanks: At just 4 points, Light Tanks are a bargain. They can Call Tank on four sides, and shoot better than a G.E.V., though with less maneuverability and no other Special Effects.
was designed by James Ernest and Falko Goettsch. Diceland and the Diceland logo are registered trademarks of Cheapass Games and James Ernest Games, all rights reserved. Ogre, G.E.V., and the Ogre cybertank are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games, used by permission, all rights reserved. Art provided by Steve Jackson Games, Infantry Illustration by John Zeleznik. Additional art by James Ernest and Elizabeth Marshall. Graphic design by James Ernest. Original game concept by James Ernest and Toivo Rovainen. Assistant design on Diceland: Joshua Howard. Edited by Elizabeth Marshall. Diceland playtesters included: Nathan Clarenburg, Rick Fish, Anthony Gallela, Julie Haehn, Dave Howell, Owen Jungeman, Toivo Rovainen, Mike Selinker, and Jeff Vogel. Graphic design by James Ernest. Visit the Diceland Web site: www.diceland.com.
Diceland: Ogre