Dice Command Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Overview
  • Victory
  • Components
• Setup
  • Two-Player SetUp
  • Four-Player Teams SetUp
    • Alliance Cards
  • Three to Four-Player Free-for-all SetUp
    • 3-Player Setup
    • 4-Player Setup
• Game Elements
  • Game Board
  • Units
  • Barracks
  • Player Reference Cards
• Gameplay
  • Turn Phases
    • 1. Prepare
    • 2. Roll
    • 3. Assign
    • 4. Resolve
    • 5. Advance
    • 6. Refresh
  • Tactical Advantage Cards
  • Facilities
• Rules of Engagement
  • Advancing
    • Advancing Behind Front Lines
  • Engagement
    • Resolving an Engagement
• Command Centre and Actions
  • Upgrade
    • Reading a Command Card
  • Headquarters
    • Deploy
    • Advance
    • Headquarters: Upgraded
  • Sabotage
  • Force Deploy
  • Conscription
    • Conscription: Upgraded
  • Financing
    • Financing: Upgraded
• Additional Game Elements and Rules
  • Mines
  • Emergency Relief
• How to Win
  • Cease Fire
• Glossary

Introduction

Overview

In Dice Command, each player represents a military General in their army. Players use Units to build and advance their army, all while carefully managing their resources, to continually fuel their war machine and win the battle.

Victory

The goal is to be the first player to place four dice, or Units, behind the enemy's Front Line.

Components

• Double-sided Game Board
• 4 Barracks (dice rolling trays)
• 40 Units + 1 Damage Dice (4 colour-coded sets of 10 standard 6-sided dice and one yellow 6-sided dice)
• 12 Facility Tiles
• 2 Alliance Cards
• 35 Tactical Advantage Cards + 1 Cease Fire Card
• 16 Command Cards (4 sets of 4)
• 11 Mines
• 20 Credits
• 4 Double-sided Player Reference Cards
• 16 Research Tokens
• 12 Sabotage Tokens

Setup

Two-Player SetUp

1. Each player picks a side, takes a Barracks, chooses their army colour, and takes the corresponding 10 Units and 4 Command Cards. Each player takes a player reference card.
2. All players place their Command Cards in front of them face up, as shown. This is your Command Centre and contains your base actions.
3. Each player starts the game with 5 Units and 3 Credits in their Barracks.
4. Shuffle and place the Tactical Advantage deck near the board. Draw 3 cards and place them face up, as shown. Place the Cease Fire card face up underneath the Tactical Advantage deck.
5. Shuffle the Facility Tiles and deal 2 to each player (facedown). Each player chooses 1 card and places it next to the board, face up as shown. Set the remaining cards to the side, they will not be used in the game.
6. Randomly determine a first player. The second player gains an additional starting Credit.

Four-Player Teams SetUp

Rules Specific to 4-Player Teams:

• All players start with 3 Credits.
• Turn order alternates between teams. (For example, in the setup shown, turn order would be top left player, top right player, bottom left player, then bottom right player.)
• You may NOT Deploy on your Ally's Front Line, but you may Advance along it from your own Front Line.
• Victory Condition: 5 Units must be placed behind the opposing team's Front Line with at least one coming from each player. (For example, if Team Two gets 5 Units behind Team One's Front Line at least one of those Units must be from the blue player and one must be from the green player.)

Setup:

1. Choose your team colours Black and red or blue and green and take the corresponding 10 Units and 4 Command Cards for each player. Place the corresponding Alliance Card between the players, as shown. Each player takes a player reference card.
2. All players place their Command Cards in front of them face up, as shown. This is your Command Centre and contains your base actions.
3. Each player starts the game with 5 Units and 3 Credits in their Barracks.
4. Shuffle and place the Tactical Advantage deck near the board. Draw 3 cards and place them face up, as shown. Place the Cease Fire card face up underneath the Tactical Advantage deck.
5. Shuffle the Facility Tiles and deal 2 to each player (facedown). Each player chooses 1 card and places it next to the board, face up as shown. Set the remaining cards to the side, they will not be used in the game.
6. Randomly determine which team goes first.

Alliance Cards

Alliance Cards are additional actions that are shared between allies. Any Units or Credits gained by these actions go into your Ally's Barracks, not your own.

Deploy behind Ally - allows you to Deploy Infantry Units behind your Ally's Units for the additional cost of 1 Credit.

Three to Four-Player Free-for-all SetUp

Rules Specific to 3 to 4-Player Free-For-All:

• All players start with 3 credits.
• Turn order proceeds clockwise.
• All players' Units are hostile to one another and engagements occur for any encounters between two players.
• Facility Tiles: when choosing Facility Tiles, each player chooses a card for the marker to their left. (For example, in the setup shown, the red player chooses for marker 3, the black player for marker 2, and the green player for marker 1)
• Advancing:
  • Units must always advance forward relative to their Front Line, and may only advance behind the Front Line opposite their Front Line.
  • Units may advance into any of the enemy zones, but may only be deployed in the centre and their own zone.
• Victory Condition: 4 Units behind the Front Line opposite to the player (For example, in the setup shown, the red player would have to get their Units behind the black player's Front Line and vice versa, while the green player would have to get their Units behind the Front Line opposite them, where there is no player.)

Note: The single space with a diagonal line between player zones counts as both of those players' zones.

3-Player Setup

• The triangle facility marker is used and the square facility markers are ignored.

1. Each player takes a Barracks, chooses their army colour, and takes the corresponding 10 Units and 4 Command Cards. Each player takes a player reference card.
2. Place one player in the bottom position, opposite the triangular Facility marker.
3. Follow steps 2-5 of the 2-player setup instructions.
4. The first player is the player who chose the triangular facility marker 3.

4-Player Setup

• The square facility markers are used and the triangle marker is ignored.

1. Follow steps 1-5 of the 2-player setup instructions.
2. Determine the first player randomly.

Page reference for more rules on: Zones: page 8; Facility Tiles: page 9; Engagements: page 10; Advancing: pages 10 and 12; Deploying: pages 11 and 12.

Game Elements

Game Board

The game board is double-sided and in two pieces.

1. Two-Player Board
2. Four-Player Teams Board
3. Three to Four-Player Free-For-All Board

Board features:

1. Enemy Zones: These areas are considered enemy zones to the player on the opposite side of the board. Players may never Deploy or Force Deploy into an enemy zone. (See page 11 for rules on Deploying)
2. Front Line: In most cases, the Front Line is where each player will deploy their Units.
3. Behind Front Lines: To win the game, a player must get 4 Units behind an opposing player's Front Line.
4. Facility Spaces: If a Unit is on one of these spaces, that player controls the corresponding Facility.
5. Facility Placement Markers: Facility Tiles are placed here. The numbers correspond with the Facility Spaces in the middle of the board.

(The board also has a Centre Zone.)

Units

In Dice Command your Units are represented by dice. The strength of the Unit depends on the type of Unit. There are 3 different kinds of Units:

• Light Infantry: A Unit with a top value of 1, 2, or 3 is considered Light Infantry.
• Heavy Infantry: A Unit with a top value of 4, 5, or 6 is considered Heavy Infantry.
• Armoured Division: If two Units of the same value are stacked, they represent an Armoured Division Unit.

Strength:

• Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry: the strength of the Unit is based on the top value.
• Armoured Division Unit: the strength is determined by adding the two top values together. For example: two 5's would have a strength of 10.

Barracks

Each player receives a dice rolling tray that will house their Units, Research Tokens, and Credits that they gain during the game.

Player Reference Cards

Player reference cards are handed out to all players to remind them of Turn Phase order and the basic rules on Deploying and Advancing.

Gameplay

Turn Phases

Each player's turn consists of 6 phases that you must resolve in order before passing your turn to the next player:

1. Prepare
2. Roll
3. Assign
4. Resolve
5. Advance
6. Refresh

1. Prepare

If you control any Facilities or Command Cards with Start-of-Turn effects, resolve them now.

For example: The upgraded side of the Command Card "Research and Development" has a start-of-turn effect that would be resolved in this phase.

2. Roll

Roll all available Units in your Barracks. Roll these! Not the Units in your Reserve.

3. Assign

Place Units, Credits, and Research Tokens from your Barracks onto actions you wish to take during your turn using your Command Cards (see page 11), the current available Tactical Advantage Cards, or Facilities you currently control.

If the action has a specific requirement - such as a specific dice roll or number of credits - follow these requirements.

4. Resolve

In any order, resolve each assigned action as it is written.

For rules on the Upgrade, Deploy, Advance, Conscript, Finance, and Research actions, see the Command Centre section starting on Page 11.

Unless otherwise specified, assigned Units return to the Barracks. Assigned Credits and Research Tokens are spent and returned to the supply.

5. Advance

All Units currently deployed, even those deployed this turn, may take a free Advance action.

6. Refresh

• Discard any Tactical Advantage Cards that were used during your turn.
• Draw new Tactical Advantage Cards into the face-up Tactical Advantage Card area, shifting older cards away from the draw pile.

If no Tactical Advantage Cards were used this turn, one new card is drawn and the right-most Tactical Advantage Card is discarded.

Example - If the middle card was used:

1. Move the card that was used to the discard pile
2. Move the card to its left into the empty space
3. Draw a new card to fill the left space

Tactical Advantage Cards

• Research icon: indicates that you may instead gain a Research Token from the supply rather than using the action on the card. You must still spend any resources that the card requires.
• Cost: each card will have a specific resource requirement to use the card. For example: Precision Airstrike requires you assign an even die (a value of 2, 4, or 6) and 1 Credit. If the requirements are fully satisfied, then during the Resolve Phase of your turn return the assigned Unit to your Barracks and return the Credit to the supply. You may then use the ability on the card OR gain a Research Token from the supply.
• The chevron icon indicates "lower than or equal to" or "higher than or equal to".

Facilities

Facility Tiles either have a start-of-turn effect, a passive effect, or can be used as actions.

• Start-of-turn effects (ex. Bell Tower) happen immediately during the Prepare Phase of your turn.
• Passive effects (ex. Field Hospital) happen when the condition on the card is met.
• Actions (ex. Research Facility) may be taken using Facility Tiles during the Assign Phase of your turn. Follow the specific requirements on the card to use it.

Rules of Engagement

Advancing

Advancing allows you to move your Units forward on the battlefield.

• Light Infantry: may Advance up to two spaces, straight or diagonally.
• Heavy Infantry: may Advance up to one space, straight or diagonally.
• Armoured Division Units: may Advance up to one space, straight or diagonally.

Note: If the movement's first space results in Engagement, the Unit stops and does not continue to its second space of movement.

Advancing Behind Front Lines

A Unit may Advance behind your opponent's Front Line, into an open space, as they would any other space. If 4 or more of your Units make it behind an enemy's Front Line, you win the game.

Notes:

• Once a Unit is behind an enemy's Front Line it cannot be removed and no longer counts towards Deploy restrictions.
• Armoured Division Units remain stacked and count as 2 Units towards the Victory condition.

Engagement

When a Unit advances into an occupied enemy Unit's space, they engage in combat.

Resolving an Engagement

The participating Units deal their strength in damage to one another. Typically, this will mean the larger value Unit wins, but is reduced by the value of the smaller value Unit. Units with equal values are both destroyed.

The exception to this rule is Armoured Division Units engaging with Light Infantry Units. Light Infantry do not affect Armoured Division Units and are destroyed without damaging the Armoured Division Unit.

If an Armoured Division Unit takes damage, it must resolve the damage against its top die value first. If the top die is fully expended, the die is removed and the remaining damage is removed from the bottom die.

Destroyed Units are returned to their player's Reserve.

Note: A Unit's type is always equal to its current value, not any previous value it once had.

Command Centre and Actions

The Command Centre is where you find your core actions on your Command Cards. The Command Cards are Headquarters, Financing, Conscription, and Research and Development and the core actions are Upgrade, Deploy, Advance, Conscript, Finance, and Research.

Upgrade

Upgrading allows you to improve or gain actions and abilities on a Command Card for the rest of the game.

Assigning an Upgrade Action: Assign the required number of Research Tokens to the Upgrade assignment space on a Command Card.

Note: Most Command Cards require just one Research Token to upgrade, but the Command Card "Research and Development" requires five.

Resolving an Upgrade Action: At the end of the Resolve Phase of your turn - once all other actions have been resolved - spend the assigned Research Token(s) and return it to the supply. Flip the Command Card to its upgraded side.

Notes:

• You may use the non-upgraded side's actions on the same turn you plan on upgrading your Command Card.
• You may NOT use the upgraded side of a Command Card on the turn that you upgrade it.

Reading a Command Card

1. Name of the Command Card
2. Description of the action(s)
3. The action or resource that is gained
4. Assignment space (indicates a Unit must be assigned and indicates a Credit must be assigned)
5. Upgrade assignment space
6. Icon to indicate upgraded side
7. Upgraded side's Special Ability

Headquarters

The Headquarters Command Card allows you to do the Deploy and Advance actions.

Deploy

Deploying allows you to send your Units out onto the battlefield.

Rules for Deploying:

• You may never Deploy into an enemy zone.
• You cannot Deploy a Unit whose face value is the same as one of your Units already present on the battlefield. Armoured Division Units count as their top Unit's value - NOT their total - for this restriction.

For example: This player is deploying an Armoured Division Unit with two 6's. Its strength is 12 when engaging in combat but its Unit value is still considered 6 because the top value is a 6.

Assigning a Deploy Action: During the Assign Phase, assign the Unit(s) you want to deploy to a Deploy assignment space. The value of the Unit assigned represents the type of Unit it will be on the battlefield.

Note: To deploy an Armoured Division Unit, you must assign two Units of the same value stacked together on one Deploy assignment space.

Resolving a Deploy Action: During the Resolve Phase of your turn, take the Unit(s) assigned to this assignment space and place it on an empty space on your Front Line.

Note: When deploying an Infantry Unit, you may instead choose to place it on an open space behind any other one of your Units on the field.

For example: This player is deploying a Light Infantry with a top value of 3 behind an Infantry Unit already on the battlefield and an Armoured Division with a top value of 6 - and a strength of 12 - which must be deployed to the Front Lines.

Advance

Assigning an Advance Action: Assign any value of Unit from your Barracks to an Advance assignment space.

Resolving an Advance Action: Return the assigned Unit back to your Barracks and choose a Unit on the battlefield you wish to Advance. Move the Unit according to the Unit type's movement restrictions.

Note: Units cannot Advance sideways or backwards unless otherwise indicated. The exception to this rule is when a Unit you control is on your Front Line. It may then move sideways.

Headquarters: Upgraded

Special Ability: Sabotage an enemy Unit or Credit assignment space.

Assign: Assign 2 Credits to the assignment space.

Resolve: Return the Credits to the supply. Take a Sabotage token from the supply and place it on any Unit or Credit assignment space in an enemy's Command Centre.

Sabotage

If an assignment space has a Sabotage token, it may not be assigned to. To remove a Sabotage token, you may assign a Unit to the token. The Sabotage token will then be removed during the Resolve Phase.

For example: This player's Advance assignment space has been sabotaged; therefore, they will not be able to assign to that space as usual. They may assign a Unit to the token, then during the Resolve Phase of their turn, the token is removed and the Unit is returned to their Barracks.

Force Deploy

If an action or ability tells you to "Force Deploy" a Unit, it means you may ignore the Unit values already deployed on the battlefield, allowing you to Deploy a Unit that may have the same value as another Unit you already own on the field.

For example: Morale Boost allows you to Deploy a Unit with a top value of 5, even if you already have a 5 deployed on the battlefield.

Note: Force Deploy does not allow you to Deploy into an enemy zone.

Conscription

Conscripting allows you to gain additional Units into your Barracks from your Reserve.

Assigning a Conscript Action: Assign 1 or more Credit to a Conscription assignment space.

On the non-upgraded side of Conscription, the first Unit requires 1 Credit and a second Unit requires 2 more Credits.

Resolving a Conscript Action: Return the spent Credit(s) back to the supply. Take a Unit from your Reserve and place it in your Barracks.

Conscription: Upgraded

On the upgraded side of Conscription, the first three Units require 1 Credit each and the fourth Unit requires 2 Credits.

Special Ability: Force Deploy a Unit with a value of 1 from your Reserve.

Assign: Assign a Unit of any value from your Barracks to the assignment space.

Resolve: Return the Unit to your Barracks and take a Unit from your Reserve, making it a 1, then Force Deploy it onto the battlefield.

Financing

Financing allows you to gain additional Credits by assigning 1 or more Units.

Assigning a Finance Action: Assign any value of Unit(s) to a Financing assignment space.

On the non-upgraded side of Financing, the first Credit requires 1 Unit and a second Credit requires 2 more Units.

Resolving a Finance Action: Return the assigned Unit(s) back to your Barracks and gain a Credit from the Supply.

Financing: Upgraded

On the upgraded side of Financing, the first two Credits require 1 Unit each and the third Credit requires a Unit with a value of 3 or higher. The fourth space requires a Unit with a value of 6 be assigned and gives you 2 more Credits.

Special Ability: Start-of-Turn effect - If you have 4 or more Credits in your Barracks, gain 1 Credit from the Supply and put it in your Barracks. This is resolved during the Prepare Phase of your turn.

Research and Development

Research

Researching allows you to obtain Research Tokens in order to Upgrade your Command Cards.

Assigning a Research Action: Assign two Units of any value to the Research assignment space.

Resolving a Research Action: Return both assigned Units back to your Barracks and gain a Research Token from the supply.

Research and Development: Upgraded

The base action on the upgraded side of Research and Development works the same as the non-upgraded side: Assign 2 Units for 1 Research Token.

Special Ability: Start-of-Turn effect - You may exchange 1 Research Token for 1 Unit or 2 Credits. This is resolved during the Prepare Phase of your turn.

Atomic Warfare

After upgrading Research and Development the ability "Atomic Warfare" is also activated. Place the 5 Research Tokens back in the supply and then place two Units from your Reserve behind the opposing players Front Line, counting towards the Victory condition. Then, Upgrade Research and Development.

On the upgraded side of Research and Development, Atomic Warfare requires 3 Research Tokens for another 2 Units from your Reserve to be placed behind your opposing player's Front Line.

Additional Game Elements and Rules

Mines

Some effects, like the Mine Field Tactical Advantage Card, may allow you to place Mine tokens on the battlefield. When placing Mines, they must go on open spaces that are not currently occupied by another Mine or Unit.

Spaces with Mines can be advanced or deployed on to. If either of these occur, resolve the Mine against that Unit.

Resolving a Mine: Whenever a Unit occupies the same space as a Mine, that Unit immediately takes a D6 of damage. (The value of the Unit is reduced by the amount rolled.)

Emergency Relief

If at the start of your turn you have no Units in your Barracks, you may call for Emergency Relief. If you do, immediately conscript 1 Unit and gain 3 Credits but skip your Assign phase this turn.

How to Win

The game ends when one player has 4 (or 5 in the 4 player Teams variant) Units behind the enemy's Front Line.

Cease Fire

The Cease Fire card is the bottom card of the Tactical Advantage deck and ends the game once revealed (if no player has gotten 4 Units behind the opposing player's Front Line.)

Once the Cease Fire card is revealed during the Refresh phase, play will immediately end at the start of the first player's next turn. For example, if the first player reveals the Cease Fire card, all other players will get one additional turn before the Cease Fire takes effect.

If no one has claimed victory when play ends, the winner will be determined by the following conditions, with any ties continuing to the next condition (Teams combine their values for each condition):

1. Most Units behind enemy Front Lines
2. Most Units in the Centre Zone
3. Most Research Tokens in their Barracks
4. Most Credits in their Barracks
5. The game is a Draw

Glossary

• Assigned Unit - An Assigned Unit is one of the Units assigned to a Tactical Advantage Card, Command Centre, or Facility to use the action.
• Assignment Space - A space for assigning a Unit, Credit, or Research Token in order to take the action during the Resolve phase.
• Beside - Refers to the 2 spaces to the left and right of a space relative to your forward direction.
• Controlling Unit - Refers to the Unit currently controlling a Facility.
• Enemy Zones - The area directly in front of all enemy players as marked on the board. A player may not Deploy or Force Deploy into an enemy zone. On the Free-For-All board, a space that is divided is shared and not considered an enemy zone to either player. See page 7 for more details.
• Force Deploy - A Deploy action that ignores the face value restriction for deploying a Unit. This does not allow for deployment in enemy zones. See page 12 for more details.
• Increasing a Unit's Value - If an effect would increase a Unit's value, the Unit's top die is increased up to a 6. An Infantry Unit cannot become an Armoured Division this way. An Armoured Division's bottom die is not affected.
• Participating Unit - Refers to one of the two Units in an engagement.
• Sabotage - A Sabotage action allows the player to place a Sabotage Token on a Unit or Credit assignment space in an enemy Command Centre. For more details, see page 12.
• Surrounding - Refers to the 8 spaces surrounding a unit, both diagonally and orthogonally.