Horrible secret unveiled: I don't have the attachment to dice that other gamers do. Sure, I have a cigar box overflowing with dice, and that doesn't include random dice I find between couch cushions, or the "official game" dice that I store in my miniatures totes for convention games I run. But outside of a set of jungle camo dice that i picked up right when Chessex started the flecked style, and a 100 sided Zodechahedron, I have little attachment to dice.
Except for my DBA dice.
I've mentioned Lehicon IV before, the greatest EVER! Nostalgia skews my memories, but from the moment I started organizing cons, Lehicon was the gold standard for scheduling a diverse selection of games that brought in gamers.
Another huge appeal of the con was the Dealer's Hall, of which a third to half of it seemed to be dominated by Crazy Egor's. I don't remember what I snagged at the con with the exceptions of a copy of Battlelords of the 23rd Century and two loose six-sided dice.
I have purchased additional dice like them over the last twenty years, so I don't know if those are really the original dice. But they do represent the greatest effort of futility in my gaming lifetime.
I grabbed "fresh" dice for the De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) Beginners tournament. DBA is a very basic set of rules covering ancient and medieval eras and is used in tournaments throughout the world.
During the four hour timeslot, we would learn the basic rules and then play the other nine players in a quick tournament on the multiple battlefields provided.
It was quick, it was nasty, and my dice failed me. Every. Single. Time.
I ultimately went 0-9 in the tournament, despite having superior tactics on my side for a number of the battles.
These dice have always stayed in my collection, and I can only assume the bad karma has brushed off of them, or they've absorbed some of the good karma from my other dice.
But if I've learned anything from that encounter, it's this: Never use virgin dice in a tournament setting. I've never done it since.
Except for my DBA dice.
I've mentioned Lehicon IV before, the greatest EVER! Nostalgia skews my memories, but from the moment I started organizing cons, Lehicon was the gold standard for scheduling a diverse selection of games that brought in gamers.
Another huge appeal of the con was the Dealer's Hall, of which a third to half of it seemed to be dominated by Crazy Egor's. I don't remember what I snagged at the con with the exceptions of a copy of Battlelords of the 23rd Century and two loose six-sided dice.
I have purchased additional dice like them over the last twenty years, so I don't know if those are really the original dice. But they do represent the greatest effort of futility in my gaming lifetime.
I grabbed "fresh" dice for the De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) Beginners tournament. DBA is a very basic set of rules covering ancient and medieval eras and is used in tournaments throughout the world.
During the four hour timeslot, we would learn the basic rules and then play the other nine players in a quick tournament on the multiple battlefields provided.
It was quick, it was nasty, and my dice failed me. Every. Single. Time.
I ultimately went 0-9 in the tournament, despite having superior tactics on my side for a number of the battles.
These dice have always stayed in my collection, and I can only assume the bad karma has brushed off of them, or they've absorbed some of the good karma from my other dice.
But if I've learned anything from that encounter, it's this: Never use virgin dice in a tournament setting. I've never done it since.
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