Designed by David Turczi ([Redacted], Anachrony), Dice Settlers combines “4X” style gameplay with dice-pool-building and resource management mechanics. Each player has their own pool of dice, drawn from a supply of 51 custom dice, held in a bag. On their turn, they draw and roll dice from their bag, which determines what actions they may take. Dice actions can be used to expand the modular tile game board, research new technologies to improve their culture, establish settlements on the board, or even attack other players. Dice also allow players to produce four different resources, which can be spent to research technologies or traded for victory points.
Dice Settlers features artwork by Macedonian artist Mihajlo Dimitrievski (Raiders of the North Sea, Valeria: Card Kingdoms). In addition to the 51 custom-printed 14mm dice (which will be treated with clear varnish to protect the full-color printing), the game comes with 20 wooden houses, 100 wooden cubes, 45 cards, 40 hexagonal board tiles, 98 tokens, and 4 cloth bags. It is intended for 2 to 4 players, ages 14 and up, and takes a little more than an hour to play. MSRP is $60.00.NSKN is funding the production of Dice Settlers with a Kickstarter campaign that has attracted $72,951 from 994 backers so far (an average of $73.39 per backer), with 20 days remaining. Backer fulfillment is planned for early October, with general release into the trade to follow.
The company recently released a dice drafting game called Dragonsgate College (see “Train Dungeon Crawlers in ‘Dragonsgate College’”).