Been one of the playtesters of this one. Nothing like the track laying of 18xx at all.
As a heavy Euro, I do like it though. I’m biased, of course.
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From my one solo of 18DO for rules learning purposes I have to agree that it doesn‘t seem to be the complicated part. But still it is a good tile laying and maybe that is just the reference here. I am also intrigued by having Mancala style pilgrim distribution as Five Tribes is sorely out of print over here…
The images on BGG look very very prototype „re: Art“ though but I am hoping that until this is actually printed some more work will be done.
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I have avoided Five Tribes because I am 100% positive that the Mancala movement would induce relationship-altering levels of analysis paralysis. There are things (many spatial things, even) that my brain is very good at. But there are things that my brain just cannot do. Forward planning in Mancala is not one of them.
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I understand, it is the reason my partner didn‘t want me to buy it back when we had tested it at SPIEL. I regret listening to him. This is one of those things where it comes in handy that I tend to think tactically more than strategically. Forward planning? Make the best of the situation at hand 
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The mancala is a shared one which is interesting. I only know Tao Long that does this. There’s area control on each action spot. If you have more meeples, you can do the full action. If you have parity, you do the half-action. If you have minority, you pay a coin, and do the half action. So it’s not super mean. But since the scale here is small, it can make a difference between getting 2 or 1 grain of wheat.
The random setup can determine the playstyle of the game - how the action spaces and buildings are distributed. Since everyone can use them even if you buy it. But they’ll pay you for using it. So the choice of which building to get is interesting.
I like it as it doesn’t feel like a Euro where you have multiple mini-games duct tape together.
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So is this the logical followup from Race for the Galaxy and Roll for the Galaxy (it is by Tom Lehmann)? It looks awesome in the pictures and someone in the household both loves dice and hates luck (it‘s not me so I have no explanation).
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I was pretty excited about this as well. I’ve always looked at the customizable dice as a gimmick, but I do trust that Lehmann would have an interesting take on it.
But then I saw:
Yeah, I don’t see how this is going to end up in my collection. If it’s any good, then it’ll likely consistently sell for $60 on the secondhand market, which is more than I’m generally willing to spend on used games unless they are regarded as phenomenal. With MSRP of $120, I’m not going to put it on my wishlist, for fear that one of my loved ones will pay full price for it.
And if it’s not any good and it hits the discount shelf… well… why would I bother?
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Wtf, I didn‘t see that price. Well at least that means that it won‘t sell out quickly??? Which in turn means there is time to see what others say and wait for reviews.
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I don’t really get it. Surely it’s cheaper to manufacture and distribute a game with those discs than one with handfuls of heavy, custom dice. They don’t even appear to be custom molded aside from the printing. At least to my eyes they appear to be identical to those Prototyping dice (themselves repurposed from an earlier game).
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I get the feeling they’ve thrown everything in this and cost be damned. There’s loads of faces that you don’t use in a game. Feels like a game and two expansions in one
Still you get to roll two (possibly three) whole dice a turn
From Tom Lehmann on BGG
Dice Realms has over 650 plastic die faces in 72 different types which have to pop in and out of 18 dice millions of times without wear. That’s very tight machining (think Lego), but without worldwide economies of scale to help bring the price down. The result is a list price roughly comparable to large Lego sets (MRSP over $100), where you have fewer pieces, but a game with tremendous variety: drawing 5 of 35 different tiles to determine what 5-9 special die face types are added to the 15 standard die face types available in every game, altering the strategies that players can pursue.
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I feel like the Cubitos approach would be better: instead of custom dice, you just have different colors of dice with different icons on 1 or 2 faces; the icons can mean different things to different players, if players could have different “builds” of cards in front of them that define what the faces do. In addition, this method would mean you could roll a handful of dice, rather than a couple.
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I’m definitely with you there, but in this case perhaps this is where Lehmann is applying his trademark restraint? You have this huge glut of options, but hone it all down to what sounds like 18 possible outcomes—more specifically, three chances at 6 possible outcomes. Start doubling or tripling up with a face on a die to hone your odds…
…jeez, you know aside from the price this is starting to sound like a delicious conceit for tight engine building. And it’s from a master of the mechanism.
Uh oh, anticipated.
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It’s published by Rio grande who I think make games in America so that adds cost.
At the very least they do something that means all their games feel more expensive than you’d think from the stuff.
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Beyond the Sun cough now costs something like 70€—I paid 55€ I think and thought that was a fair price for the materials and game. But 70 is steep even considering that it is my favorite game from last year.
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Beyond the Sun is impossible to get in the UK, but Zatu have a pre-order (the mythical Zatu pre-order that might be fulfilled… sometime) for only £61.87. Which is a lot less than the original £125.
Looks like Dice Realms will be joining my “anticipated” list next to Rococo Deluxe, in the section marked “Only if I see it for exactly half price”.
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In other news Cascadia will be on its way to me soon, and I got a geniune pre-order for Obsession which could actually happen in Sept-Oct or later. Also Honey Buzz, due in the UK nearer Christmas.
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Steve sees Dice Realms at 75% off and sadly passes it by. 
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Dice Realms seems to come out of the second Roll for the Galaxy expansion (Rivalry I think?). They used those constructable dice there and it was about 70€ MSRP - for an expansion to a game that was 60€ MSRP mind you! So that was already pretty eccentric. I guess Tom Lehman really got a thrill out of building those dice.
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Very much so, see forum post by Thomas Lehmann himself:
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Rattlebones!!! That was it!
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