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I’ve had enough of my dice folks. I’m using little blue GW dice from 10+ years ago that came in a clear plastic box, and the black 30th anniversary dice with the skull for a 6, and they have both cost me nearly every game of AoS I’ve played over the past year. I’ve been keeping track of them and they roll a 1 over 33% of the time. That’s...insane. I would have thought that by the law of averages that would be impossible.

Last night for example, I went two whole turns without harming anything on account of the dice. Models that by all rights should have been dead survived to wreck house. When you’re making more than a dozen Attacks that hit on 3s with re-rolls on 1, and you pretty much roll nothing but 2s and 1s...followed by more 1s on separate dice, then tactics don’t matter.

Incidentally, the one game I recently played without them, I very nearly won. I put that loss down to Riperdactyals being lethal.

I’m not looking for weighted cheat dice or anything like that. I’m just looking for dice that, roll average. Dice that roll numbers besides 1 and 2. Anyone got any suggestions? Because this is seriously sapping all of my enjoyment for the game, knowing that you’ve lost after turn 1 on account of nothing at all working.

 Future War Cultist wrote:
I’ve been keeping track of them and they roll a 1 over 33% of the time. That’s...insane. I would have thought that by the law of averages that would be impossible.

The way they create dice with rounded corners is that they generally create perfect cubes and then throw them into a tumbler for a few days. Rounded corners make the dice more pleasant, but they aren't exactly precisely made and can result in dice that are not perfectly balanced. From what I understand, there's a way to check the balance of your dice by floating them in salt water.

Usually, it is a small preference over hundreds, if not thousands of rolls. Rolling a one 33% of the time seems kind of extreme to me though and you should absolutely replace your dice. Personally, I'd just try another set. I know there are dice manufacturers that advertise selling perfectly balanced dice, so you could try those. I don't think you have to though, and maybe just get a dice cube from Chessex or something.

While the rounded corner dice aren't perfect, they shouldn't anywhere near as far off as yours seem to be. Maybe there were errors in the manufacturing process that left them with some unfortunate internal air bubbles throwing the weight off or something.

If you want perfectly balanced dice, then square edged casino style dice are the way to go, but those tend to be bigger and more expensive, and I guess pointier on the corners! A new set of rounded corner dice won't be quite perfect, but they'll be close enough.

General dice rules from what I've gathered.

1) They're all off, but you're hoping for a balance within a set.

2) Transparent/clear dice are more likely to be balanced as the mixing of the plastics is more guaranteed (whereas opaque dice may have imperfections inside the dice you cannot see).

3) No commercial company makes particularly "good" dice, though Chessex and Koplow are probably the two larger names.

4) Backgammon professional dice or casino dice are supposed to be quite good, but can be outrageously expensive --- particularly for games the scale of AoS.

5) Waiting 10 years to replace dice was a bad decision.

I used to live in Las Vegas. There's a place called the Gambler's General Store at the north end of the strip, right before Freemont Street. They sell the same dice casinos use, they come in a set in a little box. Circa 2008, it was $8 for 20.

I don't like using them in games, mostly because of the size. Try rolling all 20, you can't fit them in your hand. Sure, they may be perfectly weighted, but there's something to be said about convenience as well.

I've been playing with a set of steel dice I got from a roadside store in Pennsylvania. They are about half the size of casino dice and one of the things I like about them is the weight. They tend to come to a landing faster than other dice. With the square corners, I don't think there's a chance they could favor any particular number.

I bought a bag of 50 12mm dice on ebay for £8 or so

If you're interested, you can read an article HERE about precision dice and why they feel casino dice are not appropriate for wargaming.

On Saturday, I used the ''Warhammer 40k: Astartes dice'' for the first time.
Man, these dice got hot. I rolled very well and my opponent and the other guys watching already knew that these dice are great (if used for the first time).
Indeed, after 4 rounds, my Eldar almost tabled a Deathwatch army at the 2000 pt level.
Eventually, I feel bad to use them for a second time.

 wuestenfux wrote:
On Saturday, I used the ''Warhammer 40k: Astartes dice'' for the first time.
...., after 4 rounds, my Eldar almost tabled a Deathwatch army.....
Eventually, I feel bad to use them for a second time.

You should feel bad, using shiny Astartes dice with Eldar

 Skinnereal wrote:

 wuestenfux wrote:
On Saturday, I used the ''Warhammer 40k: Astartes dice'' for the first time.
...., after 4 rounds, my Eldar almost tabled a Deathwatch army.....
Eventually, I feel bad to use them for a second time.

You should feel bad, using shiny Astartes dice with Eldar

You're right.
Before the game I thought to buy a second box of these dice. A box contains 20 dice. But 20 dice were enough for parallel rolling since my army only had MSU units and Serpents.

There is a definite confirmation bias we all have with dice. They are likely not rolling as bad as you think they might be. The only real way to know is to roll each one 1000 times and tally the results.

That said if you feel you must have precision dice, look for backgammon dice. DO NOT use casino dice. They do NOT roll well on gaming tables and are only "fair" if they bounce off of something as they do on a craps table.

As far as brands, I tend to prefer Chessex over GW’s dice.

However, if you feel you are having issues with your current dice and decide to buy more to replace them, I’d stay away from factory seconds or “bag o’ dice” deals (which are often factory seconds).

Cheesex 12 dice boxes are perfect dice. Every set I have rolls well. Meaning they roll average. GW dice are crap and seem skewed.

Well, I used to take casino dice. But they have sharp edges so that neither at GW nor in my gaming club I'm allowed to play with them. The mats could get damaged.

There's a GW-sanctioned dice-rolling app out there I've been meaning to buy.

 Xenomancers wrote:
Cheesex 12 dice boxes are perfect dice. Every set I have rolls well. Meaning they roll average. GW dice are crap and seem skewed.

You can also get Chessex to put sweet logos on your dice for pretty cheap...though only in the larger 16mm size (I prefer bigger dice anywho). It is worth noting that numerous tests have shown that Chessex 12mm (small) dice have also been heavily skewed in certain sets. I haven't seen sets checked in 16mm, but mine seem to be pretty average across a set of 30.

I just wanted to throw my dice into this. I've been playing battletech for the last year and a half. My dice generally do horrible in the beginning (so I play more cautious so my dice don't cost me much), then after my teammates are mostly beaten up and its desperate... then my dice pull through.

Same dice... played my first game of 40k since 5th edition the other week.... I've never seen so many 5's and 6's in my life.

Used the same dice in 5th edition... square corners... brand new... a lot of ones...

So maybe... you need to age your dice... like wine, gets better with age :-)

So I still have my original dice from 2000 when Tau were brand new. I should never have tried to replace them with better balanced dice, I can't tell you how many sets I've bought and not seen any better results.

BTW Dakka Dice... I played with Jon Regal's dice once in a tournament... those are some lucky dice... get those.

Great responses, thanks guys.

I just downloaded the dice rolling app. It seems to be OK. But per your suggestions I'll probably get some Chessex dice. Or maybe Dakka dice. Precision only though. Because I'm 99% certain that mine are flawed, with extra weight on the 6 side. It's the only explanation!

Also, whilst my dice are crap, my opponents are often great. They can be counted on to roll 6s when it really matters, like when making a save roll against skycannons.

 Nurglitch wrote:
There's a GW-sanctioned dice-rolling app out there I've been meaning to buy.

What's the name and link to it?

 Elbows wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:
Cheesex 12 dice boxes are perfect dice. Every set I have rolls well. Meaning they roll average. GW dice are crap and seem skewed.

You can also get Chessex to put sweet logos on your dice for pretty cheap...though only in the larger 16mm size (I prefer bigger dice anywho). It is worth noting that numerous tests have shown that Chessex 12mm (small) dice have also been heavily skewed in certain sets. I haven't seen sets checked in 16mm, but mine seem to be pretty average across a set of 30.

Small dice seem to be pretty bad in general. Small dice are much more affected by a small imperfection - plus they are harder to read. 16mm all the way.

Yessir!

My standard purchase is 30 dice, 20 in one colour set, and 10 in an opposing colour set --- with logos on the '6' face. Comes to about $32-33 shipped for the dice which is very reasonable to me for custom dice. I try to get dice to match my armies when possible, though sometimes I need to bend on the colours a bit. I also have a new "generic" set with a more generic icon coming in for games of Necromunda or Kill Team, or Adeptus Titanicus, etc.

I don't play that much lately, but I just bought a couple 12-die blocks of 16mm Chessex dice - $7 each.

These supplement the 16mm dice I've gotten from various board games, along with a couple 5-die sets that I got with poker chips.

I'd recommend the 16mm Chessex translucent dice, with a high contrast design.

Chessex custom dice are definitely the way to go if you play a lot! If I had spent $50 on custom Chessex dice a decade ago, I'd be so set right now.

I like GameScience precision dice, but getting d6s in bulk may be tricky. Koplow dice will serve you well too. I do not know how available they are in the UK.

Get translucent/transparent dice, so that you can see if the die has air bubbles in it. These can affect how the dice rolls, or so I'm told. It may well be that some of your current dice have big air bubbles in them. Take a saw to a few of them and see.

If you want to have a bit of fun, there are 12 sided dice available which are marked 1-6 twice. Very distinctive. Ah, lke these https://doublesix-dice.myshopify.com/

I currently use the GW Adeptus Custodes dice, but I'm not 100% happy with them as they don't roll very well so I'm going to invest in some rounded edge ones.

I'm going to get ones from here https://www.thediceshoponline.com

My latest set of custom dice arrived!



Instead of being tied to an army, this one is intended for generic sci-fi or 40K themed games. Necromunda, Adeptus Titanicus, Kill Team, etc. Anything that doesn't gel with my army-specific dice. Also they'll serve as the loaner house dice if someone forgets! Again, around $30 shipped (a bit less this time since I ordered two custom sets - one for a friend).

The translucent dice with white pips look great!

Yeah, wanted to try translucent...and the two colours are some of the more "dark" translucent where the pips show up quite eaisly. Pretty pleased with them!

I've gotten several Chessex dice 36 count bricks over the years, and I've been happy with them. However, in my maddened state recently, I've decided I want to try to nab the dice from the newest AOS and 40K boxed sets. At least 36 dice of each kind. Don't ask me why, I guess I just really like the looks of them. I'm going to have to either look around for people here who will let them go on the cheap, or hope against hope I can find some gamers locally that'll just give them away.

The dice from the Dark Imperium boxed set are pretty reasonably available on ebay. Some are crazy priced but there are several pretty decent dice lots that are about not too far off with chessex sets.

Yep, they were all over eBay for a while - probably still are. They're a really nice size at 14mm - falling between the 16mm, and 12mm of Chessex and other companies (because..well, because GW of course!).