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I'm just reaching out to see if there are other people that have absolutely abysmal luck when it comes to rolling dice? I have many stories on how I've absolutely botched my rolls. I get steam rolled quite a bit, and for the most part it's because I have HORRIBLE dice rolls. The entire game I might get ONE lucky shot off. The rest of the time I'm collecting 1's and 2's. I had a game where I fired over 90 lasgun rounds from one troop and failed. to. get. a. single. 6 to wound. Happened in another game at 70 shots. 2 leman Russes failed to get a successful ordnance shot to hit. In fact, the only time I rolled high was when I try to get orders to go off or make leadership checks. It's gotten really bad, to the point where I start putting dice off to the side the second they roll a 1. And then bust it out when I need to roll low... and you know what.... I roll low and the system works. I know it's all statistical probability when it comes down to it, but after 7 brutal games I'm starting to turn to heresy to bless my dice. Or something.... man... my dice rolls are terrible.

Does anybody else have absolutely abysmal luck, or have stories on how the dice turned on you?

Back when Psykers were more reliable in 6th, despite my love for my Slaanesh Psykers good power rolls, he can never actually USE said powers.

It's like he was smart enough to get the good stuff, but stupid enough not to actually be able to use them.

Though you may want to check your dice, some dice are poorer quality in general and have issues with rolling well.

The brain has a tendency to remember the bad rolls better than the good ones. I remember many specific occasions where I have rolled 3 or even 4 ones with 3 or 4 dice respectively, but cannot remember any where I have rolled 3 or 4 sixes. I mean I remember that I have rolled sixes but have no idea what the outcome of those rolls were, when I can painfully remember what the ones caused.

But yeah, it often feels like having abysmal luck but it SHOULD even out in the long run, at least statistically. Anyway I'm about to lose my temper with chessex dice and have been thinking about getting proper casino dice or equivalent.

Statistically, my luck has evened out over the last 20 years or so. But I too, never remember the good stuff. Only the bad. One opponent in particular, I swear he was some voodoo priest or something and was using his bad juju on my minis. I have never beaten him. Not once. The closest game I've had with the guy came down to one roll. I had a squad of Marine bikes at just over half strength sitting on the objective I needed to win the game by 2 vp's. In a last ditch effort to dislodge them, he used his only unit in range. Grots. He picked up 12 die and rolled. 8 missed which meant he had 4 chances to wound one of my Bikers and force a save. He rolls the dice and gets one wound...

You can see where this is going right? That's right, my anything above 3 is a win roll ended up as a 1...this was the first game of 3rd edition we had played, and was after maybe 4 years of kicking my ass in 2nd..

 Weazel wrote:
The brain has a tendency to remember the bad rolls better than the good ones. I remember many specific occasions where I have rolled 3 or even 4 ones with 3 or 4 dice respectively, but cannot remember any where I have rolled 3 or 4 sixes. I mean I remember that I have rolled sixes but have no idea what the outcome of those rolls were, when I can painfully remember what the ones caused.

But yeah, it often feels like having abysmal luck but it SHOULD even out in the long run, at least statistically. Anyway I'm about to lose my temper with chessex dice and have been thinking about getting proper casino dice or equivalent.

The casino dice are horrible unless you have a padded rolling tray, I can't recommend those.

My friend has these:
https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice/7762/LTD-EDITION-GameScience-Precision-Blue-Opal-Gold-Ink-12-x-D6-Dice-Set
They are costly but he loves them. He uses a small homemade wooden tray, stuffed with soft mouse padding material to roll them on and he loves them.

 Weazel wrote:
The brain has a tendency to remember the bad rolls better than the good ones. I remember many specific occasions where I have rolled 3 or even 4 ones with 3 or 4 dice respectively, but cannot remember any where I have rolled 3 or 4 sixes. I mean I remember that I have rolled sixes but have no idea what the outcome of those rolls were, when I can painfully remember what the ones caused.

But yeah, it often feels like having abysmal luck but it SHOULD even out in the long run, at least statistically. Anyway I'm about to lose my temper with chessex dice and have been thinking about getting proper casino dice or equivalent.

I was looking into getting some more-fair dice a couple of years ago, after reading about how GW and Chessex dice like to roll 1s more often than they should, in that article by that professor who had the time and students and resources to do over 36,000 dice rolls and record each and every result. The guy at the store I went to pointed out that Warhammer 40,000 isn't a balanced enough game to justify spending more money on fair dice.

And it really should balance out. Sure, you'll fail more to-hit and to-wound rolls than you should, but the opponent will also fail more armor saves than they should. And you'll pass leadership and characteristic tests more often.

My d6s do OK by me. My scatter die is a little cube of hate though. It can go die somewhere. All of them, they are in it together.

Sometimes I think the only reason I am winning is because of the dice.

The first time I failed a charge recently, I was in front of a flamer heavy Imperial Guard and plasma heavy Dark Angels...I had planned to eat the charge with my large blob of gribblies and tie them down and push them in assault with my others sitting just behind. That did not happen. Many termagants died that morning, and shall not be forgotten.

You aren't throwing your termagants away to eat bullets and deplete ammunition? DOING IT WRONG!

I've been rolling a lot of d8's lately, they're all over the board both good and bad. I've had reasonable luck with d6's over the years but some spectacular fails too. One of my principle opponents of yesteryear just could not fail saves with his space wolves... I had maybe 20-30 gaunt-caused wounds and he passed every single save.. nonsense!

 GrimDork wrote:
You aren't throwing your termagants away to eat bullets and deplete ammunition? DOING IT WRONG!

I've been rolling a lot of d8's lately, they're all over the board both good and bad. I've had reasonable luck with d6's over the years but some spectacular fails too. One of my principle opponents of yesteryear just could not fail saves with his space wolves... I had maybe 20-30 gaunt-caused wounds and he passed every single save.. nonsense!

Excuse me, that is my primary strategy. The problem is when you roll a 3 when you need a 4 to make it into assault, and so your unit gets fried by quite a few flamers in a platoon and overwatch, causing the 2 units of termagants behind the survivors to be unable to charge without needing roughly a 10+ to get around the surviving blob and your turn ends. Then ensue FRFSRF and flamers and plasma cannons and death and destruction and extreme prejudice against the sweetest and most adorable force known to the galaxy.

Sorry the was meant to invalidate my first sentence as a jest, perhaps I should have included a J/K as well. I was just implying that feeling bad for your gaunts/gants would lead you to heartache as they're basically ammunition

I haven't had a chance to play the new edition, or nids since 3rd, I'm sure the random charge distances is quite frustrating with them :(

Termagants are *kind of* cute, remind me of cows for some reason. Hormagaunts are all srs bidness, but the gants just look more laid back.

Games have been won and lost at the will of the dice gods.

There have been times when they have won me games by a landslide (against a Shadowsword, with the big D blast, it killed a single cultist in the entire game, it scattered like a boss every single time) and using the same dice, I perfectly deepstriked 7 units in a game, not one of them moved. I was even able to land right between two enemy units perfectly.

Only when I field terminators. My Daemons will pass ++5 saves all day every day, but my terminators.... 11 wounds, 5 failed +2 saves.

This is why I have over 70 dice. If a certain type isn't working for me, it can sit in a corner and think about what it's done. And if all my dice are cruel, then I have six casino dice for emergencies. It doesn't actually help anything but meh, makes me feel better.

If you believe that your subconscious mind which can handle running on eneven ground is incapable of influencing dice rolls on a standardized surface, you are underestimating it a whole lot.

Now, for those things that our subconscious can influence, the signal seems to be mostly based on how we feel.

If you're afraid of rolling bad and/or expect bad dice rolls, your brain will attempt to make it happen.

If you're feeling unstoppable and expect great rolls, your brain will attempt to make it happen.

A perfectly calibrated robot can roll only sixes if rolling on the same surface with the same dice every time.

The human brain can also do that but it takes a lot of training and conditioning to educate and guide your subconscious mind, which is the only part of your brain that has access to all the raw sensor data and statistics.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In short, if you roll bad all the time, you are stuck in a loop of bad thoughts creating bad rolls causing more anticipation of bad rolls etc.

You need to change your beliefs and habits to expect and believe in your own success.

Try to start your game with a strong feeling of kickass / invincible / unstoppable. Music can help a lot.

Last time I did that, I was roling 90% sixes for like 30 dice - until the feeling faded. Unfortunately, invisibility and fortune are both on number 5.

I feel that 7th has a few too many luck-dependant rolls.

Really, I think the game was a lot better before snapshots. It just seems like a poor mechanic - since it boils down more to gambling than any actual strategy.

That said, most of the games I've lost (well, the ones using proper objectives anyway) I'd put down to tactics rather than rolls. Even if I didn't roll brilliantly, I can usually trace it back to tactical errors on my part, rather than just bad dice. Rather amusingly, one of my more common mistakes is being a bit too aggressive with my IG, and accidentally ending up in a unit's charge range.

I'm statistically unusual; I'm obscenely unlucky, and I've done fairly exhaustive testing using some of my stats programs I have to to endure as part of my degree.

Events which only have a 1.27% chance of occurring (my named Contemptor dreadnought with a plasma killing himself in 3 shots, for instance), occur quite regularly for me. In fact, people give me new dice cubes in an effort to improve my rolling. I've stopped accepting them as I just don't need that many dice; they aren't the problem, my nega-luck field is. If I need to roll low, I roll high, if I need to roll high, I roll low. In fact, when playing a D20 Future game back in the day, the GM and the other players made a song about me, Captain Unconscious as I became known.

That being said, my scatter die is made of pure amazeballs; I almost always direct hit (though if I scatter it's 11 or 12 inches, and if twin linked, I'll always roll a higher scatter on the re-roll)

My dice behave in a manner broadly in line with statistical expectations.....and I expect yours do as well.

I suggest two things;

First, keep in mind that even games traditionally seen as games of chance seems to be won by the same people - backgammon and poker are prime examples.
These people aren't "lucky". They know the game well enough to stack the odds in their favour, make informed decisions based on math and statistics and only take chances when the potential gain heavily out-weighs the potential losses.

Second, run a few tests.
Nothing is as sobering as getting the actual objective numbers as opposed to the ones your conciousness allows to to really notice and remember.
Just record something simple, like successes and failures beyond the expected.
When Marines fire 10 Boltgun shots you expect 6-7 hits (with 7 being slightly more likely). Record whether you fail to meet or exceed that expectation.
This can be as simple as having a notepad next to you or something slightly more fun, like having two coffee-mugs (one with a green slip of paper and one with a red one) that you throw extra dice into as you record your results.
Then count them up at the end of the game.

I've never once passed Cypher's special 4++ on 3D6 save...
my local GW even banned me from ever using Cypher again, whether in a mega battle or whatever game, as it was unfair to subject my opponent's to that much pain & hilarity as their sides were constantly splitting from fits of laughter.

I also don't know why I continue to insist on allying in Chaos Marines or occasionally taking my old Salamander army out for a spin either...
My power armour save percentage is about as amazing as the Maple Leafs play-off record from the past 15 years...

Now my invulns for my Daemons?! I've had more than 1 person ask to check my dice for tampering due to how many saves those buggers make.



Chessex dice. Likely forged by Tzeentch himself, and highly prone to mood swings and general screwing with the laws of probability!

I have felt like this a lot more times than I can count and get the "Dude, you played well and your tactics were spot on but, your rolls just sucked" and that is the story of my life really. Although, my dice have been quite nice lately. Usually, if my units die, it is when I am deep striking and they mishap in some way. My dice know and always give me a one.

I think we've all seen or had games where a near perfect strategy was in process of being flawlessly executed when the fickle dice gods abandoned hope.

Honestly, I still count those as good games. In real life we often have the Perfect Plan which fails due to Circumstances Beyond our Control. Having a bad dice day is about as close as we can get to mimicking that.

Damned chessex. That's what I use! Bought 2 things of red and green dice. And they're working for Chaos I swear it! I was thinking of just buying a huge block of 100 white dice. But I was worried they would be a little too big for Wargaming. Is 16 mm too big do you think? And then subjecting them to possible heretical acts of superstition to gain a boon with them? For example, they'd be for my Space Wolves. So I'd wrap them up and put them on my speaker and blast wolf howls until they've all been vibrated and injected with the spirit of Fenrir... or is that overboard? I can name the three times in about nine battles where I actually rolled effectively. One was to wipe out my friend's plague drones with 2 volleys from Pask, I denied the witch on a +6 with a single dice, and I overwatched with 2 plasma guns on 2 guardsmen to kill my friends Venerable dread and blew it up. The explosion killed one of the guards though. On the other end of the spectrum, in that same game I rolled 4 plasmas and got 3 gets hot and those 3 died.

I usually have awful rolling. But I remember a game where my rolls kept me in the game after making a horrible mistake.

I was playing DE vs Eldar. Friendly game with my roommate. I was assault heavy with Grots and Wracks. He had rangers everywhere and a bunch of Guardians behind an aegis. Well he knew the list and my strategy. So he infiltrated and unit of rangers in 1st turn assault territory. I was licking my chops to get it too. I sent most of my army right at him. Decimated that unit and was left in the middle of no-where. For 3 full turns, all those coven units took fire from his entire army. And he was rolling well. I rolled SOOOOO many 5+ on the FnP rolls and kept marching up the field to his aegis. I don't remember the result though. It was a fun game.

Here's a pro tip with dice. Especially d6s. Dont use chessex. Find some square edged dice. The rounding just wrecks the random roll reliability.

 Vigilant wrote:
Here's a pro tip with dice. Especially d6s. Dont use chessex. Find some square edged dice. The rounding just wrecks the random roll reliability.

Think I'm going to go ahead and just get a block of the squared dice. Worth a shot anyways.

 Vigilant wrote:
Here's a pro tip with dice. Especially d6s. Dont use chessex. Find some square edged dice. The rounding just wrecks the random roll reliability.

Any specific companies in mind?

 Envihon wrote:

 Vigilant wrote:
Here's a pro tip with dice. Especially d6s. Dont use chessex. Find some square edged dice. The rounding just wrecks the random roll reliability.

Any specific companies in mind?

I tried to get something with less rounded edges. Less things to throw off the curve.

 Envihon wrote:

 Vigilant wrote:
Here's a pro tip with dice. Especially d6s. Dont use chessex. Find some square edged dice. The rounding just wrecks the random roll reliability.

Any specific companies in mind?

Not sure if wiz dice still makes them true squared but I have used those for a good while.

morgoth wrote:
If you believe that your subconscious mind which can handle running on eneven ground is incapable of influencing dice rolls on a standardized surface, you are underestimating it a whole lot.

Now, for those things that our subconscious can influence, the signal seems to be mostly based on how we feel.

If you're afraid of rolling bad and/or expect bad dice rolls, your brain will attempt to make it happen.

If you're feeling unstoppable and expect great rolls, your brain will attempt to make it happen.

A perfectly calibrated robot can roll only sixes if rolling on the same surface with the same dice every time.

The human brain can also do that but it takes a lot of training and conditioning to educate and guide your subconscious mind, which is the only part of your brain that has access to all the raw sensor data and statistics.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
In short, if you roll bad all the time, you are stuck in a loop of bad thoughts creating bad rolls causing more anticipation of bad rolls etc.

You need to change your beliefs and habits to expect and believe in your own success.

Try to start your game with a strong feeling of kickass / invincible / unstoppable. Music can help a lot.

Last time I did that, I was roling 90% sixes for like 30 dice - until the feeling faded. Unfortunately, invisibility and fortune are both on number 5.

wtf is this buddhist monk ascendant martial dice arts crap lol


if you are losing all the time. its probably a mixture of bad dice and a badly balanced list, because good in either catergory can make up for a lack in the other often enough, at least every now and again your opponents will have an unlucky game of dice and even with below average dice a good list should be able to win here. I think you probably have just had bad luck, that being said it never hurts to re-evaluate your list, and there is some truth to what morgoth said in confidence, even if it doesnt affect the dice, if you are having even average luck if you are convinced a stream of 1's is around the corner of each dice roll you will likely make the wrong gameplay choices and play your army badly. Just man up, buy a new set of dice if its necessary, go in and kick some skulls


Automatically Appended Next Post:
when you re-evaluate your list btw don't let bad rolls misconstrue a unit for you, just look at the statistics and probabilities behind a unit and its value for points and all that. dont let past experiences be a negative influence, unless its relevant, say you took a unit for a role and realised later its not as good at doing it as you thought it would be due to an oversight of some nature