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Made in us
Frightnening Fiend of Slaanesh






I was looking at a recent thread about weird GW designs and dice, which made me realize I don’t have many dice! Only six sets of dnd dice when 40k uses D6, clearly not enough.

So, how many dice do you typically use for a game of 40k? I wanna know how many dice to get and if the meme about orks having a bucket of dice are real.

One day I will have something funny enough to be in a signature. 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

36 d6 (brick of small chessex dice)
A handful of d10s for wound counters
One big d6 as a turn counter.

I swapped 3 different color dice into my brick a while back for fast rolling, if I needed to pick out a plasma gun in a tac squad or similar situations.

There are times when a 10 man squad needs 3 attacks each, so I would not recommend going less then 30 dice. Some armies might need more, but probably not often, amd you can roll in batches.

Edit. You could probably make do with 20. But sometimes you need more then that. You can look at your army and think “what’s my max roll, and how often will it come up?”

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/05/28 22:12:29


   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Our group uses a standard 36 count, and we have extra sets for guests.

Of course, we play 2nd ed., so we also have lots of D&D dice rattling around for those oddball weapon damages and armor penetration rolls.

Want a better way to do fantasy/historical miniatures battles?  Try Conqueror: Fields of Victory.

Do you like Star Wars but find the prequels and sequels disappointing?  Man of Destiny is the book series for you.

My 2nd edition Warhammer 40k resource page. Check out my other stuff at https://www.ahlloyd.com 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Tzeentch's Fan Girl






Southern New Hampshire

 The_Pilot wrote:
I wanna know how many dice to get...


Dozens.

...and if the meme about orks having a bucket of dice are real.


Yeah, pretty much. Orks are the 40k proof of 'quantity over quality'.

She/Her

"There are no problems that cannot be solved with cannons." - Chief Engineer Boris Krauss of Nuln

Kid_Kyoto wrote:"Don't be a dick" and "This is a family wargame" are good rules of thumb.


DR:80S++G++M--B+IPwhfb01#+D+++A+++/fWD258R++T(D)DM+++
 
   
Made in us
Sword-Bearing Inquisitorial Crusader






Central Florida

5d6 came in the Space Marine game I bought today...

So... I have 5 dice total.

Something tells me I need more.

You Pays Your Money, and You Takes Your Chances.

Total Space Marine Models Owned: 09

 
   
Made in bd
Regular Dakkanaut






Sydney

I've just got one of the usual boxes of 36 - purple with a tinge of neon blue depending on the light, they can actually sometimes be a bit difficult to read but they're very pretty, and I feel like that's where a Slaanesh player's priorities ought to be.

Those aside I use counters for nostalgia's sake - command points from Space Hulk, wound tokens from 2nd edition, old 'squad broken' markers to represent battleshock, that sort of thing. It's actually a bit of an unnecessary hassle, but I like the mood.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka




NE Ohio, USA

Roughly about 15 - 20.
I tend to have a mix of colors & sizes.
   
Made in gb
Malicious Mandrake




More than I NEED.

A 36 box of D6 for each player, colour usually linked to the army in some way.

A box of 128 (I think) black/red for wound markers.

A dozen "special edition" dice for "other"

Me? Sad?
   
Made in us
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

I usually have a couple hundred with me (thanks to the old Bombardment Cube) but normally have 20 out for a game. I find it easier to do multiple rolls than rolling lots of dice (unless I'm channeling my inner Ork!)

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/05/29 09:38:46


 
   
Made in de
Oozing Plague Marine Terminator





Too many. I've collected dice for my factions over the past couple years. GW now also reduced their dice sets from 20 to 16, making them even more expensive. So... despite me arguing about GWs dice costs when they release a new set of Ork dice I'm buying them and put them next to my other 5 ork dice sets

For an actual game it's good to have 3 different colors to represent special weapons and put them in one roll. More than three different profiles in one roll usually is easier to roll separately instead of explaining and remembering which die belongs to which weapon.
   
Made in us
Frightnening Fiend of Slaanesh






 Nevelon wrote:

I swapped 3 different color dice into my brick a while back for fast rolling, if I needed to pick out a plasma gun in a tac squad or similar situations.


Honestly I would never have thought of that, guess that’s what my dnd dice are gonna be then!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Daia T'Nara wrote:
I've just got one of the usual boxes of 36 - purple with a tinge of neon blue depending on the light, they can actually sometimes be a bit difficult to read but they're very pretty, and I feel like that's where a Slaanesh player's priorities ought to be.


Right, given I’d like a set each for my emperors children and custodes for *the theme*, I gotta ask for a link to get those dice, cause those sound awesome and exactly the type I want.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/05/30 00:00:03


One day I will have something funny enough to be in a signature. 
   
Made in ca
Secretive Dark Angels Veteran



Canada

I have 24 dice at hand, with another twelve in a different colour ready to go.

I also have eight Wound dice as well, plus some random tokens to remind me of lingering effects etc.

All you have to do is fire three rounds a minute, and stand 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




U.k

Flipping loads, got 100 ORK dice in 2 different designs. Others i have over 250 d6 mostly collected from 10 editions of starter sets and things.

How many I use? Playing ORKS, as many possible!
   
Made in de
Ork Admiral Kroozin Da Kosmos on Da Hulk






40 Ork d6 in two colors (GW 40k and killteam dice), a bunch of red d10 as wound markers, some spindown d20 for big model wound markers, CP and other things and a matching set of d10 to make a d100 for VP.

If I ever need to roll more than 40 dice, I'll use the rollhammer dice app. I don't want anyone to wait for me to finish counting and rolling a full ork unit on its Waaagh! turn with sustained hits.

7 Ork facts people always get wrong:
Ragnar did not win against Thrakka, but suffered two crushing defeats within a few days of each other.
A lasgun is powerful enough to sever an ork's appendage or head in a single, well aimed shot.
Orks meks have a better understanding of electrics and mechanics than most Tech Priests.
Orks actually do not think that purple makes them harder to see. The joke was made canon by Alex Stewart's Caphias Cain books.
Gharkull Blackfang did not even come close to killing the emperor.
Orks can be corrupted by chaos, but few of them have any interest in what chaos offers.
Orks do not have the power of believe. 
   
Made in gb
Nasty Nob





Dorset, England

I've got maybe 6-7 D6? I didn't realise people actually used the buckets they joke about online...

I've played DnD with a few people who bring a literal sack of dice, but I've never understood carrying all that when 1 of each will cover most scenarios!
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

 Kroem wrote:
I've got maybe 6-7 D6? I didn't realise people actually used the buckets they joke about online...

I've played DnD with a few people who bring a literal sack of dice, but I've never understood carrying all that when 1 of each will cover most scenarios!


I’d worry about loosing count of how many times I’ve rolled the dice if I needed to do more then one or two batches.

I have a giant sack of D&D dice, but they don’t all go to every game. My active dice set is 5 each of the major sizes. With some extra d6 as those classically get spammed the most. I probably don’t need that many of all the sizes, but sometimes you need to double up (crits) or spells require multiples. Right now I’ve added some extra d8s to my carry, as I’m playing a sorcerer in the current game who’s go-to spell is cone of cold, which needs a lot of them.

   
Made in de
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience






Nuremberg

I've got loads. 4 blocks of 36 in blue, green, yellow and purple and a bunch of misc dice left over from old sets - some white, some red and some other colours.

I think you always want at least two colours and I think around 36 is enough for most purposes, but I like the idea of being able to host a megabattle or tournament from just my own stuff.

   
Made in us
Fixture of Dakka





Denison, Iowa

I've currently got 18. I've been playing Custodes, so it seems like more than enough.
   
Made in us
Deathwing Terminator with Assault Cannon






20 normal dice, 10 white and 10 red, so it's easy to get the amount if I need.

One of the oversized dice from the big guns set for CP and a few d10's for tracking wounds.
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Tzeentch's Fan Girl






Southern New Hampshire

 cuda1179 wrote:
I've currently got 18. I've been playing Custodes, so it seems like more than enough.


Even four Custodes get to throw a total of 20 attacks in melee.

Besides, there's no such thing as too many dice.

She/Her

"There are no problems that cannot be solved with cannons." - Chief Engineer Boris Krauss of Nuln

Kid_Kyoto wrote:"Don't be a dick" and "This is a family wargame" are good rules of thumb.


DR:80S++G++M--B+IPwhfb01#+D+++A+++/fWD258R++T(D)DM+++
 
   
Made in us
Servoarm Flailing Magos






On the Surface of the Sun aka Florida in the Summer.

I'm still hunting for the squig dice you mentioned in another thread.

But, I'm a firm believer in the random assortment of "lucky dice," that you've cherry picked out of endless sets and custom dice... looking for those that haven't let you down when the battle is on the line.


 BorderCountess wrote:
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 Ahtman wrote:
Lathe Biosas is Dakka's Armond White.
 
   
Made in gb
Malicious Mandrake




The squig dice were a limited edition - ebay is your best bet
   
Made in us
Frightnening Fiend of Slaanesh






 BorderCountess wrote:
 cuda1179 wrote:
I've currently got 18. I've been playing Custodes, so it seems like more than enough.


Even four Custodes get to throw a total of 20 attacks in melee.

Besides, there's no such thing as too many dice.


Somehow I didn’t think about just using maximum model size for a unit and seeing how many attacks they’d have, looks like I’ll need 42 dice for my 10 model unit of infractors. Hopefully 50 will be enough dice!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2025/05/30 19:01:12


One day I will have something funny enough to be in a signature. 
   
 
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