Overview

Battledodes is a Print,Build&Play, two-player board game combining strategy and luck. Players take turns bouncing their four 12-sided dice (dodes) off the central wall, aiming to land on high-numbered hexagons on their side of the board. Watch as your opponent attacks your position during their turn.

Your turn score is calculated after your opponent's successful attacks are subtracted from your original roll. Return the favour by attacking their position during your next turn – or set up a better one for yourself.

Objective: Be the first player to reach 144 points.

Game Build

To play Battledodes, you will need:

• 8 x D12 dice (dodes): Four per player.
• Printed A0-sized game board: Affixed to a flat surface.
  • There are loads of places online (or in person!?) that can print and mail.
  • This can also be drawn onto a surface (example in images).
• Central Wall:
  • Dimensions: 26 cm (width) x 4 cm (height) x 3 cm (depth).
  • Construction: I used two sheets of 12 mm plywood glued together and screwed to the base (~2.4 cm depth works fine).

Gameplay

Two players sit on opposite sides of the board with four dodes each. Both players roll a dode, highest roll takes first turn.  

Rolling Your Dodes

• Turn Sequence: On your turn, roll your four dodes one at a time.
• Bounce Requirement: Each dode must be bounced off the central wall before landing.
• Aim: Land your dodes on numbered hexagons (1–5) on your side of the board.
• Avoid: Landing in the dead zone (0).

Valid Rolls

• Valid Roll: A roll is valid if the dode bounces off the central wall and lands on your side. 
  • Dodes overlapping multiple hexagons should be moved into the hexagon they most cover (players should agree on which hexagon it belongs to, if they cannot agree, re-roll the dode).
  • Dodes at the edge of the board but still touching a hexagon are counted as having landed on that space.
• Re-rolls Allowed: If a dode lands out of bounds, on the opponent's side, or fails to hit the wall, you may re-roll it.
• Locked Dodes: Once a dode lands on a hexagon or the dead zone, it remains there until your next turn.

Impacts and Collisions

Colliding with Your Own Dodes

• Before Hitting the Wall: If your rolling dode collides with any of your own in-play dodes before hitting the central wall:
  • All affected dodes are removed from the board.
  • These dodes are forfeited until your next turn.
• After Hitting the Wall: Dodes that have bounced off the wall and then collide with other dodes remain in play. Any dodes knocked out are returned to the player to be re-rolled during the current turn. 

Colliding with Opponent's Dodes

• If Your Dode Hits an Opponent's Dode:
  • You must re-roll your dode.
  • Your opponent chooses to either:
    • Re-roll their impacted dode(s), or
    • Place them back as they were.

Turn Scoring

Calculating Potential Score

• Hexagon Multipliers: Each hexagon has a multiplier ranging from 1 to 5.
• Score Formula: Multiply the top-face value of each of your dodes by the multiplier of the hexagon it lands on.
• Example (see play images):
  • Dode showing 8 on a 3-multiplier hexagon: 8 × 3 = 24 points
  • Dode showing 5 on a 2-multiplier hexagon: 5 × 2 = 10 points
  • Dode showing 12 on a 1-multiplier hexagon: 12 × 1 = 12 points
  • Dode on the dead zone (0): 0 points
• Potential Turn Score: 24 + 10 + 12 = 46 points

Delayed Scoring

• Note: You do not receive your turn score immediately.
• Opponent's Attack: Your opponent has a chance to attack during their turn, which may reduce your score.

Keeping Dodes on the Board

A player may opt to keep one or more of their dodes on the board at the start of their next turn, instead of re-rolling. For example, if a player has a 12 dode on a 5-hexagon, they may choose to keep it in play rather than risk a re-roll.

Attacks

During Your Opponent's Turn

• Attack Opportunity: After rolling their dodes, your opponent attacks your dodes.
• Matching Hexagons: Attacks can only be made on dodes occupying hexagons with the same multiplier.

Attack Mechanics

1. One-to-One Attack: Each of your opponent's dodes can attack one of your dodes. Multiple dodes can attack a single opponent's dode.
2. Subtracting Values: Your dode's face value is reduced by the attacking dode's face value.
3. Outcome:
   • Positive Result: Your dode remains with the reduced face value.
   • Zero or Negative Result: Your dode is removed from the board.

Example

• Your Dode: Face value 10 on a 3-multiplier hexagon.
• Opponent's Dode: Face value 6 on a 3-multiplier hexagon.
• Attack Resolution: 10 (your dode) - 6 (opponent's dode) = 4
  • Your dode remains with a face value of 4.

Scoring after Attacks

• Adjust Face Values: Modify your dodes' face values based on the attacks.
• Final Turn Score: Recalculate your score using the adjusted face values.
• Update Total Score: Add the final turn score to your cumulative score.

Special thanks to my mates Daniel and Toby for all their input and countless hours of test play with the rules constantly changing!

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