Dinosaurs and Villains in Marvel Dice Throne Missions
Complete missions to thwart henchmen and defeat supervillains as any sort of hero in Marvel Dice Throne Missions.
Onward with more fun! I felt like I would stick with Marvel Dice Throne Missions for a little bit, even though it’s not a campaign. The system’s flexibility makes it easy to pause and pick back up at any point, with any hero… Like my amazing choice of Santa. Ha ha! There were some more surprises ahead beyond the tutorial mission, and I was mostly prepared!
Game Overview
Game Name: Marvel Dice Throne Missions
Publication Year: 2025
Designers: Gavan Brown & Nate Chatellier
Artists: Patrick Spaziante & Manny Trembley
Publisher: Roxley
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
A double-sided mission features a scenario, followed by a giant boss battle. Boost tiles randomize rewards and offer some variety, while earning more perks allows for even better options in future plays. Heroes may come and go, but thwarting the evil plans of the villains always forges on!
First Play
April 22, 2025
Complexity
2
Latest Play
May 1, 2025
Expansions
1
Setup Time
10 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
9
Play Time
40 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
40" x 24"
Low Score
N/A
Hello, Mister Sinister
Another boss battle with Santa! He made his way here after a perfect win in the initial part of the mission, which gave him even better rewards. Lots of tricky elements, though!
Boss battles randomly place boost tiles face-down, which can only be flipped over after an attack. The catch? A hero with any face-down boost tiles suffers a critical hit.
I was still in the easiest mission tier, but this was a pretty neat mechanic that offered lots of thoughtful choices.
Naturally, Santa was on top of his game with his abilities and Mister Sinister was also placed on the naughty list. Ha!
Santa and Ant-Man
My shuffling technique works very well and prevents card damage, so I didn’t expect to see any familiar allies. Of course, Ant-Man showed up again for the perfect duo!
A hero has to complete several missions before upgrading to a momentum card that allows multiple recruited allies.
It’s possible to discard an ally, often by using a powerful exhaust ability, yet I couldn’t help keeping the story going!
Maybe Ant-Man is behind Santa’s ability to store so many gifts on his sleigh… A-ha! Superhero powers must be the explanation. In any event, it was another resounding win!
Dinosaur Trampling
I followed the mission order listed on the back of the perks sheet, which led me to Sauron’s domain. Immediately, this was a most interesting mission… Double boss battles!
Santa found himself up against a rampaging Stegosaurus. That sleigh and flying reindeer would have been perfect, but no matter! He was ready to plan ahead for these attacks.
Naturally, Santa was trampled. Ha ha! I had my sights set on the bonus objective but missed some subtle strategies.
Time to try again! That’s the other nice part: It isn’t meant to be a punishing campaign. Just a lot of fun with dice.
Felling the Great Tree
With his axe literally present on his miniature, it was a bit embarrassing to see Santa fail to knock over a tree on his first attempt. But I knew what I had to do the second time!
The Stegosaurus was kept at bay while Santa guzzled his endless mug of egg nog and slowly hacked away at a tree.
That one wasn’t going to be decorated for Christmas anytime soon, thankfully! It came tumbling down when Santa still had a fair amount of health left.
With that perfect reward, the Stegosaurus lumbered away and Santa was refreshed and ready to defeat Sauron!
Staying True to an Episodic Nature of Gameplay
When I first learned about this system, I wondered if it would involve a lengthy sort of campaign. However, I was pleasantly surprised by its focus on individual plays! In a way, these missions feel more akin to an episodic TV series than a feature length film with the same characters. Santa doesn’t have to stick around… I just enjoyed bringing him into Marvel!
There also isn’t any problem with me swapping to another hero for a single mission or even the rest. I did get a little tired of Santa near the end, only because I felt like I had mastered his strategies. Much as I don’t want to admit it, you can only go so far with laughing about egg nog and putting supervillains on the naughty list. Maybe someone else needs to step up.
Additionally, this means I could play a mission again with a different hero. Allies will likely change, and it’s not like I uncovered hidden information. Definitely a very flexible system that has a lot of fun content ahead for me!
Chill Out, Sauron
A rampaging Stegosaurus was enough angry dinosaur, but naturally, Sauron had to show up with some terrible abilities. Santa needed to adjust quickly to survive!
I liked how different the bosses seemed to be. The overall gameplay sequence remained the same, but figuring out how to withstand some of these abilities was challenging.
The crisis clock also needed an eye kept on it! Some of the abilities were brutal, yet I could plan ahead for everything.
And so Sauron was taken out by Santa, because you just can’t pit a flying dinosaur against a flying holiday figure!
Santa’s New Helper
As I continued to play through the missions, it was almost sad not to see Ant-Man show up. However, Santa was happy to get all the help he could get, and a new helper appeared!
Captain America was an excellent choice since Santa’s defensive ability never prevented damage. So this ally ability triggered once per turn, blocking 2 damage. It worked!
I like how each ally can be used situationally, too. I imagine this isn’t a great choice for a hero who blocks damage.
Even if that wasn’t enough, there was always the exhaust ability to earn shield tokens to block even more damage.
Stopping the Hacking
Another mission saw Santa enter a nuclear power plant, where he needed to stop the henchmen from hacking into the computers. And these were not the easiest enemies!
I carefully maneuvered him, and with some very good luck with the dice and crisis clock, the hacking meter never moved during this entire scenario.
Even better: The dangerous sniper never had a clear shot at Santa, so that threat wasn’t too problematic for him!
The artwork on these play areas is also awesome. Love how the different levels and elements are depicted so nicely!
He’s In It for the Money
Oh, Sebastian Shaw! I often laugh at the line from Twister where Bill Paxton says, “He’s in it for the money, not the science!” And so this quote particularly delighted me.
Santa told off this rather presumptuous supervillain. Pretty sure the North Pole has never been known for its money or power. Just a lot of joyful giving. Sebastian Shaw was wrong!
This was a little easy, only because Santa managed to trigger his ultimate ability a couple of times. Take that!
I felt like this was a good stopping point for the time being, although it will be very easy to return for future missions.
Session Overview
Play Number: 3-9
Main Expansion: Dice Throne: Santa vs. Krampus
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Mister Sinister, Sauron, & Sebastian Shaw
Outcome: 6 Wins & 1 Loss (3 Perfect Rewards)
Talk about perks! With these wins, I started to earn more rewards that would apply to any hero I played with. The next momentum level offered a way to draw a card, which was awesome. Lots of content is ahead, and although I don’t feel the need to play through everything right now, I know I’ll be back to explore even more missions in the future!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
7
+ Pros (Positives)
- A different hero can be used for each mission, allowing for lots of flexibility without getting stuck with one character.
- Dice rolling is at the core of the experience, but there are still interesting decisions to make and strategies to learn.
- The crisis clock adds a bit of tension in a way that’s easy to predict, allowing for planning against the worst abilities.
- Completing missions and earning perks are very exciting as new rewards are unlocked for more powerful heroes.
- No knowledge of the Marvel universe is required, as each scenario and boss battle includes enough of a backstory.
- Momentum is a unique currency that can be spent in neat ways, often for recruiting a variety of useful allies.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Randomness can spoil some plans and make for very frustrating outcomes, although this is to be expected with dice.
- Laying the tri-fold mats flat can be a little challenging, and boost tiles tend to slide a bit on the uneven surfaces.
- Some of the rules are mixed in with lots of text and can be difficult to find without carefully hunting around for them.
- Although the double-sided health tokens work, they’re a bit underwhelming compared to the rest of the aesthetics.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Objective
- Overall Goal Progress 20%
Goals and Milestones
Complete every mission at least once. (4 / 20)
Earn the perfect reward for every mission. (4 / 20)
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Marvel Dice Throne Missions? Do you have any other solo superhero games you prefer? This one continues to be a lot of fun to play through. And it’s doing the best thing: Encouraging me to learn more about the Marvel universe after all this time! I do believe a 90s animated series is on my radar… Ha ha! Very happy to have played this one!
I haven’t played any Dice Throne but it sounds similar to unmatched adventures Tales to Amaze which I like. Have you ever played that and if so how similar are they and which do you prefer? I really love the pulp vibe of tales to amaze and definitely need to get it back to the table
I have played! There’s actually a pretty recent post about it, and I think it boils down to a preference of the system. I vastly prefer Dice Throne because it’s quite random, yet still feels like there’s a chance to do something on almost every turn. Unmatched is also great, yet I sometimes get stuck with poor card draws and lose due to that bad luck. The solo system also feels much more limited with Unmatched and the setting didn’t grip me as much.
Just my own thoughts, though! I can see why Unmatched would be the better choice. Both systems do feel different enough that they offer their own experiences. Hope you have fun when you get it back to your table to play!
“My shuffling technique works very well and prevents card damage”… very intrigued; can you elaborate?
It’s pretty much an overhand technique, but in slow motion! If you ever see someone doing an overhand shuffle, the way I do it is probably less than half the speed and I hold the cards much more loosely. So edges rarely hit each other with any sort of force. It’s not perfect: I occasionally drop a card or knowingly pick cards from specific spots to mix together (like the very top and bottom).
These cards are sleeved, thanks to my husband, but even my unsleeved cards show practically no wear. Even my copies of Herbaceous, which have probably seen over 1,000 plays each, only show a minimal amount of wear on dark card edges.
My version being so slow is noticeable, although I like to take those few minutes to pause as I get ready to play!