Daniel (@dungeondive) takes a look at Dice Commandos, a tactical dice puzzle game from Cole Monroe Chitty that channels the spirit of 80s action movies and games like Contra and Metal Gear. You control a team of elite operatives completing objectives through stealth, combat, and clever ability use.
The game packs serious variety into a small box. Six green d6 represent your commandos, six yellow d6 for enemies, plus fury and combat dice. Each commando’s pip value determines both their identity and movement range — roll a one and you get a Sniper, a four gives you a Seal Trooper with stealth capabilities, and so on. Combat is elegantly simple: both sides roll, add their pip values, and lowest total wins, with ties going to the attacker.
Daniel walks through Mission One — Gather Intel — demonstrating how the twelve-card battlefield creates a grid with walls limiting movement, objective tokens guarded by condition requirements, and enemy activation cards that move hostiles toward commandos or objectives. Loadout cards like the Pinpoint Charge add explosive tactical options. The game includes six missions with escalating difficulty, double-sided map cards, multiple enemy types including cyber apes and a T-Rex, plus several bosses. All for around $20-24, playing in about 45 minutes once learned.
Do you enjoy solo games that pack tactical depth into a small footprint?