The Dice Shotgun

Hi Everyone,
Just having a thought here... I see alot of people (especially on youtube battle reports) who roll dice like a shotgun. That is to throw them almost through the table itself, spreading the dice across the whole table. I'm fairly certain that it doesn't affect the roll's result in the slightest.

This is one of my wargaming pet peeves. I hate it. But it got me thinking "What do people prefer to do/have opponents do?" and "What are other people's superstitions in die rolling?".

So, I'm wondering what my fellow commorrites do? I don't have any superstitions, but I like using my larger dice because they feel "nicer" somehow, but that's all I've got.

I am an aggressive roller - I actually prefer to have my dice bounce and roll a bit after leaving my hand, and prefer to see opponent's dice do the same simply due to the existence of dice control. It feels like a more honest roll. Also, I will admit to a gambler's fallacy in feeling like dice that leave my hand and then 'plop' or 'slide' invariably seem to do so on low numbers while dice that roll come up more fair.

My pet peeve is people picking up successes rather than failures. You should leave successes on the table.

Thor665 wrote:

I am an aggressive roller - I actually prefer to have my dice bounce and roll a bit after leaving my hand, and prefer to see opponent's dice do the same simply due to the existence of dice control. It feels like a more honest roll. Also, I will admit to a gambler's fallacy in feeling like dice that leave my hand and then 'plop' or 'slide' invariably seem to do so on low numbers while dice that roll come up more fair.

My pet peeve is people picking up successes rather than failures. You should leave successes on the table.

Haha, it's great to see what superstition ails other players!
If you take dice in your hand and roll them a few times then whether they plop or slide, it shouldn't matter

Is it just so that opponents can 'prove' successes? That's fair, however I tend to either chuck failures away (because I am displeased with their efforts!) or grab which ever are closest/easiest to get a hand on!

x2 to the successes on the table peev.....I want to se the damage you are doing to me! (so Dark Eldar haha)

As for dice rolling my "style" is usually in a cupped hand and roll them down the hand onto the table, in a swift motion. I also use big, square dice so when it's time to roll heaps at once, like Grotesque attacks, it's easier to control how they come out of the hand. I'm not a fan of that shotgun, throw them at buildings type of "rolling". I tend to roll in the same spot on the table and so do most of my playing group. A few players still do that sloppy throwing crap that I'm not a fan of...

Played against a guy at Warhammer World the other week who did vertical dice throws. He'd basically throw the dice straight up but with some sort of weird wrist action that I think was supposed to give it some sort of spin. The net result of this was that the dice went about 5 feet up in the air, hit the table and bounced, usually straight off the table! Was very irritating to watch and I just wanted to yell at him to roll the bloody things.

Another pet peeve is that a couple of the guys in my group seem to think that rolling saves one at a time has a better success rate than rolling them all together. It takes forever and what's even more irritating is that they seem to be right!!

Hahaha guys thanks for those stories! This is the sort of thing I was after :-) as far as I'm concerned, just roll the damned things in one spot on the table! What about people who roll different styled dice for different things?
I like to roll the same type of dice at the same time. Does that count?

Re the.one die at a timefiasco... I tend to do it for my archon, but that's because everything seems to ID him!

I don't even like rolling on the table. The dice fall off, knock over minis or scenery and end up cocked or under my skimmers etc.  I have a dice tray lined with a thin layer of foam rubber to prevent bouncing and other upsetting nastiness.
I do like to roll themed dice though. I have some virulent green swirly ones for splinter shots and dark purple black ones for darklight. I also use a boss die if the squad leader has better BS than his squad mates. It saves time.
As for the guys rolling saves one at a time when every dude is the same and has the same save... Fine! I'll be rolling my splintershots one at a time too then.

My pet peeve is a lack of standard practices for 'foul dice.'

For me, if a die falls out of my hand while I'm shuckling it, it gets rerolled. If it lands on anything but flat table (a model's base, a book, terrain), it gets rerolled.

It seems like most of the games I play, my opponents views on this subject waver to whatever favors them most.

To be honest I'd be pretty dubious about dice being rerolled unless they are off the table or cocked. Just landing on something other than flat terrain isn't a good reason to reroll IMO.

All's fair in love and war.
My theory is a dropped die doesn't count, so reroll it. If you can't place a die on top of a die without it sliding off, then it's cocked and should be rerolled.

@Scrz where do you get the colored dice from?

Count Adhemar wrote:

To be honest I'd be pretty dubious about dice being rerolled unless they are off the table or cocked. Just landing on something other than flat terrain isn't a good reason to reroll IMO.

See, I think you need a definitive boundary so there is no ambiguity over what is cocked and what's not.

Flat on the table or reroll leaves zero room for error.

I always use the balancing board rule for cocked dice. If you can put another die squarely on top of it and it doesn't fall off, then it isn't cocked.

In terms of style I am normally fairly conservative in my dice rolling. If I have a handful of dice, or even just two, it'll be a nice, calm roll somewhere clear on the board. If it only one die though, I will go aggressive and hurl that bad boy.

I have also come to the belief that if a die rolls under something and requires trying to dig it out from underneath a tank or something, it will almost always be a 1 or a 6.

@CptMetal I got my dice fix from thediceshoponline.com:
https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice/3900/Chessex-Vortex-Dandelion-36-x-d6-six-sided-dice
is what I use for poison.

One thing I will say is that I wish people would roll scatter dice as close as possible to the target. Trying to agree on the direction of scatter on a dice that is 5 foot away from the target is always problematic!

Count Adhemar wrote:

One thing I will say is that I wish people would roll scatter dice as close as possible to the target. Trying to agree on the direction of scatter on a dice that is 5 foot away from the target is always problematic!

True that! I'm not so fussed about rolling to hit and wound anywhere specific,but the scatter nearby for sure!
Maybe we should create a mini series on table top wargames etiquette!