I had a recent memorable dice event that may help you. I was playing scum and had Darth Vader in my rear arc at range 1 with a target lock, was flying Kath Scarlett. He had 1 hit point left, I thought Darth is more dead than Alderaan. I rolled 4 blanks and a hit, I thought gee that's unlucky, but I guess that's we focus and have target locks, re rolled... came up 4 blanks. Darth was left on 1 Hit Point after 9 dice were thrown at him, he easily evaded my paltry 1 hit. In my mind I thought, "Are you F**** serious???", but I smiled and said that was unlucky and continued on with the game.

Two points I try and remember in this is:

1: The dice are random generators, they have no malice towards me, we forget when they come up trumps for us, only remembering when they let us down.

2: It's an awesomely fun game, it doesn't matter if I lose, as long as I learn and be a better player after each fight.

My 2 cents

We all get horrible luck with dice and these moments tend to stay clear on our memories more than anything.

I play a guy who almost never takes offensive actions and then complains that his rolls are terrible... sorry pal but what do you expect?

Just don't be the guy that gets overly frustrated. Anyone can understand frustration when it comes to dice rolls but that's the game. Sometimes you're on the receiving end and at others you're opponent is that guy. Do you feel bad when your opponent rolls bad? Not even a little? If not, perhaps your attitude needs checking

I do the best I can to "remove dice from the equation". I put that in quotes on purpose because that is what I convince myself it is when it is really increasing my odds. If a die is rolled long enough you will, realistically get the desired result (the chance always exists that you could roll infinitely and never see what you want).

Translated into X-Wing, the best way to increase your chances are focus tokens, target locks, card abilities, and other game mechanics. If you can find ways to work these to your advantage then the better your odds at success. A Whisper with a fire control system target lock and a focus token is going to be bad news for anybody on the receiving end. And then here comes a focus for defense!

Lastly, I like to play with ships that are forgiving when it comes to bad dice. Anything with shields is really nice. The more the better. TIE Advanced for me, please.

I must admit, I threw a set of dice out for the first time the other day. 16 dice over 4 rolls, 1 eyeball each roll.

That being said, I know a certain someone who refuses to let anyone else touch his dice. The first time we played he actually gave me an attack die because I accidentally picked it up. XD

I like to make up stupid silly stories on the spot as to why (my) dice fail, for instance:

Kavil completely whiffs a range 1 Autoblaster shot, out of arc with Focus AND Target Lock... guess his Unhinged Astromech forgot to power the cockpit's gravity well on that 3-turn, resulting in him spilling his space-coffee onto his lap and missing because he was busy clawing at the crotch of his flight suit and shrieking like a cheerleader.

I also make up new swear words, and variant names for my opponent's ships... but I'd only do that with good friends and company who know it's a joke in good fun. Never risk offending your opponent if you're not on the same wavelength.

Carnor Jax=

Jocko

Carnor Jerks

C**klord Jacks

Corny Jack

Crumby Jockstrap

I have a problem .... there is the first step

I really don't drink..... I drive the speed limit.... Im usually quite a mild mannered person(outside work).

I love the game, the strategy the maneuvers, the subtelties even.

but THE DICE. I know it adds excitement and randomness to the game.... but it gets to me the randomness sometimes.

I am embarrassed by my lack of cool sometimes when the dice go crazy.... not just one roll but streaks of like 1 hit in 12 rolls of red.

I am working on it just curious how you all out there when it seems the gods of dice are against you?

Not asking to change the game ...just asking how you deal with it?

Or if there is anyone like me who wants to microwave your dice and show them to other dice to teach them what happens?

This post isn't about winning or losing. If I lose I blame my strategy in some way and figure what I did wrong not my dice.

Thanks.... I am truly embarrassed of this help.

Either I:

1.) God roll. Sweet, 2 hits 2 crits unmodified.

2.) Roll Average.

3.) Roll poorly because unmodified dice are trash and I expect it.

I don't trust unmodified dice, and I try to bank TL's for later. Whenever I fire Prockets with Vader I try and get the TL and focus to maximize my chances of 5/5 hits.

Normally I get angry at hopeless situations, where I have to deal with dice but my opponent has so many modifiers that they get for free, so stuff like Predator Gunner Rear Admiral Chiraneu, FCS Gunner Whisper, Soontir's defensive capabilities. When I'm playing a dice game and my opponent is essentially just not and they can consistently max out their dice is what's annoying to me.

I sacrifice a lamb the night before every tournament to the dice gods and ask they let my dice roll true.

seams to work well.

If I rolled the dice for Paul Heaver, none of us would know who he is.

Just laugh it off. The other day I played 2 jm5ks that rolled a total of one evade between the two of them the entite game. Let's just say the game was over quickly.

Keep your expectations in check. I usually assume that every roll fails, that way I don't get dissapointed. It also plays into my philosophy of flying in a way that is hard to punish.

I had some shocking dice luck this week - 1 evade in 12 rolls, 5 blank reds twice in one game etc etc.

So now I'm refusing to play until this weekend's tournament, when I expect to regress to the mean

Here's my serious answer.

I think there's a genuine problem here. Generally, if you are anxious about something, it is not a good idea to downplay/ignore that, whatever it is. For example, if you're afraid to drive, it is a bad idea to jump in the backseat.

If you feel dice are cheating you, I think that is because you don't like the feeling that the luck is out of your hands. So you would need to get that feeling back; i.e. that you have enough control of the game even if you roll lots of dice.

I would do that by purposefully making risky decisions in the game. Try to play aggressively and roll lots of red dice. If you fail, you know why it is: the risk you took was too big - but you knew that anyway. If you win, the dice did not let you down and your decisions paid off. In both cases, you can feel responsible for the outcome. Either your agressive play was successful or you suffered the consequence of not very ideal odds. And that idea, of being in control, is important to shift focus from dice to your own play.

So I'd play a list that is aggressive and needs some luck, like the TIE swarm or BBBBZ. Maybe some alpha strike list. Try to get enemy aces in a position where you can potentially do a lot of damage, maybe barrel rolling into range 1 instead of focussing. Dive in fully aware that with some bad luck, things can go horribly wrong.

accept that rolling green dice is a failure on your part and that failure, therefore, is the only possible reward

This is one of the main reasons I like the Accuracy Corrector/Juke equipped TIE advanced; take the bloody dice out of the bloody equation as much as bloody possible.

I think this is one of the reasons people with TIE interceptor squads tend to 'run hot' on stress levels.

When you're dependent on agility, your defence is based on wildly varying green dice rolls, and you often find yourself throwing unmodified red dice to attack (albeit lots of them).

Plus, you've no shields so are forced to eat every uncancelled critical that comes in as a face-up damage card, which is another source of randomness.

The problem isn't that they're bad. Soontir Fel has been a top-tier pilot for as long as he's been in the game for a reason.

The problem is that your dice and card luck are either 'hot', 'cold', or 'warm'.

If they're 'cold' you get "there's nothing I could have done" games, where you find every single Direct Hit in the deck and can't dodge anything, which make you feel bad.

If they're 'hot' - a lot of the time you find yourself feeling bad for your opponent. When you dodge three hits without damage for the fourth time in a row, there's not a lot you can say....

So I'd play a list that is aggressive and needs some luck, like the TIE swarm or BBBBZ. Maybe some alpha strike list. Try to get enemy aces in a position where you can potentially do a lot of damage, maybe barrel rolling into range 1 instead of focussing. Dive in fully aware that with some bad luck, things can go horribly wrong.

I'd agree...although for an alternate reason. When you're rolling that many dice, the tyranny of numbers comes in on your side. Yes, you rolled nothing but blanks and got one-shotted. Who gives a monkeys? It was a TIE fighter and he has seven mates. You missed? You fire expecting, on average, to miss. It's when a 40 point ship with all the trimmings does nothing that you get angst-ey.

With a 'proper' swarm, there will always be a ship that underperforms each game, but just as often there will be a hero who balances it out....trust me, the turn an academy pilot lands a killing shot on someone's 30+ point ace is just epic.

I don't get dice rage, just dice despair.

Play long enough and the luck will turn.

Normally I get angry at hopeless situations, where I have to deal with dice but my opponent has so many modifiers that they get for free, so stuff like Predator Gunner Rear Admiral Chiraneu, FCS Gunner Whisper, Soontir's defensive capabilities. When I'm playing a dice game and my opponent is essentially just not and they can consistently max out their dice is what's annoying to me.

So you either

1) Build better lists that can do the same for you.

or 2) Keep that in mind when facing said opponent and find a way to overcome it.

Passive mods are popular for a reason: they help overcome the dice situations this very thread is talking about. And by all means,

3) Take some responsibility for your games and stop whining about it on the forums.

This may not help all the time, but on different tables and mats roll your dice a few times different ways until you find the technique that gets what you want relatively consistently.

For each material there is a way to roll.

Except smooth wood.

That's random.

If I got drawn against them.

Random dice can be frustrating. If you're finding it gives you a negative play experience when you are popping out on your luck try building lists which trade volume of dice for modifiers. This way at least your results will be more consistent and might help you avoid transforming into the hulk against the 10 year old newbie sat opposite you

'4 blanks on whisper?!?! GRRRRR HULK SMASH!!!'

just remind yourself, "S**T Happens",.

Or, in order to bypass filters: Stercus accidit.

Get a bunch of dice, more than you would usually need. After rolling some, put them back in the pile. Then, like a tennis player, grab a few more than you need and intuitively discard until you have the required number of dice.

At least then, subconciously, you'll blame yourself for picking the wrong dice, instead of being a hapless victim of the dice gods. A whole different mindset.

Fly a Ghost with Autoblaster turret and Accuracy corrector. All the dice you do roll will be exactly the results you want, every time.

If you don't want to fly that list, find upgrades, EPTS, and Crew that remove the dice's ability to be your God. The Dice shouldn't be your God! Get a TL and a focus, then have Gunner on that ship too! Why not! Watch the world burn underneath your rerolling! FACE GOD AND WALK BACKWARDS INTO HELL!



Sorry, got a little out of hand there...

Become Buddhist or a Philosophical Hard Determinist.
Realize that the universe is unfolding exactly as it is going to unfold, and that all random events are not random, but determined by millions of prior events that you are unable to perceive in their wholeness.

Everything occurs as it is going to occur. Once you see that, you will have peace and acceptance.

As we've often said at our club "...oh well, dice happen" and get on with it

I've temporarily stopped playing Soontir Fel because he managed to die rolling 5 blanks against a rookie pilot throwing 2 crits and a hit (both crits coming up 2 damage).

Two games in a row. (Well, 2nd game he boosted and thus didn't have an evade token on him so it was just 3 hits... but still).

Green dice hate me.

You must bring chicken for Jobu!

Actually, this is one of the things I love about dice games. I used to get upset about it, but I'm streaky at both end of the spectrums. I have killed people attempting to heal them in World of Darkness games. I have saved the entire party from impossible odds. On both occasions, "Thanks dice!" Other people do not let me touch their dice, I am that streaky. It will sometimes be average, but in the clutch, I will either roll the absolute best you could or the absolute worst. This is especially fun in large group games where it really matters. People sit on the edge of their seats and hold their breath. I'm going to end up laughing either way, but I love that you can reach a frenzy pitch in the anticipation of a dice roll.

Come on over to X-Wing and I already know my mindset about it. I know I need to have modifiable dice because I can figure that at least half the time I am going to roll blanks... and to be honest, I am grateful there is no mechanic for failure in rolling dice. "You rolled all blanks on an attack roll? Draw a card, any card. If it is a weapons malfunction, flip it faceup until the end of the next attack phase!" See? There are no bad consequences to rolling poorly in X-Wing. So you didn't make the shot... NO BIG DEAL... neither did any of the Stormtroopers in any of the movies. You are exactly where you should be.

But ultimately, this game is not about rolling dice. This game is about modifying dice and positioning. If you can consistently modify dice and position your ships and do it better than your opponent, you will win. The dice rolls just add the spice of life that we are looking for... and provides chicken for Jobu! And if you don't know about Jobu... shame on you! The more you know about Jobu, the more you know about increasing your chances at winning.

This may not help all the time, but on different tables and mats roll your dice a few times different ways until you find the technique that gets what you want relatively consistently.

For each material there is a way to roll.

Except smooth wood.

That's random.

Am I the only one that feels this comment is a little beardy and getting into the realms of fixing your dice rolls. If I saw some guy 'practising how to roll hits' on a tourney map at the beginning of an event, I'd be insisting on a dice cup

If I got drawn against them.

Random dice can be frustrating. If you're finding it gives you a negative play experience when you are popping out on your luck try building lists which trade volume of dice for modifiers. This way at least your results will be more consistent and might help you avoid transforming into the hulk against the 10 year old newbie sat opposite you

'4 blanks on whisper?!?! GRRRRR HULK SMASH!!!'

There's still the randomness effect, I'm never able to say "I'm going to roll 4 hits because I know exactly how to roll on these mats."

I don't agree that it's fixing your dice rolls. If it were, there would have to be a specific way for everyone to roll, there's different ways to flick your writs or let loose of the dice in order to (maybe) get close to the result you want.

Also it doesn't help all the time, I may THINK I know how to roll on a specific mat or table, but I still don't know what the outcome is going to be.

But if it did come up and someone wanted me to use a dice cup instead, I would gladly do so. Because I don't consider it fixing the dice, but if my opponent refuses to play against me because I'm doing it then I'll stop.

EDIT: Also it's not like I'm going to every table before the tournament starts testing out how to roll the dice on the different materials.

I played a game tonight where I DID NOT roll a SINGLE evade on the evade dice. Not a single one. Not a single evade between the 4 T70s I fielded. They were chewed up and spat out with ease. I wanted to melt all of my green dice down and sacrifice them to the Dice Gods, for they had forsaken me that game.

When my T70s had focus tokens, I rolled blanks, when my T70s were stressed, I rolled focus. I started to laugh at one point, I knew it was over.

If I have a bad streak, I change my roll...I usually start out rolling forwards releasing the dice out between my thumb and forefinger. If I get on a bad streak I start dropping them back past my pinky... Almost like putting a backspin on the dice. Amazingly the change in throwing style appears to have an effect on my dice rolls. -- it could be all placebo... but it works for me.