Die Hard Dice Review: Forge Dice (Shiny Silver)

The folks at Die Hard Dice have been paramount in their customer service and willingness to work with and for the tabletop community. Their store gives you tons of useful information about these dice sets – enough you should feel comfortable buying them without my opinion. Yeah, I know that’s pretty damaging to my own platform, eh? But it’s worth commending them. If you’ve checked out their Forge Dice line and are still unsure, you’ve come to the right place. Lets take an intimate look at their “Force Dice Shiny Silver w/Black” (certainly not the catchiest name… )

Storage

We don’t see anything new or groundbreaking in this regard. These sturdy and uniform aluminum cases work just fine for keeping the dice safe and sound. Die Hard has chosen to forego any branding on the front of the containers and rely on a sticker on the back, so you can display the case without worrying about having stickers peeking through.

While these cases work wonders in protecting dice, they are less than useless for display purposes – something to keep in mind if you’re expecting to keep these on a shelf for the world to see.

First Impressions Matter

Upon opening this case, you’re hammered directly in the brain with just how shiny-shine-such-wow they are.

But when you pull the dice out of the case, the wrap-around glossy finish of them really *ahem* shines. Putting them up against traditional dice is almost comical by contrast.

At almost every angle the chrome-like finish gives off a cool and clean refraction that makes them seem mirror-like.

With this reflective surface does come a pitfall – the same one we saw in my very first review! Norse Foundry’s Chainmail Dice, while similar to these, was plagued with fingerprints and oil smears. Such is the catch-22 of having high polish on dice.

Only, I’d guess, One in Four of you would even care about such a thing, as all dice are filthy unless you take the time to wash them like I do… they’re gross! Horrifyingly gross! And you touched another persons’ dice! whYWoULd yOUdoTHIS?! THEN ATE A SNACK?! NoHAOFMnfapsodfuyoandl!

But – keeping these polished up and clean isn’t very difficult. A $1 microfiber cloth from any dollar store can give them a brand new shine in just a couple seconds.

Just The Tip (is gone)

The really cool thing about these dice, in my opinion, is the form factor! The d20 and d12, for instance, are traditional as hell:

The rest of the dice, though, have their sharp points snipped off and flattened, giving them a much more forgiving impact on many tables and trays.

What spurred this design choice is beyond me, but it actually isn’t as bad as you’d think. The dice have a much harder time getting scratched when put in a bag together, the hard points on the d8 and d4 especially are no longer a hazard if dropped, and people will say “Yer thank’n stepp’n aughn a lego’z bayd?! Thatn’ raught there’z a CALTROP! ” To which we all pretend we’ve not heard the remark one hundred and fifty-seven million times, smile to mask the existential dread, and then secretly stab our palms into the sharp as hell d4 so the pain gives us something more pleasing to focus on.

While I do not suggest ever rolling metal dice on an unprotected surface – these dice might be your go-to if you have any fears about damaging expensive trays or modest tabletops. The snipped and rounded corners will go a long way toward protecting not only your very soul but your play surface!

Weight

“Oh! Since they cut the tips off of the dice, that probably saved them a bunch of weight! That’s a grea-” YOU’RE WRONG, JIMMY! 

These dice are die-cast Zinc (molten zinc poured into a reusable mold) coated in Chrome (chromium – a hard and very brittle metal that hold a lustrous shine). The thing is – Chromium is actually more dense than zinc, so these dice are a double-heap of heavy metal.

As we know from previous Die Hard Dice reviews, their average set weighs in at approximately 3.49oz.

Easy Roller Dice Co’s Gunmetal dice weigh 4.5oz

Darksilver Forge Dragonsteel dice weigh 4.25oz

Meaning these Die Hard Dice are the heaviest dice set we’ve ever reviewed on this blog since the Norse Foundry Chainmail Dice (5.1oz)! The average weight of 1d4 from Die Hard Dice is 7 grams – quite a large gap when compared to these monsters.

Overall

I actually really appreciate these dice. The glossy mirror-like finish, the rounded edges, the extremely heavy weight in-hand. Many of the dice have varying sized fonts to fill the wider/smaller faces of the dice for easier reading – which many people will appreciate!

I think the weakest aspect of this entire dice set is the name (Shiny Silver doesn’t contrast well: DIE HARD DICE, FORGE METAL shiny silver.) If you can stomach the fingerprints, these “hefty bois” will be a great addition to your collection!

I don’t always advocate rolling, but when I do… be sure you have to Drop the Die.
Review by JB Little, Follow me on twitter for more “useful” information.

 

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