Use of a Tiebreaker Die

[Grifter]

The current rule for attacks is that the defender always wins a tie. I suggest to instead use another Tiebreaker Die to determine the outcome of a tie or use a "Coin" for a 50/50 chance at winning. The benefit of a tiebreaker die is that the attacker still has a chance at winning even though it is a slim one.

The tiebreaker die is a standard 1-6 die. In the event of a tie if the value of the tiebreaker die matches the other attacker/defender dice then the attacker wins. If it doesn't match then the defender wins. It still allows for a "Risk" feel to the game while still giving a slight 1 in 6 chance for the attacker to win. If there are no ties then the tiebreaker die is ignored.

For example assume the below dice roles:

Attacker: 5, 4, 1
Defender: 5, 4
Tiebreaker: 5

In this scenario there is a tie for both the 5 dice and the 4. Since the tiebreaker die is a 5 the attacker wins one and the defender wins one. If the tiebreaker die had been a 1, 2, 3, or 6 then the defender would have won both.

The other options (which I am not sure about but I propose this anyway) is a 50/50 coin toss to determine the winner of a tie. This will make the game easier for an attacker and harder for a defender. There will be a lot more victories and a faster game and a lot more turnovers.

I propose to make this a game option "Tiebreaker" with 3 choices:

1. Defender which means the defender always wins. This is the current rule
2. Die which is the tiebreaker die
3. 50/50 which is the coin toss

[killmanic]

The attacker already has the advantage why give them even more?

[blakebowling]

The attacker already has the advantage why give them even more?

exactly, the defender wins ties was a balance from the attacker getting 3 dice

[Inhuman14]

Yeah, the attacker (in my opinion) usually has too much of an advantage, no need to give them more.

[yeti_c]

Negative comments above aside - a very well thought out suggestion...

Would be another option so it would mean the original game continues - Personally can't see it benig adopted - but credit where credit is due - a coherent and well thoughtout suggestion - and TBF could be interesting...

Personally I like the Tiebreaker Die option over 50/50.

(In above example - assume 50/50 coin toss would be done twice for both matching dice?)

C.

[Grifter]

Thanks for the comments. According to the dice probabilities on Wikipedia for a 3 versus 2 dice role the defender has a 30% change of total victory and the attacker has a 37% of total victory. There is a 33% change of one victory each. This is only slightly better for the attacker. A tiebreaker die give the attacker a second chance at winning especially when the defender rolls double sixes. It gives the attacker a somewhat better advantage which makes for a faster game with more turnovers.

For the 50/50 option there would be two "coin" tosses in the event of 2 ties. Just a thought.

I haven't actually tried this on a real board game so not sure how well it works. I have had the experience of attacking a single army 5 times and losing each time or watching in dismay as the defender consistently rolls sixes. Probabilities are funny that way.