Posted in: Board Games, Games, Review, Tabletop | Tagged: dice, dice carrier, DogMight, rolling tray, Vampire the Masquerade

Review: DogMight Dice Carriers and Rolling Tray for Vampire: The Masquerade

Published Wed, 21 Nov 2018 12:40:30 -0600

by Gavin Sheehan

Last updated Wed, 21 Nov 2018 13:00:26 -0600

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A couple of weeks ago, we got a few awesome items in the mail from geeky woodwork crafters DogMight for the revised version of Vampire: The Masquerade. The company sent us a rolling tray as well as a couple of dice carriers for us to check out. We carried these over to a couple of games and tried them out to see how well they do the job.

We'll start with the tray, which was described to us as being made of African Wenge with copper eyelets and lacquered re-bar. The look of this box feels like it should be carrying old-school doctor's supplies, it feels that detailed and rustic. The detail of the wood and the leather mesh at the bottom is well made, and gives it a slight creep vibe to it that fits the game. It's the kind of tray that if someone walked into a room coveting it, I might be a little wary of what's inside.

The re-bar are three clean pieces that have been lacquered to give a bit of a rust feel. They fit through the eyelets fine and have three small magnets inside the box that holds them in place to create separators inside the box. These are a clever design and use of an item that many may not think to use in this kind of display, but they work here.

The base of the box has the same detail and finish, with four corner pieces holding it in place to not dent or scratch anything up. Just in case you might have a small bit of paranoia about the box damaging anything on a tabletop. It is a little heavy considering the wood and materials, so best to set it down carefully on whatever surface you're using.

As far as rolling in the tray goes, this is about as fair of a surface as I could get. I wasn't rolling straight 20's and 12's in here, but it took every kind of dice I had from metal to plastic and rolled them fair without any imbalances or cocked dice rolls. If anything, the bottom has been designed so that it eliminates a lot of the possible cocked dice you might end up rolling. This particular tray, based on the design, will run you about $100.

Next, we got a couple of Dice Carriers specifically for Vampire: The Masquerade. The two that we received is the African Wenge with the Ankh clan symbol inlay in Maple, while on the right we have the Red Heart with the Nosferatu clan symbol inlay in Maple. Both of these designs are made so that if you want to rep a specific clan, you have that option. The design of these is great because they look and feel like miniature old coffins, which is badass to think about as you carry them into your game.

These both have the same leather mesh at the bottom as the tray, giving you the added benefit of having something to roll your dice in if you choose, but they're also here to protect your dice as they roll around in the case. A big item I need to point out is that these have some mighty powerful magnets being used to keep the cases shut. They work fine to secure them, but they're so powerful, they may mess with some of your electronics. Great security, but keep your phone away from them.

While these were made specifically to be used in Vampire and carry dice from that game, you can see I can fit a regular set of dice in here with no issue. The only downside to this is that there's no form fitting spots inside the cases, so if you have metal dice like the ones I have here, having them freely roam around in the case may get the scratched up if they're constantly rubbing against each other. Beyond that, you have the possibility of fitting in many more dice before closing the lid, meaning you could toss in enough for 2-4 more people if you wanted to.

Overall, these trays work really well for what they need to do, and the design work on them is spectacular for the game. These will also run you around $100 a piece. As far as we're concerned, DogMight did some great work on these, but we do recognize the prices might be a tad high for some people. These are for the truly dedicated to the game they're designed for, and if you play Vampire a lot, they're a great investment to use and have around the table at games. But if you're a casual gamer, maybe find one of the cheaper sets on their site.