Posted in: Games, Review, Tabletop | Tagged: dice tray, dice vault, Wyrmwood, Wyrmwood Gaming

Review: Wyrmwood Purpleheart Dice Tray and Dice Vault

Published Sun, 24 Mar 2019 09:40:48 -0500

One of the gaming paraphernalia companies we've really wanted to check out and review some of their products recently has been Wyrmwood Gaming. You've most likely seen Wyrmwood advertised on several of your favorite D&D and Pathfinder streams because people like the quality and look of the products the company produces. We wanted to see it for ourselves, so they kindly sent us a couple of items to check out for review in the form of the Purpleheart Dice Tray and Dice Vault.

We'll start with the Dice Tray, which this specific model is made for a bigger tabletop game. It's a wider base so you have more room to roll dice in as opposed to some of the smaller boxes with higher walls you see some players use. Basically, if you have a big table, this is the model you might want to go with. The tray is divided into two sections, the top is to store your dice so they don't get in the way, which is perfectly sized for one of their Dice Vaults, and the bottom half for the actual rolling.

This particular design uses Peltogyne wood, which gives off the purple hue and coloring of the design. Hence the name given to it, Purpleheart. The main engraving for this piece is the Wyrmwood design on the base, which stands out and reminds you of the people behind it as the company went out of their way to find a quality wood to make this happen.

While the base of the tray isn't anything to write home about, I do like to point out that it has four rubber pegs on the bottom to hold it in place. I've tested this out on a few surfaces and it holds the try in place pretty well so it's not sliding around or getting knocked over. It also makes it so that you're not putting it flat on a surface to get scratched up or damaged on either end. I like that small attention to detail.

The tray itself is a premium oiled leather that was made to take a beating from your dice. You can see here in the photo there's a few little scuff marks and indents from experimenting with metal dice and heavier dice to see how well they roll in the tray. But, the thing to keep in mind here is that there are no breaks int he material, no cuts, no damage that would be considered "beyond repair" or ruin the tray. You'd have to throw something pretty hard at this tray to ruin it. But considering what you're using it for there's just no need to be that violent, so having it made with this leather will help it last for years.

The other piece to the puzzle was the Dice Vault. This vault is made from the same wood as the tray above, specifically designed to fit in that top portion as we discussed. As you can see, it comes engraved with the Wyrmwood logo as well as the company name on the side, just as a friendly reminder.

According to the company's own specs, this can hold "ten polyhedral dice, eight 19mm Casino Dice or more than an entire brick of thirty-six 6mm d6's." As you can see from the picture below, it does indeed hold ten polyhedral dice, perfect for your next D&D or Pathfinder game. It's a little bit of a tight squeeze but it works well to carry whatever you need for your next game.

I love the design of this vault because the top comes with a felt insert to keep the dice secure so they're not bouncing around or possibly scuffing up the others or ruining the inside of the box. The top is held in place by a pair of powerful magnets. They're not so powerful that they'll mess with anything electronic, but powerful enough to keep it in place so that they'll stay secure when moving them around. I will say that it's not so powerful that it will prevent a drop from spilling them, as we tested it a couple times and it did open. But it will withstand being moved around so you're not losing dice in a bag.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this set at the games I played. Wyrmwood knows exactly what they're making and who they're making it for, and the designs are meant to give you enough room to achieve glory to mess up entirely with your own rolls. The hurdle for some will probably be the price. If you're looking at a quality wood like the Purpleheart, the tray will run you $200 and the vault will run you $75. That said, there are cheaper versions that run as low as $75 for a tray and $25 for a vault. Basically, you're paying for quality. Regardless of how you feel about that, these are well made and any craftsman worth his salt will tell you those are pretty fair prices based on the design and wood used.