Wouter & Ymke 
Durchmarsch is a small dice game about moving along a row of numbers, one step at a time, while constantly asking yourself one simple question: do I stop now, or do I roll again?
At first, that doesn’t sound like much. You roll dice, cross off numbers, and try to reach the end of a row before the others. But the fun is in that pause before the next roll, when the safe choice is right there… and then someone at the table says, “Come on, just one more.”
That’s where Durchmarsch works. Not in lots of rules or fancy combos, but in bad advice from friends and the small hope that the dice will behave for once. Every player has their own sheet with four rows of numbers, going from 10 down to 1. You cross them off from left to right. Finish one full row, and you win immediately. If nobody manages to finish a row, the winner is the last player still in the game.
👥 2-4 players, ages 8+
⌛ Playing time: 15 minutes
📝 Designers: Reinhard Staupe
🎨 Artwork: Oliver Freudenreich & Sandra Freudenreich
🏢 Publisher: KENDi (review copy provided)
Gameplay overview
At the start of your turn, you roll all eight dice once. There are no rerolls to fix things. You roll, you look, and that’s it. The dice have spoken, even when they mumble nonsense. At the start of a fresh row, your first target is 10. To cross it off, you need to make exactly 10 by adding two dice together. So a 6 and a 4 works, a 5 and a 5 works, and so on.
If you manage to make the number, you cross it off. Then you decide whether to stop your turn or continue. If you stop, your progress is safe. On your next turn, you continue in the same row at the first number you haven’t crossed off yet, and you start again with all eight dice. So stopping isn’t losing your nerve. Often, it’s just being sensible, which can be harder than it sounds when the whole table is watching you.
If you continue, you put one die aside and roll again with one fewer die. Now you need to make the next number, so after 10 comes 9, then 8, then 7, and so on. You only put aside a maximum of three dice during a turn. That means you never roll fewer than five dice, even if you keep going through the whole row. So the game doesn’t become impossible, but it does become uncomfortable. There’s a difference.
The numbers 10, 9, 8, and 7 always need to be made with exactly two dice. From 6 down to 1, you only need one die showing that exact number. This changes the feel of a turn quite a bit. At first, you’re looking for combinations. Later, you’re staring at the dice and hoping one of them shows the right number. It sounds easier, but when you need a 3 and not a single die wants to be a 3, it suddenly feels very personal.
If you fail to make the number you need, your turn ends with a misthrow. You mark that misthrow on the row you were using, and the dice go to the next player. On your next turn after a misthrow, you move to the row below and start there with all eight dice. If you have made a misthrow in all four rows, you go back to the top row and continue from the first available space there.
A second misthrow in the same row is much worse. That whole row is crossed out, and once all four rows are crossed out, you’re out of the game. The game ends as soon as someone completes one full row. It can happen quickly if someone has a very lucky turn, but usually it takes a few rounds. If everyone keeps failing and rows disappear one by one, then the last player still standing wins.
Artwork, components, and visual design
Durchmarsch comes in a small box with eight orange dice, four pencils, and a pad of player sheets. The game has a bright and simple look, with blue sheets, white number spaces, green highlights, and orange dice. It’s clear on the table, and that matters here because you’re constantly checking which number comes next.
The player sheets are practical. Each sheet has four rows from 10 to 1, with spaces at the side for marking misthrows. You can see your progress quickly, and you can also see when a row is starting to look dangerous.
It’s not a game with lots of art or detail, but it doesn’t really need that. This is a quick dice game. You don’t need a painting of a heroic knight crossing a mountain. You need to know whether you rolled a 4.
Our experience
Durchmarsch got going almost immediately at our table. After one example turn, everyone understood the sheet, the row of numbers, and the stop-or-continue choice. We weren’t passing the rulebook around or checking little exceptions every few minutes. It was more like, “Okay, I need a 10 with two dice, got it, give me the dice.” For a game this small, that was a good start, because it meant we could spend our time rolling and reacting instead of explaining.
The part we enjoyed most was the pause after someone had already crossed off a few numbers. You can almost see the little fight happening in someone’s head. They know stopping is safe, but they also know that one more good roll could bring them closer to the end of the row. Then someone says, “Go on, what could happen?” Usually, something happens. We had people giving terrible advice, laughing at failed rolls, and then acting very innocent afterwards. “I only said you could roll again. I didn’t say the dice would help you.” That kind of table talk did a lot for the game. Without people reacting to each other, I can imagine it becoming a more plain roll-cross-pass experience.
The switch from making 10, 9, 8, and 7 with two dice to needing exact single numbers from 6 down to 1 worked well in our plays. At first, you have plenty of options, because with eight dice there are often several ways to make the number you need. Later, when you just need one exact result, the feeling changes. Five dice can suddenly feel like not enough, especially when all you need is a 3 and the dice decide that 3 is not on the menu today. That made reaching 7 an interesting point. Do you stop and come back next turn with all eight dice, or do you try for 6 right away with fewer dice? Stopping can feel a bit boring when you’re on a good run, but many times it really is the better choice.
The misthrow system gave the rows more weight than I expected. One misthrow in a row is annoying, but you can continue later and still hope to finish it. A second one removes the whole row, and that changes how you look at that part of your sheet. A row with one misthrow starts to feel a little damaged, like a chair you can still sit on but don’t fully trust anymore.
Luck was clearly in charge, and we felt that in a very direct way. Sometimes someone made a reasonable choice and still got punished later. Sometimes someone made a ridiculous choice and somehow walked away smiling. That can be funny, but it can also sting a little if you like feeling more in control. The short turns helped. A failed turn didn’t hang around for long. You fail, you sigh, maybe you blame the dice like a very reasonable adult, and then the next person takes over. It kept the mood light, even when a row disappeared.
Our thoughts
I think Durchmarsch is best understood as a game built almost completely around one question: how much do you trust the next roll? It doesn’t cover that up with powers, bonuses, or extra scoring rules. You make a number, cross it off, and decide whether to risk the next one. I like that it keeps things bare. It makes the game easy to read, but it also means you know quite quickly whether this is your kind of dice game or not.
That’s also the main limit. Once you’ve seen that stop-or-roll choice a few times, there isn’t a hidden layer waiting behind it. You are not building a plan over several turns, and you don’t have ways to fix a bad result. The dice land, and the answer is yes or no. I don’t mind that in a short game, but if you dislike games where luck has the final word, Durchmarsch probably won’t change your mind. The dice are still tiny cubes of betrayal, and they are not interested in your plans.
The choice works better than it might sound, because the sheet makes progress very visible. When the next number is right there, stopping can feel unsatisfying. It’s just one more space. Surely the dice can manage that, right? The game understands that little bit of human impatience very well, and that is probably why the same simple decision keeps pulling people in.
I don’t think Durchmarsch is a game I’d play many times in a row on the same evening. I’d rather play it once, enjoy the bad decisions and little groans, and put it away before it starts to feel flat. For me, it fits best between two longer games, or when people want to play without a rules explanation that becomes an event by itself.
So, who is this for? I’d say Durchmarsch is best for families, casual players, mixed groups, and people who enjoy light dice games where risk is the whole point. Who might not like it? Players who want more control, more variety from play to play, or more direct interaction on the table itself. Go in expecting a quick dice-risk game, not a game where you outthink the dice, and I think it’s much easier to enjoy.
Durchmarsch was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn’t rush everyone to buy it, but I’d happily bring it out again with the right table. It’s light, simple, and the second misthrow rule gives your choices enough consequence to make you care when someone says, “One more roll.” Just remember, that’s not advice. That’s a trap with dice.
📝 We received a copy of the game from KENDi.
