Bang! The Dice Game

Today's game review is of the 2013 release, Bang! The Dice Game.  For 3-8 players, it takes 15 minutes.

Overview
In the wild west, you are a sheriff, deputy, outlaw, or renegade.  Your goal depends on your role:
- sheriff: eliminate all outlaws and renegade(s)
- outlaw: eliminate the sheriff
- deputy: help and protect the sheriff
- renegade: be the last character in play

At the start of the game, each player is given a role card (kept secret except for the sheriff) and a character card (which grants a special and unique ability to each player and is visible to all).  Your character determines how much life you start the game with (represented by bullets).  Your goal (in general) is to eliminate other players based on their role.  Since you know only your role and the sheriff's, pay close attention to what other players are doing.  Once a person is eliminated (has 0 life), they reveal their role and sit out the rest of the game.

Simplified Gameplay
On your turn, roll 5 dice (the faces of which are described below).  You then re-roll some (or all) of them up to two times (see below for exceptions).  After your third roll, resolve the dice and play passes clockwise.

The dice faces, as paraphrased from the rulebook:
1. Indian arrow: take one arrow token immediately (not at the end of your turn) from the arrow pool.  You can re-roll.  If you take the last arrow in the pool, Indians attack and each player loses one life for each arrow in front of him.  After an attack, all players discard their arrows and re-form the arrow pool.

2. Dynamite: cannot be re-rolled.  If you roll three or more, you cannot re-roll and you lose one life (then resolve any other dice you may have).

3. Bull's Eye "1": choose a player next to you (right or left) to lose one life.

4. Bull's Eye "2": choose a player exactly two spaces away from you (right or left) to lose one life.

5. Beer: choose any player to gain one life.

6. Gatling: if you roll three ore more, each of the other players loses one life point.  Discard all of your arrows.

A game in progress; image from here

Review
Another fun, fast-playing game, this is a winner.  It's better than its card game cousin, Bang!, because it is faster to play and more streamlined.  A party game, this isn't one for deep strategy- but it's a nice change of pace, and rare in that it's better with more (I recommend 5-8) players.

Rating: A