Dune Imperium - First Impressions
From designer Paul Dennen and publisher Dire Wolf Digital comes another Dune board game. It’s not the 1979 game. It’s not the 2012 Twilight Imperium version of the Frank Herbert universe, published by Fantasy Flight Games. And it’s not the 2019 reimplementation of the 1979 classic.
It’s something new. And shiny.
Using character art from the upcoming film, Dune: Imperium is a fusion of deck-building and worker placement. Players take control of one of the Great Houses and try to conquer the planet and control the spice. With the special abilities from their leader card, the unique composition of their player deck, and the strategic placement of workers around the board, players must outmaneuver and overpower any opposition.
Combat will spark often out in the desert. Allegiances must be forged with the political factions of the Empire. And subtle manipulation must be executed using Intrigue. If you can defeat the other players in combat, create influential alliances with the right factions, and manage the economy of spice and Solari, then you’ll emerge as the clear power on Arrakis.
Let’s look at the 2020 board game and what makes it something worth playing.
What It Does
You will take one of eight Leaders, a starting deck, three Agents, player markers (score, combat, control, and councilor), and cubes. All of these components represent the actions, power, and influence of your Arrakis faction.
From there you will launch a campaign of economic growth, political influence, and military might. Players will employ Agents to different parts of the planet, overseen by the Empire or other powerful factions—the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and the Fremen. Amidst all of the political infighting exists an essential economy of water, spice, and Solari. Water is essential for movement and operations on the desert planet. Spice is the main commodity and directly translates into Solari—the currency of the empire. And Solari is necessary to get anything done with the Landsraad and the High Council.
Your Leader affects the style of play in which you might engage throughout the game. Your deck is the beating heart of your aspirations for power. It will dictate where your Agents can go, what actions they might perform, and what strength you might accrue from new cards. And those Agents are more important than you realize. Not only do they carry out the will of your House. They also block the movements and intentions of other houses on the desert planet.
Other than your House imperative, stamped in iron and blood with the cards you play, make sure to recognize the ongoing military struggle. The desert is hostile, but so are the deployed troops of your opponents. It’s a constant dilemma of whether to commit forces or whether to build and ensure victory on another day.
How It Does It
What mechanics are in play to achieve this sci-fi atmosphere rich in conflict?
We’ve already mentioned the deck-building and the worker-placement. But I haven’t described how they interact with each other. Every space on the board is tied to a particular region. Eight locations on the left side are divided into four political factions. The remaining Arrakis locations are part of three spheres of influence. And each space has a symbol that matches the region it’s in. In order to place a worker there, you must play a card with the matching symbol. Therefore, players must carefully approach how they go about placing workers. There will be some turns where you can’t go to certain regions because you don’t have matching symbols on the cards in your hand. The cards you take to improve your deck must also increase your access to the board, otherwise, you will waste time and resources working around that blind spot in your strategy. It’s a smart integration of the mechanics that feels weighted and meaningful.
Resource management is another facet of the game that players will need to learn and master. Water is scarce, but it’s valuable in gaining spice, which translates into Solari, which buys you valuable actions in certain locations. Finding the right pattern of gaining water, spice, and Solair will help to finance all of your movements. Expend too much of one resource, though, and you’ll be out of balance when trying to achieve a set of actions later on.
Finally, the different Leaders all grant variable powers to be used throughout the game. Each Leader has two characteristics—one is always a passive ability or a one-time bonus and then the other is a persistent action that can be used whenever a player uses the Signet Ring card from their deck. These variable player powers are not game-changing but they can influence and enhance the decisions that a player makes.
Dune: Imperium feels like a well-oiled machine that keeps chugging on. The mechanics all feel meaningful and they integrate with each other seamlessly.
Why You Might Like It
With a 10-point victory (and above if scoring requires), every round of play matters and every move has consequences. That rewards players for their choices and every point on the tracker feels like a tangible step in the right direction. Points aren’t swingy and don’t happen seemingly arbitrarily.
The mechanics mix well together for a satisfying, and relatively fast, gameplay experience. Deck-building will be different every time. Worker placement will be challenging depending on your opponents. And enough variability to keep things… spice-y.
Why You Might Not
If you’re coming to the Dune party because of the deck-building, then rein in the excitement a little bit. This is a trimmed-down deck-building experience. You will be able to modify and improve your deck, but it’s dependent on the cards in the market and the goals of each player that you must keep in check.
The art is somewhat utilitarian and doesn’t inspire much joy or excitement considering many of the games out today. The characters are modeled on the upcoming film and everything is sharp lines and flat colors.
Final Thoughts
This game immediately jumped up the list for me. The tight scoring mechanics reminded me of the heavy strategy games I love. The slim deck-building alongside the faction-specific worker placement. And the tension of competitive play mixed in with all of that.
My wife likes it a lot as well, which is a big plus because it will continue to get to the table.
When this game came out, there were a lot of comparisons between it, Lost Ruins of Arnak, and Endless Winter, though the last game has really only circulated in reviewer circles. No matter which one made it on the top for any list, Dune: Imperium has still been high in the “best of 2020” considerations and discussions. For good reason. What it does, it does really well.
And if you don’t think the components or the art is sumptuous enough for you, then you can look at the deluxe upgrade pack that comes with a bigger box and miniatures for all of the players. I’ve already pre-ordered it because I’m very happy with the gameplay experience. And I have a problem. But we’ll discuss that another time…
If you’re interested, check it out on the Dire Wolf Digital website!
Have you played Dune: Imperium? Or any other deck-building worker-placement game? Are those two mechanics that you really enjoy?
Let us know in the comments and give a recommendation for other games of which to share our first impressions.