Dune

Originally Posted 12/21/23

the box art for the board game Dune, featuring sand and a giant sand worm

Brief Overview

Quick Overview

I just want to clarify I am talking about the Gale Force Nine version of the Dune board game. There's an older version, as well as Dune Imperium, but I haven't played either of those.

Dune is based on the book Dune by Frank Herbert. Honestly a phenomenal book to read and I highly recommend it. The board game plays very similarly to the vibe of the story. You will play as one of six factions (in the base game) and your goal is to control at least 3 strongholds on the planet of Dune. Throughout the game, you'll be moving troops, fighting over resources and territories, and making deals with other players. I'll be going into detail below about the game and how it's played, however if you'd prefer these are some videos I watched that helped me understand how the game is played:

Also, the rulebook for Dune is available online for free here if you'd like to look through that.

In Depth Review

Faction Overview

In the base game of Dune, there are 6 factions players can choose from, each with different set of abilities. I'll be going over their general vibes below for the regular game. There is an advanced game which I have not quite played yet, but typically give each faction additional abilities:

  1. The Atreides (A-tray-a-deez)- The main faction in the book, this faction in the game has a lot going for them. They can look ahead for where spice (currency) will show up on the board, they can ask someone a question about their battle plan (more about this below), and they can take notes on anything card related. No one else may take notes about the cards in the game.
  2. The Bene Gesserit (Bene is like Penne but with a B; Jess-er-it)- This faction can make a prediction at the beginning of the game of who will win, and on what turn. If that player does win, on that turn, the Bene Gesserit win instead. Whenever another faction brings troops on planet, they get to bring 1 troop on planet for free. Lastly, they can command a player to do something in regards to battle, and that player has to comply if they are able.
  3. The Emperor- In the base game, these guys don't have much. When treachery cards are bought (more detail below), the money goes to the Emperor rather than the bank. The Emperor still pays the bank.
  4. The Fremen (fre-men)- These are Dune natives. They are the poorest faction, however do not have to pay for their units to arrive on planet (within a certain part of the board). They can also move further than other factions, and their units are not destroyed when a giant sandworm shows up. They also have a special victory condition if the game lasts until the end of 10 turns.
  5. The Spacing Guild- These guys are in charge of getting people on or off planets. Anytime someone ships in units, instead of paying the bank they pay the Spacing Guild. The Spacing Guild also gets half price shipping for their own units (which gets paid to the bank), and have additional shipping options available to them. They also have a special victory condition if the game lasts until the end of 10 turns, and the Fremen's special victory condition has not been met (I believe).
  6. The Harkonnen (hark-oh-nen)- This faction excels at deceit. At the beginning of the game they get to keep all traitor cards rather than 1. They may also hold up to 8 treachery cards, rather than the normal limit of 4. Whenever they buy a treachery card, they get an additional one for free from the top of the deck.

Note:As I mentioned before, these factions are not very balanced. According to this post, the win rates are as follows (with the Advanced Game rules). The reason this does not add to 100% is that Alliances are possible in the game:

The Gameplay Overview

Once factions are picked, and you've setup the board, it's time to play the game. The game has 9 different phases that you go through each round. The game ends at the end of 10 rounds.

  1. Storm Phase- The storm is moved around the map following the arrows on the board. Any troops or spice caught in the path of the storm are destroyed, unless in a stronghold or dark colored space. On a regular turn, the last two people to fight pick a number between 1 and 3 on the battle wheel, and reveal simultaneously. You add the numbers together, and that's how far the storm moves. On the first turn, the two players closest to where the storm starts picks a number between 0 and 20. You add up the numbers, and the storm moves that far around the board. If I remember correctly, it is 18 sectors to go around the entire board. During this first move nothing is destroyed. Nothing can move in, out, or cross the sector the storm is on. Whoever the storm is approaching next is considered the First Player.
  2. Spice Blow and Nexus- You reveal the top card of the Spice Blow deck, and it will tell you where and how much spice shows up on the board. Spice is the primary currency of the game, and this is the primary way to get it. The other ways to get it would be the Spacing Guilds or Emperors abilities, or making a deal. There is a chance that a worm shows up during this phase. If that happens, it shows up wherever the previous spice showed up, and destroys everyone (other than Fremen) on that space, as well as all the spice. This triggers a nexus, where you're able to create or end alliances. If you create an alliance, you and your partner must control 4 strongholds to win, rather than 3.
  3. Choam Charity- If a player has less than 2 spice, they can receive spice from the bank to bring their total up to 2.
  4. Bidding- In this phase you bid on treachery cards. In general, treachery cards are attacks, defenses, worthless, cheap heroes, or specialty cards. One card is pulled from the deck and placed face down on the table per player who can bid (has less than max hand size and has money). Whoever is first player can start the bid on the first face down card, and then the bid continues counter clockwise until no one is left bidding on the card. Players do not know what type of card they are going to get, other than Atreides. Once someone wins the bid, they can then pick up and look at the card. Atreides gets to look at each card before it is bid on. The next person to the right of first player then starts the bidding on the second card, and this continues until there are no cards left to bid on. If everyone decides to pass, and not bid on a card, the bidding phase is over, even if there are cards left to bid on.
  5. Revival- If you've lost troops, you can revive up to 3 of them during this phase. Each faction has a different amount they can revive for free, the rest they need to pay for, up to a maximum of 3 revives total.
  6. Shipment and Movement- In this game you have to ship first and then move. Shipping is bringing units off planet onto planet, and moving is moving them around on the planet. It costs 1 spice per unit to ship into a stronghold, 2 spice per unit to ship anywhere else on the planet. You can only ship one group of units onto the planet per turn. During movement, you can move any group of units up to one space. The Fremens units can move 2 spaces, and if you control certain strongholds you can move up to 3 spaces. You can only move one group of units per turn.
  7. Battles- During this phase any space that has 2 factions on it has those two factions fight. Whoever would be considered first player is the aggressor in the fight. If the aggressor has multiple fights to fight, they get to choose which one they fight first. They also win ties. During battle you have to make a couple of decisions secretly:
    1. How Many Troops to Use- you can use up to as many troops as you have on the location. You will lose this amount of troops no matter if you win or lose the fight. If you lose the fight, you lose all of the troops on that space. So, for example, if you have 10 units on a square and choose to fight with all 10 and win, you will still lose all of your troops.
    2. Which leader to use- Each faction has 5 (I believe) different leader tokens to use in battle. They are worth different amounts (other than the Bene Gesserits), and add to the total combat power in the fight. If you have a cheap hero, you can play them instead. They are worth 0 combat power, but it keeps you from potentially losing a valuable leader.
    3. Which Attack/ Defense cards to use- There are two different types of attack and defense cards- poison and projectile. A poison defense blocks a poison attack, and same with projectile. If you play an attack, and your opponent does not have the correct defense, their leader immediately dies. You can also use worthless cards here instead of an attack or defense card, to get them out of your hand. The notable exception is the Lasgun. There is one of these in the deck and if someone plays that into a projectile shield, an explosion goes off killing everyone in the fight. You can only play one attack and one defense per fight.
    4. Note:There are a lot of little rules here with fighting, and I strongly recommend using the rulebook to help figure out fights. One thing to keep in mind is that if you kill an enemy leader, you get spice equal to their worth. Also, this is where one of Atreides and the Bene Gesserit's powers come into play.
  8. Spice Collection- If you have troops on a location with spice, you are able to pick up 2 spice per unit you have on that space. If you control certain strongholds, you can pick up 3 spice per unit.
  9. Mentat Pause Phase - This phase is basically to just check the board and see if anyone has won

And then, assuming no one has won, play continues!

A quick note about making deals with players: Deals are binding. You must hold up your end of a deal as long as you're able to do so. Because of this, you typically want to try and either be hyper specific with a deal you're making, or vague if you want wiggle room. An example from a game I played with some friends:

This was one of Friend 1's first time playing, which is one of the only reasons I stepped in. But what Friend 1 had meant was "I'll refund you half the shipping cost on your next shipment." So yeah, being precise on what you want is important in this game. Or, preying on people who aren't thinking as well and making your deals vague.

Conclusion

This is one of those games that really takes you playing it once or twice to understand what's happening. The biggest draw of this game, for me, is the negotiation aspect and trying to figure out what to do. Also, pretty much no matter who you are, fighting is costly and so you almost don't want to fight if you can avoid it. I haven't played the advanced rule set yet, however I'm dying to give it a try as it adds some really interesting mechanics to all of the factions.

Like I said before, this game is my current favorite and I think there's a lot of fun to be had with it, once you understand how to play and understand all the rules (or lack of rules). There's been a handful of things I google about how the rules would say to do something and it's basically left ambiguous on purpose.

I'd definitely recommend watching some YouTube videos of people playing Dune to give you some ideas on what can be negotiated for. It's definitely opened my mind up at least to think "Oh, I never even considered that could be a deal I make". Overall, I'm super happy I found this game and I have been enjoying the hell out of it. The hardest part is finding enough people free at the same time to play it.