It is wild to think that all of the following were released in the same year – Dune: Imperium, Lost Ruins of Arnak, coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Two of these stole my heart – the other b*tch stole f*ck*ng flavor. Anyways, what a time it was! A heyday for sandworms, fantasy expeditions, and horse tranquilizers. Most thought this new era of deck-building hybrids couldn’t get any better. But then Fantasia Games released Stan Kordonsky’s Endless Winter and proved worker-placement, deck-builders were here to stay.
Many chat forums exploded with arguments about which design was built with the DNA of gods. The truth is all three are dope as f*ck and you should play each at least once. But I’m not here to talk about them all – I’ll cover the other two later.
Cause right now I’m only going to review the greatest one.
Dune: Imperium is the dominating head of this mechanism-melding triplet. Not ONLY is every decision important, and not ONLY is the deck-building superior to Arnak and Endless, and not ONLY does it contain in-your-face player interaction, but it’s also the only worker-placement game I’ve ever seen where you c*ck-block yourself as much as you block the opponent. Wanna collect that pile of cocaine-laced spice? Well you should have bought different cards you plebe!
Dune is all about selling drugs to soldiers and hanging out with vagrants – much like the movie. Which, by the way, you don’t even need to watch to fully experience the maddening realization that the only thing f*ck*ng you over is your own G*d d*mn deck.
Gameplay
This section of the blog is longer than usual cause, quite frankly, Dune: Imperium is more complicated than Duke Atreides’ dumb f*ck decision to pluck the Baron from his hover-diaper palace. Anyways, Dune is a worker-placement, deck-building, resource-management game that takes place on Arrakis – the planet nicknamed ‘Dune.’ The game end is triggered once someone accumulates 10 victory points (VP). VP are scored through combat and climbing the four tracks.
ON YOUR TURN you will either discard a card to place a worker (Forfeiting many of the benefits of that card) OR play every card in your hand to gain their benefits (Eliminating the option to place workers that round). The benefits of the cards affect all aspects of the game, but, most importantly, playing them earns you ‘skill’ which is spent to buy new cards for your deck.
HOW TO PLACE A WORKER: There are 7 different “zones” of worker locations (One worker per location). To place a worker, you need to discard a card that show’s the zone’s symbol. This means that when purchasing cards, you need to consider both the card’s effects AND where it will let you place a worker on a future turn. You can build a deck with many powerful cards, but it might limit the locations you can play workers. This relationship between the zones and the deck you build is THE decision making drama of Dune: Imperium.
COMBAT: Combat is waged at the end of every round between the player’s who have bothered to add troops (Different than workers. They are like a separate resource) to the combat zone. Whoever has the most strength earns the reward listed on that round’s conflict card, oftentimes a VP.
CLIMBING TRACKS: The tracks represent your favor with the world’s factions. You climb a faction’s track by placing a worker in one of its two worker locations. The faction locations are some of the best spots in the game – one location allows you to hardcore cull your deck while another sends a horde of troops into the combat zone. All players can gain one VP per track on their own AND a 2nd VP per track is given to whoever is the highest on a track (You receive an alliance trophy to show this). So you don’t just fight for VP during combat – you fight for it during worker-placement as you climb above the others.
You will gain technologies that offer asymmetrical powers, gain/spend resources for game changing benefits, and maybe ride a f*ck*ng sandworm or two (Well, not YOU of course. But your Fremen army will). ALL OF THIS comes down, once again, to the relationship between the cards that make up the deck you’ve built, and which zones they let you use. It is a micromanagement style deck-builder, so if you don’t like agonizing decisions . . . then stay away.
1ST CLAW - A Hard Beginning
A wiseman once mused during his first round of Dune: Imperium “I can’t do f*ck*ng sh*t.” Or maybe that was my friend James. Either way, it is super-duper true. During set-up, you are given a deck of cards sh*ttier than Lynch’s script, a character whose artwork looks like a melting wax statue, and literally one drop of water. Good luck surviving the desert ya sack of sh*t.
You start with five cards in hand and two workers. Of these five cards, you gotta decide which two you will discard to place workers AND which three you will save to buy new cards. Despite how prescribed that sounded, each beginning of Dune: Imperium feels momentous. Like Dominion, you will cycle into those first bought cards real quick. So pick some zones you wanna use, decide which tracks you wanna climb, and chuck soldiers into battle when it’s worth it. Sometimes Steve and Bob gotta die when Aquafina is the reward.
The first claw is your card play in the opening 2 rounds – and how the worker-placement of the other f*ck*ng jerks at the table affect your plans. Life on Arrakis is brutal; it kicks your teeth in during set-up. And I would not trade these difficult decisions for anything. Except maybe for some sweet Bene Jesi-Whats-it powers. I’d totally f*ck*ng knife Jamis myself if I was promised those deep voice lady spells.
2ND CLAW - The Climb Begins
Unlike other deck-builders, cards don’t really combo in Dune. That sh*ts for losers. Sure, it can happen on occasion – Like when Fremen wormriders pair up to wreck Sarduakar lackeys dropped in by the blue player’s Heighliner (You had to be there to witness my greatness). But the cards you buy aren’t meant to combo – they allow you to pivot at certain times, giving you more control. To help explain why a lack of combos is a good thing, here is the dumbest metaphor you’ll hear all day:
You see, the average deck-builder operates like a janky catapult run by dollar-store henchmen. Each henchman only knows their own job, unaware of how the others interact with the piece of sh*t weaponry. However, once in a blue moon, the lackeys will perform their task at the correct time to launch accurately. This is what it’s like waiting for a perfect hand in a combo heavy deck-builder. In Dune, you don’t have to wait for this. And so you will draw a wonderful hand more commonly than in a game like Dominion.
The 2nd claw strikes once you understand which zones your cards will reliably let you activate. You might climb one track much faster than others, or find yourself earning solari for dreadnaughts, OR maybe you’ve raided enough sandworm homes to be the first player to drop an army of spice-filled maniacs onto the field.
The BIGGEST thing you will notice when the 2nd claw strikes is which tracks you’ve quickly ascended. These locations are rich with benefits and theme. The Fremen faction allows you to survive and battle on Arrakis (throw soldiers into the fight and collect water). The Bene-Jennys use dominating magic to control your deck and game (draw the variable Inquisition cards and cull your deck). The Spacing Guild gives you power and foreign soldiers (allows you to use any location in the future and gives you a massive army hopped up on spice). And the emperor’s faction doles out solari to spend (buy another worker and pay for reliable skill to earn more cards).
The 2nd claw lasts for most of the game. Enjoying your deck in most deck-building games takes time; they rely on combos to be effective. Because combat and worker-placement are so pivotal to gaining VP in Dune, your deck does not need too many cards for your chosen strategy, and game-wide tension, to ramp up. Everyone can start doing what they want pretty early on.
THE BITE - Tug of War
The bite of Dune: Imperium strikes on the flip of a level 3 conflict card. One round you’re greeting loved ones with a friendly “LISAN AL GAIB!” the next round you’re sliding down VP tracks like sand at the feet of a Sardaukar holding a thumper. I did not mention this in the gameplay section, but the rewards of combat ramp up – until the spicey level 3 cards offer as much as 3 VP. 3 f*ck*ng VP. In a game where you are shooting for 10 VP, a 3 VP swing is terrifying. One card will eventually bite, and all player’s will feel it.
The game becomes a tug of war. Nay! A tractor pull! A TRACTOR PULL WHERE THE TRACTORS HAVE BEEN EATEN BY WORMS AND NOW IT’S A WORM PULL – anyways, the strongest player shifts as all manipulate the two most direct ways to achieve 10 VP – winning combat and climbing the highest on 4 tracks. Combat explodes as the garrisons are emptied; this round will (probably?) host the final combat. So why hold back? Dreadnaughts, Fremen, Bob and Steve need to flood the battlefields for a VP reward that could EITHER send you over the top, or prevent an enemy from doing so.
Meanwhile, each player sitting atop at least one track will feel the heat as their greedy opponents set their reticles upon the 4 alliance trophies. Rarely is there a track that only one player has been concerned with. Afterall, in a game that ends at 10 VP, 1 point is worth charging after. There is no defense against their climb except to raise your own standing. It is a race and a battle against a ticking clock.
However, no great game is straight forward – all have catches and twists. During the bite of Dune: Imperium, two other ways of scoring VP become necessary to consider. One is through the inquisition cards – A secondary set of cards gained through the Bene Gesserit zone that can offer alternate ways to score. The other option is to buy the ridiculously named “The Spice Must Flow” cards. They are expensive as sh*t … but if your deck has been all about buying cards, this is very much a way to steal the win.
It’s a volatile end to a volatile game as players steal what you have earned when you fail to secure it. Those who have jumped to an early lead could lose their points if they were lazy. From this game’s start to it’s finish, whether you’ve been holding on to first or stuck in last, you will find no time for a breather. One player could drag the winning player down OR you could masterfully steal a faction’s alliance trophy when they attempt to win combat. The bite is indeed a tug of war, but it can feel like a sandworm is dragging you away … lest your deck was built to fight back.
Comparing the Games
If I compared this game to the others I had mentioned earlier, I would describe them like this:
Lost Ruins of Arnak is heaviest in comboing and managing the resources you need to combo.
Endless Winter is the biggest point salad and is heavier in the deck-building than worker placement.
And Dune: Imperium is the most evenly split between worker-placement and deck-building. It sure as sh*t has the most gut-wrenching player interaction of the three.