First in our Avalon Hill game series this month, come learn this 2-6 player game based on the novel.
Game description:
Set thousands of years in the future, Dune the boardgame is based on the Frank Herbert novels about an arid planet at the heart of the human space empire's political machinations.
Designed by the creators at Eon of Cosmic Encounter fame, some contend that the game can best be described as Cosmic Encounter set within the Dune universe, but the two games bear little in common in the actual mechanics or goals; they're just both set in space. Like Cosmic Encounter, it is a game that generates a lot of player interaction through negotiation and bluffing, but that can be said of numerous unrelated games.
Players each take the role of one of the factions attempting to control Dune. Each faction has special powers that overlook certain rules in the game. Each turn players move about the map attempting to pick up valuable spice while dealing with giant sandworms, deadly storms, and other players' military forces. A delicate political balance is formed amongst the factions to prevent any one side from becoming too strong. When a challenge is made in a territory, combat takes the form of hidden bids with additional treachery cards to further the uncertainty.
The game concludes when one faction (or two allied factions) is able to control a certain number of strongholds on the planet.
Avalon Hill Complexity rating - 3
Comments
DUNE
I will be there....RSVP 1
RSVP
I will be there to play for sure. Let the spice flow!
RSVP
I'd better sign up ahead of time for this one.
RSVP
Save a spot for me!
Bene Gesserit emerge victorious!
We wound up having an epic seven player game that lasted five and a half hours. It was a bloody, bloody mess as factions continuously disappeared completely from the map only to re-emerge stronger and more resilient later. Sand worms appeared and alliances formed - The Fremen working with the Bene Gesserit, the Emperor and Harkonnen, and the Landsraat and The Guild. Each of the Alliances were on the verge of victory at one time or the other but ultimately it was the Emperor and Harkonnen who controlled four of the five strongholds at the end of round 9...only to be foiled by the Bene Gesserit's pre-game prediction, which identified the Harkonnen winning in Round 9. Thanks to the bit of good fortune, the Bene Gesserit came out on top!
DUNE~
I had a great time watching this game unfold! This seems like a simple game, but once the Bene Gesserit are playing, quite a few questions arise as to the "how's" and "when's" of their special abilities. I think everyone was gracious in allowing us to take the time to get the right rulings on things.
We used Vaca's 2003 DUNE Tournament rule book almost exclusively which is very thorough and had enough information to handle just about every situation, EXCEPT one thing I was not anticipating, adding an additional faction that is usually only used in GRAND DUNE. I was very glad I had thrown into my box the Landsraad, Ixians, and Bene Tleilax; these were additional factions added by the General magazine.
We ended up using the Landsraad which if I must use again I will probably allow only the basic version shown in the General mag. and not the advanced version which seemed to be a bit too strong. As it was, the Lansraad became a decent early check on the power of the Emperor, but even so were wiped from the map on turn 4 or 5 by a large battle in Habbanyah Ridge.
I was happy to see the Fremen finally get to ride a worm in the game on a double worm card flip during the spice round. I was also surprised by how few units remained on the map by turn 9; part of this was due to the fact that both nukes went off in earlier rounds, the lasgun/shield nuke, and more importantly, the Family Atomics, which blew the Shield wall around turn 5 or 6 causing Arrakeen and Carthag (the most important game strongholds) to both be vulnerable to sandstorms (which quickly wiped the armies in both shortly thereafter).
Great fun! -- I hope to do this again at Spielbound in a few months, our new limit will be 5 to 9 players, 5 is a decent play and 9 is full blown GRAND DUNE, which I will refamiliarize myself with shortly. As it was, we played partial GRAND DUNE on Saturday.