Dune Board Game (2019) First Impressions

Dune is a board game based on the classic book.

Well, it’s based on a 44-year-old board game based on a 58-year-old book.

Imagine you can control the forces of a noble family, guild, or religious order on a barren planet which is the only source for the most valuable substance in the known universe.

Imagine you can rewrite the script for one of the most famous science fiction books of all time. Welcome to the acclaimed 40-year-old board game which allows you to recreate the incredible world of Frank Herbert’s DUNE.

Dune Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

There is a board which has different regions on the table. A round is played over 9 phases:

1 – The Storm moves around the outside of the board, killing units in the sections of the board it moves past/to that aren’t in cover.

2 – Cards are flipped to place Spice in certain areas of the boards. Sandworms can be drawn which will kill any units in the area instead. Players can also choose to make or break alliances in this step.

3 – Choam charity gives players that have fewer than 2 spice tokens, 2 spice.

4 – Players bid on cards that can be used in future stages of the game.

5 – Players get some previously killed units back into their supply and can pay spice to get more.

6 – Players can pay spice to ship units onto the board and move them about.

7 – Players in the same region will fight by selecting a hidden number of units in that area, plus a leader token. Players can also use cards to attack and defend.

8 – Units in a region with spice now gain spice.

9 – This is where you can find a winner

How do you win?

If one player controls 3 strongholds in phase 9 they win. If an alliance controls 4 strongholds the alliance wins.

Main Mechanisms

The main way to win is area control by getting those strongholds. There is also a bit of auctioning and take-that in the gameplay.

Each faction has its own abilities which count as the ‘variable player powers’ mechanisms if you count that.

USP

The original version of this game was released in 1979 so it’s tough to say the 2019 version is unique in any way.

Theme

I don’t know much about Dune other than having seen two films.

But each faction had its own thematic ability which makes sense in the context of the game.

Setup

Lots of bits! But it looks like one of those games that if put away well, it can be set up very easily.

Components & Artwork

Very standard. It doesn’t look like they’ve come far 40 years since the initial release.

The art is bang average and minimal too.

Ease of Teaching

Not great. Players have a player screen and a faction rule sheet and in no place did they bother to put rules round-up or phase overview.

I wouldn’t want to teach this at all.

Similar Games

I’ll save that for the negative section below.

Dune Review

Positives

The faction powers made the game quite interesting. As the Emporer, any Spice other players pay for cards during the auction phase came to me.

Negatives

If I wanted tokens to fight on a board I’ll play the much more fun Small World.

If I want to play a Dune board game I’ll play Dune: Imperium.

It lasted 3+ hours and felt like 10. Looks like there is another new version based on the 2021 film that is only 60 minutes which sounds much better.

2 players including myself won in a faction, the Bene Gesserit predicted the winner correctly so also won. So 3+ hours and 75% of the players won.

It’s really uninteresting which was not helped by having a slight head cold while playing.

I don’t like the IP.

Dune Summary

Never again, unless it’s the newer new version.

Jesta ThaRogue