HE WHO CONTROLS THE SPICE, CONTROLS THE UNIVERSE! - Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Up until last year, if you'd been around the tabletop scene for any appreciable time you may have heard whispers about the DUNE board game from 1979 by the designers of classic board game COSMIC ENCOUNTER based on Frank Herbert's enormously influential 1965 Science Fiction novel DUNE, which had basically been unavailable since the 1984 David Lynch film adaptation bombed at the box office. People would pay big money for original copies and others would homebrew copies based on the original.
But in 2019, publisher Gale Force 9 finally gave us an affordable reprint, no doubt hoping to cash in on the upcoming 2020 DUNE film from Denis Villeneuve (who gave us the amazing Bladerunner 2049, a sequel no one wanted that was better than anyone could have imagined).
And it's everything you'd have hoped for from an thematic, complicated, inaccessible giant of tabletop gaming. It's not often that I recommend reading at 500+ page novel prior to playing a game but... it will probably help. The same way GAME OF THRONES the board game can still be a decent experience for newbs but is immensely enriched by familiarity with the novels or TV series, so too will you engage easier with DUNE if you're familiar with the setting that spawned these factions and their convoluted powers & interactions.
Below is a basic overview of this Area Control game with Traitors, Variable Faction Powers, Alliances, & Auctions mostly for the Advanced game, which is the only one that matters.
A BEGINNING IS A VERY DELICATE TIME - Princess Irulan Corrino
First off you need to know about The Spice - Spice is the only resource that matters and it will pop up around the board and need to be collected. It will be used to do basically everything, and depending on what action you're taking you'll pay it to the bank (or another player Faction). Amount of Spice you have will be secret information. You can also use it to bribe other players, spice bribes go in front of the bribed player to be collected afterwards and all deals are binding.
Cards from the TRAITOR DECK will be dealt out, 4 to each player, and you select 1 to keep and return the other 3 to the box, except the Harkonnen player who keeps all 4. These TRAITOR cards correspond to the 5 leaders every faction has for use in battle, contributing different amounts of force towards a victory. Revealing the TRAITOR card of the faction using that leader against you in a battle is an immediate, brutally unfair victory that negates the rest of the battle before it begins. The 3 that you return to the box will also be information you have that no one else does.
Every player starts with an amount of Spice and forces on the board dictated by their faction sheet and 1 card from the TREACHERY deck - this is a separate deck from the TRAITOR deck comprised of a wacky variety of cards played mostly in battles but also throughout the game.
You place your matching faction token in the circle around the board near your seat as turn order will proceed
LONG LIVE THE FIGHTERS! - Paul Atreides
Factions: (good luck with this if you're not familiar with source materials)
ATREIDES - The Good Guys (but also kind of Bad), gets access to advance knowledge of available TREACHERY & SPICE cards, and can force opponents to reveal an element of their battle plan. Kwisatz Haderach ability boosts leaders.
HARKONNEN - The Bad Guys, extra TRAITOR cards, extra TREACHERY cards. Can share TRAITORS with Ally, and can capture opposing Leaders if victorious in battle.
EMPEROR - Rule of the Known Universe, paid for TREACHERY cards. Can pay for up to 3 extra revivals of Allied units. Special Sardaukar troop units are worth x2 against all but Fremen.
SPACING GUILD - Cartel controlling space travel, paid for SHIPMENTS, special movement abilities that are shareable, and can draw out the game for a win.
FREMEN - Natives of Arrakis, fearsome warriors. Spice-poor but use it less and more mobile. Doesn't ship from off planet and knows where the Storm will hit next. They also have 3 Fedaykin Death Commando units that are worth x2.
BENE GESSERIT - Master Manipulators, drops untouchable Advisors with other players' Troop Shipments if they choose, flips them to fighters when moving or after SPICE BLOW (&NEXUS) phase before SHIPMENT & MOVEMENT, or Fighters to Advisors when another Faction enters their space. Basically Jedi, can force opponents to play cards into their Battle Plans w/ VOICE ability. Can predict winning faction/round for a special victory steal that is heartrending.
A PROCESS CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD BY STOPPING IT. UNDERSTANDING MUST MOVE WITH THE FLOW OF THE PROCESS, MUST JOIN IT AND FLOW WITH IT. - The First Law of Mentat, quoted by Paul Atreides to Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
Phases: (this will actually go smoother than you think)
STORM - this will affect the board state and player order. The board is in pie slice sections, and the STORM marker moves 1-6 sections based on a card draw from the STORM deck (which the Fremen player will draw the turn before and so have that advance info), wiping out forces & spice present in Sand areas.
Rocky areas & Strongholds protect your forces, but spice will never appear here and you can never SHIP/MOVE in/out/through areas totally within the pie slice where the STORM marker lands for that round. The Fremen player only loses half their forces when affected by the storm & shipping/moving through Storms.
SPICE BLOW (& NEXUS) - Cards drawn from the SPICE deck will direct where Spice appears on the board. If the Shai-Hulud card appears it goes into the previously drawn territory.
It destroys all forces (except Fremen) & Spice present, and there will be a Nexus when all Spice has been placed. The Fremen player can then ride the worm to any sand space on the board and even hop off into an adjacent rock space should they wish. If a 2nd Shai-Hulud card is drawn, the Fremen player can put it where they want on the board, devouring any non-Fremen troops & spice present.
In the NEXUS you can make and/or break Alliances by giving or taking back your Faction Alliance card to/from another player. Allies can support each other with certain abilities throughout the game and the sharing of Spice during BIDDING and SHIPMENT & MOVEMENT phases.
C.H.O.A.M CHARITY - If you ain't got 2 Spice, you take up to 2 Spice. Bene Gesserit player will always get 2 spice now.
BIDDING - Cards from the TREACHERY deck will be drawn for a blind auction, 1 for each faction that hasn't reached their hand limit, up to 6 TREACHERY cards total. The Atreides player gets to look at each immediately before it goes up for bidding in turn order (use this advantage, Muad'Dib!). Players bid Spice to acquire Treachery cards. SPICE FROM WINNING BID IS ALWAYS PAID TO THE Emperor PLAYER.
Hand limits is 4 for everyone except Harkonnen, who has a hand limit of 8 and takes a treachery card from the top of the deck whenever they win one. If you're at your hand limit you
REVIVAL - Players may revive up to 3 forces that had previously been destroyed in battle and removed to the Tleilaxu Axlotl Tanks space. Faction sheets will note how many will be revived for free. The remainder (up to 3 total) must be revived for 3 Spice.
Some Faction Revival abilities can be shared with Allies.
SHIPMENT & MOVEMENT - Atreides player can look at the top of the Spice deck now for some reason. Proceed in Turn order with 1 shipment & 1 movement each. SHIPMENT is from off planet to any space on the board where 2 factions are not already present (ignoring B.G. Advisors); 1 Spice into Strongholds, 2 Spice anywhere else on board. Multiple factions can be present in the middle Polar Sink space and no battles are fought here. The B.G. can deploy 1 of their advisors into the Polar Sink or the target space (as long as their aren't B.G. fighters already there) on another players Shipment.
SHIPMENT PAYMENTS ARE PAID TO THE Spacing Guild, who can also take this turn in any order they wish, and ships for half-price with special shipment options (shared with Ally).
Movement is however many of your forces present in 1 space to 1 adjacent space UNLESS you're the Fremen who move 2 spaces, or have forces currently in Carthag or Arrakeen strongholds (not B.G. Advisors who don't count for control/spice collection, etc.), which have 'Thopters and give you a range of 3 instead.
Are you confused yet? Good.
BATTLE - Whew. Here we go. Battles are resolved in turn order wherever there are 2 factions present on the board. Remember all of the losing faction's units will be removed, along with however many forces you committed to the battle.
Every faction has 5 leaders (round tokens which fit into a cutout on the Battle Wheel) that count for a certain amount of force, I believe ranging 2-6. The leader will slot into the Combat Wheel where you select how much force value from your troops present that you wish to commit at the same time as the other player.
Treachery cards can be played, but only 1 of each type.
It's best to consider the battle between leaders, with the # of troops as a bonus you select and this makes battles very interesting. It's 1 spice per unit to get it to count to full strength, otherwise it is worth half it's value. It is possible for a player with a huge stack of units to cheese it with a low-value leader and not enough force committed, and thus be wiped out by a single unit with a high-value leader and maybe some good treachery cards helping out.
The Fremen player doesn't pay Spice for their committed force.
IF ON REVEAL OF THE BATTLE PLAN YOU CALL 'TREACHERY' AND REVEAL THE MATCHING TRAITOR CARD TO THE OPPOSING LEADER, YOU WIN AND WIPE THEM OUT WITHOUT RESOLVED THE REST OF THE BATTLE. This will make battling Harkonnens and their ally a bit scarier.
This phase is often breathtakingly edge-of-your-seat exciting and horribly disappointing for the loser.
SPICE COLLECTION - If you have units present in sand spaces with spice, you collect 2 Spice per unit UNLESS you have forces in Carthag and/or Arrakeen, in which case you get 3 per unit.
You also get free spice just for having units in Carthag/Arrakeen/Tuek's Sietch. Yeah, it's like that.
You're gonna need that Spice though, because as you've seen by now, you used it for everything.
MENTAT PAUSE - Did someone win yet? (Faction controls 3 strongholds or a Faction Alliance controls 4 strongholds). "Control" means you're the only faction there, ignoring Bene Gesserit Advisors.
If you won, but the Bene Gesserit player predicted your faction would win in this particular round, they simply win instead of you. I know you just spent hours playing the game but try not to cry, as they do not give water to the dead on Arrakis.
This all goes on until the end of the 10th round, where if no one has won yet then the Spacing Guild wins automatically. Or the Fremen may win instead if their conditions for forces occupying certain strongholds are met.
I MUST NOT FEAR. FEAR IS THE MIND-KILLER. FEAR IS THE LITTLE-DEATH THAT BRINGS TOTAL OBLITERATION - from the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear
Typing all that out was almost as exhausting as playing this game for hours as you probably will, and if you're an inexperienced player of games wary of fiddly rules, know then that this game is a whole dang orchestral Strings section blasting theme into your face.
DUNE one of the best experiences in gaming for some of us, and a mountain best not attempted by the rest. I look forward to many plays.
