Pair A Dice Games Corner

Dune Imperium

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. Fear will stop me from committing troops to the battle. And in Dune Imperium, you must not fear what will be lost.
A beautiful mix of deckbuilding and worker placement, Dune: Imperium has quickly become one of my favorite board games and a staple on my table. Each player will choose a leader of one of the great houses, giving you access to unique abilities to use throughtout the game. and receives a deck and 2 agents. A round will have card playing, purchasing, and of course combat.

Your turn is a mix of playing cards to allow your workers you go to a space based on symbols and get resources like water, solari (money), recuits for combat, or the most important thing in Dune, spice. Not all spaces are free to go to but the gathering resources will allow you to go to the better spaces.

All of these mechanics blend together very well, making each decision feel impactful and weighty. You always want to do more, gather more resources or commit more soldiers to the conflict, but can’t, forcing you to think about your future turns. This planning gives that Dune feel, trying not to give away where you want to go or why you are retaining resources.

All of the art is inspired by the 2021 Dune movie, so the characters are more familiar that other Dune games and have a more modern art style. Overall, the game is fairly easy to grasp but has a lot of depth and thought that many deck-builders lack. With multiple expansions, multiple leaders for each faction, and a variety of rewards for conflicts, this game has tons of replayability and is a must-have for your shelf.

But much like any deckbuilder, there is buying of new cards, with a small hitch. To purchase new cards, you must revel your hand, ending your worker actions, and generating purchasing power or other resources. This makes what you play mean more impactful, because unlike other deckbuilders, you don’t just play your entire hand. You have to choose what you keep to revel after or commit to fewer workers to garner more purchasing power.

Lastly, each round has a combat, with rewards based on your final “strength” in the combat. This will be the main way to victory points and become the new governor of Dune. Combat is determine by how many soldiers are sent to the battle. This becomes another tactic of deception, very Dune,