Happy Father’s Day! This year, the kids got me the Folded Space insert for Dune Imperium, after I enjoyed the insert for Outer Rim so much!
The insert only holds the base game, plus Rise of Ix, along with the deluxe upgrade components. I had seen videos where some folks have been able to fit the Immortality expansion instead of the deluxe components, though, which is perfect for me! As I don’t have those upgrades, but I do have the third expansion to fit in there somewhere!
It’s a bit different to the Outer Rim insert, in that there are a lot more small trays, rather than being larger, multi-compartment trays.
I’d been looking forward to getting this, not just because of the fact they make storage so much neater, but Dune Imperium is one of those games that feels like it takes so long to set up, because of all the bags of pieces, and so on. Having these trays will, I hope, really make things a lot easier, plus they can help to keep the table tidy while playing!
It’s so pretty!!
There is a minor problem in that this thing is now, well, very full. There is the latest expansion, Bloodline, which I’m not sure how I would store… hmm…
Hey everybody, May has been and gone with some really decent weather here in this little corner of the UK, which doesn’t happen all that often, so is definitely worth the mention! We’re currently in the midst of some home improvements, so the house has been a bit of a building site for the back end of the month, but hopefully it’ll all be worthwhile in the end!
I think Star Wars has once again taken over the blog for the month of May, though of course with Star Wars Day taking place early on, it usually sets the tone! There have been two big things this month, though: the conclusion to Andor season two, and the fact that I seem to be getting back into Star Wars Unlimited!
I was very impressed with Andor, as seems to be the majority opinion online. The series has been fantastic, and has really helped to show the everyday of Star Wars but under the oppression of the Empire. The phrase “Star Wars for grown-ups” has been bandied about rather a lot, and I think the tone of the discourse has unfortunately been heading a bit too divisive, as if folks will reject anything that doesn’t match up in the future. While I would agree that we need to have some quality writing on future projects, I don’t think everything needs to match the same adult tone and dark/gritty feel. This isn’t Warhammer 40k, after all. I think I have been a bit disappointed by the fact that folks seems to think Star Wars shouldn’t have Jedi as well, which to me seems a bit strange because even the original trilogy had that stuff. I suppose my worry is that the loudest voices usually win, and while Andor is an excellent spy thriller telling the early formation of the actual Rebel Alliance, I think it’s ultimately wrong to reject the science-fantasy that the original three movies are. Star Wars doesn’t need to be dark to be good, you know?
That was a bit of a tirade, wasn’t it…
Star Wars Unlimited is about a year old now, I think, with the fourth set having launched back in April. Over the May 4th weekend, I dug out the cards that I had for the game and went through them again to see what I’d been missing, and have ended up getting really quite invested in it. I’ve been buying some more cards, and have been watching videos and reading articles about it, and finally I’ve started my own ongoing series here on the blog, Thursday Unlimited, to try to confine my waffle to just one day of posts, otherwise I think it could have taken over!
It does seem to be a really great game, at any rate. I have a thriving community at my local games store, so I’m hoping to get in some real games there in the coming weeks and months, and see what all the fuss has been about. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to start competing at events, of course, but you never know…
Shatterpoint has had some glorious games as well this month, as I have completed my goal of ten games by the end of the year! This was helped by managing to get five games in alone this month! I’d been planning to play some Rebels lists, but for the time being I think I’m trying to dedicate myself to the Separatist cause. I’ve really been enjoying Asajj and Dooku, even with the updated character cards messing a little with my plans there! I don’t often win games of Shatterpoint, as I play a wide variety of lists that can themselves be called “janky” at best. However, I’ve decided to try to concentrate on learning a list, developing some of my own ideas into what will hopefully be positive play patterns. I’m pleased to say that I got my first victory in a long time last week, as well – which is remarkable not only for playing on Never Tell Me The Odds, which is not my favourite mission to play, but also I was playing into Vader Jedi Hunter and new Inquisitors!
I’m extremely tempted to get myself some Inquisitors now, though!
It hasn’t been all Star Wars, of course, as I’ve also made a return to playing Lord of the Rings LCG, trying to go back to my roots a bit with the game, and just sit back and enjoy it. There was a time when this was my all-time favourite game, a sentiment that continued for a long time after I stopped playing it quite so often. I’m not entirely sure where I’m intending to take this, as I could see myself either sticking with the early quests, or finally making good on my intention to play a completely new (to me) cycle. At any rate, I have stopped feeling so guilty for just playing Mirkwood scenarios.
As well as Lord of the Rings LCG, I’d picked up Agents of SHIELD for Marvel Champions LCG a while ago, but last weekend finally got round to getting it all sleeved up ready for some games! I have heard some tremendously good things about this expansion, not just in terms of how good the Maria Hill deck is, so I’m excited to see it for myself. I’ve seen some first impressions that rank it very highly, which is very encouraging.
I was also able to get a couple of book reviews banged out for stuff I had read earlier in the year. Chapterhouse Dune was finished in February or March, but I just couldn’t seem to find the words to sum that one up. It was a very strange book, and in terms of Frank Herbert’s original six Chronicles, it’s possibly the weakest of them all. It hasn’t put me off, though, and I continue to enjoy the board game. I’ve even got the audiobook of Hunters of Dune, Brian Herbert’s continuation of his father’s series with Kevin J Anderson (of Jedi Academy fame). I have heard poor to dreadful reviews of this pair writing in the Dune universe, but I want to see what it’s all about for myself. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily the best idea to go straight to Dune 7, as Brian and Kev wrote about a dozen or more “prequels” in the 90s before finally getting Frank’s notes about his own ideas for how to continue the story. I’m sure it won’t be too long before I get round to this, though, so stay tuned for that.
While I’ve stepped back from Warhammer 40k as a plastic hobby, I’m still reading the books, and yesterday my review for Blades of Damocles went up. This is part of Phil Kelly’s Farsight series, although the book itself is marketed as a Space Marines Battles book, so has an upsettingly-high dose of the super soldiers. I’m one of the folks who likes how Phil Kelly writes Tau, though, so I did enjoy this one. There’s still plenty of Black Library novels in my collection, too, so I’m sure I’m not done with the grim darkness of the far future…
For all that, though, I think I’m still pretty firmly entrenched in Star Wars for the time being! I’ve been re-reading Tim Zahn’s original Thrawn trilogy for the last couple of weeks, and it has been nothing short of glorious, if I’m honest. As we look ahead to the summer, I think there’s going to be plenty more Star Wars content coming here, though there is another game looming on the horizon…
Well, folks, we made it. I’ve been reading the Dune series of novels with Dave over at Wordaholics Anonymous for what feels like years now, and finally concluded with Chapterhouse Dune early in March. I’ve wanted to get this review done for a while, but I just couldn’t seem to find the right words, though I understand from the eminent Mr Bookstooge that this is a common theme for the sixth book in the series.
Chapterhouse Dune picks up the story from Heretics of Dune quite soon after, no massive time leaps this time. The Bene Gesserit, under the leadership of Darwi Odrade, have fled to Chapterhouse, their hidden stronghold planet, with a sandworm from Rakis, and a no-ship full of prisoners. The latest ghola of Duncan Idaho and the Honored Matre, Murbella, have been busy making more children, while Odrade formulates her plan to make Murbella into a Reverand Mother.
The Honored Matres have been conquering the Old Empire, and have successfully wiped out the Bene Tleilax, leaving Scytale, also prisoner on Chapterhouse, as the only surviving Tleilaxu master. Scytale shares the secrets of producing gholas with the Bene Gesserit, and the first one off the line is a ghola of Miles Teg. He is eventually imprinted by Sheeana in order to awaken his memory, at which point he is able to take charge of the Bene Gesserit defences against the Honored Matres. Odrade then travels to the planet Junction to meet with the Great Honored Matre, while Teg leads an assault on the planet Gammu. The Great Honored Matre is betrayed by her assistant Logno, though it soon dawns on the Bene Gesserit that they have fallen into a trap, and Teg arrives to find most of their forces killed, including Odrade.
Enter Murbella, who has survived the spice agony to become a Reverand Mother. She pretends to still be an Honored Matre, but uses the blend of skills she has now learned to kill Logno and assume command of the Honored Matres, fulfilling Odrade’s plan to reunite the Bene Gesserit and the Honored Matres – the Matres being Sisters who had gone astray during the Scattering. Unfortunately, Duncan and Sheeana are having none of this, and flee in the no-ship with a sandworm and Scytale.
In many ways, those three paragraphs don’t do the story justice, but in some other ways, I can’t believe a book of nearly 500 pages was drawn out to the extent that it was. For a lot of those pages, we have something of an inner monologue from Odrade where she seems to go back and forth over how to best deal with the Honored Matres. Which is mildly infuriating when you consider there’s a story about Honored Matres wiping out planets, conquering the galaxy, and what they’re fleeing from. In what I’m coming to see as true Herbert fashion, the book is principally a long reflection, followed by a couple of pages that gloss over the main action that everything is building to. In some ways, this one reminded me of God Emperor of Dune, though without a lot of the mysticism in there. Odrade is the central figure in the same way that Leto II was in that book, and we have a long, long series of conversations and interviews and I’m not sure where the book is going, then suddenly it’s all over and everyone is dead.
If I’m honest, I’m not sure what I make of Chapterhouse Dune. I realise that writing a review more than two months after I’ve finished reading the book is not a smart move, but I’m slightly bemused by the whole thing now, as I was then. The big issue, I suppose, is how the book is clearly building towards at least one more book, the fabled Dune 7, with Duncan and Sheeana escaping in the no-ship but what happens next? Will Murbella try to track him down? It seems her Bene Gesserit training had taught her to not be so reliant on him, but what’s next for all of these folks?
Herbert died the year after the book was published, and in 2006 his son Brian teamed up with Kevin J Anderson to write Hunters of Dune, followed by Sandworms of Dune in 2007. Ostensibly, these books were written based on Frank’s notes for Dune 7, but I love how the Wikipedia page states “evidence for these notes has never been provided by Brian Herbert”. While their reception by fans of the Dune books is hardly 5-stars positive, as indeed is the library of prequel books the two have written, I am kinda interested in reading the two follow-on books, if for no other reason than my own curiosity.
At any rate, Chapterhouse Dune has the somewhat unfortunate position of seeming to be the middle book in a second trilogy, and I suppose it’s one of those literary Things, that has a book series like Dune essentially incomplete. While it doesn’t really affect my overall opinion of the series, it is nevertheless unfortunate that it ends like this, and the final image from the series is a pair of randos pruning a rose bush…
As Dave said in his review, I’m sure I’ll read these books again, as this was very much a blind read-through, but I’ll probably need a couple of years before I set myself to that gargantuan task!
I’ve been a huge fan of the Dune Imperium game since I got it for Christmas in 2023, and while I’ve been trying to pace myself in terms of expansions, only getting Rise of Ix last month, I couldn’t help myself when I noticed Immortality had gone down to £26 on Amazon. I’ve played Ix about five or six times now, and it has really made me want to play the game a lot more, as a result.
Immortality comes with a graft mechanic, which I’m not entirely sure about just yet, but it does involve another sideboard, and specific cards at least. The expansion is notable for being quite small, otherwise, and I think the only other thing worth mentioning is the ‘family atomics’ rule that lets you blow up the market once per game, clearing out the current cards. It’s an aspect of deckbuilding games that is often overlooked in core sets, I think, where there’s no mechanism to keep things moving, nobody wants to buy what’s there, and you end up needing house rules to clear things out.
I’m not trying to sound like I’m down on this expansion, of course, especially when I haven’t even played it yet! I think I might go for a couple more games with Ix, then I’ll give this a try. Look out for the inevitable review post sometime around Easter then!
The latest expansion is Bloodlines, which works with both the original game, and the re-imagined Uprising. I don’t have that, and im hearing mixed opinions on whether it’s worth it to get Bloodlines as a result. But it is me, so…
In addition to expanding my Dune collection, I also picked up the expansion to Outer Rim, which might seem a bit premature, as I only got that for Christmas last year! However, the game is pretty good, so I have no regrets buying it now. In part, I think it was motivated by the fact that one of the expansions for Arkham Horror has been unavailable for a while, but when it does come back into stock, it’s been more expensive than the base game. I don’t want to miss out, so let the FOMO get the better of me a little!
I’ve played the game three or four times since I got it, so a review post will be coming soon. These things tend to go in cycles, and I think Star Wars is creeping back up onto the radar for me. So I imagine it’ll be hitting the table hard soon!!
Hey everybody, Dune Imperium really blew me away when I had it for Christmas back in 2023. The blending of deck-building and worker placement was something I had personally never seen before, and as I was really enjoying my discovery of the Dune universe at the time, it was an absolute delight. It’s also a game that has been recognised by many for the brilliant design, and is rightly counted in so many top ten lists that abound online. There have been two expansions for the game, along with a reimplementation of it, and a third expansion (that works for this and the re-implementation) has recently come out as well. However, whereas in the past I would probably play with a game once, and if I liked it in any way, I would immediately jump on all of the expansions at once, I have been trying with Dune Imperium to slow my pace a bit, and take my time to really dive into the game and experience it for what it is, before then expanding it. I waited just over a year before picking up the Rise of Ix expansion earlier in January, and while I had initially thought this review would be a couple of months away, I have been so impressed by the new content that I have been playing it a lot already.
So, let’s just get this out of the way here: Rise of Ix is an amazing addition to the game.
In so many ways, this is what I would call a classic board game expansion, as it offers a few tweaks on the gameplay, a few new ideas to mix things up, and a healthy dollop of more of the same content as was in the core set. The overall package is extremely good, and I am very happy with it. So let’s take a look at the box.
The new thing is the Ix sideboard. This is a small board that has two additional spaces on it, accessed by the green pentagram icon. Ix is all about technology, of course, and so the board also has three spaces on which to place stacks of tech tiles. These tiles are bought through spice, so it does make spice acquisition more important than just for selling to CHOAM for solari, as in the base game. If you can’t afford to buy tech, though, you can instead deploy one of your soldier cubes to the tech negotiation space, which will allow you to accrue a discount for the number of negotiators you have. Obviously, this ties up your cubes so you may not have the strength to win conflicts, but it’s a balance that can potentially pay off, long term.
These tiles will give you all manner of bonuses, such as combat bonuses or bonuses for winning conflicts. There’s one that gives you victory points for having at least three influence across all four of the tracks. They are a fascinating mix of effects, and while I don’t know if I would call them game-breaking necessarily, they do sometimes make things a lot easier. I suppose they help to speed things along, because you’re no longer reliant on your cards alone for getting effects during the game, but with 18 of them available, I do wonder if that may be a bit too many.
One of the spaces on the Ix board allows you to gain a Dreadnought, which is a new wooden meeple that is deployed to your garrison and can be moved to a conflict where it counts as 3 strength. This alone is quite good, of course, but when conflict resolves, they don’t go back to your supply, but instead return to the garrison, from where you can deploy them again later. If you win the conflict, however, you must deploy a Dreadnought to one of the three board spaces that have a control marker – Arakeen, Carthag, or the Imperial Basin. You then control that space for the next round, even if someone else’s marker was there that turn. At the end of the next turn, it goes into your garrison and can be redeployed thereafter. It’s a good balance to ensure someone with a Dreadnought doesn’t deploy it to every conflict, as if they win it can only be deployed to every other conflict instead. But even so, the fact that it never returns to the supply, meaning it’s effectively always available, can be very powerful indeed!
Finally, there is a new board overlay for the top of the original game board, which includes a smaller area for the Landsraad and a shipping track that replaces the original CHOAM area. This shipping track involves a new token to represent your freighter (it’s the same cylinder that is used to track points and high council seats), and a new icon present on cards etc lets you move that marker up the track, or recall your freighter to claim the rewards. There are three spaces, with the first one giving you five solari (and each opponent one solari) or two spice; the next gives you two troops and one influence on any of the tracks, and the third lets you acquire a tech tile with a discount of 2 spice. You don’t gain these benefits when you go up, only when you recall your freighter, so it can be a long-term strategy if the cards aren’t with you, however it can be very powerful to gain five solari (even if your opponents are also benefiting here).
It’s another moving part, but it’s an interesting take on things for more experienced players, I guess!
In addition to these new bits and pieces, there six new leaders to play, more intrigue and conflict cards, and 35 more Imperium cards for purchase throughout the game. For the solo game, there are more House Hagal cards to allow the rivals to interact with the shipping track and Ix board, as well. So we have plenty of components to increase the base game experience, though the expansion isn’t truly modular as you’d need to weed out most of these additional components if you weren’t using the Ix board or shipping track. While I do like modular expansions, I think it’s nice sometimes to have a very distinct game experience such as this one, essentially a box that is designed to work well together.
Some of the new Imperium cards have new mechanics, as well. There is an icon for discarding the card for a benefit, which is quite nice to see, and there is an “unload” icon that will allow you to gain a benefit from the card if you either discard it, or you trash it. So there may be a card that says you can discard it, in order to gain the benefit of trashing another card – you can then trash a card with the unload icon to then gain a benefit as you trash it. If you don’t use the unload ability, though, you will still gain the benefits during the reveal step. I suppose unload is a mechanic that opens up the choice of when you want to gain those benefits, anyway.
The other new mechanic on the Imperium cards is Infiltration, which is a half-agent icon seen on the deployment icons on some cards. This will let you deploy an agent to the relevant space, regardless of whether an opponent’s agent is already there. You can’t infiltrate a space you control already, so no double-tapping here, but it does open up the board a bit more, which can be difficult to manage – I’m glad there aren’t many of these cards, if I’m honest. One of the best mechanics of games like Dune Imperium is how you effectively block an opponent by placing your worker in a space, forcing them to change their tactics. It has led to some very tense moments where I’ve been playing this, only for a rival agent to go to the very space I needed in order to complete my strategy! If I could still go there anyway, it can sometimes feel a bit like the stakes were too low.
The box also gives some ideas on tweaking the game, especially for solo, which feels a bit tacked-on, though I suppose it’s good to have an official variant all the same. There is also Epic Game Mode where you play to 12 victory points, you only use level 2 and level 3 conflict cards, and you replace one of the Dune starting cards with a Control the Spice card that gives you different abilities, including the ability to pay spice to trash cards and gain troops. Seems vey interesting, though I haven’t given that one a try yet.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this expansion. At first glance, the new components do seem like they are very powerful, such as the tech tiles and the Dreadnoughts, and I was a bit concerned at first that the new leaders were perhaps stronger than the core set leaders. However, I think the power level of the game overall is just somewhat higher, which I think is partially due to a desire to keep the game moving faster than the core set sometimes allowed. I’ve played it about half a dozen times since I got it, and have been very impressed with the new offerings. It does still feel balanced in that you can ignore the tech tiles and shipping track if you want to, and you won’t necessarily result in a crushing defeat. There are only 13 Imperium cards that include the new stuff, including Infiltration, so it’s not a massive amount.
It’s just been a really great addition to the core set, and there’s a part of me that wonders if I would actually ever split things out, or should I just keep everything mixed in together? Well, I suppose I will be splitting it out again soon, as I plan to get the next expansion, Immortality, to see what that one is all about as well! But I think Rise of Ix complements and extends the core game, without being something that improves upon it to the point where I’d never want to play the core game again.
The fifth book in the Dune series takes place 1500 years after the last one. After the tyrannical rule of Leto II, humanity has spread out among the stars in the Scattering, but now they’re beginning to return from the outer reaches of the universe. The balance of power has shifted, of course, and the Bene Gesserit have once more risen in power and influence, after being almost sidelined under Leto. The Bene Tleilax have been able to manufacture spice in their axolotl tanks (the same tanks where they grow their gholas), while the Ixian technocrats have gained their slice of the pie thanks to their no-ships, capable to transporting folks between planets without the need for Guild Navigators.
The bulk of the novel shows the Bene Gesserit attempts to bind a new Duncan Idaho ghola to their service, though they use their old Supreme Bashar, Miles Teg, to train him. Teg awakens Duncan’s memories before the Bene Gesserit imprinter, Lucilla, is able to dominate his loyalty, so the plan there is somewhat thwarted. The group is eventually captured by the Honored Matres, a new power that has emerged from the Scattering, and somewhat comparable to the Bene Gesserit, although a bit more feral. Their torture of Miles brings about an increased level of power to his already considerable mentat capabilities, while the Honored Matre Murbella, while attempting to sexually dominate Duncan, is herself dominated when the ghola is able to use a hidden Tleilaxu ability that fully restores the shared memories of all the previous Duncans.
Meanwhile, on Arrakis – now known as Rakis – the sandworms have returned. The religion of Leto is threatened when a girl emerges from the sands, able to control the sandworms in some way. Sheeana effectively supplants the priesthood, and draws the attention of the Bene Gesserit Reverand Mother Superior, Taraza, who attempts to gain control of her. The plan is to breed her with Duncan, though Taraza’s ultimate plans are to destroy Rakis entirely. Taraza is killed, leading to Reverand Mother Darwi Odrade becoming the de facto leader of the Sisterhood. She flees Rakis with Sheeana on a sandworm when Miles Teg shows up, his new powers allowing him to find their shielded no-ship and escape together.
Prior to reading the Dune series, I’d heard that the first book is excellent, and the second is somewhat required reading to finish off some of those plot threads. Book three is a bit weird, but still okay, while book four is a bit of a beast. But most people seem to suggest you stop at three or, at most, four, because books five and six are so weird as to be almost incomprehensible. Personally, I don’t really understand that, because I think book five is possibly the most enjoyable book since the original Dune.
Now, this estimation does overlook somewhat the extremely abrupt nature of the ending, and the way that the last 2-3 chapters feel like there are huge chunks of action missing from them. There are also some very strange parts where I feel like we’re not being told the full story. The whole thing with the Honored Matres seems a bit off, somehow – we’re told that they’re a huge threat, but in the couple of places where they crop up, they just seem like bullies who the Bene Gesserit, who seem to be the protagonists in this book, would have no problem manipulating? Unless the threat is that the Sisterhood cannot manipulate them, because they are another matriarchal society? I dunno, I just didn’t seem to buy that.
From what I can gather, Heretics of Dune is somewhat infamous for its, erm, explicit scene with Duncan and Murbella, which goes into a level of detail that I’m not entirely sure is required! But this book came out in 1984 (it’s as old as me!) so I guess the excesses of the 80s might have come into play here.
For all that, though, it is a very interesting book. I particularly enjoyed the contrast to the last one; while not as much time has passed since the last book, the universe has definitely moved on, which shows how Leto had been suppressing humanity up to that point, I guess. Planets have had their names changed, which makes the universe feel different. I really liked how the focus has shifted, and while the Bene Gesserit do feel like the main players here, we also get to see the “filthy Tleilaxu” and how they fit into things. It’s funny that they’re still producing Duncan Idaho gholas after all these millennia, he was clearly a popular model for them.
I’m a big lover of political stories, especially when they’re done well, and I think Heretics of Dune gives a great payoff for readers who have followed this series up to this point. Getting to see how the Bene Gesserit have fallen only to rise again, while seeing the ascendancy of Ix (without really getting to meet them) and how their use of technology has gone against the prohibitions of the Butlerian Jihad, it’s all kinda fascinating. The Tleilaxu have been slowly increasing in importance as well, and I really appreciate seeing that through-line from Dune: Messiah when they’re first mentioned. I’m not sure there was ever a mystery that needed answering about the Tleilaxu and their process for making gholas, but we get the answer here all the same.
Miles Teg is a very interesting character, and I really enjoyed his storyline with Lucilla and Duncan, and then when he is tortured and makes his escape on Gammu (Giedi Prime). There’s the sense of a disaster movie to this plotline – actually, it reminded me more of a zombie movie in the way they escape to a bunker, and they’re not sure what is happening out in the world. The tension was great, and I think for this plotline alone I could say the book is worth reading!
Heretics of Dune is definitely not as muddy as I think I had been led to believe. It’s a shame it ends as abruptly as it does, because with just 50 more pages or so, it could have been the best book in the series since the original. I’m reading the series with Dave, and we’re about poised to take on the finale of the original series soon. I’m not sure whether I’ll read any more afterwards, but I have been tempted, if only to see whether the other books are as bad as everyone says they are…
Last year, on Boxing Day, I unwrapped this beauty for my first game, playing as Paul Atreides against the AI, and despite getting a few things wrong, to my detriment, I was able to somehow claim a victory. Twelve months on, I decided I’d take this out for another spin, coincidentally playing once again as Paul, and when I came to log the play, I realised how things had lined up!
It was also my tenth game with Dune Imperium. Just ten games, in a whole year! Well, I suppose it hasn’t been the most game-tastic year, in some respects.
I really like Dune Imperium, at any rate, and I’m planning to pick up one of the expansions in the new year, as I’m keen to see what else is on offer for this one.
After getting myself the most recent wave of releases for Marvel Champions for my birthday and Christmas, I’ve also spent some time getting the whole lot sleeved up and ready for hitting the table, again in the new year, most likely. Looking briefly at these decks as I was getting them sleeved, there does seem to be a lot of interesting stuff going on in this wave. It is, of course, the last of the mutant waves, so we’ve got a few more reprints of cards like the Power Of cards, with mutant artwork, meaning we’re able to build these sorts of decks with appropriate art if we so wish!
I’ve heard lots of good stuff about the latest crop of heroes, so I look forward to trying them out, anyway!
I still need to get round to Outer Rim, of course – I was thinking I would give it a try this evening, as it happens, but the ongoing pain with my tooth put me off the idea of trying it out. As much as I did play it once already, it’s kinda like a new game, after all! I think I’ll leave that for another time, then.
Also as per tradition, my wife and I exchanged book gifts as part of a Jolabokaflod thing we’ve been doing for a number of years now. We’re not Icelandic, but it’s such a nice thing to do, so why not? Well, she’s finished hers already, more because it wasn’t a great book and she just wanted to power through! I’ve been on The Living Force, which is a new-ish book that involves all of the Episode I-era Jedi Council, and while it should be at least interesting, I’m 150pp in and I’m kinda bored. With 250pp to go, I guess there’s still room for it to pick up, though, right?
Anyway, it’s been an otherwise pleasant Boxing Day, but I’m hoping against hope that I can get in to see a dentist tomorrow! I’m missing out on so much seasonal gluttony right now..!
You may not know this, but by day I’m a health and safety officer, and winter planning has been high on the agenda for a couple of months already. However, it really serves to put me in a cosy mindset of planning for some quality winter gaming, as the nights draw in and we start to get all festive. While colleagues are arranging for boiler surveys to ensure the heating system will work as planned, and checking on the supply chain to make sure car parks will be gritted until early March, I’ve been thinking about which games I want to make sure I can get to the table for maximum festive fun!
I seem to have been in a bit of a lull with Arkham Horror LCG recently. After some exciting plans at the start of the year, I’ve barely touched the game, though those decks have remained built up for months. Well, I’ve dismantled them all now, and have decided to once more head to Antarctica for Edge of the Earth. I’ve only played this campaign once before, way back in 2022, and I seem to recall that I just rushed my way through in the end to get it finished. This time, I’ve got two decks that hopefully lean a bit more into the theme of it all, and I’m hoping to have a bit more fun along the way. I haven’t played since July, so I’m very much looking forward to this!
James and I have been talking a lot about Shatterpoint once again, and we’ve arranged a game day for early December, three weeks today in fact. I’ve got a week off, so to celebrate our wives have let us loose for the day! We’re heading to a local store for a day of Shatterpoint, and the intention is to have almost a mini-tournament between us: light vs dark. The idea is that we’ll play a light-side themed list, a dark-side themed list, then anything goes as a kind of capstone to a great year of gaming. I’m still in two minds about the dark-side list, as there are almost too many fun options there, but my light-side team is going to be entirely new-to-me units themed around the Battle of Endor. I did want to go all-Ewok, but I think this blend of Rebels and murder-bears should be fun. I’m very excited, at any rate, and I’m hoping to start painting the Ewok support units soon, as they’re kinda still in sub-assembly.
I’m also hoping to get some games in with Marvel Champions as the year draws to a close. This game is a strong contender for “most played ever”, I’m just drawn to it time and again. I haven’t played as often this year, either, but I’ve been drawing up a list of a few scenarios and heroes that I want to try out, so we’ll see how far I get there. I have my eye on a few of the more difficult scenarios that have never been played, such as Hela, as well as those that I’ve only touched maybe once, like Kang. Additionally, I’ve got a three-player international game lined up later this month, and have built a new justice deck for Captain Marvel that I took out for a spin this week. She’s a great hero that seems to do well in every aspect I’ve played her so far, so that was great.
Dune Imperium has recently made a return to my gaming nights in a fairly big way, perhaps because I’m currently reading Heretics of Dune alongside Dave. I absolutely love this game, though as with Arkham and Marvel, it had also fallen by the wayside for most of the year. I’ve had some great games recently, and have begun to think about whether I need an expansion for it. Rise of Ix seems to be the accepted wisdom, and I’m probably going to look into that in the new year. For now, though, it’s great to keep exploring the core game, and seeing just how tense it can become!
Finally, the Star Wars LCG is still a big draw for me, and I’ve been really enjoying playing games with decks built from cards up to the Rogue Squadron cycle. I think I’ve said it before, but that cycle was the first one that felt like a proper cycle expansion for the game, as we got a lot of exciting new cards to build around. It’s great seeing the Empire or Rebel strategies that centre on dogfighting come alive, as each side swarms the table with starfighters. I’ve had some truly epic games, and I’m hopeful that will continue as the year draws to a close.
Of course, I’m also looking forward to yet more Star Wars games, as mentioned in this week’s Star Wars Sunday post. Outer Rim is on my Christmas list, of course, and the deckbuilding game has now been delivered, so there’s going to be a lot more fun as I delve into these, for sure! I’m sure others, like Lord of the Rings LCG, will also make an appearance between now and new year, but I’ve been very excited to get some firm plans in place for these games!
Hey everybody, This summer, I’ve continued my reading of the Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert, accompanied by Dave from Wordaholics Anonymous, and with the guiding hand of the inimicable Mr Bookstooge, who has a not insignificant history with Herbert’s universe. We read the third book earlier in the year, but this fourth book was approached with a bit of trepidation given the fact it is a big, chunky book. As it happens, I got it on audible and was able to listen to it slightly faster than normal speed, but it still took me the month of June to ‘read’ it!
It is 3500 years since the events of Children of Dune, when Leto II Atreides ascended to the throne, and Leto is now some kind of hybrid of man and sandworm. As a result of the terraforming of Arrakis, the sandworms have all died out, due to their aversion to water, though a small patch of sand is maintained against the possible reversal of this work. With no sandworms, of course, there’s no spice, so with Leto in control of the remaining supply, his control over the universe is absolute. He has used his power and influence to almost reverse the technological advancement of humanity, with many enclaves almost living in medieval conditions.
Leto has been carefully curating bloodlines through a series of planned breeding programs that appear to rival the Bene Gesserit. The subject of one such breeding plan, Siona, the daughter of Leto’s majordomo Moneo, has become the leader of a resistance against Leto’s despotic rule. However, when Leto takes her into the desert to test her, Siona awakens to the necessity of his Golden Path, but also she becomes aware of Leto’s vulnerability to water during a freak rainstorm.
When he meets the ambassador from Ix, Hwi Noree, Leto becomes enamoured and, despite his massive sandworm form, he proposes to marry her, and she agrees. Hwi, however, also becomes enamoured with the latest ghola of Duncan Idaho, and the two end up in bed together. Leto nevertheless continues with his plans to marry her, and during the wedding procession, Siona leads an attack on the God Emperor’s entourage that destroys a bridge crossing a river, plunging Leto’s cart into the water and prompting the sandtrout that formed parts of his body to disperse from his body. The remnants burn on the shore, and with his dying breath Leto tells Siona that she has now freed humanity from the pervasive influence of oracles. The death of the God Emperor prompts the diaspora of humans across the universe once more.
Found this online, don’t know where it’s from, but what a face!!
This book is definitely weird. Children of Dune got weird at times, but this book is definitely more so. The actual plot is pretty slight, if I’m being honest, and the majority of the book is a series of interviews with Leto, for the most part, with later parts involving just conversations with two characters, rarely three. I believe this might be due to the fact that Herbert had originally structured the book in the first person from Leto’s point of view. There is a lot of ‘show, don’t tell’ around the time lapse between the last book and this one, helped along in part by the presence of the ghola of Duncan. He navigates the world around him, and we learn how things have changed through his eyes.
It surprised me, initially, how little the world seemed to have moved on. 3500 years is a long time, after all, and it’s like comparing the reign of Queen Hatshepsut in Ancient Egypt, or the high bronze age in Europe, with today. I guess this is the product of Leto’s tyrannical rule, with ‘absolute power corrupting absolutely’, and all the rest of it. Leto’s control of his subjects is such that he is able to determine who will breed with whom, and how they will live, keeping them in a state that he thinks is the best for them all.
I struggled to decide whether Herbert meant for Leto to be right or not. As we know from the last book, Leto has the accumulated knowledge of all history, thanks to his links to Paul Muad’Dib, and so is able to discern the patterns of history as well as having the prescient knowledge of his ‘golden path’ that will lead humanity to a brighter future. Is Leto a necessary evil, then? His micro-management of people seems repellent, yet he is completely set on the fact that ‘this is the way’.
All that aside, I continue to feel a bit frustrated at times that we can’t delve into the wider universe, and see what’s going on elsewhere. I got really excited in Dune Messiah when we had the conspiracy with the Navigators and whatnot, as it felt like the world was blowing up for us. But four books in, and Arrakis is still the centre of the universe. At least it feels like it is supposed to be the centre of the universe, unlike its derivative, Tatooine.
On this note, we’re told that the Ixians are in the process of developing navigational computers that will make the Navigator’s Guild obsolete, but if Arrakis had seen the sandtrout disappear at the end of Children of Dune, the spice would have dried up at this point. I feel like the necessity of a replacement for the Navigators would have manifested before this – I mean, Ix does seem to be operating somewhat outside of the purview of the God Emperor? From my knowledge of the Dune Imperium boardgame, I’m sort-of aware of names like Ix and Tleilaxu, but here they’re just dangled before us like window-dressing. I hope we get to see some more of that before Herbert’s run with the series ends.
As it stands, we seem to now be poised on the brink of Duncan and Seiona taking over the Empire, so it’ll be interesting to see where Heretics of Dune takes us!
Hey everybody, Normally, when I get a new game, I will excitedly have a play-through with it, and then come rushing to the blog to write up my first thoughts on it all. And then, most likely, it goes on the pile and will come out every few months, if the inclination is there. For years now, I’ve found myself in this cycle of buying games but playing with them infrequently at best. That is, of course, when I buy new games at all. I buy expansions for games, more packs for the card games I like, but not really wholly new board games. Anyway, for Dune Imperium, I thought I’d go down a different route. I had the game for Christmas, but have been playing with it quite regularly before deciding to give my views on how it all works out.
TL;DR: it’s a really great game.
Dune Imperium blends worker placement with deckbuilding in a way that I had not really encountered before, but which I have since learnt is done in a few other games. The way that the game blends the two is quite wonderful though. You have to play cards in order to place your workers, so you can’t just automatically go somewhere – which is great, as it means you don’t get locked out because you’re going last. If none of your opponents has the icon on a card to send their worker to a spot, then it’s wide open. This is where a lot of the tension comes in, of course, but it seems so much more fair than other games, where you can end up having some rough rounds because you’re left with the less than exciting slots.
The game takes place over ten rounds, as marked by the ten conflict cards in the starting deck (more in a bit). The object of the game is to get to ten victory points, or to have the most victory points at the end of round 10. You get to play as a persona from the Dune universe, whether that’s Paul Atreides himself, or someone from the expanded universe of Dune like Count Ilban Richese. Each character has a passive ability, such as Paul getting to look at the top card of a deck, and a signet ability, which is triggered when you play your signet ring card.
Each player has the same starting deck of ten cards, as per usual for deck building games, and these cards have icons on the left hand side, which indicate where you can deploy your agents to. There are eight areas on the board, denoted by these icons, and each area has at least two spaces that you can place an agent.
I’ve played a fair few worker placement games in my time, and I quite like this implementation. It’s one thing to have that choice of where to go, but to have it limited by the cards you’re buying and playing is quite nice, and has led to some real tension – I mean, if you’re limited to just two or three areas, then you decide which spaces you want/can get to, only for an opponent to go there… It’s not so much a feel-bad, it’s just a great way to create that kind of tension that makes games like this great to play.
There is also a tension that comes into play when you need to decide how to use the cards you have. Your cards are used either to play your agents, as described, or you can hold them back for the reveal step – this is when you buy more cards. The currency of the game is persuasion, denoted by numbers in blue diamonds. Confusingly, though, there is also an in-universe currency used, solari (grey circles), as well as the spice (orange hexes) and water (blue droplets). These currencies are mostly used to pay for getting access to board spaces – some spaces don’t need anything, but the better spaces usually require some form of payment as well as playing the card to send your agent there. One of these spaces will give you a third agent, though at the cost of 8 solari. So you not only need a card that will let you play your agent to the area, but also the money to pay for occupying the space as well.
Of course, it’s not just about buying cards and playing agents. There is a conflict step, where your wooden cubes come into play. Some of the spaces you can occupy will give you troops, which allows you to place a number of cubes indicated by the space into your garrison – an area of the board defined by a circle. If you’re playing an agent to a space that also includes the crossed-swords icon, you can then move up to two soldiers from your garrison into the conflict directly, plus any soldiers you bought that turn. These soldiers are worth two strength in the conflict, but some cards will have a single sword icon on them as well, which allows you to increase your strength by 1 per icon. Additionally, some spaces will let you draw an intrigue card, which are the mini-cards and can have sword icons to let you boost your strength, or they might have bonus effects for when you win a conflict. Whoever counts the most strength wins, and all the soldiers in the conflict then go back to your pool (not the garrison). The person who won then gains the benefit described on the conflict card, such as more spice, solari, or victory points.
Conflict isn’t the only way to gain these victory points though, as there are influence tracks up the left hand side of the board, for four factions within the game – Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Spacer’s Guild, and the Emperor. When you play an agent to one of the spaces in a faction, you gain the benefit of that space but you also go up the influence track there. When you’ve gone up twice, you get a victory point. When you reach the fourth space, you gain an alliance with that faction and take the marker to show this – and you get another victory point. Following this path of faction influence and alliance will only get you eight victory points of course, so you do need to try and win those conflicts as well! However, there is a 9-cost card, The Spice Must Flow, which will net you a victory point when you grab it, so if you find yourself with the Persuasion to buy it, it’s worth getting.
For all that, though, victory points can be hard to come by, which means you’re usually allowed to build up your strategy – get the spice to sell to CHOAM for solari; use solari to get the third worker; get soldiers into your garrison so you can win the conflicts, etc. I’ve not really seen much in the way of engine-building in the way that you sometimes get in Dominion – there are spaces to let you draw cards, but I don’t think there are many big turns to be had in this game. It’s a very tactical, but somehow more subdued game overall. I don’t think you’ll see the sort of explosive fun that games of Lords of Waterdeep often have!
But I really love it, all the same. I mean, it really is fun, and when you see those strategies paying off, it can be tremendous. I managed to win my first game by the freak accident of having ended up with too much solari, so when it came to a tie break, I happened to win. But you can plan for those sort of long-game pay-offs. The conflict deck is built so that the final cards have a lot of victory points, meaning it is entirely possible to come from behind and get 3-4 victory points on a single turn. You can strategise so that you only win the conflicts where victory points are up for grabs, and you can ignore those ones where there are only solari or spice available to the victor. Or grab the Sardaukar cards that let you surprise-deploy troops directly into the conflict and win.
I only became aware of this game after I had read Stidjen Plays Solo’s blog post about it. I was actually reading the book at the time, which is what put it on my radar, I suppose. I was excited about the blended mechanics, but I spent a good three months off/on researching it, and paid particular attention to the negative reviews to see whether it was worthwhile getting. Now, a lot of people don’t like the fact that you can be locked out of spaces when it’s not your turn to go first, or if you’ve not drawn the right cards to let you deploy. A lot of people don’t like the fact that there’s no inherent way to clear the card market to let you find the “good” cards. None of that was a problem for me, in the end, so I started to look at the positive reviews, and people who like this game really like it. And I think I’m now one of those people, too. I had it for Christmas and played it on Boxing Day night, in a game that took about two hours to get through, constantly flipping through the rulebook and so on. But my second game shocked me by not needing the rulebook at all. I did get a few things wrong, it seemed, but only insofar as I was making the game harder for myself (no starting water/troops in garrisons). I’m really surprised how quickly I’ve been able to understand the rules for this game, and can play it without referring to them all the time. Whether that’s because I play a lot of games, or because they’re actually really straightforward to understand, I don’t know. But this is definitely one of those games where I think the complexity comes from the decisions you can make in the game, and not because the rules are labyrinthine to understand.
I think that’s one of the more fascinating aspects of Dune Imperium, though. A lot of talk about board games references depth vs complexity, and when it comes to this game, I think it definitely leans heavily into the depth side of things. On the face of it, the most complex part of understanding this game is the iconography. Once you understand what all the symbols mean, it is actually quite straightforward.
The symbols on the left show where you can deploy your agents; the symbols in the grey box are benefits you get when you play the card to deploy the agent; the symbols on the bottom come into effect during the reveal step. Conflict is probably the most complex area, at least it was for me, but only insofar as how and when you can deploy troops to that conflict. Counting strength and resolution is very straightforward. The depth, though, comes from working out how to structure your turns, and how to best react once your opponent has scuppered your plans and taken a space you were kinda banking on. I really like this about games in general, where they don’t rely on their rules or mechanics to give complexity, but rather there is a complexity of decision-making involved.
Now, the game is for 1-4 players, but if you’re playing solo or two-player, there is a separate deck of cards used to simulate other players, the House Hagal deck. You play your own turn as normal, but the House Hagal deck sends the agents of the other players to random locations and gives them different benefits to those printed on the board. So it’s not easy for you to play against, as they’re still tying up the board spaces, and still playing troops into conflicts. I have actually lost games against the AI because it simulates the game well enough. The only snag, I suppose, is that the AI players don’t buy cards, so you won’t be competing to buy them as well – I’ve seen some suggestions from players to wipe the market each round, or to roll a d6 and remove cards at random, but that’s probably the one area the solo game falls down a bit. Otherwise, the solo mode is a fantastic way to allow for the game to be played, and I suppose was crucial because the game came out in 2020 when we were all being told to keep away from others! But it doesn’t feel tacked-on, even if it was, which I definitely appreciate.
I’m not currently sure if this game would be something that would automatically appeal to fans of the Dune books. This is mainly because I’ve only read as far as the third book, and so I don’t know if I could say the setting is really all about the conflict, like Star Wars or something. Sure, there’s the fighting at the end of the first book, but I don’t really equate that with the conflict as it is shown here. I suppose you can abstract it, and talk about political conflict etc, but the way it plays, it doesn’t quite feel like I’m in that universe. But that’s entirely possibly because I’m not as familiar with the setting as perhaps I should be. As a game, it is remarkable though, and the experience of playing it is something I really enjoy. There is an upgrade set available, that replaced the wooden tokens with miniatures, but I don’t think this is the sort of game I would want that for. I think the euro-style of it helps to give it that kind of abstract nature that lets you imagine you’re vying for political power, not martial prowess, which is something I think (for now, at least) is to its credit.
The last time I can remember being this in love with a game from the outset was the Lord of the Rings LCG back in 2011. The experience of playing games like this is something that I am a big fan of, and I cannot tell you enough how much I’ve been enjoying this one. It’s only February, but we’re already on track for Dune Imperium becoming game of the year for 2024!
There are a couple of expansions for the game, Rise of Ix and Immortality, which both look very interesting and I can totally see myself buying in the fullness of time. There is also a re-implementation, Dune Imperium: Uprising, which I have seen very mixed reviews for. Some people call it a better game, and what this one should have been, and others call it the easy route and simplistic. Not sure if I would want that as well, but maybe if I’ve played this one unto death, I could see myself buying it further down the line.
For now, though, I’m just really enjoying seeing what the core set has to offer, and can see myself playing with it as-is for a long time to come!
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