Episode 52 – Dune Imperium – Board Game Impact

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In this episode Bruce & Josh take a deep dive into Dune Imperium by Dire Wolf Studios. This coveted intellectual property along with the unique combination of deck building by the creators of CLANK! and worker placement make this game an interesting one to play. Listen in to this complete deep dive into our experiences for your benefit.

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Audio Transcription (Generated by AI)

00:00:08 – 00:05:03

In this episode of board game impact the spice must flow as we talk about dune imperium. Welcome back to another episode of impact. As always i am bruce. I’m jordan. Joined by and this is josh. Well josh they say that fears the mind killer but so far getting started is thrown me off. I think it’s just because we’re very excited about this game and talk about it. Because i know you and i both had some anticipation with it. But before we get into that if this is your first episode of board game impact what you’re here for is we look at games through educational lenses. We both work fulltime and higher education and we apply those lenses to unpack games and gaming experiences for you and your benefit so by listening to this is gonna be a deep dive into dune. Imperium and so Josh what do you want to say to kick us off a little bit. Yeah bruce. I was very excited about this game. I definitely had my acquisition disorder All a buzz So love the dune franchise Barracks cited to see this movie. When it finally comes out please. Yes at some point But you know. I fell in love. I actually came late to the dune party. I kinda picked up the books. Probably about two or three years ago And just absolutely fell in love because it’s a phenomenal especially the first book The the main book dune For listeners who aren’t really aware dune imperium is set in the dune universe series of novels by frank. Herbert sifi Political intrigue drama type series. That is absolutely fantastic So very very excited to play this really excited to talk about it and and get some thoughts. Yeah and so Dean premium is made by designed by paldon and it was put out by dire wolf who you might know for doing some pretty great things over with some digital app adaptations so they did the digital adaptations of route but also this is the team that brought clank together. So there’s a little bit deck building in this. Some really cool things and josh was saying a little bit about his position -ality so like our lenses that are getting applied to this. I was later to the dune thing too. I honestly picked up a copy. Abdoun my local like half price books for like five bucks two years ago. Because i’m like. I need to read this. And then when i found out the movie was coming out and was like blown away by the trailer owes like i need to read this and so i read the book and then a month before the movie is supposed to come out. Movie comes out next year. So i’m a little caught up now but honestly back in the day josh before i ever really knew. What dune was things like that. I was really into the real time strategy games and like command and conquer right or red alert. But i also really like dune. Two thousand which was based on the dune universe and these different houses vying for control. Did you ever play that. I did not. It’s pretty cool. It’s exactly like command and conquer and things like that. Where you have your factions. You build the buildings and then you’re trying to go out which later evolved into things like starcraft which took the world by storm but yeah these things were first starcraft. Just put that out. There did not never never played any of that. Okay look that up yeah. It’s pretty cool. The graphics today’s standard. Not that great. But if you like the lower of dune sand worms. I knew what a sand worm was new kinds of stuff back. Then and so. What we’re gonna do is we’re really just into this kind of just talk about what what we’ve been able to see what’s been happening. We’ve got some prompts but with that let’s give you a quick overview of the game so over. You have already mentioned a couple of times. Josh mentioned this is based on the dune universe. Now one thing that. I found interesting. Josh about the way frankfurt wrote was that there was all of these things behind the scenes like these economies and these politics but the way it was written it was never written where it was telling. You explicitly what it was where you had to do. Is you filled in the gaps which essentially created these really cool storytelling and vivid imagery in your own head.

00:05:03 – 00:10:12

Because you’ve got to create an image for right and unpacking learned as you’re reading which is cool. I think that’s part of what has made it standout so much is it didn’t just spoonfeed the reader it it gave you little tastes and treats and then you put this immense world together in your own head and so this game is inspired by not only the first book but they pulled in from the series. So there’s actually a designer. Diaries that you can go read. There’s like four different website links that have all of those that you can read through their process and how they were adapting this and then also working with this movie those coming out from legendary to put all this together so not. All of this is in the first book full transparency. Some of this is in some of the later books or they take things from inspiration from later books. But what you’re going to be doing is if you’ve ever played clank. It’s going to work a little bit like that. Where you’re gonna have a hand of cards a small deck of cards of ten to start and where you’re going to do is you’re gonna start with five cards and you’re going to play a card and on those carts. They’ve got little symbols like a triangle or a orange orange circle things like that and that is associated with different spots on the actual planet of iraq’s better known as dune as well as there might be some other symbols like symbols for the different factions. So the bene- jesuit or the spacing guild or the emperor essentially the card. Has these little symbols on it. And so what you can do. You can play a card and then take one of your workers you get to to start the game and you can play to one of the places of that symbol of cardi displayed and you get to do the thing of that space now. There’s really three main sources of economy within this. There’s money there spice and there’s water that you’re going to be trying to balance. Some spaces will want money. Some spaces will want spice. Some spaces will want water. Or they’ll let you convert between them and so that’s really cool so you’re needing to balance like do i have the cards for where i want to play right now. Or how do i make a strategy based on the five cards. I have and remember five cards but you have to workers and so it’s really important. There’s you’re only going to play in the beginning of the game to workers and then you have what’s called the reveal phase. Now you can reveal at the very start of your turn like the first time you’re playing a card you can do. This reveal where you lay out all five cards you have. Or how many do you have left in your hand. And there’s a second half to that card that is only for the reveal phase. And so what happens with that is you. Then you’re kind of out for the round but you might get some resources you might get to deploy some troops to this little combat area and what you’re trying to do is the game’s going to end in the round where someone has ten or more points or the game will end the round where this’ll combat deck that you will see it’s only like ten cards The you will seed with level three two in one easier than harder combats on the bottom for the group so it’s either going to end when somebody has ten or more victory points or that combat deck runs out now that means every time we’re getting victory point that’s one tenth of the whole thing’s getting victory points is like a huge deal in this game because you’re going to fight tooth and nail to have them but it’s pretty cool so you can choose to have alliances with some of the different factions. You can choose to focus in on certain things and you’re going to be playing as one of the factions within dune. So one of the leaders may be house. Trade eas- may be Housery bond house ritchie or house are conan. And so there’s eight total characters to from each house and you’ll get dealt a hand of cards and you get to pick one of those two leaders that you want to start the game with ease. Leader has their own special little ability that you activate with one of your ten starting cards and south throughout the game. You’re going to get more cards to make your better or streamline how you want it and then you’re hopefully going to build your strategy based on the deck the cards that you’re getting and then also the actions you wanna take the board to hopefully have. Your house reigns supreme josh kinda just through a lot of things at everybody. So what kind of things stand out to you that you want to clarify or really lean into to start this off. Yes so a couple of things. I did want to just kind of clarify As you were talking through it some of the language around. Yeah different things on the board and so You made the correction there at some point but really you are playing as the leader of a house One of the four noble houses within the empire of of the Space the universe. Thank you One of the four leading houses within this universe and you are vying for control over iraq dune the planet which is represented on the board on a big board.

00:10:12 – 00:15:04

I’m so while it is very largely driven by deck building and hand management. There’s also a very heavy worker placement component to this so those two kind of is the blending of those two major mechanics that that really kind of gives this game it’s unique feel And really kind of the melding of those mechanics with the narrative writing lower in the universe that you’re playing in and so what you’re looking at on the board as you have the actual planet of iraq s where you can send your workers out to collect spice which is a one of the resources. Bruce talked about or to collect water which is an incredibly rare and valuable resource because dune is a desert planet And so you’re sending your workers out to the planet or around the planet. You see these other factions right so separate from your houses that you are leading You have these factions that you are buying for over on those Factions include the freemen of the the natives of dune The binny’s jet which are like the Mystic which is a of this universe You have the spacing guild which is a group of folks who use spice to travel and traverse the universe through the creation of these wormholes. If you don’t know it if you don’t understand it sounds like a whole bunch of nonsense. But bruce kind of brought this up is that you know frankfort really built this. Excellent universe that this game. I think takes really good advantage of and then the fourth faction that you’re working with is is the emperor himself and so you’re also vying for control over the emperor. So yeah you’re like like rude. You’re you’re taking those actions. One of the things. I personally love in. This game is the tactical decisions that you’re making on each round right in that you have these cards that are dual use. But you have to choose which way you’re using them either year using them as a using it to gain influence to descend your workers out to these action spaces or you’re keeping it in your hand for that. Reveal phase. ’cause once you play it to use it to place your worker you no longer get that revealed benefit and so. That’s something that i think really and i’ll just kind of show my hands here a little bit. I think that really makes this game. Shine is that tactical decision in the moment man. I really need to send my worker. Take this action in order for me to build my engine further but i also really need the benefit that this reveal is going to show me so i can buy more cards and get more resources and take more actions and build my engine that way. Yeah and so a counter narrative to that josh at but from a different lens of the cool thing one of the cool things. I like about this. That i’ve seen so i’ve seen some viewers i’ve talked to some reviewers out there asking to clarify how they played it and wear because some of the things i have heard. That doesn’t sound like the experience i was having and so once i asked them about it. So yes you can engage with the content creators. You like these. Feel free to send us messages. We’d be happy to answer questions or clarify things. They’re like oh y played it on tabletops simulator. Now what i have found personally is this game has because you know what cards other people bought you know. The power’s on some of the cooler cards. Have and so when you’re sitting around the table and you know that they could do a reveal or they could play a worker. You’re kind of having this like poker staredown moment of like when you’re trying to take your turn of like do i think they’re going to do. I think they have that card in their hand. Who are they gonna take the spot. I need them to ted. I need them to not take. Because i need to take it or do i wanna do my reveal so i can do the thing and i don’t feel like that is translated. Well to the tabletop simulator world. From games i have watched on tabletop simulator. And i love that fact of this of balancing when i get my hand of cards at the start of the round. What do i wanna do with them. How am i gonna let the interplay with the players interact with that but then also Trying to socially predict whether or not they may have gotten that card.

00:15:04 – 00:20:08

That i know is super powerful. That i might need to plan for is a really cool thing that i haven’t really seen in other games before poker staredown mechanic except for in a game like the mind where you’re trying to q. In on the signs your people around you are giving off to the world so that way. Hopefully you can make the right decisions. And i’m curious josh like what do you think on that. Yeah you know i. I didn’t really yes to a certain extent. You kind of have that. I got that feeling now. I have only had a chance to play this once. And so i’ll put that caveat out there but i wasn’t really paying super close attention to what my opponents were taking into their back beyond like. Oh i really wanted that card right outside of those situations. I wasn’t super cognizant of what my opponents were capable of in their deck. I think with more play throughs. You’re absolutely right. You adjust become more attuned to that i also i. I think this is an important note for me. To point out is that. I played this game. Four player count bruce. It sounds like you’ve played this mostly at a two player mostly to yeah to player with then the built in like ghost player. Yeah so so. I think with that year you’re able right a little bit more able to keep track of what does my opponents deck consists of whereas with four players. I it just becomes a lot to really kind of mind map out as you kind of try and track all of those things. The thing that i think that that poker kereish aspect that i think really comes through even in a four player is really in this combat zone and we didn’t really talk a whole lot about this but at the end of each round there’s going to be a combat and the way combat works in this game. Is you have a bunch of cubes and on your turn actions that you can take will include deploying troops onto your to your barracks and so when you place them into your barracked. You’re placing them onto the planet. But you’re not committing them to the battle however each time you commit troops here barracks. You have the opportunity to commit a certain number of troops into battle. I think it’s three times that number plus up to two up to two. So let’s say. Let’s put four cubes to your garrison. Then you can move up to six into the battle. Yeah and so once you commit cubes to battle Your cubes are going away right there. Once they’re in the battle that is the only battle they’ll be used for at the end of the round. Whoever has the most cubes committed to the battle will win Whoever has the second most will take second third most will take third and that is important because there are tiered rewards for each battle And so first player may or the winner of the battle may end up with a really really great benefit. They could even take a victory point. Which as bruce mentioned. That’s huge in this game Any any time you can claim a victory point. That’s that’s pretty huge. So or but the second player is still going to get some type of reward some type of benefit out of that which i find really really nice really interesting because you’re committing these cubes and hard to lose that and get nothing so you at least get some kickback for it. Except it’s the number of players minus one so if it’s a two player game only one person’s going to get that reward and a three player it’s going to be only the top the first two. Yeah and real quick note is that on some of those reveals. One of the powers are bolster up the troops in space or the strength the combat strength. And so that reveal. If you’re holding those cards back you can do a reveal and like knock your opponent off their socks and it’s actually what my wife did to mate. She kicked my tail. This is where this is. Where i was the point i was getting to the poker ish. Aspect is the those intrigue cards. Yes that you can so there is a deck of cards or called intrigue cards And they’re just a a new another resource right. You can use them to modify your play in some way But one of the really nice ways that you can do that is during a battle you can reveal to wipe out your opponents cubes you more. The battle begins. I’m so they just lose or you can add seven attack to your Seven strength to your combat.

00:20:08 – 00:25:01

And so you know you can. You can play that kind of you’re sitting across the table from from this person and you see oh if i play this card. I’m going to end up with two more power than them but they have that intrigue card sitting there and i know that intrigued card could be like four more power. So is it worth it for me to to commit my troops in this or do i hold back and use those troops in the next battle and hope to win the next battle and so i think that’s really a a really fun interesting kind of social dynamic in this game that that really i think at to your point bruce shines in an in person setting in an online setting i agree and then there’s in case you’re curious like no you can’t really hoard these because if you have four more of these people concert stealing from you so just to put that out there for those little entry cards speaking of things and like that interplay and things like that so what. I’m really trying to convey a. Is this game a lot about making good decisions at right times and figuring out this is what the resources you have and the the places you can go. How can you personally maximize that to make your leader more successful and honestly i know there’s been some. There has been some controversy about this a little bit like not controversy but like oh it’s a game that has too much variability of what about. Don’t get the perfect hand of cards. That’s not how life works. And i understand wanting to have a fixed system but this is actually replicating. What’s in the books of sometimes when you’re on a desert planet and it’s just gritty and rough and you’ve got these competing factions. Sometimes you only have limited information and in the books they definitely do have the only have like information and they’re trying to cultivate whatever kind of relationships with other powers they can. How do they use the limited number of troops. They have on a planet vs on their home planet. Way back wherever that is and so actually. I thought that this. Here’s your hand of cards. You need to figure out your strategy and you can add into it and hopefully hone that over getting new cards and building or streamlining your deck by getting rid of cards or intentionally getting some intrigue cards. I thought that that was pretty cool and bringing out this like political. How do you leverage your resources to make to meet your ends right given the situation so i thought that was a pretty cool player dynamic that had brought out absolutely embers. I think one of the things that we’re talking about here one is i. I agree. I think i mean the name of this game to me is action efficiency right. What can how. Can i best improve my standings with what is given to me. How can i act the most efficient with the the limited resources that i have because at no point in this game what i say you feel like you’ve got it right. I struggle every at every move. You are fighting tooth and nail to get that one more spice that you need or you know i just need one more water and i’d be able to dump. All of my troops sent right. You’re just constantly clawing and it feels like you are. I mean if you are familiar with the ip that we’re dealing with here if very much to me folks that feeling of being in this long drawn out conflict that spans generations over this really harsh climate to the of a world. Just really kind of a But i think the the separation here and this is a conversation that i think we could have more in depth. But i’ve been hearing come up more and more recently. Is this difference between strategy and tactics. I literally was just about to bring that up. Yup and so i i think for for a lot of gamers myself included a lot of ways. I seek out games where i can develop on. Turn one this is my strategy. I’m going to stick with this strategy. From kern one the end of the game and i’m going to run this strategy into the ground and see how it does for me and so i know pretty much every turn right with minor changes and tweaks and variances here and there.

00:25:01 – 00:30:08

I know what i’m aiming to do. each round. This game is not like that. You really can’t prep. I mean you can try and build your deck to achieve those ends but you’re gonna get a bad draw from time to time and so at that moment it’s all about the tactical decision right. You’re switching your strategy from the long term view to the immediate. How do i get myself out of this situation. That i’m in and set myself up for the next turn as you may have a round of actions in this where you just don’t really feel like you accomplished a whole lot but if you gained a couple you know a a a little bit of money If you’ve gained a little bit of spice a little bit of water you’ve gathered some resources you haven’t really taken any earth shattering actions here. You know that those big things are coming. Because they’re they’re in your deck and they’re going to be coming to you next. Turn or you know in two turns. Maybe and so you’re just as just about using what you have to set yourself up for that huge. You know i’m gonna dump seven troops out onto the board and i’m going to advance three spaces in the mini desert tracking claim. Victory point there right. I i i really like that in this game. Yeah i do too. And i love the fact that you and i were essentially like i literally have a google chrome tab open in front of me that strategy versus tactics to explain this and so when i think of just from education lens josh in like some of the leadership consulting work i do right so when we are working with organizations or people and we’re a leader like there’s this thing called grit versus resilience and so i’ve heard people on different like media content creators for games talk about. I just had this bad handed us need to get through it. That’d be great. What josh are suggesting is resilience and that is. How can i utilize the network. I’ve already built up in the skill sets. I already have and take some steps forward. They might be forward into the left. A little bit and i need to recalibrate but at least i’m moving forward and setting myself up to have these big windfall moments. I’m still pushing through. But i’m gonna come out of this turn better than where i started and looking at it from that approach. I think is really important. So when i think of the book and i have the book and then also the game so the cover of the rulebook. Is this person on these like sand dunes with giant worm coming out if you haven’t read or watch the well if you haven’t watched like the old nineteen as movie nineteen seventies. Maybe don’t just wait for the new one. But if you haven’t read through like josh. I struggled to get through that. That’s why i didn’t even mention it earlier but the new one. I’m looking forward to it. But imagine you. You have this dream of having having a prosperous life and all of a sudden you wake up and find yourself in the middle of the desert with like a canteen of water that has like barely any water in it and you can’t see land is just all your on land but you can’t see any like civilization. it’s just you in the middle of a desert and tonight it’s gonna get hot is the beginning of the day. What are you going to do to survive right so the strategy would be. I want to get myself to civilization and thrive. While you’re not there this this current moment. What can you do to make the most of this to help. Get yourself more water doubt. Get yourself some shelter. Tailgate yourself some money right or in this case also spice to then when you get to civilization. You’re not going to have to try and build up an engine all of a sudden you’re gonna come in there a little better because you did some things. Sorry no that was long now. I think that’s a i mean. It is a very important concept to to understand. Because i definitely think there are gamers out there for whom this this will fall flat for. That reason right agreed. If you are looking for a game where you constantly feel like every turn is in is an improvement upon the last the the variability of your deck and the fact that i mean max at most. You’re getting ten turns in this game or ten rallies you can raise retaining but ten hands right. You’re drawing ten hands of cards and you’re maybe purchasing most two cards on average usually.

00:30:08 – 00:35:16

You’re you’re going to get one. Maybe two cards out of a abai. I go to three because you might be. The folded spaceguard elsewise. Yeah yeah so maybe two to three max judah three around and so if you consider you start with a deck of ten cards. You’re drawing five cards each round. You’re adding two. Maybe three cards to that deck each round. You’re probably discarding a couple cards at least two to two cards throughout the game may be next and there’s some spots on the board that let you draw cards to your hand during the round. Yeah so your your deck. You’re gonna have you’re gonna come into those starting cards a lot right and those aren’t your most valuable cards so as you are kind of playing and and going cycling through this deck you’re gonna get stuck with turns where you just don’t have the cards to do everything you need are everything you want to do And so if if that’s something that you know doesn’t feel good to you to me like i said i really enjoy forcing my mind to think about. Here’s what i have in front of me. What is the best. I can do with with what i have here But i i also recognize that. That’s not a style of thinking everyone loves. And there’s another thing too. That i think is important is saying there’s in those factions The desert the emperor etc. There’s what i would consider short-term short-term goals because once you get past like the second level of those usually get a victory point on all those tracks and so. I had a bunch of those. Because i’m like i’m gonna go like heavy and all the factions from the beginning of the game and so i- skyrocketed up relatively with points and my was like. Oh you’re gonna win. The game rose teaching in the first one. We were playing like. We don’t know we’re still several rounds. But i was feeling bad. I was like oh shit going to blow her out of the water and because i was like up by four points right well she had picked like maybe one of those factions to grow with. But she’d been buying cards. She’s been spending doing our time on the planet. Essentially where. I was really focused on these different factions. Josh got some of those like intrigue cards. She came back and freaking skyrocketed because she had built an infrastructure and she was doing her time waiting for it to pay off. And so the thing that i also want to bring up about. This is depending on how you play. You’re gonna have you make it a lot of points fast or then you’re going to do a slow burn after that or to slow-burning points or you have hands where it’s just not as powerful as the hand that you’re imagining but what actually liked about that is that it created memory moments so that time where you got that hand that was like heck yob building for this. I finally got it or you’re able to see your plans. Play out or all those kinds of things kinda come together and like that stands out vividly for me When i’m looking back at these experiences have been able to have. Because i think it’s designed for it so i i agree one hundred percent with you on that bruce. I think this definitely is a game that is built for those memories right. I can have these very distinct memories of that time that i dumped a whole bunch of resources into combat. Only have an opponent’s flip an entry card at the last minute and steal that victory away from me and just having that of baca tive kind of gut check of. Oh i walked myself into this trap. Because that’s what it felt like that right. It felt like i walked into an ambush With with my units So so i really really enjoy that. That com that framing of this game in terms of the way in which it creates memories the way in which story unfolds i think another component to that and something i want to touch on here is briefly. Is the components yonathan blurry the table presence of this game comes with it One of the really cool things about this game is that the in addition to being you know designed and published by dire wolf It’s also published in tandem with legendary the film company that is producing the movie of dune.

00:35:17 – 00:40:00

And so all of the artwork is actually concept art from the film. And so it’s kind of cool. You actually have rabban one of the characters that you can play you. Look at it and you’re like that looks a lot like batista and it is. It’s it is a concept artwork of batista in the role of ray-ban which which i just found really really like the fact that it’s not just picture like still frames of the movie. I think it hated that. That would have been awful right. Yeah but but they did it in this artistic style. Izing where you can see these characters that that you recognize even if you haven’t seen the film but you recognize them as their characters and you recognize them as the actors and it just kind of helps with that story telling a little bit in my mind You know as you pick up these cards. That are different characters that will show up in the books and it may not be exactly what my head cannon was but because of just the way that you know in general the way that casting in hollywood works like even if it’s not a one to one ratio of exactly how i pictured it the second. They cast that character almost morse. The the description into that person. Because hollywood is just good at at casting at this point right and so you you get that feeling of these being real people in this world that you’re playing in agreement that also extends to like all the other cards of concept art and if you’ve ever watched the mandalorian on disney plus which. I love that. Go baby yoda. But one of my favorite things about the mandalorian isn’t actually take place during the show. It takes the credits with these concepts stills of art at the end. I just love seeing that because it’s really really evocative and cool. But something. I will just make note of since you talked about hollywood casting josh and that is because they did it this way and didn’t just stick to the books as written this game is actually more representative than the books are so they for the movie the new movie they recast some characters as female so it’s not just all white guy is but they have more representation because in the game because that is what hollywood decided to go with like now this needs to be more inclusive and so i also appreciated that which they don’t talk about in the books and stuff at least in like the rule book and everything but just as a side note like some of the characters in the game were mail in the books and so just know that they wanted to make more inclusive society and representation which that matters. There’s power in that and ended very important which i thought that’s of cool now speaking of table presence. I think we’d be amiss if we didn’t talk about the add on box that you could have gotten For that’s coming out next month. I think it’s coming out in march. This episodes coming out the middle of february. But i think in march it’s coming out and that is if you want to so those little cubes we were talking about before our cubes is just a little cube and your player color. If you want that to be a little like soldier person in your player color you can buy this ad on box now. Personally am i find with the cubes. I am but i know that like miniatures to represent things is like a super thing for people and that if you are wanting to have these miniatures all over the board and things like that and you want a sand worm like first player token you can get that So which is not something that a lot of games do they like. Here’s the game. It’s either got all these minis or doesn’t have all these minis rarely. Do we find a game that it’s really good as it is but if you want to add on minis you ken so i thought that was a nice design choice. Obviously miniatures might make somebody come moreover to the table because it’s going to stand up in the three d.

00:40:00 – 00:45:05

way rather than a flat board with some cubes but the art on this board. I honestly found for myself enough to draw in. Yeah i i mean the minis look nice. They look cool I personally don’t think i will be picking up the upgrade box I i enjoy it. As is rarely. Do you know yes you could. I mean the one knock. I think you could give on. This game is the cubes as your as your units In terms of evocative nece right in terms of the feeling that you get because it it very much does feel like that combat piece does feel a little bit q pushing sure So so i. I could see why having a figure that is more evocative in that sense. That looks more like a. You know a combat piece a combat figure would would feel a little bit different as you’re dropping your troops onto the board and then sending them out into the combat zone. But it doesn’t. I don’t need that to enjoy this game personally. I i really really. I were kind of getting a little bit into final review here. But i really love this game. I think it’s fantastic on at checks a lot of boxes for me honestly so with that before we get into the complete final thoughts josh. I’m curious how would this fit game into like other games like would like. Where would you consider like a. Would you consider it a gateway. Would you consider it a way to introduce different mechanics. There other games that you should learn first before playing this. That might be easier for introducing. It yet know. I would say none of the mechanics in this are so deep and complex that. I think you have to be an expert gamer to play them. The right. I don’t think that there’s nothing about this. That is so heavy that you couldn’t take someone who is relatively new to games and and teach them this game and have them be successful. That being said i. Also i would definitely not consider this to be an entry or gateway type game. I would not use this to introduce mechanics. because of the way that the mechanics interplay The deck building worker placement doesn’t exist. There’s this and there’s ruins of aren’t talking assad and they came out at the same time right i. Two people had the same idea at the same time. I is kind of what it feels like. So because of the way that that you really need to focus on your deck building in order to effectively utilize your workers but you need to effectively utilize your workers order to build a good deck. The way that those things interact with one another. I think you do need to introduce those concepts separate right so i think you would need someone to play a couple worker placement games just very straightforward worker placement style games which at this point in the hobby they probably have right because the workplace has been around for a long time building has definitely become a thing with since dominion personally for me like no i would not consider it a gateway except if somebody’s really into dune right because i think that they would be willing and could easily map things out but if somebody has been playing hobby games. I think they’re going to be fine. Because on your given turn your maybe doing three to four things the whole turn right like you’re going to play a car. You’re going to play a card. You’re going to take an action with putting one of your dudes there to up to two workers at that you have your reveal obviously you can get little bonuses from what’s on your cards and stuff like that of your turns are not just three things. Don’t get me wrong there. When i say that. But what i’m saying is it’s not that overly complicated but knowing how it interacts like josh said is important and so if somebody really knows dune they might click onto that real fast but honestly if i had to think of games that might help if you’ve ever played clank would help because that’s similar deck building but obviously you don’t have adventure aboard running down but that whole idea of you have five cards.

00:45:05 – 00:50:04

Make the most of it is important but it doesn’t have that reveal For a worker placement. If you’ve ever played like lords of water deep that might be helpful as got some nice things there of how do you balance what actions are available. And how can you still work towards your goals that tactics than strategy thing so before we get into our closing thoughts josh. I wanted to share some thoughts. I found on. Bg just real quick so that we can pull in more than just our frame and so the first one half from bg user. Barry white who was talking these are these are berries words but learning the game and teaching another player is under that theme after a solo run through felt like a good handle on most of the rules and a general flow of the game. Easy to pick up the player aid on their so the character sheets by the way. This is bruce the backside of that because if you have four players there’s eight of those four of them are not going to be used. The backside of the played super helpful. Actually nice design move but the bury continues the player eight on the versus excellent. It was teaching partner and felt the partner felt it was very straightforward and the partner does not nearly play as many games as buried as and knew nothing about dune. after a brief overview explanation they They went on and went through the game. And by the second round the part his partner had picked up the basics and was able to walk most iconography so rocking is like how much you can internalize it berry. Went on to say. Alliances are pretty hard one but can be very rewarding but if you lean into heavy with influence into one faction you might expose yourself elsewise. He might create blind spots then combat and berries words is really like a proxy war. Never felt like they were really rolling their troops into the opponent’s door directly rather than they both manipulate the struggle in order to try and pull favor Without putting too many resources at risk so again keeping with the overall theme of all proxy stuff in overall berry felt delighted and that it was a great package of mechanics that’s different kinds of opportunities for different player counts and after first learning the game they excited to play it again which is nice but can’t wait to sit down. Played four with fellow humans when they can this next one real quick not as long as berries but a theorists his spotta. that’s beat username. Mathias has says they have over fifty plays of dune imperium. All at for four player to players have read dune and and there is says that they’re also new to the hobby and so they’ve essentially have it set up on their table by the way just like they don’t take it down and they’ve been playing just like say synchronous lee throughout the day which is kind of interesting so they’ve been able to get fifty plays in but they also have played also a little two three player by the way they talk theorist talks about game replay ability as being immense in the design space many elements that can be you can tweak indifferent games so that way you’re going to be having a different experience to explore something new and then after fifty games they can’t remember one being the same as another and that the interaction of the imperium row of like intrigue cards and conflicts and the facilities cool variability but win win or lose any money in the game has had fun and look forward to the next one either cursing a mistake that they made have they might have to rectify in the next game or exploring different strategy to pull off the same masterstrokes of strategic balance. Before i read this last one just thoughts on those too. Yeah i just want to go back. Actually the berry berry In terms of his comment about his partner knowing nothing about dune. I got a chance to play this a four players and i’m the only person in that group who well one person had read dune like thirty years ago And so new remembered. Almost nothing about it Other than the general concept of it and so really no one in that group knew the story of june but we all very much enjoyed it. I i don’t think that you have to be. I think knowing dune and knowing the story and knowing the kind of setting that you’re in really does enhance the experience in this game. But i don’t think it’s absolutely necessary. I think you can have a really enjoyable gameplay experience even if you have no idea what dune is about And i agree with with what he was Barry was saying in regards to kind of teaching right.

00:50:04 – 00:55:02

I didn’t really do a super heavy teach on this game I kinda sat. Here’s the basics. Here’s your goal Let’s run through our first hand our first round See how everyone feels if we feel like. I made some huge mistakes. I wanna go back and revisit. Those we can restart after that break teaching everyone. We went through that first round and everyone was like no. I think i get this. Let’s go and everyone picked up on. It really really fast awesome. Awesome so this last one. I have Was talking about the solo play. Because that’s one. I haven’t space i haven’t been able to play into but bg user. I’m tyler durden appreciate that one talked. Ai bought and bought which by the way like kind of just takes over spots because when he played player. You also play with an abbot. They i bought rarely if ever gotten the way of what tyler durden wanted to do. The only interaction they ever had was really in the combat zone where it was just more of a nuisance Given the fact that the can’t win claim rewards. It felt like both of us were being robbed of their awards the entire game since either. Robbing them or they’re having you but overall that they enjoyed it and one note on this that i found on bg. Some people have complained that the cargo can get a little stagnant and so one user did comment that hey you can introduce a house rule. Where at the end of every round that cargo wipes if you want to So that way you can see more cards in the deck because sometimes you might just barely scratch the surface and say josh thoughts and then giving your final thoughts. Yeah haven’t haven’t really felt the urge or need to to get to a one player game of this though. I mean i think it would be kind of enjoyable Mike definitely see that being a fun. Way to engage in this game certainly Though i just generally as a rule of thumb prefer games. That don’t use a. I i am so so you know the if that’s the space that people enjoy to play and i think this would be. I could see where just trying to solve the puzzle of this game. I think that this game has an exceptional puzzle. And so i could see trying to solve that puzzle in a solo way being an enjoyable way to experience this game as well Personally i didn’t have any issue with the with the card row having variability Pretty much every round people were trying to buy as many cards as possible Or or at least by one or two really powerful cards for them to help spilled out there deck and when you play with a four player. Count that that cycles. Those cards through pretty quickly didn’t really have much concern about that though. I could certainly see that stagnating at a two or even three player count in terms of my final thoughts. I i’ve already said it. I i think this game is fantastic. I really really look forward to playing it more I really enjoy again. I really enjoy the puzzle of this game. The fact that it is an overarching puzzle. Right i i. We had that conversation about strategy and tactics i. I don’t think that this is not a strategic game. I think you do need to identify your strategy early on and say okay. I’m really going to focus on building my deck around the benny jesuit faction or. I’m going to really focus on working with the freemen and conquering battles in dune. And and taking control of the of the board. But within that overall strategy the ability to think on your toes and maneuver and and sh- think tactically within around. I think is a really really intriguing and and vakhidov I’m using that word. A lot really really evocative way of melding the theme of this game with the experience that you have Absolutely this this game is staying on my shelf In my collection for a long time to come. And i look forward to getting many many more. Plays this game in okay. Lie appreciate that josh. And so for me. I gotta echo a lot. What jeff said similar different and so for me. I ll someone who had just recently read the books currently almost done with the second book right now at the time of this recording.

00:55:03 – 01:00:12

I felt that this actually did pull out of the really cool intrigue behind the scenes because like this is not a spoiler. This is the first book opens and like house arcona and didn’t care about the fron on the planet and ultimately they were losing control of the planet at the beginning of the book. Now you can find out more intrigued. There’s plenty to dig into their. But in this what. I also appreciate that. We haven’t really fully hit on is that you can have your strategy but those tactics make it where you also make one like keep good with the other areas because that influence can help can come to help you when you need it you wanna have some influence than have none. It’s usually better for you but also you need to do things on the planet and so because that’s what you’re there for you’re trying to control the planet so you need to actually use the planet and so. I thought that that was pretty cool. I thought that it did with the theme now. Do i have to put those together for myself. yes i do. It doesn’t it’s not like reading a storybook thing. That’s going to paint that picture if i haven’t read it now that being said. Do i think that you would enjoy this. If you didn’t read the books. Yeah i do. My wife has no interest. She really enjoyed the game. Like looks forward to playing it What i really found a lot of inch inch intrigue with Personally for me was also this whole reveal phase and and balancing and having to make that choice of do i want to use a card for its its worker placement or do i want to use it for the reveal and constantly evaluating that from a tactical lens based on what my opponent or opponents would be doing. ’cause obviously i had my wife but then i also had. This ad bought that being said. I think i am going to enjoy this game a whole lot. More at what you’ve been able to do josh. The four player out. I cannot wait to play this in person with more people. Because i think this game is going to sing for me and i think i’m going to have one heck of a fun time teaching it do. I think this game is for everybody. No i don’t think we’ve talked about that. Variability and having to make your tactical decisions eastern but with an overall strategy in mind like to think of it as your goal is to get to the other side of the mountain. You might set that goal but sometimes you gotta go up the mountain. Sometimes you gotta dig into it a little bit and sometimes gotta go around the other way. No one’s telling you how to get there. You have to kind of make those choices. Based on the resources you have in those moments. And i like that but for some of you might be too much. Variability might be too much variability. If you’re wanting to go heavy. Been a jesuit and no bene- jesuit cars are really coming into that market and i would encourage you to go back and listen to our episode on the sunk cost fallacy. How much are you going to keep investing into something. That’s not panning out. And so i appreciate it. Kind of making me bi-strategic. Because again you’re a leader of wanting to demonstrate your competence to be a leader of a planet. And i think that this kind of in a nutshell role models that in the light way so i can’t wait to play four players. One thing do you need to make note of is every reviewer. I’ve seen talk about this from playing only on tabletops simulator type things or when i’ve been at our game nights virtually because that’s how we’ve been having them and they they they were playing this on tabletop. Simulator something is lost. Something doesn’t translate and this is a game that sings in person and so obviously in the current state of the world does not necessarily the greatest. But i can’t wait for the movie to come out. Because i think we’re going to have another resurgence of this game in a couple of months and i can’t wait to go see the movie so in closing. I really like this game. I am very thankful. I have it. I think dire wolf did a great job. I also really like clank to right and so with that. It’s going to be saying in my collection for a long time and i can’t wait to get it to the table when i can more in the future and so that is doing imperium and we encourage you go check it out and yeah so joshing. Quick things in closing and then all around us out As always thanks to our listeners for joining us hope. This was informative and helpful for you all. Yeah we we look forward to hopefully hearing from you about. If you’ve played this game let us know what your thoughts are. Do you agree with us. You disagree with us. What are your. What are your thoughts and feelings on everything that we shared and talked about today. Really hope that the folks give this game or shot. I think it is a little bit more difficult to find right now. As a kind of caveat fair don’t break the bank on a game. That is very definitely going to get a reprint and more copies will be available at some point in the future so really really Thankful to have all of you.

01:00:12 – 01:01:50

Join us Again today Yeah that’s all i got for. You just can’t echo that enough of do not pay more than retail for this game. It’s going to be coming out again. Don’t worry about it because they have a giant movie released coming out. You’re going to be fine and so with that if you enjoyed this kind of this deeper dive because we just talked about this one game for an hour And hopefully it’s helpful. Hopefully you found value in this hearing us. Talk out our perspectives and talk out what this brought up in our players and the different interactions. And so if you enjoyed this make sure to give this five star rating in the podcast at platform that you’re looking at using. If you want to support the show you can go on over to patriots dot com slash board game impact. And we’re just thankful for our patriot supporters and to have you as a listener. But we really appreciate you sharing this with somebody so maybe you know a sci-fi friend and maybe this one doesn’t sound like something for you but hey that sci-fi friend who’s also into board games maybe send them this episode and tell them about the show so that way they can learn if this is something that they would like to dig into because what people are saying online is that people enjoy the solo mode so If if they’re not able to play in these interesting times they’ll enjoy the sci-fi nature of this because this is a seminal work in the world of sci-fi but that being said we thank you so much for listening to this episode and we can’t wait to talk to you again in two weeks where we’re going to be talking about the more about the games we’ve been playing recently and it’s going to be a lot of fun so definitely make sure t tune in for that so until next time go have your positive impact on the world.