Dune

On my PC-or-funny meter:
laughing at a deaf person - not funny
asking to imagine a deaf person narrating a heavy sci-fi audiobook - gray area
making a joke about deaf person reading heavy sci-fi and then insisting that the joke is, in fact, gold, hijacking a thread dedicated to talking about Dune in the process - kinda hilarious

These early chapters in Dune are all POV. Seeing things from the viewpoint of Paul, Gurney, Yueh, Duke Leto... it's a great way to introduce these characters and also to flesh out the setting as seen from different eyes.

Mr. White wrote: Is AH Dune the last of the true Grail Games (having never been reprinted) or do people also still desire Magic Realm?

I still covet it, as I have yet to find a decent copy.

As for Dune, I love all things Dune! I have Sting cover version and both expansions. I hope to play it more this year.

Playing Dune tomorrow night, will report back.

I'll likely play a round at the May Getaway.

Dune is a game that only comes into its own after half a dozen plays. Games don't often get that much patience these days. I'd bet a lot of "new" gamers that would buy it if they saw it would be disappointed that it's too unpredictable after two session (or one.) Fiddly, luckfest, downtime . . .this is a title that wears its share of epithets until you get the hang of it.

There's still a couple of factions I've never played.

Dune is hard to get into and requires a commitment to enjoy. Kind of like poker or chess (although much less in comparison).
But the satisfaction is proportionate to the effort. I've played Rex (or "Dune for kids" as Dabid put it snobbishly but kinda accurately) for about 4 years with 2 groups and I can't get them to play another boardgame.
It is unpredictable, but not a luckfest. There's less luck in Dune than in poker. But yeah it is fiddly (Rex is way less fiddly, in particular if you simplify the battle-phase to one step, like in Dune). The downtime is indisputable. In my opinion, most time is lost the bidding phase, but there's just no way of simplifying it without losing depth. As for battles, we recently implemented a time-limit, it helps a lot.

Arrakis. Dune. Wasteland of the Empire, and the most valuable planet in the Universe. It had been a long time since our boots had been on the surface of Arrakis, since we colored the stone and sands with the blood of our enemies. The great houses Atreides and Harkonnen, the Padishah Emperor, and the Fremen all with veterans at the helm and new blood running the Guild and Bene Gesserit. As all of the factions of Dune gathered, the wheels within wheels began to again turn.

The great sand storm begins punishing Arrakeen and locking the new off world overseers into their position. Spice blows in the SW at Habbanya Ridge and the Fremen think carefully before deciding to keep a concentration of troops in the far side of Dune and allow the Atreides settlers to scoop up the large spice blow, these new “overlords” of the planet as hungry for spice as all the rest. Troops are shipped to the surface en masse, but there is no conflict.

The great Shai Hulud arises from the surface and leaves no trace of the profitable mining operation that moments ago occupied the Habbanya Ridge. This omen results in the Emporer seizing his opportunity to strengthen his hold over the planet by enlisting the witches and teaching his Sardaukar the power of the Voice. This powerful force will be combatted by an unholy alliance between oppressed and oppressor as the Harkonnen as for the services of the countless Fremen warriors. The Atredies and Guild partner as well, not wanting to be left behind in a power void. Another worm arises from the sands and sensing an opportunity the Fremen take their large group of troops and ride it into Sietch Tabr which is held by a moderate sized force of Sardaukar. The spice blow erupts at Habbayna Erg and the near side of Dune is destined to be a hotbed of activity. The treacherous Bene Gesserit come out of co-existence to block Habbanya Sietch and prevent a quick victory. The Fremen instead focus on the spice while the rest of the planet’s strongholds are shored up. The Emperor begins to position himself around the shield wall, drawing the attention of the Atredies who match him there hoping to keep the nuclear arsenal at bay. Conflict erupts around the planet as the Harkonnen/Fremen alliance makes their bid for supremacy. The Emperor is able to hold on to Sietch Tabr with one remaining troop but is eliminated from the shield wall. As the tanks fill Arakeen and Carthag have not changed hands, the Emperor holds on barely to Tabr, and the Guild keeps a small detachment in Habbanya with every other troop at his disposal holding on in Tuek’s.

The storm pushes over Tabr sealing it from (most) of the outside world. Spice blows at the Funeral Plain with the storm ensuring its collection as a death sentence. The storm position seems to prevent an attempt for any faction to claim victory so repositioning is at the forefront. With the Fremen sending most of what is not in the tanks to the polar sink and then further west. The Emperor and Atredies again play chicken around the shield wall with the Duke’s troops spreading out to Sihaya Ridge. The Guild sends a few poor souls to the Funeral Plain seeking the spice, its name never quite so accurate. Again Arrakis brews with imminent activity…

The storm continues its slow path eating away the guild detachment and half of the Fremen who had been spice hungry earlier, leaving four troops in the storm in Habbanya Erg. The spice blow predictably erupts at Sihaya Ridge into the prescient Atredies’ waiting arms. The gamesmanship across the planet increases and again Harkonnen/Fremen push. Battles erupt across the planet with Atredies and Emperor clashing at the shield wall yet again, the Bene Gesserit appearing in Carthag, Harkonnen flying into Arakeen, and the Fremen Western detachment moving into the heavily guarded guild controlled Tuek’s Sietch. When the dust settled only one of the strongholds had changed hands. Staban Tuek’s name will forever be known as the death of the Guild as his traitorous actions resulted in 75% of Guild presence being wiped out and the Fremen taking strong control of Tuek’s Sietch.

Depleted forces holding to the strongholds see the storm bound across Dune. The spice blow appears on the Great Flat. Most factions content with their holdings look to strengthen and recover from the tanks. They all were distracted by the huge amount of spice on the Great Flat, distracted by trying to strengthen their board position, and distracted by their grand plans that were still in motion slowly waiting to be completed, too slowly. The Fremen deploy everything not in the tanks into Sietch Tabr and the four troops emerging the storm march into Habbanya, their recently acquired Tuek’s left unchallenged. The Harkonnen hold on to Carthag and do their part by preventing the voice with Karama in Tabr. The Fremen Feydakin were too much for the mere remaining guild presence in Habbanya. The unholy alliance was successful leaving the Fremen lands and Sietches in their hands and the Harkonnen in Carthag again counting their holdings.

History is written on the sands of Arrakis. One chapter has ended, swept away by the whirlwind.

Just wanted to add that I was the Fremen and finally have won with them! They are my favorite faction to play and getting that win was very sweet. Perhaps if the Guild had not been as inexperienced of a player and left the me moving last on turn 5 it may not have been the case. Also with almost every spice blow right around the Great Flat and in the Fremen deployment zone, it left me feeling way more powerful as the threat of my quick strike was far greater than I've ever seen in any game. The Harkonnen certainly did their part with traitors and Karama cards, but seeing those three yellow held strong holds at game end was a wonderful feeling.

Oh and BG prediction was Atredies turn 7, revealed very slowly with much drama after the win.

That's a good write-up and well-done on that Fremen win.
Questions. How long did it take, turn and time-wise? How experienced were your new players in boardgaming in general? Did they have fun and did they grok the game? Maybe because they were allied to experienced players and your alliances were pretty stable it was easier for them... How was it card-wise? (Fremen are poor and Harkonnen are very spice-dependent, I wonder how you guys managed on the bidding phase).

This was a turn 5 victory, each paragraph above is 1 turn. It prolly took 3ish hours which is very long for 5 turns but we were hanging out and there were many non-game conversations happening. Of the new players one, Grant, had actually played Dune with us before but it was a few years ago and didn't remember anything, the other, Chris, is someone who likes games but doesn't really play them at all unless with us when visiting from out of town. Grant rolled guild which is a great new player faction as I think the more spice rich the better for rookies, Chris had BG which is prolly the worst faction for a new player to have. He however was familiar with Dune in general and knowing the universe made him want to give the sisterhood a chance. We always let new players know that the first game will be fun and you'll have a shot to win, but the game is punishing to mistakes and work on getting the concepts for later plays. I think they both got the basics but would need another go before truly understanding the subtleties of the combat - when to hold or use cards, or using which leader when.

Cards are always tough to add to a narration since its kinda happening off the table. Emperor used spice to learn a lot of cards before bidding dealing with Atredies and was the first to fill up on turn 2, which also is when the alliances formed so BG soon also added to his hand. Atredies had done the most spice hunting and they were 2nd with the guild to fill up. We as Fremen and Harks treaded water a lot with cards and relied on threats of taking leaders or sending a huge pile of troops as reserves until the others had mostly full hands. It worked out very nicely as the turn we won Hark was able to take 2 auctions to bring his hand to 7 for 1 spice each due to everyone else but me his ally having full hands. He snagged both Karmara cards which were instrumental in the win. I myself was not as spice poor as usual due to that one 8 spice collection, note those were also the troops who survived the storm and half of them walked into Habbanya for the victory, but I only had 4 cards all game luckily a projectile weapon, projectile shield, a useless i got rid of early, and a cheap hero. If I wasn't winning fights I was holding on to the weapons, and the emperor relied on less defense then he needed because he had been counting on the voice.

Still reading Dune at a slow pace. I'm on page 60 now. I normally read a book at a brisk clip, maybe a page a minute, but Dune rewards a slower pace. The plot is relatively straight-forward, but the characters have depth, the setting is rich, and eventually there are some complex concepts in play.

Shellhead wrote: but Dune rewards a slower pace. .

The slow blade penetrates the shield.

Dune is my favorite quasi shelf toad that I found in someones garbage back in 1994. There was a family a couple neighborhoods over moving away and stacking big items on the curbside. On top of some chairs on the curb they had this awesome looking large RC car that I assumed I could get working. When grabbing the toy car, behind it was three board games - Dune, Panzer Leader, and Pattons Best.

I played alot of Dune in college, and played the movie game after. I love Dune, but like others have said you need to play it a few times to get the hang of it and the game is a bit of a time sink. All of my issues with the original title were resolved with the Ilya77s version.

arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/05/dune-spic...at-lost-board-games/

Very nice article.

I was fortunate to play Dune earlier this week with 5. Fremen was our holdout (blasphemous, I know) but with three new players, it seemed risky to keep them in and another faction out. It was my first game as Guild, which should have been given to a new player. The game finished on turn 6 with a Guild/Atreides win. Other factions had chances, but eventually the other factions had too many troops in the tanks to challenge them. I think the game went over well. I've never had enough opportunities to get Dune to the table so everyone is on equal footing. I enjoyed my one game as Emperor, because I thought it helped new players to see first hand how they could be bribing for information, intervention and alliances. I find that Guild and Emperor get offered to new players because they don't have the challenges of being spice deprived (if managed correctly) but if those factions horde spice and don't offer up bribes it makes for a less interesting game.

Still, it was quite fun. I'm hoping to make a few converts of those players.