Dune: Imperium

Imperium is a combination of a few "euro-style" game systems. Deck builder, Worker Placement, and Area Control all rolled into one game. The components are good quality and the board and card art give it a nice atmostphere. The game mechanics have been streamlined and updated from the old Dune game(so I've heard), but the game play is fun and not complicated. There are 8 leaders, 2 from each house(Atreides, Thorvald, Richese, Harkonnen) to choose from, each with different powers in game play. You start with a deck of 10 cards and buy more cards to your deck through "persuasion" points as you play cards from your starting hand. You have 2 agents(3rd can be obtained later as well as use of the "Mentat" for another placement) that occupy spaces on the board to gain the resources listed and can gain influence with the 4 factions(Emperor, Fremen, Bene Gesserit, and Spacing Guild), as well as handling troops to win combat for rewards. You will gain spice, solari(money), troops. and water, to be utilized in many ways around the board. The 1st player to 10 points triggers the end of the game. The cards you play, tell you where on the board you can place a worker( 7 spots on the Dune planet, 2 spots at each faction you want as allies, 5 spots of the High Council, and 2 spots of the Sell Melange[market]). Each space has a different benefit/cost/reward for placement. Victory points are gained in many ways, creating different paths to win parameters. I would place this game in the medium weight category for complexity and time. There is a lot to take in, but it's not a tough game to learn how to play and the game time is roughly around 1-3 hours or so. 3 hours only for the 1st couple learning games, while more plays reduces it to 1-2 hours maybe. The pieces are simple and effective, with great card and board art work. This is a fun game for 1-4 players. I have not tried the solo player version yet, but the Automa(House Hagal) cards are a decent challenge. You use 2 Hagal bots in a solo game and 1 in a 2-player game. They are there to occupy spaces and add some troops to combat for competition, they gain nothing else. I've played a lot of board games, it's a big hobby for me. Dune: Imperium is a great game for enthusiasts, not the best gateway game into coaxing lighter/non-gamers into the hobby, but certainly can be used for it. It's complex, but not that complicated of a game.

I've had this on my wish list for almost 4 years and finally decided to get it. I absolutely love this game. It's so much fun and easy to learn. Then you just have to figure out your strategy that you want to use to win. There are different ways to get your victory points and depending on which house leader you play, will perhaps make a difference in what you decide to do each turn. This game has lots of replayability in my opinion. 8 Different leaders, 2 for each of the 4 Houses. Even if you know nothing about Dune, it's still a great game. My wife knows the bare minimum about Dune from things I've explained, and she really likes this game and found it easy to learn. I've played it once as 2 player game, 3 or 4 times Solo, and once as a 4 player game. Loved all of it. I will say playing 4 player, it starts getting tough to find a space you can go to. Especially if you haven't been purchasing cards that have some of the symbols. It will really hurt you. It has some similar game mechanics to Lords of Waterdeep with regards to some of the spaces, pertaining to if you control that space with your House banner b/c you won a conflict there. You'll get a bonus each time afterwards that you or another player goes to that space. The cards remind me of Lost Ruins of Arnak, in regards to how they're used. You can either use the top part of the card to place an agent on a space on the board if you have the correct symbol on the card that matches that symbol on the board. Or you use the bottom part of the card in the Reveal step, if you didn't play that card that turn. So you have to figure out your strategy on when to play the card for the top or the bottom part to help you. Absolutely love it!!!! So much fun! I'm definitely looking forward to getting the other expansions, one a time to see how it helps with the game. But honestly, you will have a great time with just this base game if you like a board game that has a mix of card hand building mixed with Worker Placement. And has conflict each round, if you choose to participate. But ignore conflict at your peril, b/c you'll miss out on some nice rewards including victory points. The Spice Must Flow!!!!

This is a great game, lots of fun to play. Usually everyone is within a point or two of other players and you really don’t know who is going to win till the end. It’s a combination worker placement, deck building, and strategy game. It has quickly become one of the top games of my group. (Also pretty decent as a solo game especially with the companion app, not necessary to play but interesting if you like that sort of thing)

Our family loves this game. It’s a very strategic multiplayer (though there is a single option) game. It’s rated 13+ but we play with our soon-to-be 13 year old and 10 year old. There are a lot of moving pieces between the spice, water, and solari collection and the conflicts to collect rewards and gain points to win. It’s not too difficult to learn. We watched a video on YouTube before we played and were able to get going right away. If you like strategic games and Dune, I’d highly recommend.

When I first got the game, the board—and only the board—was in simplified Chinese. But Amazon got me a replacement really quick, so now I’ve actually been able to play the game! I love it! The single player mode is challenging, but not unfair, and I’m eager to play this game with friends and family. I also purchased the Ix expansion, which I’ve heard improves so much upon the base game, so I’m equally excited to try that out!!! Gave all the stars back Old Review: The board is in Chinese. I don’t read Chinese. There’s a guide card that tells you what each square does, but it is a shallow comfort. I am sure the game is excellent, BUT having to translate every space is such a high barrier to my enjoyment. I might return it and try my luck again

I have only played this game solo to this point but I really love it. There are so many different things to do with the combinations of cards and locations on the board. The automa cards for solo play are very easy to use and the ai rivals consistently provide strong competition. There are some great videos online explaining how to play the game and I found them to be very helpful in learning the game. It isn't overly complex. I am sure the game would be fun with more players as well. I am not someone who knows a lot of the Dune history but have watched the latest movie version and I think the game does a very solid job of reflecting the Dune theme. The game components and board are high quality. I haven't purchased any of the expansions yet because I am very happy playing this original version but I am sure I will buy them at some point because they come highly rated as well. For some reason it took about 3 weeks from the time I ordered the game until it arrived but other than that I am completely satisfied.

Amazing board game! Tons of fun and great replayability. That said, I probably wouldn’t recommend it to someone completely new to board games or who’s only played things like Monopoly—it has a bit of a learning curve and takes more time to get into. But once you get the hang of it, it’s well worth it!

I highly recommend this game. I've been playing board games since the 70s. This game has a SOLO component and it WORKS ELEGANTLY. A few people complain about the instruction manual. The manual is actually well-written. You have to read it slowly and patiently. Rushing through the manual and scanning/browsing it is NOT recommended. Everything you need to know and learn about the game is in the manual. I play SOLO and if you are playing solo, I recommend downloading the free app as it makes playing solo so much efficient and easier. The game is heavily icon based and there is guide on the back of the manual. There is also a separate set of instructions for solo play AND a separate deck of cards to automate the AI opponent. At first, when I was reading the instructions, it didn't make sense to me how the game operates, but once I started setting up the board, the cards, the tokens, everything just started making sense. The game is very thematic and if you are familiar with the source material, the Dune-feeling is there- mining spice, backdoor dealing with the Frermen, the Spacing Guild, Paul Atreides. So yes, this is a fantastic boardgame. Simple and elegant in its execution, but has very deep strategies and machinations behind. This is a worker placement game so you know how worker placement games work- place token, occupied vs unoccupied space etc. Get this game.

Even if you don’t like Dune this is a surprisingly good board game and relatively simple to pickup. A good gift.

Virou o meu jogo favorito. O jogo e incrivelmente amarrado, tem diversas maneiras de progredir e muitas estrategias possiveis. Ele nao te penaliza muito por errar, voce pode se recuperar de um erro na proxima rodada. As partidas duram consistentemente 2 horas. Unico defeito sao as cartas de intriga de fim de jogo, pois elas podem virar o jogo inteiro depois que ele acabou.

awesome game. absolute top-class 10/10.

This is the second board game ever made of the esteemed sci fi novel Dune and boy does it not disappoint. This game is mean and conflict is how you win the game. So many strategies can be done from collecting spice to gain tons of solaris or slowly amass your forces on the planet arrakis and strike when the it is right. The deckbuilding and worke placement gel together seamless and there is less downtime when you can only go to the space where your cards allow you too. This makes the deckbuilding more important as you might want to get cards that will help you gain more influence with a certain faction. If you love player interaction this is definitely the game for you. You will always be engaged in the game as anyone on the table can mess up your plans. All of the elements makes this my 2020 Board Game of The Year.

フランクハーバートのSF小説「DUNE」をベースにしたボードゲームである。 まずゲームとしてよくできており面白い。いわゆるワーカープレイスメントとデッキ構築という有名なシステムを基盤に作られており、普通のボードゲーマーならすぐにプレイできるだろう。 しかし、絵柄が最新の映画「DUNE」のものであるし、ルール自体にも原作に出てくる（知っている人なら、「ああ、あれね！」）というネタを元にしたものが多いので、原作を知っている人や映画を観た人はさらに感情移入できるという意味で面白みが増すだろう。