Arrakis. Dune. Desert Planet. Since
Frank Herbert penned these classic words in the original Dune (the best-selling
science fiction novel of all time) his vision has spawned numerous follow-on
novels, two movies, a CCG, an RPG, and four boardgames. Three of those
boardgames were published years ago by Avalon Hill, but have been off the
market for years (the fourth, by Parker Bros., it is outside the scope
of this review). That the games (DUNE, THE DUEL, and SPICE HARVEST) have
retained their popularity is evidenced by the prices they sell for on eBay:
DUNE itself, which AH published in 1979, regularly fetches between $35-$50,
with mint unpunched copies going for as much as $75. The add-on modules
The DUEL and SPICE HARVEST, which towards the end of their existence AH
was practically giving away, command fairly high prices, too. Now, thanks
to the folks at Eurogames/Jeux Descartes, you can get all three of these
games boxed in one edition at a price far less than you'd pay for used
copies on eBay. Why do the ludorati pay such steep prices for this old
game, and does this French remake improve on the originals? Read on.
Dune was designed by an outfit called
Future Pastimes; you may be familiar with another of their designs that
remains in print to this day: COSMIC ENCOUNTERS. Like COSMIC, DUNE features
marvelous faction asymmetry, but adds the theme of the novel to what many
consider to be the finest power politics game ever invented. The DUEL module
adds the ability for players to carry on a "kanly" - a duel to the death
- during play of the regular game, while the SPICE HARVEST module allows
players to play a prequel to the game and thereby alter the basic game's
starting setup of troops and Spice.
DUNE is a multiplayer game that is best
played with a full complement of six players, though it can easily be played
by four, and with a special scenario even three (about which, more later).
The regular game itself is relatively simple; the basic rules run to just
four pages. DUNE is played on a map which portrays the mountains, deserts,
sietches (called "Strongholds"), and the polar sink of Herbert's magnificent
creation. Each player controls one of the factions so vividly described
in the novel: House Harkonnen, House Atreides, the Emperor, the Bene Gesserit
sisterhood, the Fremen, and the Spacing Guild. The object of the game is
to control three of the Strongholds, four if you are in alliance with another
player. To accomplish this your faction receives a certain amount of Spice,
in the game as in the novel the unit of currency, and hence, power. You
also get a predetermined amount of troops, a number of Leader discs of
varying strength representing the major characters of a faction (e.g.,
the Fremen have the Shadout Mapes, a '3', and Stilgar, a '7'). During setup
of the game all of the Leaders are placed in a cup and each player draws
four of the discs at random, choosing one to be a Traitor (the Harkonnen
player gets to choose all four as Traitors).
To these elements are added two decks
of cards, the Treachery and Spice decks, along with a sandstorm marker.
The Spice deck's top card is turned over each turn; either a Spice Blow
will happen and a variable number of Spice chits will be placed somewhere
on the board, or Shai Halud (a giant sandworm) will appear. The former
you want to fund your ability to pay the Guild to transport your troops
down to Arrakis for both Spice harvesting as well as combat. The latter
has both positive and negative effects: alliances with other players can
be made or broken only when a sandworm appears, and any spice and troops
in an area where Spice were found last turn are immediately removed from
the game due to a grisly end. Spice acquisition also funds your ability
to bid on Treachery deck cards; these provide offensive and defensive modifiers
in combat, nasty events of varying degrees to play on your opponents, and
some completely useless cards. The sandstorm marker is moved on the board
as a variable in controlled areas each turn; if your men are unfortunate
enough to be caught up in one its curtains for them.
Combat is enjoined in areas where two
factions have troops, and is simplicity itself. Each player picks up a
"Battle Wheel" that allows the player to choose a number of his troops
present in the area, up to the entire number, as well as to hide a Leader
counter and up to two Treachery cards representing a Weapon (offensive
card) and a Shield (defensive card). These "Battle Plans" are revealed
simultaneously, with the player having the higher total, after determining
Leader casualties, if any, winning the battle. Leaders are killed if the
enemy plays a Weapon for which they don't have an appropriate Shield. In
cases of ties the first player (called the "Aggressor") wins. The winner
loses the number of troops he dialed in for combat; the loser loses all
of his troops regardless of the number he dialed. If your opponent had
the misfortune to use a Leader that you had marked as a Traitor, he immediately
loses the battle and you lose nothing.
What elevates this out of the ordinary
is the asymmetry I mentioned earlier: each faction has special characteristics
and powers that modifies one or more of the above conventions. For example,
the Atreides player, reflecting Paul Muad'dib's prescience, can during
the bidding round for Treachery cards examine each card before it goes
up for bid by other players (who must bid on the card face-down). This
power alone can be a game-breaker. If this were not enough, he can also
look at the top card of the Spice deck before it is turned over, and in
combat force his opponent to reveal one of the four elements of his Battle
Plan. The Bene Gesserit witch ... er ... player, writes down at the beginning
of the game the game turn he thinks the game will be won in (a normal game
of Dune lasts up to 15 turns, though in practice most games are decided
before turns 8 or 9) and the faction he thinks will win; if his prediction
is true then he, and not the 'winner', wins the game. The BG player can
also ship for free one troop chit, as a "religious advisor," when any other
faction ships troops down to the planet surface. Unlike troops of any other
faction, which must battle with opposing troops in the same area during
the Battle Round of the game turn sequence of play, the BG troop token
can "coexist" in the area peacefully, gradually building up power over
a series of turns until he determines that it is time to stop coexisting
and declare war. The BG player can also "Voice" his opponent into doing
as he wishes with regard to one aspect of his battle plan. The Emperor
player gets a cut on all financial deals, represented by the fact that
when any other player pays Spice for a Treachery card, to revive dead troops
out of the Tleilaxu Tanks (i.e. reinforcements), or to ship troops to Arrakis,
the Spice tokens go into the Emperor's account, and not the bank's. The
Emperor player also has elite Sardaukar troops, which count double in combat
as opposed to any other players. When players ally with each other, many
of these special powers can be made to intercede for your ally as well.
Suffice it to say, each faction's special powers are appropriate to that
faction, and represent potentially game-winning strategies. The special
powers also ensure that no two games of Dune are ever the same, and that
cunning, deceit, treachery, skill, and luck all will play a part in an
unfolding game.
To show just how dramatic the interplay
of all these elements can be I'll recap a recent game that my group, the
GLG Gamers, played. We played a 4-player game with the Emperor, Fremen
(yours truly), Bene Gesserit, and Harkonnen factions. We played with the
following house rules: no alliances until turn 4 (to give all a chance
to build up some strength), and alliances only last until the next Worm
card appears, at which point new alliances can be made (but not with your
old partner until yet another Worm appears).
The Harkonnen player managed to use
his in-built treachery to come within a whisker's of a 3 territory win
right off the bat, only to have everyone gang up on him and keep the game
open. Meanwhile the Emperor culled in the cash (i.e. Spice) as everyone
else bid like crazy to build up their hands of Treachery cards. The BG
player was very coy, coexisting everywhere and basically only sending in
his witches, er ... tokens, for free (so he had correspondingly few tokens
on board). As the Fremen player I had significant luck in having the Spice
Blows land near my troops, but didn't make much headway in terms of converting
Sietches.
Turn 4 arrives and the negotiating came
out fast and furious. The Fremen and Harkonnen allied; they only needed
one more Stronghold for a knockout win. This forced the Emperor into the
hands of the BG, which, as you will see, proved fateful in the end. Unfortunately
for the Hark/Fremen alliance, the Emperor went first, and to forestall
the auto win with four Strongholds he sent in massive troops into Carthag.
Using his partner's Voice ability, he found out the offensive weakness
of the Harkonnen player (no poison), and managed to defend himself and
kill the Harkonnen leader. With that went Carthag, and the Hark/Fremen
alliance blitz strategy went out the door. Still feeling our oats, however,
and the superior ability of the Fremen to resupply out of the Tleilaxu
Tanks, I sent in the bulk of my truppen into the Habbanya Ridge Sietch,
while closely contending Teuk's Sietch, both of which were filled with
the Emperor's troops. As the aggressor I chose the big battle first, hoping
that the Emperor would choose his second best Leader (he had lost his first
to the Harkonnen on turn 3), as I had that leader as a Traitor. Sure enough,
he did ... battle over, and Habbanya Ridge was ours. Then on to Tuek's
Sietch, which I also won, killing the Emperor's Leader. Now we were back
to needing only one more Stronghold for a victory. To top things off, the
Baron had the Family Atomics Treachery card, and blew the Shield Wall down,
exposing the Emperor's troops in Carthag to the approaching storm.
So naturally then this wonderful
game produced a catch just when it was needed (at least as far as the long-faces
of the Emp/BG alliance were concerned), and a Worm appeared on the Spice
Blow. Bingo: alliances over, and a new strategy needed to be worked out.
The Baron decided to ally with the chief Witch, but by this time the Emperor
was so poor, having funded the BG's need for spice to buy Treachery cards,
and had so many troops in the Tanks that it made little sense for me to
ally with him.
It was now turn 7, and the BG/Hark alliance
had two Strongholds, the Fremen had two, and one (Tuek's Sietch) was open.
The BG player landed in Sietch Tabr, which heretofore had gone uncontested
(I had 5 troops in the Territory the entire game), while the Baron landed
one single troop in Tuek's Sietch. The Emperor went next, and landed his
one token in Tuek's Sietch as well. The Emperor wasn't allied with me,
but he was going to give the BG/Hark alliance a run for their money anyway.
To make a long story short, the BG player
used Voice once again to cancel out my Weapons card, and managed to pull
off a tie with me ... but he won as he was the aggressor. So it all came
down to the one-token battle in Tuek's Sietch. Finally the BG player Voiced
(for his Harkonnen partner) the Emperor into not using his only weapon,
and the Harkonnen player scored a win. Voila: the BG/Hark. alliance now
had victory!
Or did it ...? Just as the Baron was
congratulating himself on his dastardly deeds, the BG player announced
a Harkonnen victory on turn 7 ... to win it all for himself!! Yikes! What
a great game!
If for no other reason than simply getting
this incredible game back on the market Jeux Descartes should be congratulated,
but the game, in my opinion, represents outstanding value for the money.
Even if you never play with the expansions, the decks included with those
gamettes include extra Treachery cards that add, if you will pardon the
pun, "spice" to the regular game's Treachery deck. The components that
Descartes includes are typical for a Euro game as well: outstanding artwork
and quality components. There is a minor error in the map (the sector line
which bisects Arrakeen should not bisect that Stronghold), but that is
easily referenced with the English rules that accompany the game which
provide a copy of the original and correct AH map. The rules also have
a minor piece of errata: the Atreides player gets a Free Revival of two
troop tokens.
There is plenty of online support for
this game, too. For a cornucopia of variant rules and scenarios check out
Rick Heli's site, Colin's DUNE page, and, oh yes, that three-player variant.
What more can I say? If you can only buy one game this year, buy this game!
Send comments, suggestions, and fan mail to:a2glg@yahoo.com
Page Last Updated: 4/10/03