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Dune - Wheels Within Wheels

Hot
SI Updated September 06, 2019
 
5.0
 
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Dune - Wheels Within Wheels

Game Information

Game Name
There Will Be Games

Unlike a lot of other pillars of nerd culture, Frank Herbert’s classic novel Dune is still waiting for its perfect adaptation. The 1984 David Lynch film is kind of a slog with amazing art direction, and the Sci-Fi channel miniseries reduced the scope of the novel lower than it could really bear. But if we expand the search to include other media, Dune has received two of the most important games of the last forty years. Westwood Studios’ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty essentially codified real-time strategy games in the video game world. But Dune’s greatest adaptation might just be the classic board game, published by Avalon Hill in 1979.

 

Designed by the same team that changed gaming forever with Cosmic Encounter, Dune is a monument of thematic gaming. Six factions from the novel square off on the planet of Arrakis: House Atreides, House Harkonnen, The Fremen, The Spacing Guild, The Bene Gesserit, and the Emperor’s forces. They seek to control Arrakis (also called Dune) so that they can control the flow of Spice, the substance that makes space travel possible and allows humans to expand their minds to new horizons. The board game takes place over up to fifteen rounds. Players buy new troops, move them around the board, and engage in combat to secure strongholds and new supplies of Spice, which allows them to buy more troops and bring back dead leaders. The winner is the person who controls three of Dune’s five strongholds at the end of a turn, although there are some special win conditions for some of the factions. The broad strokes of the game are actually quite abstract. The troops are mostly generic tokens, sort of a resource that can be spent in combat to control territories (more on combat in a minute). Likewise movement is very limited, allowing players the ability to move from just one territory to one other in a turn, as well as allowing them to bring troops from off the board into a single location.

 

You may also like this review of the new board game from Gale Force Nine.

 

However, woven into this very limited system are numerous mechanics that transport the whole thing to Herbert’s world. Some of these are tied to the board and how Spice appears. There is a constant windstorm that circles the board, destroying troops and consuming Spice that it passes over. Troops can take shelter in certain spaces, but it’s a constant consideration, pushing players to take risks when they otherwise might not. There is also what is called the “Spice Blow,” a card draw every turn that makes new Spice appear on the board. Every so often one of the Spice Blows is accompanied by Shai-Hulud, one of the great sandworms of Dune, which destroy everything beneath them. These are omnipresent factors in the novel, and the game recreates them with aplomb.

But much of the strategy and thematic depth of Dune comes from the factions themselves. Having already designed Cosmic Encounter, the Future Pastimes team was no stranger to player powers. But Dune embraces these differences to a much deeper effect. House Atreides has access to information that would otherwise be hidden. The Harkonnens are given a much larger hand of Treachery Cards, allowing them to pull more nasty tricks. The Spacing Guild controls the highways of space, and so they receive Spice whenever someone ships onto Dune. The Fremen, being native to Dune, don’t need to ship units to the planet, and are able to move much faster. The Emperor receives Spice for the purchase of treachery cards. Finally, the Bene Gesserit are able to force players to do their bidding, and are able to execute a secret victory if at the beginning of the game they correctly predict who will win and on what round they will do it. There are other powers at work for each faction, and their setup at the beginning of the game means they will all be in different states when the game begins.

It is impossible to overstate how well these factions are designed. Each of them recreates the abilities and weaknesses of their counterparts in the novel so thoroughly that the players find themselves thinking like their factions. The Harkonnen player will naturally be given to aggressive military moves and dirty tricks. The Bene Gesserit player will begin to subtly manipulate others to compel them to do what they want. The Emperor and Spacing Guild can use their great wealth of bribe the other players into doing their bidding as well. As alliances form, the game will also reward certain combinations over others, many of which line up with the novel as well. The Atreides and the Fremen for example have a lot of possibilities, and the Harkonnen and the Emperor are a formidable combo.

That’s right, alliances are a pivotal part of Dune as they are in Cosmic Encounter. Whenever a sandworm appears, the players are forced into a nexus, where they can formally ally with each other, giving each other special benefits. This also means that it’s extremely common for more than one player to win at the same time. This is an endlessly fascinating part of the game to me. It is almost always better to work with someone else than on your own, unless you are in a very good position. The powers granted by allies are sometimes useful enough that temporary alliances are worth forming just so you can use specific powers until you don’t need them anymore. Then you can find a new ally at the next nexus. When combined with the nature of deals, which in this game are always binding, and Dune has some of the most subtle and well-executed interaction I’ve ever seen in a board game.

Another brilliant element is the combat. There are two combat wheels, and when combat begins each player secretly picks how many of their troops in the territory they are willing to commit. They can also use the strength of a leader and weapon cards. Once both players reveal their battle plan, the person with the lower total must remove all of their troops from the territory, while the winner loses just the troops they committed. This creates a huge amount of tension, since new troops cost a lot of Spice and are a precious commodity. How much should one commit? Enough to win might mean that there won’t be much left to hold the territory. The added tension of the leaders, who may be traitors for the other faction and cause you to lose automatically, is delicious. And the weapon cards add another layer of double-guessing.

If it is not obvious already, Dune is a game of hidden information. There is very little random chance in the game, but it’s loaded with secrets. Everyone has their own plans, which dovetail into plans for alliances and enemies alike. It truly is a game of wheels within wheels, different plots that fall into place and are undone by a moment of delicious reversal. Because of this, Dune tends to play out in a rhythm of big moments. A player will get their strategy lined up for a big push toward victory, and will find themselves almost there…until they find themselves at the wrong end of a lasegun explosion. These moments can be crushing for a good stretch of the game, though as the game goes on it is often possible to recover and have another chance. It is not a game for those who like to have a sure thing, because every decision is made with roughly a quarter of the necessary information.

Dune is regarded as one of the greatest designs of all time, and it’s not hard to see why. For all of its thematic detail, it is actually quite streamlined, with an almost Eurogame feeling in its abstraction. I’ve even played with people who felt the game was a bit too simple, since almost all of its depth comes in the interaction of the players and the possibilities of alliances. Still, although the game was ahead of its time, it was originally published in 1979, and it shows. It really requires six players to work best, though five will do in a pinch. Several factions have instant win conditions, meaning the game is as likely to take two hours as it is six. It also requires the player to track a lot of information on a piece of paper. This is probably the best way to manage the protean nature of the game, but it will put off some modern gamers. Parhaps most troublesome, the rules as written in the original Avalon Hill edition are notorious leaky, able to explain the broad strokes of the game but leaving some common interactions murky. It’s not helped by the presence of optional rules (which I always use) and controversial advanced rules, which I’ve mostly left alone. One of the great quests of the Dune page on Board Game Geek is to find a unified rewritten ruleset that irons out these kinks, but by its very nature Dune resists such efforts. A certain amount of flexibility is the best medicine.

For years Dune was something of a white whale in gaming reprints. Even as several other out-of-print classics made their way back to shelves, Dune's license made for a difficult sell, aside from the ersatz re-theming released by Fantasy Flight Games called "Rex." But the Dune faithful finally have cause to rejoice, because Dune is getting its first American reprint since the Reagan administration. This new edition, published by Gale Force Nine, looks like it will be faithful to the original release. This reprint has been overseen at least in part by two of the original designers, Peter Olotka and Bill Eberle. Although Dune is a tricky game to get played in the rhythm of the hobby today, the prospect of a new movie adaptation, and the strong reception from the current version of Cosmic Encounter, makes me think that the world might be ready for Dune again. I'm excited enough to keep my eyes peeled for a copy, even though I already own the 1990's French version from Descartes. That's how badly I want this new version to succeed.

Because that's the effect Dune has on people. This is a game that fully embraces the medium, and it's power has always been not in how it is recreates the setting so faithfully (which it does), but in how the original themes of the novel are so strong in board game form. The intense scarcity and environmental aspects of the book are here, the plots of the powerful are thrown into disarray by unlikely events, and the wheels-within-wheels scheming that fills the book also fills the game table. This is as vibrant a game in 2019 as it was in 1979, and our world is better for it.


Editor reviews

1 reviews

Rating 
 
5.0
Dune represents perhaps the best adaptation ever done of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic. It is a brilliant work of game design, rife with negotiation, uncertainty, and huge dramatic moments. This is my kind of stuff.
SI
Top 50 Reviewer 55 reviews
Nate Owens (He/Him)
Staff Writer

After a childhood spent pestering his parents and sister to play Monopoly, Scrabble, and Mille Bornes, Nate discovered The Settlers of Catan in college. From there it was only a matter of time before he fell down the rabbit hole of board gaming. Nate has been blogging since college, and writing about board games since 2007. You can find more of his work at Games are for Everyone. His reviews have also appeared on his blog, The Rumpus Room, and on Miniature Market. Nate enjoys games with a lot of interaction, as well as games with an unconventional approach to theme.

Articles by Nate

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Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #301325 02 Sep 2019 14:34
Nice work, Nate. I have always agreed with people that it's a great design. I have also agreed with those that suggest that it's a great game if you have the right group to play it with. I have an old AH copy that I've played many games with before, but it's seriously showing its age, so I picked up one of the GF9 versions. I'm bringing it to my SF book club, whom I encouraged to read Dune (only one other person aside from me had read it before) last month, with the idea that, having been exposed to the setting, they might be interested in a game. A successful session of Dune with five newbs? Not likely. But maybe it will plant the seed (with beer! Will it grow on Arrakis?) for future attempts.
Shellhead's Avatar
Shellhead replied the topic: #301326 02 Sep 2019 14:51
Dune is the archetypal DOAM with variable player powers. Quite a few modern games owe a debt to Dune. All of these games, including Dune tend to require some repeat play to really explore the game, at least until players become sufficiently familiar with the various factions to really engage with the game.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #301327 02 Sep 2019 15:29
Great article.
charlest's Avatar
charlest replied the topic: #301328 03 Sep 2019 08:28
Great job, Nate.
Malloc's Avatar
Malloc replied the topic: #301342 03 Sep 2019 16:30
Dune is getting so much hype with the long awaited reprint.

My prediction, no one will care in a year.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the game and think it is great. I own the AH version and still shelled out big bucks for a PnP version.

Thing is, I love this game for what it is, a dirty down in the weeds f’ everyone else game. Its full of hidden i formation, if you’ve ever lost to the Bene Gesserit due to the prediction, you know how frustratingly fun it can be.

But most of the modern gamers i know, suckled at the teat of friendly co-op games, weened on the snoozefests that are multi-player solo engine builders, well they don’t like being kicked in the jimmies by a traitorous leader. They are uncomfortable with hidden information and they hate it when they can figure out the paper puzzle placed in front of them.

My guess is that those who play Dune regularly now will be the same group still playing in 24 months.

-M
Sagrilarus's Avatar
Sagrilarus replied the topic: #301343 03 Sep 2019 16:43

Malloc wrote: My guess is that those who play Dune regularly now will be the same group still playing in 24 months.
-M


I suspect the same, though it will certainly find its way to new people that are predisposed to like it.

I'll be curious to see reviews come out. I think many will be positive, but there's bound to be some whiskey-tango-foxtrot in there as well, largely due to the game's play time, it's chaos and opacity, and even things like "setup time" which seems to be remarkably important to some people.

Granted, I think most will defer appropriately to its legendary status. But I think a fair chunk of "ymmv" will be in the mix.
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #301352 03 Sep 2019 22:07

Sagrilarus wrote: Granted, I think most will defer appropriately to its legendary status. But I think a fair chunk of "ymmv" will be in the mix.


SUSD did one for the new edition which basically added up to that. "if you can handle a game anywhere from two hours to six, where it's possible to be a player who made an early mistake and is sitting on the sidelines for much of those six hours, GREAT! This is for you. If not, then probably not." They did point out that the "advanced" rules do carry a lot of the thematic elements from the story (BG advisors, Kwizatz Haderach, etc.) but they also bring in stuff like half values for troops without spice (ugh) and if you're already trying to teach the game to new people...
hotseatgames's Avatar
hotseatgames replied the topic: #301353 03 Sep 2019 22:56
I'm planning a game for Saturday. It had better not go to 6 hours.
san il defanso's Avatar
san il defanso replied the topic: #301359 04 Sep 2019 01:19

Malloc wrote: Dune is getting so much hype with the long awaited reprint.

My prediction, no one will care in a year.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the game and think it is great. I own the AH version and still shelled out big bucks for a PnP version.

Thing is, I love this game for what it is, a dirty down in the weeds f’ everyone else game. Its full of hidden i formation, if you’ve ever lost to the Bene Gesserit due to the prediction, you know how frustratingly fun it can be.

But most of the modern gamers i know, suckled at the teat of friendly co-op games, weened on the snoozefests that are multi-player solo engine builders, well they don’t like being kicked in the jimmies by a traitorous leader. They are uncomfortable with hidden information and they hate it when they can figure out the paper puzzle placed in front of them.

My guess is that those who play Dune regularly now will be the same group still playing in 24 months.

-M


In broad strokes I think you're right. The conversation moves very fast these days, and even really good games get left behind after a year or so. I do think that Dune is a unique enough game that it will find at least some new people. I already know several people for whom the game didn't live up to its reputation, so I suspect there will be more of that. But I've not yet played anything else that really comes close to the same experience. That's why I push against the idea that this is a traditional dudes-on-a-map design. The combat is so punishing that I think it ends up being a game that takes place outside of combat far more.

I actually think that Dune is one of the few games that actually seems to understand the huge resource cost of warfare. It's one of those things that happens sometimes, but I observe that experienced players tend to avoid it if possible. It's just so costly.

For whatever it's worth, I think GF9 has done some things right. It looks like they are trying to make a product that will be as approachable as it can be, from quick start guides to price. Let's also keep in mind that for a while it looked like this game would never get a reprint. I think it's alright to get excited, even if a lot of people don't really get it.
Erik Twice's Avatar
Erik Twice replied the topic: #301360 04 Sep 2019 05:53
Duplicate
Malloc's Avatar
Malloc replied the topic: #301362 04 Sep 2019 08:19
Combat in Dune is something that needs to be planned out carefully. It is not a DoaM game at all. You will remove yourself from contention if you fight a stupid battle. You should be negotiating spice etc, not just fighting over it.

For what its worth I am happy with the reprint. It looks great (not as good as my pnp version but better than my AH one) and it will get more people to play and possibly like the game (I just feel this will not be your average gamer).

I will continue to use the rules we have been using for years regardless of what GF9 puts in their version. (We use the wbc rules/house rules).

Also all the original expansions for this game suck so I hope they don’t mix those rules in.
JoelCFC25's Avatar
JoelCFC25 replied the topic: #301404 05 Sep 2019 10:47
It's just the base game, none of the old Duel/Spice Harvest expansion stuff was included.
drewcula's Avatar
drewcula replied the topic: #301448 05 Sep 2019 15:42

JoelCFC25 wrote: It's just the base game, none of the old Duel/Spice Harvest expansion stuff was included.


Nor will they. GF9 does not own the rights to the expansions. That could change of course, but the rep I was speaking with said there was no interest.

And that's fine.