Dune Imperium Board Game Review

[@ReverendDrDeath]

I know this gets compared to Lost Ruins of Arnak, because of the deck building mixed with worker placement, and if I was comparing the two I think Dune Imperium is the game I like better. Having said that, I think they feel different enough to have both in a collection and I'm happy to have both.

[@brotherhorus4316]

Grear review, dont agree with all your dislikes, but hey ho, each to there own. I own the deluxe version which elevates the asthetics and the new expansion, which I feel brings the game up to near perfection in game play.

[@stevenmill9887]

I am a big fan of all aspects of Dune but can't appreciate that it doesn't float everyone's Ornithopter. After playing this a lot, a criticism of the base game is that there are a couple of board spaces that are overpowered and everyone competes for e.g. Heighliner, and the combat outcome can make the game swingy. The Rise of Ix completely sorts this though and brings more mechanics / complexity which is welcome once you have the base game down - cognisant that it shouldn't take an expansion to fix base game flaws but it seems to be the industry trend at present

[@TheOldMan-75]

The fact that the expansion comes with overlays for the board that flat out replace stuff from the base game, is kind of a turn off ^^ This looks like some additional playtesting was needed.

[@RetroPandroo]

Pretty much spot on, there's just something about how it all blends together that has made it one of my all time top games. The only other negative from my experience is it can be quite swingy and lucky, especially with the intrigue cards and buying from the Imperium row suddenly revealing a game-winning card for the next player to scoop up. That being said, the pros far outweigh those cons and it's not too long of a game, plus it's the Dune universe, so some randomness and swingy-ness is par for the course 🪱

[@KMReviews]

I completely agree about the theme and the board being bland etc. however I like the gameplay so much I overlook it. I also think the expansion is 100% essential. The dreadnaughts, new card rules, new tracks, etc, make it way better.

[@S.Grenier]

Pretty spot on review. Dune Imperium is one of those games I quite enjoyed but have had a hard time getting people to play it over any other games we own. People just don't get excited about this one and the components/art/setting might play a big part in that. When we do play it, everyone seems to have fun, but no one asks to play again. It sits in a strange place for us, we like it but might sell it at some point regardless.

[@TheOldMan-75]

Have you sold the game by now? I just can't make a decision when it comes to this game. I don't think I have ever watched so many different reviews for a single game. Everyone seems to love the game. I like the Dune IP. However, this just doesn't look exciting at all. The board is horribly ugly and judging by the reviews there really isn't a whole lot of theme going on.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Still have it. Still a great game

[@SeppoHelava]

I picked this up, and then picked up the upgrade pack. The upgrade pack does wonders for making the game feel less abstract and more in line with the quality of its gameplay. One of the big negatives for me is just how un-evocative the game board is, and having figures tromping around on it at least feels more thematic. I just got Rise of Ix, and am looking forward to giving that a go soon.

[@michaelgrant2132]

Interesting review. Like a London cabbie doing a board game review. Top one geezer 👍

[@footsoldier1468]

Good review guv. I wasn’t happy shelling out £50 for the deluxe box but it is absolutely fantastic. It replaces the original box and fits all the extra bits from the Rise of ix expansion too. This is something I’d like to see more of for other games. Cheers

[@andrewww3389]

Good review, I was excited to hear your opinion on this one. This is my favorite game released in the last few years easily. I love all of the tension and the tightness of the board. I will also say the rise of ix expansion made this game even better in my opinion. The art is certainly divisive but I actually like it, I think it fits the theme well. Take care!

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@que-tangclan]

I love this game. I forked out for the deluxe pack and at first was let down until I got it all on the table

[@danielbuday1895]

This is the first video review series where I make purchases based mostly on fear. I feel like if I don’t buy this game I’ll be wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the Thames.

[@MrChickster12]

Brought it, played it, love it!

[@petermillen6924]

Thanks for posting. I have little time for Frank Herbert’s world, for worker placement games or the deck building mechanism. It seems that the designer has succeeded in tweaking all the familiar ingredients to make the eurogamers happy. I am in favour of happiness, so OK (or okra as my editor would have it).

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Did you play the 80s Dune game?

[@petermillen6924]

Nah not being into Dune kept me away from that, and the FFG retheme Rex. If forced, I would probably prefer the Avalon Hill approach to the Eurogame approach but my current group is unlikely to enjoy either.

[@stevenmill9887]

@@BoardGameBollocks Yes, one of my group has it. Played a few times initially with 3 and it was poor. When we got an extra player to get to 4 it was a different game entirely. Would love to play with 6 :-)

[@Wolcik3000]

I am finishing the Dune series at the moment - the extra book written by the son, and it gets worse and worse after the God Emperor took patriarchy to grave along side himself, but I cannot finish a book series half way if there is more content. The world building sounds cool on paper, but paper will accept anything you put on it, and as the story goes the technologies become inconsistent - as the whole rebirth process begin to be elaborated. I still don't know if the "other great houses" were the IT guys and chameleon people or were they houses that disappeared during the rule of the God Emperor like the Harkonens do shortly after crossing the protagonist. So many games came out because of the movies.

[@teddyrynning5561]

Great game! The expansion makes it even better. But isn't the 10 conflict cards an endgame mechanic? The game ends after the 10th card has been resolved.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Yes but I’ve only experienced that a couple of times. More of a fail safe in case the game happens to drag.

[@guochunlee]

Subscribed! A differentiated pro p!ss artiste in the sector, keep rocking mate 😂👍

[@BoardGameBollocks]

✊🏻

[@nipzie]

Interesting. I love the art, just not the board art and colours or the cubes. I like the movie though and like the movie character inspired drawn not photographed cards.

[@Mark-jagger]

Interesting review. I didn’t actually think you’d end up recommending it but you kind of nailed it. The game looks like shit, it really does, but the gameplay is awesome. As am aside there’s no way I’m paying $75CDN for the deluxe components. They should have done better with the std ones. However, all in all this has been my favourite game of the past few years. My 11 year old son, my main gaming partner, has it as his favourite game, period, and he’s really experienced with board games for his age. So. Thanks for the honest review. Your negative points are spot on and your conclusion mirrors mine. Fantastic game. Crap board and components. Meh. The game rocks though so I’m don’t really care. Cheers, Mark

[@BoardGameBollocks]

👍🏻

[@TheOldMan-75]

I really don't see the deluxe upgrade box. The cubes are fine. It's that HORRENDOUS looking board that makes this game so insanely ugly ^^

[@bperez1172]

Best channel ever!!!!

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I agree 😂👍🏻

[@Yoogsaroon]

Love this game But my problem with it is with the component of the game you have to get the super deluxe edition to get the figures insted of the cubes for example

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Can’t justify the cost…might try to find some cheap proxies

[@stevenmill9887]

I like the game so much I was looking at the component upgrade - BUT it doesn't upgrade the resources e.g. spice, what is all that about!!

[@SandCannon]

I don't trust the judgement of a man that says the new Dune movie is dogshit.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve since revised my opinion. It’s worse…

[@TheOldMan-75]

Have you seen the Dune TV 3-parter? It's surprisingly good.

[@henrikwakman7776]

Meh. I like its ambition, but it's a bit B-movieish

[@DanielSilva-sr1dm]

Pretty good review!!

[@barrybadranath]

What a twist!

[@Wolcik3000]

I would like to play this as I like Deckbuilding and WorkerPlacement, but its a shame that you need an app to play solo or at two and the virtual player does random things that you have no way of seeing (basically a random set of event cards that were too many or costly to print)

[@Wolcik3000]

@@TheOldMan-75 I have bought the game, an in fact app is a replacememt to deck of cards

[@TheOldMan-75]

@@Wolcik3000 Hope you like the game.

[@johnhunt8299]

Agree with the positives and also that the board art is uninspiring. Happy to suffer cubes rather than more unnecessary plastic. Think going above 4 without expanding the number of board spaces would make the board far too constrained.

[@TheOldMan-75]

Yeah, instead of plastic miniatures I'd rather have a deluxe playmat with better art instead of that board.

[@MichaelM-ev9ek]

Calling Duke Leto a tightwad, but too cheap to spend the dinero on the big box? Double standards! I don't think the base game is that ugly. Of course, I sometimes wish it could be played with 5, but I suspect the tightness of the rounds would suffer. This game will find its way to the table ever so often again. I still haven't had enough of it and I haven't even tried the scout mode that the game app adds to the game for free.... Glad you liked it after all. Maybe you should give the "Duniverse" another chance, I found it to be less annoying than Star Wars!

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Star Wars died after Jedi and even that was just a bunch of muppets.

[@captainimpulse]

​​@@BoardGameBollocksNow *this* is an honest, and accurate, opinion. Should have been wookies!

[@Cyberplex]

It’s from designers as Clank, which could explain the board :) how do you like it compared to clank? Better or both great?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Different types of games. Clank is easier to teach and quicker so I pull that out when I can’t be arsed to think.

[@uplift-yourdailypickup6424]

I really like this game but it's not one that I can play every day as it's quite intense. I feel a bit drained afterward.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Same here…played it a lot to get the review done and I feel burnt out.

[@jackburtonstwin]

A recent pick up for me and I can't find much in your review that I disagree with so far. This is a great game that is let down by some surprisingly indifferent design choices and, in this day and age, that's a poor over sight. I had a similar experience with a new game called Zapotec. Again, there is a really good game here, but the graphic design is the Mogadon of board games.

[@BoardGameBollocks]

I’ve not played Zapotec…I’m guessing you don’t recommend?

[@jackburtonstwin]

@@BoardGameBollocks I actually like Zapotec as a lighter and faster Tzolkin/Teotihuacan (sub 1 hour play time), but it is a bit drab on the table. The kicker is these rather neat stacking plastic temples that look great but actually add little play value to the game and can't save overall underwhelming aesthetics.

[@imnottellingyoumyname3050]

Ok at 2 player or a no no?

[@BoardGameBollocks]

Played it once with 2 and it’s fine. Better with 4.

[@pauljones2261]

I felt the game took far too long and didn’t allow enough ability to manipulate the deck. I’ve played it twice and will never play it again. It was so dull.

[@Paul-ro6py]

Thanks for the direct review, don't think it's a game for me. A also am underwhelmed by theme

[@lkoz9079]

Good review L take on dune and movies

[@danielmarlett1421]

My favorite ugly game

[@MichaelGaskin]

KZbin BS.