Dune Imperium Leader Strategy Guide: Baron Vladimir Harkonnen

Teaching you how to play one of my strongest leaders. The Baron
Baron has a quick path the the spacing friendship, which makes him very powerful in the second position.

[@asbjrnparmer8046]

Thanks for this series! Given that the probability of getting exactly one faction access card in round 1 is 5/9 = 56 %, I look forward to hearing your take on the advanced Baron strategies for the other 4/9 = 44 % of games. Happy Dune-ing to you as well:)

[@LordoftheBoard]

Honored to potentially be some of the videos mr beast found unintelligent 🙏🏽 love your vids man. You deserved 😊this

[@cheesable]

Thanks! I appreciate this! Looked at your channel a lot when I was starting

[@keryannguillaume5751]

Boring Leader and strategy... Next please. You didn't even talk of the others factions... Shipping is strong but not mandatory.

[@felkdav]

Other leader guides are very context dependent. What's your starting hand? What spaces are already occupied? Is there a good card on the imperium row? Those probably will be more vague and just focus on possible early routes, but that's not always optimal within a specific context. It's also good to know about a leader's usual early game even if you are not playing that leader, as you can predict what the player's moves will be.

[@cheesable]

The Baron hate is real. As much as it is disliked. It is a vital centerpiece of the meta. And something I think all new players should understand. Shipping is not mandatory. But ask any good player if they'd prefer to be the one on the table with uncontested interstellar shipping access, they'd tell you yes.

[@DarkRoninNr1]

Thanx, Leto please

[@trolleurdurden5534]

I'm not totally convinced that it's a good thing to forfeit one ring use in order to have Swordmaster one turn earlier. Getting an intrigue card for 1 solari is more or less the equivalent of half an action (you can get one with the Bene Gesserit + 1 influence or on Carthag with 1 troop + combat space), which is often the "value" of the third action, because you usually don't have very relevant spaces to go to at that point in the turn. And it also cost a card, which means less persuasion during the reveal phase, which can also be detrimental during the early game.

[@cheesable]

I think some ideas to unpack here. The ring is good. You should use it. The issue with R4/R5 swordmaster, is that it is very dependent on position. You are not first in line to get Swordmaster, so it might delay you to R6. Which is vastly different from R3 Swordmaster. This is where your experience matters and understanding if someone else smuggling or a combat will give you that extra solari to activate your ring with little downside. Regarding the downside to playing 3 cards and having less cards for persuasion. I don't think it generally plays out in this manner. Extra actions generally turn into more card draw. Or even just tech nego to turn a dagger into persuasion. So the question is, is swordmaster good? I think the answer to this is yes as well.

[@bjarkov12]

Draw an intrigue roughly equates half an action or ~2 solaris Gain 3 solaris ~ 1 action (base game had this action - I think the evaluation still holds for the early game) Paying 1 sol to draw an intrigue is somewhere south of half an action, probably around 1/3rd or 1/4th of an action. (Fractional Action arithmetics are tricky and don't always make sense). This is the value you lose by forgoing the ability. What do you gain for that? Well, aside from the points already made by @cheesable, you get the ability to make the last move. This matters a lot because it carries a 'threat of action' that is often stronger than the action itself; Others are forced to over-commit to take combats, while you are able to commit with maximal information and reap battle rewards with minimal effort. Because of this the 3rd action matters, even if the quality of spaces you can go may vary. Also, as you pick up better cards, getting to spend an extra card for agent actions with additional effects becomes very valuable. Naturally, the value of the signet ring goes way up once you've reached your solari breakpoints for SM and HC. Your late-game baron plan often revolves around intrigues