Dune Imperium Uprising: My Favorite Mechanism

[@KGeegs]

I concur on the understated importance of how Spies stay out until you use them. That allowed the designers to create cards with effects that remove Spies from the board for some sort of benefit. In my one play of Uprising so far I used one such card to recall two Spies for a huge combat bonus that turned the tide in my favor. It was a big cost and setup, to have two Spies on the board first and not use them, but well worth it.

[@astevezimm]

I love the sandworms. It is satisfying to obtain a maker hook and so are now able to put out sandworms in the battle and to break down the wall to be able to use them in all battles. These features really bring the theme to life

[@eltcommonplace]

I really love that conflict cards have now icons which are now a new way to get points. But the requirements in the spaces is such a cool touch, forcing you to increase in some of them for your strategy.

[@phunkysai]

I love that, with the expansions, we now have a bunch of different variations of this awesome game we can explore!

[@h00sha]

I love the way that you describe spies as worker placement within worker placement. Though not quite the same, it gave me a similar feeling to Eric Lang's Godfather. Thugs get placed in the 'front' of a business location while family members can be placed to shakedown the 'back' of multiple business locations connected to their spaces. And then there are the turf control markers in Godfather that act like Dune's control markers, giving the owner a benefit when another player goes there.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@francopdx]

I am super happy with this game! Dune: Imperium is one of my favorite games, and I was hesitant to get the sequel because it seemed so similar, and there's still plenty from the original that I want to explore, but I was pleasantly surprised that this felt much more different than I expected. It feels more complex than the original too. Anyway, I'm glad that I now have both of these games in my collection. The original feels like a good way to help new players learn the system, and I really like the new board elements from the Ix expansion and the grafting cards from Immortality. Whereas Uprising offers a more intense experience for those familiar with the system, and I'm excited to try the 6-player mode once enough of my friends know the game well enough.

[@WhatUpRob]

Goodness, Dune Imperium was so solid, IX made it very good, personally haven’t played with Immortality, but Uprising on its own is superb. I’m keeping Imperium and IX as well as Uprising because they both can be useful.

[@JEV03]

Love the idea of the spies! I was also intrigued by the six player variant but I’d probably have to wait until digital to experience that. That said when I watched a preview of this at PAX Unplugged I was told that this game is way more combat heavy (especially because of the worms) than the original and I rather liked the balance the combat struck in the old game. Did the combat feel different to you in your play? Also did you mix in any previous expansions? I understand there’s some confusion about what elements are and are not compatible.

[@jameystegmaier]

It was only one play for me, and while I didn't focus all that much on combat, I still participated in several key battles. I think the biggest change to combat (other than the sandwurms) is that the rewards for second and third place are better, encouraging more players to enter the fray. We didn't play with any expansions.

[@Raymondt81]

I have a question about this game. I love dune and like boardgames. I am looking for a dune game that feels like dune thematicly. Does this game have this? Or is it just a very good game but not as thematic as i am hoping for. And second quastion: is the solo game also fun?

[@jameystegmaier]

I haven't played the solo game, but I can say that the reason I got into the Dune book and movies is because I played Dune Imperium. I think it does a fantastic job with the theme.

[@Trizelz]

This is the only Dune I have played, but I also appreciated the mechanisms you addressed. I had two what moments, though. 1. Based on the difficulty to acquire factor, sandworms seemed underpowered. 2. Destroying the sand wall seemed anticlimactic and almost a waste of an action/decision.

[@Smexican217]

As someone who has played a lot of uprising: 1. My group had very similar feelings about the sand worms the first couple of games. However, once we started leaning into using them, it became clear that they are probably the most powerful aspect of this version. Doubling your combat rewards no matter what gives you a huge boost in resources for a low cost. They are borderline overpowered, and now the last player to get sand worms almost always loses heavily 2. The shield wall is definitely an underwhelming mechanic. I often view it as a catchup mechanic, as the players who get early access to worms will need to spend an action to break it. That being said, it only prevents worms from like 25-50% of combats, and it only takes 1 action to break and then an entire mechanic is gone. It’s probably the weakest point in this phenomenal game, and only really stalls early worm users for 1 or 2 combats

[@Trizelz]

@Smexican217 interesting details, thanks. It's funny because it was the first game for 3, including me out of 4, and I won being the only one who didn't earn a sandworm. I'm sure with more experience, it changes the game.