Dune: Imperium and the Challenge of Planning Victories
Gain influence with the leading factions, collect vital spice, and plot careful combat victories in Dune: Imperium.
After winning Dune: Imperium a couple of times, I could have packed it up to move onto something else. Yet there were too many intriguing elements that I couldn’t ignore! The next difficulty level seemed like the right moment to try out other strategies with this highly-acclaimed game. Besides, my table wasn’t needed for anything but solo games!
Game Overview
Game Name: Dune: Imperium
Publication Year: 2020
Designer: Paul Dennen
Artists: Clay Brooks, Raul Ramos, and Nate Storm
Publisher: Dire Wolf
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
With a combination of cards and worker placement, all sorts of strategies evolve over the course of play. Every resource is important, while moving up on at least a few of the 4 faction influence tracks is essential. It all plays out quite elegantly with thoughtful choices and lots of spice!
First Play
June 22, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
October 27, 2022
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
10
Play Time
50 Minutes
High Score
12
Game Area
40" x 28"
Low Score
6
The New Agents
If it isn’t clear, the base game includes basic components to act as agents and troops. This upgraded edition includes a high quality box for easier storage and setup.
Naturally, the agent miniatures had to pass an initial inspection by the Calico Critters. I believe this expression indicates a stellar rating! Ha ha!
I’m not one who upgrades my solo games that much, yet the storage elements of the box made this one worth it.
Or maybe that’s my new approach to upgrades… No need to get any miniatures: Just get the Calico Critters to play!
Level III Conflicts
Over the course of play, I mostly kept pace on the scoring track. When the most important conflicts started to roll out, I was prepared to send in a bunch of troops.
With a pair of solo opponents, it’s vital to remember that only the 1st and 2nd place awards are in play.
Sometimes, opportunities pop up to take the lower reward with just 1-2 troops. Done properly, it’s very little risk for something that can be helpful in the upcoming round.
But those final conflicts? I put almost all I had out there! This one granted me a very hefty 2 victory points at once.
Managing the Cards
Perhaps my favorite element came from all the cards. My starting deck slowly evolved over time as I purchased new cards and trashed others to focus in on the best options.
Yet each card offered me symbols to visit action spaces, main phase effects, and reveal phase effects.
Figuring out how to best use them all was a challenge that was most fun! I had to thin my deck, but also made sure I had enough options to visit a variety of action spaces.
These limitations felt interesting, and not frustrating. Well, minus the incessant appearance of my dagger. Ha!
Desert Discovery
As I considered some additional options, a very helpful friend pointed out something in the desert. Luckily, it was just the first player marker. Otherwise, watch out!
The desert spaces were actually quite lucrative at the right times. I missed out on some nice harvests courtesy of the solo opponents, but I had a lovely pile of spice to utilize.
There was a moment when I thought I was about to lose, yet I managed to take an alliance away. Take that!
Some exciting moments marked these plays, although I managed to win relatively easy. Master player here. Ha ha!
Evaluating Gameplay Over Many Plays
With a lot of my solo games, I don’t necessarily play over and over before moving on. Have you seen my list of unplayed games?! Ha! Yet there are some that keep me interested for a little longer, often because I want to examine the elements and find other strategies. When I saw myself winning a lot, it got me to thinking more about the difficulty levels.
It’s important to note that the solo opponents are grounded in randomly blocking action spaces. There isn’t an order of operations for them to focus on a strategy: If the cards force them to garrison all their troops without any benefit, that’s what will happen. Most of the challenge comes down to taking away valuable action space choices.
Now, I don’t want to discount something that rarely happens: My actual skills with winning a game! I’ve played this one multiplayer, and it just clicked with me. I’m certainly not going to complain if I can add another game to my list of games I can win quite handily. That list is tiny enough! And sometimes, that’s what affects the difficulty level.
Some of my comments elsewhere in this post may sound like I’m cooling off of the game entirely and questioning if it’s any good, but those apply to me. Maybe I’m the one spoiling things by seeing all of the options and knowing how to piece together the sequences. Just need to keep on playing, analyzing my choices, and above all, having a lot of fun!
Session Overview
Play Number: 3 and 4
Accessory: Dune: Imperium Deluxe Upgrade Pack
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Veteran Difficulty Level
Outcome: 11-10-8 and 10-10-9 (2 Wins)
I had to go to the tiebreaker once, although I had plenty of spice to pull off another win! The cards provided a lot of new options, always challenging me to figure out how to manage my deck. Yet I also wondered if the next step in difficulty would be enough to keep be interested. Only one way to tell… I’ll be back to continue playing soon!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
6
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Play time is very reasonable and flies by with just a handful of downtime activities that are simple to understand.
- The solo opponents follow easy sequences based on a deck of cards that clearly indicates what to do each turn.
- All of the multi-purpose cards create interesting decisions, especially when deciding what to buy or trash.
- Many viable strategies exist with each play, but figuring out how to score victory points is always fun.
- Exciting moments occasionally happen when alliances change or intrigue cards drastically alter a round.
- Figuring out the order of operations for collecting and using resources is another intriguing part of gameplay.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although the solo opponents always keep pace on the scoring track, their actions can feel a bit too randomized.
- There are many ways to make a deck more powerful, yet bad luck can still lead to rounds with minimal options.
- Some of the Landsraad Council spaces seem less desirable, to the point that they’re rarely viable action spaces.
- Intrigue cards can often make or break conflict outcomes, but drawing the useful cards isn’t always possible.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game as Earl Memnon Thorvald.
Win at least 1 game as Prince Rhombur Vernius.
Win at least 1 game at the novice difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the veteran difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game at the expert difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
What are some of your favorite things about Dune: Imperium? Have you mastered the art of managing your cards? I’m still having a wonderful time with the game, although I wish I would lose… Which sounds odd. Ha! I just want to be sure there’s a difficult solo challenge I can keep coming back to. Only time will tell, along with a few more plays shortly!
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