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Dune: Imperium box art
Ranked #7

Dune: Imperium

A competitive deck-building worker-placement game where Great Houses place agents, build influence, and marshal forces to lead on Arrakis. Cards determine which spaces agents can reach, creating tension between building a future deck and contesting each round’s conflict.

Strategy Games Movies / TV / Radio theme Novel-based Card Play Conflict Resolution Deck, Bag, and Pool Building

Players

1-4

Play time

60-120 min

Age

14+

Complexity

3.04/5

Rating

8.43

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.0/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.6/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Linked game discovered from BGG. Full scrape pending.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Dune: Imperium is a game that uses deck-building to add a hidden-information angle to traditional worker placement. It finds inspiration in elements and characters from the Dune legacy, both the new film from Legendary Pictures and the seminal literary series from Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson. As a leader of one of the Great Houses of the Landsraad, raise your banner and marshal your forces and spies. War is coming, and at the center of the conflict is Arrakis – Dune, the desert planet. You start with a unique leader card, as well as a deck identical to those of your opponents. As you acquire cards and build your deck, your choices will define your strengths and weaknesses. Cards allow you to send your Agents to certain spaces on the game board, so how your deck evolves affects your strategy. You might become more powerful militarily, able to deploy more troops than your opponents. Or you might acquire cards that give you an edge with the four political factions represented in the game: the Emperor, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and the Fremen. Unlike many deck-building games, you don’t play your entire hand in one turn. Instead, you draw a hand of cards at the start of every round and alternate with other players, taking one Agent turn at a time (playing one card to send one of your Agents to the game board). When it’s your turn and you have no more Agents to place, you’ll take a Reveal turn, revealing the rest of your cards, which will provide Persuasion and Swords. Persuasion is used to acquire more cards, and Swords help your troops fight for the current round’s rewards as shown on the revealed Conflict card. Defeat your rivals in combat, shrewdly navigate the political factions, and acquire precious cards. The Spice must flow to lead your House to victory! Some important links: The Official FAQ, the Unofficial FAQ, and an Automa (solo and 2p) Overview

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Videos (16)

How to play

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Photos (3)

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Editions

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Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
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Player resources

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Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
1–4
Best with
1–4
Play time
60–120 min
Age
14+
Complexity
3.0/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Paul Dennen

Artists

4
Clay Brooks Brett Nienburg Raul Ramos Nate Storm

Publishers

1
Dire Wolf

Linked items

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