Four detailed miniatures replace the cardboard Faction Alliance tokens. Three combat-ready Sardaukar represent the Emperor, a Guild Heighliner represents the Spacing Guild, and a Bene Gesserit and a Fremen represent their respective factions. Each of the models has sculpted onto their bases the symbol for their factions. The First Player coin. Image by Paul Benson.

The last component from the top tray, this bas-relief metal coin replace a cardboard token as the First Player marker. The bottom level of trays. Image by Paul Benson. I split the game up into 3 main phases; the opening (first two rounds), mid-game (all subsequent rounds up to the Conflict III rounds), and the endgame (the Conflict III rounds). This is largely due to the acceleration of victory points after the first few rounds, once you start to consistently draw the new cards you have bought, and the 2VP rewards in most of the Conflict III cards. The Opening Underneath the leader tray is another, larger tray which I used to hold all of the resource tokens from the game. When you play, you can simply place the tray on the table to act as the bank. The final tray. Image by Paul Benson.

A slim tray holds all of the leader cards from both the base game and the expansion. As you can see, there’s room even if you’ve sleeved those cards. The resource tray. Image by Paul Benson. Certainly, if a game has cards that see a lot of use, like in Dune: Imperium, then card sleeves will extend the lifespan of your game. Sleeving game cards is a surprisingly divisive practice in the board gaming hobby. There are some people that sleeve their cards religiously, and others that absolutely hate the feel of holding those plastic sleeves in your hands.

To get you started, here is the movement of the Dune Imperium starting cards: 2xNone, 2xYellow, 2xGreen, 1xBlue, 1xYellow/Green/Blue, and 2xFremen/Bene Gesserit/Space Guild/Emperor Tip 3 (Medium) – The Third Agent Instead of colored wooden meeples, each player will now get 3 miniatures for their Agents, marked with plastic rings in the 4 player colors. The miniatures are all nicely sculpted, and faithful to the designs from the recent Denis Villeneuve film adaptation of Dune. The tiny Troop miniatures. Image by Paul Benson.

The deluxe upgrade looks fantastic (shown below) replacing everything with miniatures and giving players a new box to keep it all in, but when you have forked out for an already quite expensive game, you should not have to hand over another bag of coin for ‘better’ components. That being said, I cannot wait for mine to turn up; they are arriving in March apparently. So, overall, the components are serviceable but nothing to write home about. The cards are nice though, using art from the upcoming Dune film, due this year. You may even recognize some of the people on the cards. My son said, “Isn’t that Drax, dad, from Guardians of the Galaxy?” Yes, son, yes it is.

Now you don’t need to be a mentat to realise that there is already one Dune game available. Gale Force Nine re-released 1979s classic Dune, a game of strategy, intrigue and betrayal, at the tail end of 2019. This was very well received as many of the gaming community had heard of it but never actually seen it. It was also a game designed to be played best with the full complement of six players – which is why I haven’t been able to play my copy yet this year. Note: These are to replace misprinted cards; you should only have two copies of Missionaria Protectiva, not four. Removing the top tray, you’ll find several smaller trays below. The clear tray lids form a picture of a sandworm. The card tray. Image by Paul Benson. You can optimise your hand by sending an agent to Selective Breeding or with Fedaykin Death Commando, Gene Manipulation, Guild Administrator, Seitch Reverend Mother Tip 7 (Easy) – Acquiring Your High Council Seat Conflict spreads across the Imperium inDune: Imperium – Rise of Ix, the first expansion to the award-winning board game.

The fastest combination of moves to get the third agent is the placement of an agent on the Hagga Basin (requiring either Signet Ring or Dune: The Desert Planet), then the placement of the second agent on the Sell Melange (requiring either Signet Ring or Dune: The Desert Planet), and finally the placement of your first agent in the following round onto the Swordmaster (requiring either Signet Ring or Dagger) Tip 4 (Easy) – Research Station Utilisation Everything in this deluxe upgrade screams quality. From the detailed miniatures to the branded card sleeves. The storage solution and box are much improved over the base game and boy does it give the game a much better look on the table. Protect your game with 75 gorgeous full-art sleeves for use with Dune: Imperium or other card games. Arrakis sleeves featuring the iconic desert planet. Similarly, players will replace their wooden cubes with 12 small plastic Troop miniatures. These are molded in the player colors, with a different sculpt for each color. The new Mentat. Image by Paul Benson.