Dune board game imminent...

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I'm surprised no one's attempted a Dune-based miniatures wargame yet
 
I've been waiting a long time for this; $50 is not bad at all. I hope a reboot of the Dune RTS is next.
 
Cool, long wanted this, will wait for it to show up for order in Canada.
 
I don't buy board games very much anymore, mainly for space reasons, but I couldn't pass this up. I've gone ahead and ordered it.
 
I don't buy board games very much anymore, mainly for space reasons, but I couldn't pass this up. I've gone ahead and ordered it.
Is it really that good?
 
Yeah the Imperium to me is Dune + 2000 AD + Rome + Catholicism. The large elements are taken from Dune (God emperor, navigator guild), the look of the world from 2000 AD (especially hive worlds and their associated agriworlds), Rome for the Imperial regalia and organisation and Catholicism for the general atmosphere and life style of humans and marines. Obviously with British everyman humour for Orks and the Imperial guard. Aliens for Tyranids. Elric and more alien depictions of elves for the Eldar.
 
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Is it really that good?
I've never actually played, but I've heard good things, and I like Dune. Also, it's a licensed game. It could easily slip back into the abyss at any moment. I've spent decades regretting not picking this game up at a reasonable price back in the '80s when it was always on the shelf at the FLGS.
 
I've never actually played, but I've heard good things, and I like Dune. Also, it's a licensed game. It could easily slip back into the abyss at any moment. I've spent decades regretting not picking this game up at a reasonable price back in the '80s when it was always on the shelf at the FLGS.
It could but I doubt it these days. Usually it's the author or a close family member who decides to hold on to things like they're gold. The more distance from the author the greater the desire for just some actual gold, maybe silver or copper drives them to license things. Usually by turning it over to a company actually interested in doing so. I give it maybe a generation before we see some Wizard of Earthsea licensed RPGs and she was notorious for not liking RPGs.
 
I recently bought Forbidden Stars off eBay at double the original store price as it is a great game and will be out of print for an indeterminate period of time now that FFG have lost the GW licensing agreement.

I understand that Rex: Final Days of an Empire may be similar in gameplay to Dune so likewise, a similar game to Forbidden Stars may come out in the next few years. But it won’t be the same sweet spot of mechanics and license that the original was.

So, licensed games are definitely vulnerable to disappearing as there are multiple rights holders and if the IP gets re-allocates those other parties won’t necessarily all go along for the ride. And board games are hot at the moment, potentially selling out quickly. Many of them don’t get the same re-print behaviour that games like Risk do, but drop back into unavailable due to the treadmill that is Kickstarter.

That’s why I decided to pre-order. I’m probably being over cautious, but it also means I will get to play sooner, so no real loss! :grin:
 
Yeah the Imperium to me is Dune + 2000 AD + Rome + Catholicism. The large elements are taken from Dune (God emperor, navigator guild), the look of the world from 2000 AD (especially hive worlds and their associated agriworlds), Rome for the Imperial regalia and organisation and Catholicism for the general atmosphere and life style of humans and marines. Obviously with British everyman humour for Orks and the Imperial guard. Aliens for Tyranids. Elric and more alien depictions of elves for the Eldar.


There's also some BattleTech in there - the Adeptus Mechanicus are essentially Comstar with the serial numbers filed off
 
It could but I doubt it these days. Usually it's the author or a close family member who decides to hold on to things like they're gold. The more distance from the author the greater the desire for just some actual gold, maybe silver or copper drives them to license things. Usually by turning it over to a company actually interested in doing so. I give it maybe a generation before we see some Wizard of Earthsea licensed RPGs and she was notorious for not liking RPGs.
Well, this has the complication of requiring permission from the three designers that made the original game, and then you need the Dune license on top (and Dune is the property of a close family member).

Keep in mind, the fragility of license games often come from the licencee, not the licensor. Sometimes the licensor is the one that kills a licensed game, in the case of Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, but often it is the game company that loses interest in continuing to pay a licensing fee once a games initial sales boost is over. They are making thinner margins on the game, so it is more expensive to keep it in print over a long period.
 
There's also some BattleTech in there - the Adeptus Mechanicus are essentially Comstar with the serial numbers filed off
I've heard conflicting things about this, some say they are both influenced by Macross and ultimately Gundam. However the timeline (1984 vs 1987) definitely allows influence.

Battletech itself was influenced by Dune wasn't it, i.e. Butlerian Jihad = Collapse of Star League = Age of Strife.
 
I've heard conflicting things about this, some say they are both influenced by Macross and ultimately Gundam. However the timeline (1984 vs 1987) definitely allows influence.

I'm not really seeing any resemblance as far as a former period of advanced technology that's been lost and the maintenance of machines surviving passed down as religious rites held by a secret society that has the affectations iof a pseudo medieval Catholic church. In Macross, an alien ship crashes on earth and scientists utilize the advanced technology discovered to fend off a later alien invasion, whereas in Gundam the tech is simply advanced, with no dark age proceeding it, at least insofar as the original series.

Battletech itself was influenced by Dune wasn't it, i.e. Butlerian Jihad = Collapse of Star League = Age of Strife.

Again, not really seeing any resemblance. The Butlerian Jihad was mankind shrugging off the oppression of AI and turning instead to unlocking the secrets of human potential without thinking machines. Star Leagues demise was more akin to the fall of Rome, there was no religious element to the Successor wars nor any paradigm shift in regards to rejecting technology in favour of mental prowess.
 
I'm not really seeing any resemblance as far as a former period of advanced technology that's been lost and the maintenance of machines surviving passed down as religious rites held by a secret society that has the affectations iof a pseudo medieval Catholic church
Do you think there is only no influence from Macross as far as later influence on the Adaptus Mechanicus goes, i.e. the parts of Battletech the Adaptus Mechanicus are inspired by are original to Battletech.
Or do you think Battletech has little to no influence from Macross in general?
(The quoted bit concerns only the former I'm just curious what you think about the common claim that Battletech takes a lot from Macross)

EDIT: Edited the question to be clearer
 
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The original Dune boardgame is a timeless masterpiece of game design, so the fact it will be made available again is very good news.

The game has two big problems, though:

A) you need five or six people. Less than that, and it just doesn't give the same experience
B) play time is basically completely random and varies from 2 to 7-8 hours depending how the game goes
 
Useful to know, thanks.

The science of predicting game length seems to have matured significantly in recent times. Scythe quotes ‘115 minutes’ and it is spooky accurate!
 
Useful to know, thanks.

The science of predicting game length seems to have matured significantly in recent times. Scythe quotes ‘115 minutes’ and it is spooky accurate!
What did you think of Scythe, worth it for solo if you've tried?
 
I haven’t personally played it solo as I don’t own the game, one of my group has it (he has a serious board gaming habit...)

Scythe is good, very clever. The downside is there are very few random elements to it. That means our local tactical genius wins every game he plays and it stops being fun. But play with mere mortals and it’s great! :grin:
 
B) play time is basically completely random and varies from 2 to 7-8 hours depending how the game goes
Sometimes it can last one turn if you're playing for the first time and your Harkonnen opponent lucks out with Treachery, and the rest of the players are clueless to what's at stake. :tongue:

I picked up the old 70s boardgame back around 2000. Only got that one failed game in, in all this time. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't convince that group of players (who were Dune fanatics) to give it another shot.
 
Sometimes it can last one turn if you're playing for the first time and your Harkonnen opponent lucks out with Treachery, and the rest of the players are clueless to what's at stake. :tongue:

I picked up the old 70s boardgame back around 2000. Only got that one failed game in, in all this time. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't convince that group of players (who were Dune fanatics) to give it another shot.
I hate that. I mean my first and so far only game of twilight imperium lasted about 12-14 hours. I desperately wanted my time back because it was during one of our annual game weekends and it meant many other games didn't get played. I hated how it dragged. However with more experienced players I'd happily play it again. Six newbies on one long complex game is not a recipe for success.
 
I hate that. I mean my first and so far only game of twilight imperium lasted about 12-14 hours. I desperately wanted my time back because it was during one of our annual game weekends and it meant many other games didn't get played. I hated how it dragged.
6 hours seems to be my limit of enough of this shit.

I played 6 hours of Twilight Imperium 4 or 5 years ago, and it didn't seem we made that much progress. Fortunately, we had to call it at that point. And years before, I was in a 5 player game of Starfarers of Catan that somehow took 6 hours to play. So painful. I think there was just too much player distraction and it made the whole thing drag on.
 
Sometimes it can last one turn if you're playing for the first time and your Harkonnen opponent lucks out with Treachery, and the rest of the players are clueless to what's at stake. :tongue:

I picked up the old 70s boardgame back around 2000. Only got that one failed game in, in all this time. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't convince that group of players (who were Dune fanatics) to give it another shot.

Yeah, the short games are the first ones.
Then the group learns how to play. Oh boy. Are you in for a lot of pain then.
Dune is the game which makes Diplomacy look like a coop.

My longest game (which never ended, we gave up at something like 5 AM) was one in which a series of bloodbaths in quick succession left the whole board with less than 10 tokens, total.
 
My longest game (which never ended, we gave up at something like 5 AM) was one in which a series of bloodbaths in quick succession left the whole board with less than 10 tokens, total.
I always had the assumption (based only on a hunch), that alliances in Dune would bring the game to an end faster. (Trying to recall the rules): Nexus events trigger the ability to start or end alliances; the victory condition goes up by 1 stronghold; but, the combined powers of 2 (or more) factions would be a hell of a force to deal with.

That looked to be the case if you were playing with 4 players - that the game would quickly swing towards a fast showdown. But, it sounds like it'd be quite a slugfest with 6.
 
I always had the assumption (based only on a hunch), that alliances in Dune would bring the game to an end faster. (Trying to recall the rules): Nexus events trigger the ability to start or end alliances; the victory condition goes up by 1 stronghold; but, the combined powers of 2 (or more) factions would be a hell of a force to deal with.

That looked to be the case if you were playing with 4 players - that the game would quickly swing towards a fast showdown. But, it sounds like it'd be quite a slugfest with 6.

You're right and when you're playing with skilled players, most of the time, alliances are the only realistic way of winning.
The problem, though, is that when you're playing with skilled players, everyone knows this.
You can figure out what happens then...
 
No, are they good? I’m glad to look for another source than Amazon.ca.

I was going to ask you actually, lol. I haven't used them, but can't really find any other big Canadian online hobby retailers. The issue is everything I go to buy from them is "sold out", and then I'll sign up for an email update as to when it's back in stock and get an email notification 6 months after I found it somewhere else
 
Do you think there is only no influence from Macross as far as later influence on the Adaptus Mechanicus goes, i.e. the parts of Battletech the Adaptus Mechanicus are inspired by are original to Battletech.
Or do you think Battletech has little to no influence from Macross in general?
(The quoted bit concerns only the former I'm just curious what you think about the common claim that Battletech takes a lot from Macross)

EDIT: Edited the question to be clearer

I think BattleTech has very little resemblance to the lore of Macross, just the visual similarities of the licensed/unseen mecha. There is some resemblance, however, to aspects of Gundam, which ironically is one of the mecha animes they didn't take designs from. As for 40K, I think there are so many influences it's sometimes hard top pin down specific ones after Rogue Trader, as by that point so much had spread out into the pop culture landscape. In regards to Rogue Trader, I think the kitchen sink of influences is pretty blatant. But by the 90s it's harder to say what is being drawn from other sources or just arrived at as a natural extension from the established premises.
 
I want to play this game.
I want to play this game now.
Sell it to me.
Cease your worthless prattle and prepare to receive hard currency
 
It is already on pre-order just about everywhere. The first shipment arrived at Gale Force 9 two days ago and is now being shipped to people who preordered.
The manufacturer preorder page is:

Dune
 
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