Dune (board game)

History

When Avalon Hill’s own attempt at a Dune game fell through, they brought in designers Eberle, Kittredge, and Olotka, who adapted elements from their earlier game Cosmic Encounter to fit the Dune universe. A 1984 second edition, released alongside the film, came with two expansions. Spice Harvest adds a pre-game phase where factions compete for control of the inter-world spice market to buy a better starting position. The Duel introduces leader tokens for each faction and a separate circular arena board for one-on-one fights, using a special deck of cards for movement and attacks.

Both expansions include extra Treachery Cards and were later folded into the French edition from Jeux Descartes. Avalon Hill’s magazines The General and Heroes provided counters and rules for three additional factions from Frank Herbert’s novels: the Bene Tleilax, the Ixians, and the Landsraad. The game earned strong reviews, and because no new edition appeared after 1984, it became a collector’s item, with used copies selling for hundreds of dollars.

A fan-made print-and-play version was released online around 2010. Jeux Descartes published a French edition in the 1990s. In 2012, Fantasy Flight Games reprinted the game as Rex: Final Days of an Empire, keeping the simultaneous dial-based order system but swapping the Dune setting for their own Twilight Imperium universe, since they could not secure the Dune license.

Reception

In Issue 44 of Perfidious Albion, Charles Vasey described the game as disarmingly simple and excellent for introducing new gamers, containing room for cunning play and dirty deeds, and concluded it was a very successful adaptation of the book and a good game in its own right. Tony Watson, in The Space Gamer No. 26, commented that Dune is a good game and does an amazingly accurate job of conveying the feel of the novel. Eric Goldberg in Ares Magazine gave it a 6 out of 9, calling it a nice little game but nothing special. He gave the game an Excitement rating of 5 out of 5, calling it the best game of 1979.

Expansions

The Duel, a 1984 expansion by Avalon Hill, provides optional rules for duels between character groups. Steve Crow in The Space Gamer No. 76 commented that it makes an interesting supplement but overuse of challenge rules bogs down the game. The 2019 Gale Force Nine edition has released three expansions: Ixians & Tleilaxu, adding two factions, Tech Tokens, and additional cards; CHOAM & Richese, adding two factions, Leader Skill Cards, and Advanced Stronghold Cards; and Ecaz & Moritani, adding two factions, Homeworld Tokens, and new cards. All three were designed by Eberle, Kittridge, and Olotka along with Greg Olotka and Jack Reda.