Yesterday afternoon saw another battle for control of the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune.

This time it was the Harkonnen (me), Atreides (Jonas), Emperor (Diego), Space Guild (Oli) and the Fremen (Jeff) slogging it out, making alliances, all for control of the spice.

The Emperor and Harkonnens made the first alliance. At that point they had three strong holds between them, and just needed to clinch the final fourth one. Something they failed to do, and spent more time defending what they had at a great cost.

Later on a more potent alliance was made between the Space Guild and the Fremen, leaving the Atreides out in the cold, struggling for spice. This was an alliance that grabbed the win of four strongholds in round seven. The Space Guild ability to take their turn when they liked during the movement phase allowed them to pick off the two remaining strongholds that they needed.

I enjoyed the game as a five player experience. Playing the Harkonnens was fun. I loved having a bigger hand of treachery cards, and more options on the traitor front. Holding Carthag was something I wanted to do for as long as possible because of the benefits being there gave me. Such as great movement range and increased spice mining.

I’m not sure about alliances for odd numbers. There will always be that one person left out, competing against the odds. The solution is possibly no alliances at all or to,allow more than two houses in an alliance.

But for a thirty five year old game, I don’t think they have changed the rules hardly at all in this reprint, it holds up amazingly well.

We had a blast for the afternoon. I look forward to the next “big” game afternoon.