After the failed attempt to have a club night last week. Which would have been the first post UKGE we got back on track by having one this week.
I took along my now pimped out copy of Dune Imperium in it’s new home of the Deluxe Upgrade box. Along with After Us, War of the Ring the card game (with the four promo cards I purchased at this years UKGE), and Cat in the Box. Plus the limited edition, super rare black edition of the club tee. There are only three of these and all spoken for.
Despite only five people actually responding to the event on the clubs discord server. We actually had twelve turn up.
This meant we split up into three gaming tables of four players on each.
Luckily there were three others willing to play Dune Imperium.
One of them was new to the game so I limited our game to just the core and Rise of Ix expansion. Having Immortality in the mix as well would have been too much.
Who had which leader?
- Viscount Hundro Moritani – me
- Prince Rhombur Vernius – Julie
- Princess Yuna Moritani – Dave
- The Beast Glossu Rabban – new player
I bet me not playing Yuna surprised you. It surprised me too. But then Dave had already chosen her. So I had very little choice in the matter.
I liked Hundro a lot. Especially his starting bonus of getting an Intrigue card.
For most of the game I was just behind the leaders on the victory points. I was in the mix and just needed a good round to leap frog into the lead. Ideally timed to trigger the end game.
Early on I picked up an end game scoring intrigue card that rewarded me for being having three or more influence on the faction tracks. Followed by taking one off Julie that gave me a point for having more than ten solari. Almost straight away after taking that card off her I drew another with the same condition on it.
I had potentially four victory points in those three intrigue cards at the end of the game.
Our game went the full ten rounds.
I didn’t win a single combat. Most of them I didn’t even participate in.
In the later rounds I made sure I couldn’t lose the two alliances I had. In this game losing one to another player is a massive point swing.
In the last round I was able to pick up a Spice Must Flow card to gain a much needed victory point. It helped that the cost was reduced by three with a card I had.
After the dust had settled and points from tech tiles and intrigue cards added I won with twelve points.
I really love the deluxe upgrade kit. The models look awesome on the board.
The metal first player token is amazing. It feels really nice and has a great weight to it.
The insert I like. It just about fits everything in sleeved. There is no room for any thing else. So I hope there are no plans for a third expansion.
I think the only way the kit could be improved is if they had replaced the remaining cardboard with acrylic tokens.
I had a great time playing Dune Imperium. A great evenings gaming.