Description
This article is from the Dune FAQ, by
Alan Schwartz with numerous contributions by others.
8.4.1 Avalon Hill (Dune board games)
In 1979, Avalon Hill made a board game called "Dune", which has since
gone out of print in English (though a French language edition is still
floating around, and can be ordered in the US from Eurogames), but old
copies can sometimes still be found. It is reportedly quite enjoyable.
The game exists in two versions, one with a big sandworm on the cover,
and one with a scene from a village with a red-haired man, looking like
Sting playing Feyd-Rautha in the 1984 movie, in the foreground. And
right enough, this version was released around the time of the movie.
There are no known differences between the two editions (confirmation of
this would be appreciated). Two modules, "The Duel" and "Spice Harvest,"
were issued at the same time as the second version, and additional
playing cards were printed in Avalon Hill's gaming magazine, the
General.
LINDERT@SARA.NL (Rick te Lindert) writes:
Well, I own a French version, and it has a 1992 copyright. So my
assumption is that it is new, and that there used to be no French
version before '92. The French game company is called Jeux Descartes,
and its full address is:
1, rue du Colonel Pierre Avia
75503 Paris Cedex 15
Noteworthy is the fact that the French version contains both modules
(Duel and Spice Harvest) that were separately issued for the original
Avalon Hill version.
rr1@aol.com (Richard Irving) writes:
Looks like you need a basic description of the game:
Dune is played with 6 players (the game can handle 5 reasonably well. 4
or fewer players is not recommended.) The games was designed by a group
known as Future Pastimes, who also designed Cosmic Encounter. Many
elements are shared in both games--Dune is basically Cosmic with a map
board.
Each player represents a faction vying for control of Dune. It
reasonably simulates the political situation at the start of Dune. In
the game of Dune: Spice =3D Water =3D Money literally.
The game is played in turn with each of these six phases:
1) Storm Round: The storm is moved around the board counterclockwise up
to six spaces (determined randomly). Any tokens (i.e. troops) and spice
in desert areas swept over by the storm, and removed from the board.
2) Spice Blow: A Spice Card is drawn. If it is a territory card, an
amount of spice blows in that territory. The spice is now available for
pickup. If a worm card is drawn, any tokens or spice left at the last
Spice Blow site are destroyed by the worm. Also alliances can be
formed/changed or broken when a worm card is drawn.
3) Bidding Round: The players will bid (sight unseen) to acquire
Treachery cards. These cards are used in battle (weapons/defenses) or
allow special actions (Weather Control, Family Atomics, Karama,
Truthtrances, etc.) or are sometimes worthless (Jubba Cloak, Trip to
Gamont)
4) Revival/Movement/Shipping: Each player may revive dead tokens from
the Tleilaxu tanks and move one group of tokens on planet and ship one
group of tokens from off planet to the board
5) Battle: If two player end the movement round in the same area, they
must fight. This is done by having each player select secretly:
- A number of tokens (This is done by choosing a number on the combat
wheel)
- A leader disc. (Which have a numerical value. Good leaders, Stilgar
have values of about 7. Poor leaders, like Dr. Yueh are worth only 1.)
- Weapon and/or a defense ( Worthless cards may be substituted for
these.)
The winner of the battle is the side with the higher total of number
dialed plus the vaule of their leader, if the leader survived.
The leader is killed if the opponent plays a weapon (projectile, poison
or Lasgun) and the appropriate defense (shield or snooper) is not
played. The winner loses the number of tokens he dialed. The loser loses
all of his tokens (even if he dialed less). The leaders are lost only if
killed. The winner receives spice from the leaders that are killed.
There are two other things to note:
- If a Lasgun and Shield are both played in the same battle, they blow
up destroying everything in the area.
- At the beginning of the game, each faction chooses a leader of another
faction (the choices are randomly drawn at the start) to be a traitor to
him. If the traitorous leader is played in the battle, that side
automatically loses and winner takes no losses.
6) Spice Collection: After all battles, any factions that have tokens in
the same area as spice may harvest it at the rate of 2 spice per token.
The object of the game is control any 3 or the 5 "Strongholds"
(Arrakeen, Carthag and 3 sietches) at the end of any turn. When playing
with alliances, many people increase the number of strongholds needed
for the win.
What makes the game work, though, are the powers each faction has which
allows the faction special abilities:
- Atreides (Prescience): May look at Treachery cards before they are bid
on and spice blow card a turn early. May ask one element of the
opponent's battle plans.
- Bene Gesserit (Voice and religion): Gets a free "religious advisor"
sent down with other player's shipments to the planet and alms. In
battle, may voice the opponent into using (or not using) a particular
weapon or defense. Make a secret prophecy on who will win and what
turn--If correct they win, not the presumptive winner. Can "co-exist"
without causing battle. May use worthless cards as Karama cards.
- Emperor (wealth): gets all spice paid by the other players in the
bidding round. (This means he should NEVER run out of money.) Has 5
Sardaukar tokens which are worth double in battle (except vs. Fremen).
- Fremen (Native knowledge): May move 2 spaces, not just 1. Rides worm
instead of being eaten. Survives storm and gets a forecast (by drawing
the amount it will go a turn a head) 3 Fedaykin double strength tokens.
"Ships" tokens from far side of Dune and thus avoids having to pay the
Guild.
- Guild (Shipping): All other players (except Fremen and free BG
advisors) must pay the Guild to ship to the planet. The Guild pays half
rates to the bank and may ship from one on planet location to another.
May perform his turn at any time in the turn order, rather than wait for
his regular turn. Will also win if he prevents anyone else from winning
for 15 turns.
- Harkonnen (Treachery): Gets free treachery cards when he wins a card
in bidding. Is allowed to hold extra treachery cards. Selects up to 4
leaders to be traitors, not just one. After winning battles, may
randomly kidnap an opposing leader who is either forced to be used for
one battle or sold immediately to the tanks.
What makes the game so great is the delicate balance-of- power. Often
times, each player is forced to prevent someone else from winning.
Wonderful game.
The Duel adds kanly duels and the War of Assassins. Each player has to
risk a leader in each of these events and the other players can bet on
the outcome. Each battle is fought on a separate arena board with cards
that represent various attacks/feints/moves, etc.
Spice Harvest adds a minigame to mix up the standard opening positions.
One player (harvest master) secretly determines and secretly distributes
a spice harvest. (He can distribute less than full amount and keep the
remainder for himself) The other players either accept their share or
may dispute the distribution. If the distribution was honest (or at
least majority think it was honest), the harvest master keeps the
disputed shares. If it was dishonest and a majority of players dispute
it, the disputing parties get the disputed amount and the harvest
masters cut to split among themselves and elect a new harvest master.
After 5 rounds, the players buy either numbers of tokens and a specific
starting location and keep any spice left over.
Response to the expansions is mixed. Some players enjoy them. Others
(like myself) think they add length to an already long game and harm the
finely tuned balance of the game.
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