Dune: Imperium

The fun and complication of play, along with the detail and thought that went into the different actions that certain cards allow to happen as realted to their Dune Lore (specific to each character or item) more than makes up for THE HORRENDOUS ATROCITY that is the rulebook. Whoever wrote that price of **** needs to be fired. Do yourself and the game a favor and just watch the Watch It Played video to learn how to setup and play the game. Sure the rulebook comes in handy for a reference for further questions once you get deep into a round, but even some eventualities have to be intuited and agreed upon by the players. This is especially true when playing with two players (the House Hagal rules for the fake player 3 doesnt cover everything). Still, one of the best worker games Ive played!!!

I highly recommend this game. Ive been playing board games since the 70s. This game has a SOLO component and it WORKS ELEGANTLY. A few people complain about the instruction manual. The manual is actually well-written. You have to read it slowly and patiently. Rushing through the manual and scanning/browsing it is NOT recommended. Everything you need to know and learn about the game is in the manual. I play SOLO and if you are playing solo, I recommend downloading the free app as it makes playing solo so much efficient and easier. The game is heavily icon based and there is guide on the back of the manual. There is also a separate set of instructions for solo play AND a separate deck of cards to automate the AI opponent. At first, when I was reading the instructions, it didnt make sense to me how the game operates, but once I started setting up the board, the cards, the tokens, everything just started making sense. The game is very thematic and if you are familiar with the source material, the Dune-feeling is there- mining spice, backdoor dealing with the Frermen, the Spacing Guild, Paul Atreides. So yes, this is a fantastic boardgame. Simple and elegant in its execution, but has very deep strategies and machinations behind. This is a worker placement game so you know how worker placement games work- place token, occupied vs unoccupied space etc. Get this game.

Dune Yes!!!! Deck building Yes! Worker Placement Yes! Fun Yes!!!!!!!!

Sent an email to the publisher to see if theyll send me out the missing pieces. Cant play otherwise.