Dune Imperium Uprising
Dune Imperium got an update to version 2.0. However, this time our firewall did not protect us from worms….
Uprising is the same Dune but with slight changes. Although the board is still ugly. During the game we will still send our Agents to collect water, spice, silver coins, all of which we will exchange for other things and influence. We’ll still be building our deck of cards, and we’ll still be competing in various conflicts. If it’s exactly the same then why is it worth looking into?
You are welcome to a broad description of the changes backed up by my brilliant comments. Please don’t skip like we do with the changes Bill Gates throws at us from time to time.
Clearing the cache
After the first few moves, I realized that something was wrong. The action fields looked so different and I couldn’t do my typical strategy of gain spice, exchange for cash and buy an extra worker. The distribution of actions in many places was changed and everything seemed so much more interesting. Because many places were a mix of several resources and I actually wanted to go everywhere. Even re-visiting the High Council gave me a cool bonus in the form of intrigue, soldiers and spice. So I quickly cleared my cache and had to take a completely different approach to solving Dune’s problems. A change for a huge plus.
Spies of the Underdark
These are the kind of smaller cylinders that we place on the connection of two fields. They allow us to visit places occupied by other players with our workers. Just like Helen’s ability from the base game only better. Many cards and even abilities of our leaders benefit from their placement and removal. In my opinion they are very well implemented into the gameplay and provide us with many strategic moves. Because I have often placed a spy somewhere just to take advantage of that place in the future.
Leaders worth following
The new leaders have very good abilities. Definitely better than the base game. Feyd Rautha and Florence Pugh allow you to remove cards from the deck, Paul finally has a cool passive, Lady Jessica has a double card, and my favorite Gurney simply summons a soldier to the garrison. The game developers have really tried to make it better. Well, except maybe for Lady Amber. Though she’s not that bad. I will play her when beginners will join me to give them a slight edge. (Such a joke)
Better deck building
Dune Imperium has never been a game about pure deck building. It’s an important part of the game, but given that we generally only play up to 10 points then the cards won’t be rotating that much. That’s why I’m glad that in Uprising we have a better chance of getting what we bought. Again, it’s a credit to the spies because they allow us to draw a card as we withdraw them to our resources. Card draw in Dune is very important as the game has proven to me several times.
Intriguing intrigues
The new cards are interesting and so are the intrigues. It’s not just simple 2, 3 or 5 swords anymore. Many intrigue abilities affect alliances, resource exchanges and even those final intrigues can win you the game. 3 points at the end of the game and a sudden surprise. That’s what’s great about them.
Solo mode
Solo mode also got a slight refresh. Because we still use the Hagal cards but this time we will face more challenging opponents. We have several levels of leaders to choose from and they will torment us with their signet abilities. Everyone also has their favorite factions in which they will want to climb. By the way, the solo opponent already gains the 3rd Agent in a more understandable way. It doesn’t need to be arranged under the cards in any special way.
Circle, squares and tables
Dune Uprising is still ugly and that’s how I could end the description of graphics and components.
Conflict cards
The conflict cards have also been changed a bit because now they give us completely different rewards and even those second or third places are worth participating. Even if we don’t care about something. Because now we’ll collect symbols from conflict cards(such a small set collection) to get an extra point when we collect 2 of the same. Especially since at the beginning of the game each of us will already get one card. Although we must be aware that the real victory points will appear from the 7th round because.…
Controversial Sandworms
I also couldn’t help but mention these huge worms. Sand worms are such dreadnoughts but with quite a twist. Because if they are in conflict with us they double the rewards we get. Even for second or third place.
In fact, most of our games ended in victory for the player who invested in worms. Fishing for points with them is easier and you can catch up quickly. On the one hand, it’s a cool mechanism that allows the player at the end of the stakes to still stay in the race for first place, but for me it tipped the balance of the game a bit. Because it’s actually quite easy to recruit them because we only have to spend 2 actions to do so.
To sum up the sandworms and round 7 is that moment of the game where it’s fight or flight. You know it’s coming therefore you have to prepare for it.
I left the most important thing for the very end
Which Dune to choose and which expansion are worth having? (By the way, I will complete this description when the third base game comes out someday :P)
If I didn’t have any Dune I would choose Uprising. All those changes I mentioned earlier prove that it’s simply a better game, where you can see that the developers knew what to fix and what to expand. Although still the first Dune is not bad, especially as we have the Rise of IX expansion. Because it also makes the gameplay better and adds cool strategies in the form of technology tiles. For me Immortality is only an option. We include it, but really don’t have to.
Specifically for this review, I also tested how Uprising works with the old expansions and we also played an All In game throwing in practically everything we could.
It was a bit of a horror story for my wife. Because she just didn’t know how to start. Everything was tempting but the two workerks made for a pretty tight playing field. But let’s not worry because the instructions tell us what we should do to make the gameplay run smoothly and what not to add. Although it was not without some quirks. Because in some places we have to imagine that there is room for spies.
Something quite surprising also happened. Because it turned out that it was really great to play with the Rise of IX. It takes contracts out of the game a bit. But let’s be honest, they are rather such a D option. Especially since interstellar supplies are much better. However, the surprise was that Dreadnoughts and technology tiles balance the worms perfectly. They may not give as many points but they give us good options for the whole game. Especially with the amount of spice we can collect, we have something to spend it on.
As for the cards and mixing them with this expansion I would say yes, but there is a but. Of course, it’s not only about this pile of cards that we have to shuffle. Because there are also those cards that disable the need for our spies, and this Immortality with these implants slightly mixes everything up. I think that for now I will play with the Uprising deck, and later I will add something extra so as to diversify everything for myself.
To summarize this long thread of combining expansions:
Dune Uprising with Rise of IX > Dune Imperium with Rise of IX > Dune Uprising > Dune Imperium.
Summary
Dune Uprising is the same Dune with a few changes and the addition of a few twists. Although the gameplay has a fairly similar flow it felt like I was playing a slightly different title due to these changes. I especially like placing spies and the more engaging solo mode. There are also better leaders, more interesting intrigue cards and a small set collection for conflict cards. However, the whole balance of changes is disturbed by sandworms, which give us epic wins, but at the expense of one strategy. That’s why it’s worth Raising our IX.
Final Verdict: Same Dune, but still so Spicy
Pros
- Worker placement mixed with deck building
- Intrigue cards
- Spies from the Underdark
- More interesting leaders
- Great solo mode
- Backwards compatibility
Cons
- How many Dunes is too many Dunes?
- Too powerful sandworms
[Game provided by Lucky Duck Games]
