he Dune Collectible Card Game is based on Frank Herbert's famous series of science fiction novels that begins with Dune. It invites players to take charge of their own Imperial House and use intrigue, violence and economic muscle to amass wealth--in the form of spice--and Imperial favor. The first player to acquire 10 spice tokens and 10 favor points gains admittance to the Landsraad High Council. In other words, they win.
The Dune universe is intricate and baroque, and the card game certainly reflects this. To begin, each player chooses a sponsor: one of the great powers such as House Harkonnen, House Atreides or the Guild. Choice of sponsor affects deck construction, as players can't include any cards in their decks from their sponsor's enemies. Each player constructs two decks, an Imperial deck, which represents potential allies willing to help the cause, and a House deck, which is composed of resources (people, weapons, etc.) that come directly from the House itself.
Gameplay is, predictably, labyrinthine, and what follows is only an outline: Essentially, spice and favor are won and lost through Rites, which are carried out by characters from the two decks. The Rites can be direct physical attacks, such as Duels, or more subtle, intrigue-based machinations. More than one character can participate in a Rite, and weapons and other cards can be brought to bear. A player who succeeds in a Rite either gains a certain amount of spice or favor, or they can choose to make their opponent lose that much.
Rewarding, if you've got the stamina
The Dune CCG's greatest strength is also its Achilles' heel. This is quite a complicated game. The rulebook is 72 pages long and reads like a government regulations manual. It calls for at least four different kinds of tokens, not supplied. (Some players recommend using dice for the various hoards, treasuries, and deferments--an excellent idea).
The game designers had a lot to cover, it's true, but the confusion is compounded by a severe overabundance of terms. For instance part of the playing field is divided into House Territory, House Forum, House Domain and House Reserves. It turns out most of those distinctions are unnecessary, but there's no way to know without playing. Newcomers who crack open a few fresh starter decks and try to play are likely to be dumbfounded, even those with experience at other CCGs.
But a complicated game can be a rich game. With so many factors swirling around, all kinds of inventive strategies and deck types are bound to emerge, especially as more expansion sets become available. The cards themselves are quite well designed, managing to include all the needed information while still leaving plenty of room for art. And to the designers' credit, the starter decks are playable right out of the box (assuming gamers can figure out how to play). A tremendous achievement in such an elaborate game.
Players who enjoy highly entangled intrigues will no doubt find plenty of satisfaction in this game. People looking for a little more action, though, might get frustrated.
