Review on 🏰 Dune Ixians Tleilaxu House Expansion: Unleash New Powers and Strategies by Steve Campbell

GameDune is like no other game I've ever played. Each player controls a unique faction with amazing, revolutionary perks and abilities that allow everyone to play and play against them. It's a game of secrets, surprises, alliances, betrayals, conquests and returns. Perhaps most intriguing is that it may seem intimidating at first, there are many rules to follow and almost all have exceptions to remember. But while it might sound intimidating, the gameplay itself is actually quite easy to grasp and all of these exceptions are based on lore, making them easy to remember once you understand why they're here. Starting with a group of newbies who don't usually play overly complex board games, I can attest that it's actually quite affordable. Just take the time to review the rules, maybe play a quick practice game or two, and everyone can figure it out. The rules are divided into basic and advanced rule sets. I personally recommend starting with the advanced rules right away, as they are the best parts of the game and you don't want to unlearn bad habits from the core rules. However, I think the general consensus is to ignore the Advanced Combat rules, which just add a decidedly unfunny flavor to the fights. The advanced combat rules are meant to be paired with rules to increase the spice flow, which add more money to the economy, and many groups keep them even after ignoring the spice tax because it adds a little more money and more alliance options, but it still works. This version of This Game is a re-release of a classic board game that I understand has been delayed for decades due to rights issues. Since the 80's, people have been waiting for this game to come back, often printing their own versions, and there has been an active tournament scene. This is a game that has stood the test of time, and then some. Graphics, layout and build quality are excellent. The warwheel cutouts also give you additional blank tokens, which are good for building your own or just for crafting additional trackers or tokens (I've used mine to craft tokens that show the benefits of controlling certain strongholds that can be given to the player who controls them). There is a lot of information presented clearly and concisely, it looks beautiful and all materials are built to last. I have a few design flaws. First, the faction markers that lie in front of each player are in the center of the ring around the board where the storm marker is, forcing you to move it sideways when they overlap. It's a harmless annoyance, but it was also a completely avoidable design flaw. Second, the orange and red factions are too close together in color, and in a dimly lit room they can sometimes be confused at first glance. Third, there's a phase shifter on the board, but the token that moves on it isn't included for those who didn't pre-order, and even we didn't get a fancy 3D printed sandworm, a simple cardboard ring would be great. And I've seen several groups highlight the line marking the boundaries of Fremen bases, which should be a clear part of the map, or at least should be specified as a map in the Reference Guide for the Fremen player to see (I made it one from a small printout of the card). But as I said, these are minor issues that I'd like to see fixed in future releases, but there's no reason to hold back now. Publisher When I received the game I found that several components were damaged (probably during production) and contacted the publisher. They were quick to respond and sent the replacement parts back as a largely complete game, which was almost certainly sent back but with all the elements I needed virtually intact. Except that the board itself was more damaged than the one I had. They contacted them again and rushed to release a new copy of the game so as not to risk a new problem. Excellent customer service who focused on solving the problem and did everything to ensure I was taken care of. Gameplay Much of the game revolves around betting on treachery cards (equipment), landing and moving troops, and fighting battles. , an auction with a poker betting structure. Each round, a number of cards are dealt equal to the number of players who haven't reached the limit of their hand, so in theory enough that everyone gets a card, but. * The movement phase allows players to draw a card. a bunch of troops in any territory on the field (other than an attack or a 2 faction stronghold), limited only by the cost and the number of reserves they currently have. You can also move a group of troops around the board to attack enemies, collect spices (money) or just run to safety. You only have one landing and one move per turn, so despite the depth of the strategy, the moves are fairly quick and the decisions often jarring. * The combat phase resolves the combats scheduled during the movement phase. Each battle takes place on two levels: troops and leaders. Each player creates a secret battle plan consisting of the number of troops they are willing to sacrifice, the leader they send, and any treachery cards they wish to play, mainly weapons and defenses. If a weapon is played and the other player does not use the appropriate defense (ranged or poison), the target boss dies. When the plans are revealed, add the number of troops sacrificed to the leaders' bonus if they survive, and the side with the higher number wins. The winner loses any troops they sacrificed, the loser loses all their troops and any equipment they played, and both sides keep their leader if they survive. And if the leader they played is the one whose card you secretly chose from the 4 dealt to you as your traitor at the start of the game, you can negate the entire fight by completely destroying their side without something to lose.* You win the game by holding three strongholds alone at the end of the round, or holding four strongholds between you and an ally at the end of the round. What makes them interesting are the unique factions. They bid and have a steady income from selling information both before and after bidding, and they can claim a piece of their enemy's plan in any battle. * Harkonen get twice as many treachery cards and four times as many traitors, and after winning the battle they can kidnap the enemy leader or just kill them and sell their corpse. Special units that count as double troops.* The Bene Gesserit can force opponents to play or not play a specific card in battle, receive free handouts each turn, can choose to peacefully coexist with other factions whether they like it or not, and can turn useless cards into card marvels.* Space Guild enters movement phase of their choosing, not in turn order, pays half price for landing troops and everyone else pays for landing troops* The Emperor has special powers, and he's the one who does that collects all the money paid for cards in the bidding phase. There's more, but you should glean from the summary above that the interactions between these factions are exciting and dynamic. In addition, they can unite with each other and share some of their advantages. And of course excellent victory conditions. The game has a limit of 10 moves. At the end of Round 10, if no one has achieved victory and no other special victory conditions are met, the removed guild (and an ally, if any) wins for maintaining the status quo. In the end, if the Fremen (or none) control their ancestral strongholds and no major house holds a smuggling stronghold, the Fremen (and an ally, if any) win because they didn't allow outsiders to take control. And then there are the Bene Gesserit, who choose their faction and platoon number at the beginning of the game. If that faction wins that round, it plays into the hands of the Bene Gesserit Manipulators, whose carefully planned plans will be put into action, giving the Bene Gesserit (but NOT their ally) an actual victory (perhaps my favorite rule of any game) . ).TL:DRG Get this game. play this game i love this game It's an experience you just can't pass up and I can't recommend it highly enough.