“The dice must flow.” This is, of course, a quote from the great Duke Leto Gygax in a legend of the long-ago year of 1979. The legend was part of the Dune board game and Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, and Peter Olotka were the designers. Originally designed as a Roman Empire war game, they adapted it to fit the book and, later in 1984, the David Lynch movie. It was sort of lost to history. But as of now, this mythic and hard-to-find game has been revived by Gale Force 9. And it looks GREAT, you guys.
More About the Game
Dune allows the player to play as one of six factions:Â House Atreides, The Bene Gesserit, The Padishah Emperor, The Fremen, The Spacing Guild, and House Harkonnen. Each faction has unique gameplay options that effect the strategy of the game. The game encourages players to form alliances between factions. Controlling a certain number of Strongholds or fulfilling specific conditions for your faction will win the game.
For example, if you play as Bene Gesserit you will right down a turn number and a faction at the beginning of the game. If another faction wins, you reveal what you wrote down. If you were correct about the winning faction and the turn the game ended, you then win instead.
So it seems this game really does mirror the subterfuge and intrigue of the Dune books.
In 1984, Spice Harvest and The Duel were released as two expansions to the original game. These expansions tied in with the David Lynch Dune film.
Release Date?Â
There has been no word from Gale Force 9 about whether they will be reviving these. However, there is some indication that the original art by Ilya77 will be updated next year to reflect the upcoming Denis Villeneuve film adaptation. That film (also titled Dune) is set to release November 20, 2020, and will star Jason Mamoa, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgard, Dave Bautista, Javier Bardem, and Oscar Isaac. It will also feature Zendaya as Chani, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, and recent breakout star Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides.
Dune the board game is currently available for preorder for $50 and could begin shipping as soon as late August.
Did you play the original game? Are you excited about the upcoming film? Tell us below in the comments!