“Dune: War for Arrakis” is definitely a board game title to be excited about, given the extreme success of the Dune movie and the renewed interest in the Dune franchise that goes back decades and spans dozens of books. Now, CMON, the company behind the latest board game release, has published its first designer diary to bring in more clarify as we prepare for the upcoming Kickstarter campaign due to launch “any day.”
To bring more understanding into the gameplay and game itself, the company revealed a new designer’s diary. Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello – a huge designer duo behind “War of the Ring”, “Age of Conan: The Strategy Board Game”, “The Battle of Five Armies” and “Marvel Heroes”. All these prominent fantasy board game titles should tell our readers that the game is in very good and experienced hands.
The Kickstarter page for this project is already up, and our readers can sign up to be notified when it officially launches. Readers can also have a look at the game’s trailer below, where they can experience the amazing artwork “Dune: War for Arrakis” has to offer.
Will You Stand with the Atreides or Harkonnen?
“Dune: War For Arrakis” will be about the long-standing feud between two major Houses of the Imperium: House Atreides and House Harkonnen. The game will take players to the Desert War, the conflict that initially started well for the Harkonnen faction – they almost utterly destroy the Atreides faction, but their overconfidence eventually gets the better of them. What could have been an easy victory via blitzkrieg eventually turns into a grueling military conflict, ending in the battle of Arrakeen.
Players will get to choose which faction they play – House Harkonnen and their allies, House Corrino; or House Atreides and their Fremen allies. They will have to deploy regular troops, elites and epic military vehicles while fighting for control over the vast desert expanses of Arrakis, where the giant Sandworms rule, and where the spice is.
The Harkonnens start the game in control of the main populated areas of Arrakis and must launch seek and destroy missions against the Fremen rebels, while devoting resources to harvest as much precious spice as possible. The quantity of spice produced determines the quality of the relations with the great powers of the Imperium (the Spacing Guild, the Landsraad, and CHOAM). Emperor Shaddam (from House Corrino) secretly supports the Harkonnens, providing additional military.
To win the game as the Harkonnen faction, player must accumulate 10 Supremacy Points (SP), mainly gained by destroying Fremen settlements.
The Atreides oppose the Harkonnens via ruthless guerrilla warfare, while being in a tight alliance with the local population of Fremen. By achieving specific objectives and using their knowledge of Arrakis and its devastating natural forces to their advantage, House Atreides and the Fremen try to make ancient prophecies come to pass. If they manage, no force will be able to resist them.
To win the game, the Atreides player must achieve a Prescience Points (PP) rating, as stated by a secret Objective card drawn at the beginning of the game.
“Dune: War for Arrakis” does not have a set release date, but that is bound to change in the future, so stay tuned for more news, dear reader! CMON is a huge game studio behind over five hundred game titles like “Root”, “Everdell”, “Blood Rage” to name a few.