Dune, Saturday, April 28th

Dan F. sent out some e-mails, as he is wont to do every few months, and put a Dune game together. It ended up being myself, Dan, Chris C., Lori, Keith, and Greg.

I had only played once before, with five players. As luck would have it, I ended up being dealt the Bene Gesserit (sp?), the faction that we'd played without the last time. We also played with "advanced spice rules," which we hadn't used on my previous play.

I spent quite a bit of the game just remembering what to do and trying to get the hang of the new faction. It seems the BG are sort of a "late game" opportunity group. Alliances happened early, triggered, I think, by Lori and Greg grouping Harkonnen with Fremen. I threw in with Dan's Atredes.

We had powerful combat abilities, but failed to take full advantage of them by not acquiring the full set of defenses. We also lacked any sort of long-term plan, which was hard to develop, as I had no idea how to play my faction. I do think we could have been much more effective if we would have stepped away from the table to hash things out a little earlier.

As it was, we played mainly in a reactive fashion, moving only when it seemed we needed to, against Chris and Keith. In this turn, about two thirds of the way through the game, we came pretty close to having what we needed to win. I think we needed to have that last defense, and gamble a little bit there, to have had a chance.

As it was, the game ran long, and I had to take off with about 45 minutes of play left. From what I hear, Chris stalled it out for the win. I really enjoy the combat system of Dune, and the way the long game allows for negotiation, alliance, and long-term planning. I'm just hoping I get to play it enough times to become familiar enough with the system that I can actually make effective long-term plans...

GG, GL,

JW