But if I'm being totally honest, I don't have time to dedicate 5 hours to a game on a regular basis, so I'd love to be able to jump into a quick skirmish where the only victory condition was domination. I get a genuine kick out of being able to zoom in and see an Ornithopter scanning a new area, or watching a Harkonnen hit squad fire up their half-shields before rushing into battle. I've been reading these books for going on 25 years, and many of my teenage evenings and weekends were spent playing Dune II, Dune 2000 and Emperor: Battle for Dune.
I also lost a Fedaykin squad to a sandworm attack, which is technically possible in the context of the world but feels extremely unlikely given who the Fedaykin warriors are.ĭune: Spice Wars is fun even when I'm losing, but I'm also very much the target audience here.
It's not perfect - at one point I was playing as the Fremen and spotted a roaming group of soldiers the game had simply labeled "Locals," which doesn't make any sense at all - but this is loads better than what Dune fans have had in the past. There are clear places the sandworms can't travel, the movement and combat types for each army are varied in ways that make sense and the larger map feels consistent with Arrakis in the books. There are some troop types that rely on projectile weaponry, but it's not the dominant form of combat. While the Atreides and Harkonnen need to rely on spice harvesters which need to be rescued at wormsign or conflict from another army, Fremen spice gatherers have no such difficulties. To the credit of the folks at Shiro Games, this game is easily the most faithful to the Dune universe that I've played. Each army is more than capable of victory through domination, but that only works in your favor if the other armies aren't hiding in a corner of the map trying to win through other means. The Smugglers are natural spies and influencers, great at building trust through trade, while Fremen of Sietch Tabr have the unique ability to gain desert power through partnership with other Sietches as you come across them. The beloved House Atreides makes a victory through governance easier, while Harkonnen could more easily win through hegemony if you took that path. Neither path is necessarily easier than the other, but your play preference will influence which outcome is the most readily available.Įach army has obvious strengths and weaknesses for each of these victory conditions. You can take the classic strategy route and crush your enemies through sheer overwhelming violence, you can control all of the governing positions of Arrakis and rule as a duly elected leader or you can seek a victory through hegemony and buy control of Arrakis through influence gained throughout a campaign.
And in this real-time strategy game with 4X elements, meaning the goals are to expand, exploit, exterminate and explore, victory can come in one of three ways depending on how you play. Each of these armies have essentially the same goal - to control Arrakis through any means possible. The massive Harkonnen base in Dune: Spice Wars Shiro Gamesĭune: Spice Wars starts you off with a choice between four familiar armies: House Arrakis, House Harkonnen, The Fremen and The Smugglers.
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