Dune: Imperium – Uprising

Each round you alternate two action types: send an Agent (worker placement) by playing a card from your hand whose icons match a board space, or Reveal your remaining hand to generate Persuasion (buy cards from a 5-card market) and Sword icons (commit to that round's Conflict). The card you play is the worker — every card has dual identity, both an icon set for placement and a Persuasion/Sword payload for reveal. Spies (new in Uprising) are placed onto observation posts to enable infiltration of contested spaces. Sandworms, earned via Maker Hooks from Fremen influence, are deployed for a +3 Conflict strength and reward-doubling.

Each round: (1) draw 5 cards; (2) players alternate Agent turns (place an Agent on a matching board space, gain its rewards) until both pass; (3) all players Reveal their remaining hand simultaneously, totaling Persuasion to buy market cards (added to discard) and Sword icons to commit to the Conflict; (4) resolve the round's Conflict card — first/second/third place earn the printed rewards (sandworm doubles them); (5) increase faction influence tracks, gain alliances; (6) check victory points (alliances, conflict wins, contracts, intrigue). First to 10 victory points wins. Six-player team mode pits two trios, sharing point pools and tactical signals. The deck-builder layer means your starting deck of 10 cards bloats and refines across the game; thinning and faction-tuning matter.

Each turn you weigh agent placement (commit the icon now and get the reward, but lose that card's reveal payload) versus reveal hoarding (save powerful cards for Persuasion or Sword totals). On top sits a four-way faction allocation puzzle (Emperor, Spacing Guild, Bene Gesserit, Fremen — Uprising adds CHOAM/Great Houses tension), spy positioning, intrigue card timing, and contract fulfillment. The combat layer adds a poker-style commitment mini-game: how many swords do I show, when, and do I gamble on a sandworm? The decision space is large — typically 8-20 reasonable agent placements per turn — and the planning horizon is 2-3 rounds because card-purchase decisions ripple through future hands.

Deck construction and tempo are the dominant skills: knowing which market cards thin your deck, which double up your faction influence, and when to pivot from economy to combat. Bluff and combat-commitment reading are second — committing too many swords wastes them, too few loses the Conflict. Third is faction-track forecasting: the alliance bonuses are huge but contested, so reading opponents' card buys to predict their faction trajectories is critical. Memory matters (track what's left in the market, which intrigue cards opponents hold), but it's secondary to engine-building and combat math.

Become a Great House on Arrakis: scheme through political intrigue, hoard Spice, ride sandworms into battle, and outmaneuver rival nobles for control of the Imperium — a deep-strategy adaptation of Frank Herbert's universe.

Clay Brooks, Derek Herring, Raul Ramos, and Nate Storm illustration — moody desert palette of ochre, rust, and deep indigo; cards reference Denis Villeneuve's Dune film stills and likenesses (Paul, Chani, Jessica, Stilgar). Sandworm minis are oversized and theatrical. Among the most cinematic productions in modern Eurogaming, distinct from the earlier muted base-game illustration.