Dune Imperium: Bloodlines Review

Overview

Bloodlines is the newest expansion of the Dune Imperium Series and the first made specifically for Dune Imperium Uprising…well, sort of. Bloodlines feels like it’s made for Uprising but is compatible with the original Dune Imperium as well as existing expansions. In some ways that’s a good thing, and in other ways it further fractures Dune Imperium Uprising’s clear identity crisis.

It’s never a good sign when I open up a rulebook and there are multiple set-up layouts depending on what you have, and just like Uprising, there are a ton of addendums clarifying edge cases of what to do with various other Dune Imperium products.

You can find a video version of this review on YouTube!

The thing is, I’m the kind of person that wants to go all in with my expansions. I don’t like to pick and choose. While Uprising and Bloodlines will work with the original Dune Imperiums cards, Rise of Ix, and Immortality expansions. I only played one time attempting to use everything, simply because it was clearly not the ideal experience. Everything gets messy and diluted and it honestly cuts into some very good aspects of Uprising. Furthermore, Bloodlines takes some existing ideas from previous expansions and cleans them up to be even better.

For this review, I ended up using just Uprising and Bloodlines, and Bloodlines is a great expansion that I’m excited to talk about. However, I have three other Dune Imperium products sitting on my shelf collecting dust and that frustrates me. I can, and will find a way to use some of their cards and aspects. I want to be able to use Dreadnoughts and the extra deck-building stuff from Immortality. But Uprising’s refusal to commit to a single identity, be it a sequel, or expansion has put the onus of the endeavor on me.

Most of the guidance that the rulebooks give is that you CAN do whatever you want. But I don’t need a rulebook to tell me that, I know I can do what I want and the board game police isn’t going to kick down my door and arrest me for it. What I needed was a clear set of thoroughly playtested guidelines for mixing the past and new content.

I’m front-loading this review with this rant because, beyond this point, I won’t be talking about the Orginal Dune Imperium, Rise of IX, and Immortality, except to reference a couple of related points. But I still wanted to make my agitation with the messy implementation of past content known, as it is an important factor for anyone who owns the whole product line as I do.

Gideon’s Bias	Dune Imperium: Bloodlines Information
Review Copy Used: No	Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital
Number of Plays: 8+	Designers: Phil Amylon, Andy Clautice, Paul Dennen, Caleb Vance
Player Counts Played: 1,2 & 4	Number of Players: 1-4
Fan of Genre: Yes	Genre: Deckbuilding, Worker Placement
Fan of Weight: Yes	Weight: Medium
Gaming Groups Thoughts: Loved It	Price: $40.00

Presentation

Dune Imperium Bloodlines adds a hefty amount of stuff to Uprising’s existing content with 9 new leaders, 2 new conflict cards, 18 new intrigue cards, and a whopping 32 new Imperium cards, as well as new contracts and a few goodies for solo and duo play.

There are also a good bit of new components for specific leaders, such as the Navigation deck for the Steersmen leader, a new board tile for Tuek, and a special intrigue deck for Piter De Vries.

On the new side of the fence comes the Sardaukar Commanders and Bloodlines offers both miniature and wooden cube variants, which is nice. Alongside them are the Sardaukar Skill tiles.

Tech Tiles were first seen in Rise of Ix and they make a comeback in Bloodlines with their own sideboard. They work slightly differently than how they did in Rise of Ix, but you get a nice set of them.

As always the quality of the components is excellent and the artwork is consistent and looks great. I will say that I feel like the Sardaukar Skill tiles clash with the rest of the game aesthetic, but I can’t entirely explain why. I think it’s because the paper white backgrounds sorely stick out compared to the rest of the game’s color palette.

One thing I do appreciate is that just like the worms in Uprising, the game provides wooden cube alternatives to the Sardaukar miniatures. If you don’t own the deluxe components for Dune Imperium you can keep the look consistent.

Regardless, for the price, Bloodlines brings good value in both its game mechanics and the number of physical components you receive.

What I Like About Dune Imperium: Bloodlines

The New Leaders

Just like previous leaders, the 9 new ones introduced in Bloodlines vary in complexity, however, each one feels very unique, even compared to previous leaders.

For example, Esmar Tuek adds an entirely new tile to the board that anyone can send an agent to, changing the game for everyone at the table. The Steersmen has his own set of navigation cards where he lays out a plan of how to trigger them before the game starts. Duncan Idaho can essentially enter battles himself when playing his ring ability. While Piter De Vries has his own set of Twisted Intrigue cards to play with.

Something I appreciate about the way the leaders are designed, and this has mostly been true through every Dune Imperium product that has leaders. Is that the leaders give you great bonuses and abilities without dictating your entire strategy. You never feel shoehorned into playing a certain way due to your leader, yet they still reward you for certain actions. It’s a delicate balance I’ve seen a great many board games completely fail at.

It’s very easy to have a character choice set you on a preprogrammed path of actions, and I’ve never felt that way with Dune Imperium and I’m happy to see that Bloodlines has continued maintaining that excellent balance.

The Tech Tiles

Bloodlines reimagines the tech tile concept from Rise of Ix, but in a way that I feel is much more fluid. Instead of being limited to purchasing them from 2 specific spaces, In Bloodlines you can buy a tech tile anytime you send an agent to ANY green space. Furthermore, you get a discount if you have a high council seat.

This simple change has a massive effect on the viability of the tech tiles and makes both the high council seat and green spaces much more valuable. You have a much wider range of options when it comes to acquiring tech tiles and that means that they see play much more often and without a player feeling shoehorned into dictating their entire strategy to acquire them.

It’s a very fluid implementation of the tech tiles and since the tech tiles themselves have a wide array of abilities, they never feel stale or predictable. I feel that Bloodline’s implementation of tech tiles is a straight upgrade to Rise of Ix and I can’t see myself ever wanting to return to the old method.

The Sarduakar

Bloodlines introduces a limited number of Sardaukar Commanders that can be recruited. During set up they are placed around a few various tiles and when you visit those tiles you can pay two Solari to hire one.

They function like a normal troop, however, when acquiring a Sardaukar, you also choose 1 skill from the pool. These skills only activate when a Sardaukar is in a conflict, however, if you have multiple skills and only one Sardaukar in the conflict, all the skills you have activate.

The thing is, after a conflict, the Sardaukar goes to your pool, you can recruit them again by paying 2 Solari whenever you gain a new Troop. Their skills come in two varieties, ones that activate during a conflict and ones that activate during your reveal phase. If you’re clever, you can get pretty cheeky with it and use retreat troop effects to pull your Sardaukar Commanders back to your garrison after getting their reveal effects.

The Sardaukar, like the worms, are an interesting variable in the game. The skills they provide are powerful but they require a strong commitment to obtain and continue using, as well as careful planning on your part to get the most out of them.

The existence of the Sardaukar further highlights one of Uprising’s ongoing strengths. The sheer amount of choice and strategies you can employ to win. Just like the Worms, they are powerful but leave gaps in your armor to use effectively. You are more than capable of winning without them and you never feel forced to focus on them, but are rewarded for doing so. They simply add another option to the myriad of winning strategies you can pursue.

That’s the thing with Dune Imperium Uprising. You never have the ability to do everything. Decisions come at a cost, focusing on one aspect neglects another aspect. The Sardaukar are another dial to turn, and one that does add even more meat to the game, whether you choose to turn the dial or not.

Verdict

Aside from the Tech Tiles and Sarduakar, Bloodlines adds more variety to the game with new intrigue and Imperium Cards. Deck Builders thrive on that kind of variety and Bloodlines feels carefully curated to add just the right mix of cards to avoid diluting the deck.

Furthermore, I also enjoy that the Tech Tiles and the Sardaukar add a one-two punch of giving you extra ways to spend currency, Spice for the Tech Tiles and Solari for the Sardaukar.

The new leaders are unique, the implementation of tech tiles is graceful and the Sarkdaukar are a great new mechanism to play with. I have very little to complain about that I didn’t already rant about at the start of this review.

I think that’s really the core of the situation. If Uprising and Bloodlines were the only two Dune Imperium products to exist, I’d be entirely positive about them. Uprising paired with Bloodlines is an excellent experience, possibly even one the best board games available.

However, they don’t exist in a vacuum. Dune Imperium Uprising’s standalone, but not a sequel, but not an expansion, but also kind of an expansion identity crisis is further muddied by Bloodlines. While technically compatible, if you own and want to use everything, you’re going to get an unbalanced hodge podge of a game that’s a shadow of its former self.

At the same time, by putting the old aside in favor of the new, you have an excellently balanced experience, but leave a whole lot of unique and fun aspects behind. I think the most aggravating part, is I’m not sure what Paul Dennen should have done.

Leaving the original behind entirely would have also annoyed me. At the same time continuing to just expand the original would have been a mistake too, as I truly believe Uprising is a much better version of Dune Imperium.

I do know two things, however. The relationship between Bloodlines, Uprising, and the original Dune Imperium is a colossal mess. I also know that if I put that fact aside, Bloodlines is an excellent expansion to a brilliant game.