DUNE: IMPERIUM - QUICK CHEAT SHEET v1.

07
GAME SETUP – (all types)
A. Game Board
Mentat on board space
Alliance tokens set left side
Player discs on the number line (Victory Point line), other disc set aside for the senate seat.
B. Conflict deck
1 Player – Hack is to use the bottom intrigue card as the divider. Easier to manage cards.
a. 10 total
i. 4 - Conflict III
ii. 5 - Conflict II
iii. 1 - Conflict I
C. Next to board
a. Full Intrigue Deck (face down) (one time use cards once acquired)
b. *67 Card Imperium Deck (purchase cards) (*68 if pre-order)
i. Deal 5 face up (available for purchase)
c. Separate Reserve Cards (face up) (special reveal purchase cards/acquire cards)
i. Arrakis Liaison
ii. Spice Must Flow
iii. Foldspace
D. Choose leader (check complexity icons for compatible skill)
a. 1 Player
i. AI can not be Paul or Helena
ii. Only right side is used during gameplay. (ignore left attributes)
E. 10 Card Starting Deck (Per person – AI doesn’t need them) (Arrow icon in upper left) (SHUFFLE)
a. 2 – Convincing Argument
b. 2 – Dagger
c. 1 – Diplomacy
d. 2 – Dune, the Desert Planet
e. 1 – Reconnaissance
f. 1 – Seek Allies
g. 1 – Signet Ring
F. Starting resources
a. Always start with one water each (AI & Players)
b. Start with 3 troops in garrison. (players, AI below)
c. 1 Player (modifications/additions)
i. See table for additional starting resources
Mercenary (i) Sardaukar (iii) Mentat (V)

Player Start Resources 1 Spice/Salari - -

5 Solari extra for mentat token N Y Y

Rival Garrison - 3 3

Conflict Card Rival Swordmaster 5 deep 4 deep 3 deep

Rival Start Resources - 1 Intrigue Card 1 Intrigue Card

ii. Expert +: Player can not receive an extra swordmaster.
iii. Expert note: troop deployment is different in Expert (see gameplay rules)
iv. Anytime a 1 player AI receives these they get a victory point and the resources go back to bank..
1. 3 intrigue cards
2. 7 spice
3. 7 solari
4. 3 water
d. 2 Player - House Hagal is AI opponent. No VP or bonuses taken, ever. Only follows house Hagal Card instructions and rules. No need for a disc on
VP track. House Hagal Harvest Spice cards remove spice back to bank. Removes flags at location combat wins. Remove House Hagal cards
marked 1P. Plays available Agents after each of the First Player’s Agent turns. See game directions House Hagal Cards supplement for more.
G. Player Character Setup (Gather all your player pieces.)
a. Two agents on your leader card
b. One disc on score track (right gameboard) (4 player game starts at 1). Other is for the senate seat later.
c. Combat marker in place 0
d. Divide 4 cubes on influence track bottoms for all players
e. Place remaining in clear view of all players. (12 are troops.) (3 added to garrison, unless otherwise stated) (DO NOT let cats eat them.)
H. House Hagal Cards (AI Mode)
a. 1 player – remove 2P cards
b. 2 player – House Hagal Harvest Spice only removes spice to bank
c. 1 player – House Hagal Harvest Spice takes both the base and the bonus, it is skipped if no board locations have bonus spice.
d. 1 Player – AI player on a conflict Hagal card will always deploy up to two garrisoned troops even if they do not deploy any new troops. (Expert
mode is different)
I. First Player
a. Normal Game - Random
b. 1 Player - Rival to left takes first player
GAMEPLAY
PHASE 1:
A. Ensure spice has flown and the board is clean and the player marker moved.
a. TO PAUSE GAME – After cleaning a round. When paused, place the combat icon for the next 1st player on top of the next round non-flipped
combat card.
B. Flip Conflict Card
C. Draw 5 from personal deck for view and strategy
PHASE 2: (Agent Turn or Reveal Turn)
Take turns doing one action clockwise until all agents and reveals have completed. If you reveal early you can watch.
Personal deck terms: In hand, in play, discard pile, draw pile. Also, Agent Discard & Reveal Discard
Tip! Best discard agent cards and reveal to separate temporary piles. Do not discard them to your main discard pile during play.
Intrigue cards: Now is the time to play PLOT cards, anytime when it is YOUR turn.
A. Agent Turn (can skip, but likely wanted)
1 Player – AI takes only Hagal card bonuses except Bonus + Base spice is taken on harvest
1 Player - AI takes victory points; no bonuses while moving up faction influence. It takes the alliance coins, and VP for it. (@Merekon, BGG)
1 player – AI always moves up to 2 units from garrison into battle plus the immediate troop bonuses at marked conflict space.
a. Moving agents to game spaces
i. Play your agent using one of your five cards to move an agent to a space designated by the PLAYED card.
ii. Press F in chat or pay extra as indicated. (Be sure to check your players bonuses in case they get a press B discount!)
iii. Take the bonuses for the agent portion of the card.
b. Deploying Troops
i. Must be on a conflict spot to move two garrisoned troops to the combat. All troops received on a combat space can be deployed,
plus up to two more garrisoned. This happens before the combat phase so you have to anticipate the battle.
c. Combat marker - On your reveal turn you will add up your troops power and any bonuses you reveal to equal your semi-final combat score.
(semi-final because intrigue cards can act at combat phase)
d. Check your flags and take your rewards. Take bonus rewards for anyone landing on your flagged territory.
i. 1 Player - AI get flag bonuses.
ii. 2 Player – AI removes flag bonuses.
e. Harvesting Spice locations
i. 1 Player – the AI gets both the base + bonus spice. The Hagal card is skipped if no bonus spice exists on any space.
B. Reveal Turn
Reveal must be taken in play order if you have no agent left or don’t want to use an agent.
1 player – AI reveal is the Hagal combat bonus flip.
CHECK BOARD BONUSES when purchasing cards (High Council)
a. This is when you show your handheld cards and reveal what your intentions are for them. This includes taking reveal bonuses to increase your
combat, or influence to buy cards from the stockpile. (Remember that each time an imperium card is purchased it is immediately replaced and
the revealed card can be purchased immediately.)
b. Check acquire effect, if any. When purchasing a card this has immediate effect.
c. Any purchased cards go to your discard pile without Agent or Reveal bonuses. (unless otherwise stated)
PHASE 3: COMBAT
First player marker starts.
A. Combat Intrigue cards in rotational order until all consecutive players do not play an intrigue card.
B. Resolve combat. Ties remove your winnings to the next lowest level. Next place gets nothing or in a 4 player game the 3rd option.
a. If you have a control flag on a newly contested territory you automatically receive 1 troop to the conflict.
b. 1 Player game – The AI collects and receives ALL bonuses from resolved conflict. If choice; you choose for them.
PHASE 4: MAKERS
THE SPICE MUST FLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A. Any space that receives spice bonuses increases unless it is occupied by an agent.
PHASE 5: Recall
A. Only now do you touch the board pieces and reset EVERYTHING, well mostly. Just reset and replace the obvious for another round.
B. Pass the 1st player marker

ENDGAME
Endgame intrigue cards are played after the game goes into ENGAME mode.
When all 10 conflict cards are done AND there is a winner, OR someone makes it to 10. Rare cases there is one more round, see instructions

1 player cheats / variations

● Can you take both awards if no AI is in the conflict? Personally this game is hard enough and I say yes, but doubt that was intended.
○ Answered by @ratent BGG: total available combat rewards are # of players -1
● Below novice setting: give yourself 3 (or any number you choose) of automatic House Hagal blocks (skips).
● 1 Player - House Track Variation: To decrease difficulty you choose whether AI gets house influence track VP bonuses and/or alliance VP bonuses.
● House Hagal: Standard play is to add combat bonuses during combat phase. Variation uses House Hagal combat reveal cards during agent reveal phase.
This allows the player to choose Intrigue card usage easier.
Gameplay Turn Reminders
I use this for single player, but has been modded for all player use.

Main Turn
1. Spice then clean.
2. Conflict card flipped?
3. Player agent (see Micro Agent Moves) / Hagal & AI agent below
a. 1 Player - AI moves
i. House influence track move. Takes VPs, but no bonuses. Alliance takes the token, and VP.
ii. Harvest = Base + Bonus Spice.
iii. Troops
b. 2 Player - House Hagal takes no resources, flags or board VPs. Only clears them.
4. Player reveal (BUY CARDS, check board)
a. Add combat + bonuses (do not play intrigue yet, next)
b. Solo AI player variation - Hagal combat reveals (cheat/variation)
5. Combat resolution
In order from 1st player marker.
a. Player intrigue combat cards used during combat turn. (rotates until no consecutive intrigue uses)
b. 1 Player - Solo AI Hagal card combat reveal happens now based on official rules. (disregard 4b.)
6. LET THE SPICE FLOW!
7. Now recall, then flip the next conflict card.

Micro Agent Moves

A. Choose Spot
B. Pay amount
C. Move loyalty
D. Victory points move (1 Player AI takes VPs in house track during turns)
E. Receive bonuses
F. Receive troops

*please report any errors to this post: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2561039/dune-imperium-quick-start-guide

Update 1.01: added starting with 3 combat in garrison.

Update 1.02: Added a variation under gameplay cheat/variations
Update 1.03: Clarified AI victory points.
Update 1.04: Clarification and mods to Gameplay Turn Reminders. Makes it usable for all variations and adds a marker for a variation in italics.
Update 1.05: Extended clarification. House Hagal is used in 2 player. Hagal cards are used to advance AI opponents (rivals) in solo play. The rules for single play have been updated to reflect
the, hopefully, final final version of correct ruling. (affected 1 player only)
Update 1.06: Touched up 2 player House Hagal setup. Cleared highlighting. PDF posted to BGG files.
Update 1.07: good catch by @PaulusBorgia (BGG) typo fixed to show starting with 4 conflict III cards.

*Grateful for the BGG community sharing thoughts and of course Paul Dennen’s development, responses, Justin Cohen and the DireWolf team for an excellent game and rules book!