Dune express
Dune Express is a dice game, that means it's
played predominantly with dice. But not normal
dice! This game uses special dice that you'll
make yourself. The game works best with 3-4
players but you can be played with 2 or 5. With
more than 5 it's a very long game (not
recommended!)
Background
This game is themed around the fight for Dune
(also known as Arrakis), which is a planet
featured in a series of books by Frank Herbert. If
you're a fan of the book, then you might well
find this little game to your taste. There is a
fantastic board game simply called DUNE, and
this is a dice based express version of that game.
In the book and the game a number of factions
war against each other to gain control of the
planet Dune. Dune is the only planet in the
universe that produces “Spice” - a drug that
extends the life of its users, as well as giving
them various levels of prescience.
In this game you will play the part of one of the
factions trying to gain control of the planet.
Making the Game
There are two pages to print. The first is the
board, which features the six areas of the planet
used in this game. You can just print this out to
normal paper and leave it at that if you want. Yet
if you mount the paper on a cardboard backing it
will make the game more substantial and stop it
“blowing away” in a draft.
The second sheet contains a number of dice
faces. Once again, you can print this to paper
and then cut out all of the faces and stick them
to some standard dice with tape. Each row on
the sheet contains the faces for one die.
I would however recommend that you print
these faces onto thin card and cut them out, then
use white glue to stick these to standard dice.
When all 7 dice are dry, you are ready to play!
You are also going to need a number of counters
for each player, of different colours. You can use
poker chips, glass beads or even coins of
different denominations. At most you're likely to
need about 10-15 each.
The Dice
• 4 Faction Dice, showing the names of
the factions: Atreides, Bene Gesserit,
Corrino, Fremen, Spacing Guild and
Harkonnen.
• 1 Traitor Die, showing Crysknife,
Shield, Poison, Snooper, Hunter Seeker
and Truth Trance.
• 1 Location Die, showing the locations:
Sietch Tabr, Carthag, Arrakeen, Tuek's
Sietch, Polar Sink and Habbanya Sietch.
• 1 Spice Die, showing 1 Spice, 2 Spice, 3
Spice, 4 Spice, 5 Spice and Shai Hulud.
Objective
The objective of Dune Express is to be in sole
control of three of the five winning locations on
the Dune map. These are Sietch Tabr, Carthag,
Arrakeen, Tuek's Sietch and Habbanya Sietch.
The Polar Sink region is not a winning location.
If at the end of your turn you are the sole
occupant of three winning locations you
instantly win!
Setting up
1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Pick a random starting player; play will
proceed clockwise.
3. Starting with the last player and going
backwards in turn order, players each choose a
Faction to play this game.
4. The starting player begins.
On Your Turn
You begin your turn by rolling the dice and
setting aside any of the dice you want to keep.
You must set aside at least one of the dice. After
setting aside those you wish to keep, you may
roll the remaining dice again. Once again you
must set aside at least one of these dice. Your
keep repeating this process until all the dice
have been set aside. Remember you must set
aside at least one die after each roll.
Once all of the dice are set aside, you have
finished rolling. Look at your results.
Results Examples
Example 1
Traitor Die Paul is playing the Atreides faction and after
If your Traitor die shows Poison, Hunter Seeker rolling until all dice were set aside, the
or Crysknife then you may immediately remove following results were gained:
one of your opponent's Troop Counters from • Faction Dice
anywhere on the board. If the die says anything Atreides
else then it has no effect. Atreides
Harkonnen
Location Die Spacing Guild
The Location indicated on this die indicates the • Traitor Die
Active Location on the board into which you Poison
may place new Troop Counters, and to which • Location Die
you may move Troop Counters from the Polar Carthag
Sink. The Polar Sink space is a special location - • Spice Die
it is the only location on the board from which 3 Spice
you can move Troop Counters to another
location on the board. Paul has rolled “Poison”, so he immediately
removes one Troop Counter of his Harkonnen
Faction Dice opponent from Arrakeen.
There are four Faction dice. Each die result Paul has rolled 3 Spice, which means he could
which shows your faction represents one Troop potentially move/place three Troop Counters.
Counter that you may place on the board in the The Carthag result on the Location die indicates
space matching the face you rolled on the that Paul's Troop Counters can only be
Location die. moved/placed into Carthag.
However, the amount of troops you are able to Paul's two Atreides Faction dice give him two
place is dependent on your Spice die result new Troop Counters, and as he has three Spice
giving you sufficient funds. Paul can spend two Spice to place these two
Troop Counters directly into Carthag.
Spice Die This leaves Paul with 1 Spice still to spend.
The result on the Spice die is important to the So if Paul had any troops in the Polar Sink he
placing and movement of would be able to spend his remaining Spice to
Troop Counters on the board. For each unit of move one Troop Counter from the Polar Sink
Spice you've rolled allows you to place one into Carthag. However, he has no Troop
Troop Counter into the Location on the board Counters in the Polar Sink, so he ends his turn,
that matches your Location die, up to the passing all the dice to the player on his left.
maximum allowed by your Faction Dice result.
It also costs 1 Spice to move a single Troop
Counter from the Polar Sink to the Location on Example 2
the board matching the result on the Location Pieter is playing the Harkonnen faction, after
die. rolling until all dice were set aside, the
If the Spice Die shows the Shai Hulud result, following results were gained:
then you can't move or place any Troop • Faction Dice
Counters this turn. Harkonnen
Harkonnen
Harkonnen
Harkonnen
• Traitor Die
Shield
• Location Die
Polar Sink
 • Spice Die
1 Spice
The Traitor die shows Shield so Pieter receives
no benefit from it. Bah!
Pieter has lucked out and rolled his Faction on
all four of the Faction dice. However,
unfortunately he has only rolled a 1 on the Spice
die, meaning he will only be able to place 1
Troop Counter in the Polar Sink location on the
board.
Combat Example
The Tuek's Sietch location has two Spacing
Guild Troop Counters in it. Three Corrino Troop
Counters are moved into Tuek's Sietch. Combat
immediately takes place, with the troops
eliminating each other on a 1 to 1 basis. Here,
two Spacing Guild Troop Counters are
eliminated, as are two Corrino Troop Counters.
This leaves 1 Corrino Troop Counter in the
space, and the Corrino player in control of the
location.
Q &A
Q : Am I able to keep Faction Dice or Spice Die
results which were not used in my turn for next
turn?
A: No, no die result carries over into your next
turn.
Q : What does Shai Hulud mean on the Spice
Die?
A : You're not able to place any new troops or
move troops from the Polar Sink.
Q : What do Shield, Snooper and Truth Trance
results on the Traitor Die do?
A : Nothing at all.
Q : I didn't roll any Faction Dice for my Faction.
Can I still move Troop Counters from the Polar
Sink?
A : Yes, if you happen to have Troop Counters in
the Polar Sink, and have the Spice available to
do so.
Q : Can I move Troop Counters into any
location during my turn?
A : No. You may only move Troop Counters into
the location indicated by the Location Die.
ADVANCED RULES
Snoozefest's Special Faction Powers
House Atreides
Prescience: At the beginning of the Atreides
player's turn, he may choose not to roll one die
in order to set aside another die with any result.
House Harkonnen
Underhanded: The Harkonnen player always
treats rolls on the Traitor Die as a Poison, Hunter
Seeker or Crysknife result on his turn.
House Corrino
Financial Support: The House Corrino player
may keep unused Spice for future turns (you will
need to make your own Spice counters).
Sardaukar: When placing Troop Counters on
the board, the House Corrino player may spend
an additional Spice to make the unit a Sardaukar
Counter. Sardaukar Counters count as two Troop
Counters for purposes of combat. (You will need
to make your own Sardaukar Counters.)
Fremen
Resourceful: The Fremen player gains 1 free
Spice each turn, and may keep unused Spice for
future turns (you will need to make your own
Spice counters).
Hardy: In any combat that the Fremen player is
involved in, he may spend 1 Spice or remove 1
of his Troop Counters from the table to make
any of his Troop Counters count as two until the
end of the combat.
Bene Gesserit
Manipulation: At the start of the game, before
the First Player takes their turn, the Bene
Gesserit player secretly chooses a round number
and writes it down on a piece of paper.
Whenever the First Player receives the dice for
their turn, they move the round number up one.
If at any point any player ends their turn in
control of three winning locations on the round
the Bene Gesserit player has chosen, he reveals
the round number on the sheet, and immediately
wins the game.
Spacing Guild
Monopoly: After setting aside all the dice, but
before playing his turn, the Spacing Guild player
may turn the Location Die to any result he
wishes.
Transportation: The Spacing Guild player may
move Troop Counters to the Active Location
from any location.
Alternate Dice Rules
Regular Dice Variant
If you don't want to put together your own set of
Dune Express dice, you may use regular six-
sided dice of different colours, using the
following as a key:
Dune Express original game design by FNH1.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/FNH1
Advance Rules by Snoozefest.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/snoozefest
Thumper Variant by Steamrunner.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/steamrunn
er
Board design by Mechanicalfish
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/mechanica
lfish

Faction Dice – 4 White Dice – Roll success on a
1.
Traitor Die – 1 Black Die – 1, 2, and 3 are
Poison, Hunter Seeker and Crysknife
respectively. 4, 5, and 6 are Shield, Snooper
and Truth Trance respectively.
Spice Die – 1 Red Die – 1-5 is the amount of
Spice available, 6 is Shai Hulud.
Location Die – 1 Blue Die – 1-6 correspond to
the locations found on the map below.
Alternative Dice Design by FezAZ.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/FezAZ
Rules compiled by Katatonic.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/katatonic
See the BoardGameGeek page for Dune Express
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/426
17

Snoozefest's Dice Variant

Snoozefest's advance rules use the following
rules for the dice:

Same as Regular Dice Variant, except:

Faction Dice – Succeeds on a 1 or 2.
Traitor Die – Succeeds on a 1 or 2.

Chris Heinzmann (steamrunner)'s Thumper

Variant
In this variant, a roll of Shai Hulud cannot be re-
rolled, and immediately is set aside. Traitor Die
results are resolved as normal.

Alternatively, a three-roll limit may be imposed

upon players in order to add tension to the rolls.

The Shield result on the Traitor Die is replaced

with a Thumper result. When a player rolls a
Thumper result, he takes a Thumper Token. In a
later turn, the player may discard the Thumper
Token in order to re-roll one Shai Hulud result.