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Episode 349 – From Book to Board: Dune

Anthony

This week we’re looking at one of the most famous books of the 20th century and its impact on board games dating back almost 50 years: Dune.

First up, though, is our new contest – share your top 10 games of all time for a chance to win one in our Listeners’ Top 20 Games contest: https://forms.gle/DudbkyCLfe8qPz1w5

If you haven’t yet, be sure to connect with us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boardgamersanonymous), Twitter (http://twitter.com/bgapodcast), and on our website (www.www.boardgamersanonymous.com). You can support the show as well by donating on Patreon (www.patreon.com/bga) or using our Amazon affiliate link.

 

Read the Transcript

00:00.00 Chris Welcome to board gamers anonymous the podcast about board gamers and the insane fun. We have at the table together. This is chris and this is episode 3 hundred and forty nine from book to board dune will I think.
00:06.24 Anthony A and this is anthony.
00:17.41 Chris All of our patreon backers for helping us bring you a brand new episode and the spice mollage the spice anthony the spice it’s the way in which we podcast out to the vastness of the universe not using computers. No 1 knew that until now. But now it’s true. It’s known.
00:34.63 Anthony Well now they’re gonna come for us man. What are you doing.
00:37.39 Chris Damn it The podcast was flow and all of the other kind of referential kind of jokes and things as we desperately follow the algorithm. But in this case, in fact, Anthony we are devoted passionate fans. Of the book due are we not.
00:58.13 Anthony Ah, yeah, absolutely yeah I’ve somehow read this monstrosity tome 2 and a half times which I know some people out there like I’ve read it 12 times I’m like but I don’t read things multiple times so I’m proud of myself and you should be proud of me too. Um, not.
01:05.58 Chris Oh.
01:13.25 Chris All right? so.
01:17.30 Anthony It’s amazing and for whatever reason over the years people keep trying to adapt it build it do something with it games, movies, comics and they struggle. So but you know with a movie coming out that by all accounts is better.
01:28.45 Chris Yeah.
01:36.66 Anthony Then what we’ve seen in the past um why not look at the games because some of them are also better than what we’ve seen in the past
01:42.44 Chris Yeah I think the popular comment that most people make about do and and a lot of other epic series is that they’re unfimable and you know what that may be true but they are they ungamable anthony can you not make a game. Based upon the book that holds the themes holds the passion, the realities the the history the law all the wonderment. That’s you know, contained in Dune so we are going to talk about everything dune if you have not. Read the book or not seeing the movie. We’re not going to get into any kind of crazy spoilers. So we want you to experience, especially the new movie I think this is I’ve seen it anthony has not seen it yet and I like it a lot. I act I’m actually a big fan of this movie There’s there’s so much to like about it. The visuals, the music. You know it’s part 1 of 2 so hopefully they get part 2 based upon everyone watching it if you are not a big fan of dude stick with us because nonetheless you’re going to get a great list. Of games that you might want to get to the table. So. In fact, the games itself might impart enough of the you know world famous book series that you might actually after play the games want to watch the movie or especially read the books and it’s not just 1 book. There’s a lot of books. It’s it’s pretty It’s a pretty vast vast universe I think try to think I mean etha you’re you’re really our our you know big book reader here is this the most vast of all universe right? like the history like we’re talking millennial right? many many many many many many.
03:26.78 Anthony Yeah, maybe yeah I guess I don’t know you know obviously you don’t have a sense of scale and when everything’s done. But yeah herbert was like yeah my books are going to cover thousands and thousands of years. So it’s like okay, um, which is why we still Until. Recently continued to get dune books and sequels from his son and other people because there’s so much space in between to fill out right.
03:46.10 Chris First sure and sure so it’s it’s a fascinating story and there’s so much to talk about and that will be our feature view along with all of the amazing games so stick with us that’s going to be a lot of fun. But anthony before we get into all that kind of dune stuff we want to talk about obviously what’s going on with all of our listeners and I guess in this case, there isn’t a question of the week but in fact, there’s something far more important.
04:18.80 Anthony Yes, yes, this is important everybody so we do this every year when we do our top 20 listener games of all time and if you remember if you’ve done this in the past it’s very simple all that we ask you to do is fill out a very quick form with your top 10 games. That’s it.
04:24.58 Chris Button.
04:37.63 Anthony And any particular order if you throw your email address in there with it. You’re also entered into a contest to win 1 of the games on the final list of 20 That’s all you have to do super super simple. Go to Facebook. It’s pinned at the very top click that link fill out the form take you like.
04:48.18 Chris That’s it. So.
04:57.17 Anthony I mean it would take me two minutes because I already know my top 10 But even if you have to look it up. Maybe five minutes. It takes no time at all and you’re entered but super important on top of that is that it helps us make our list because we use the games that you tell us you know and ideally couple hundred people give us a lot of games that we can work with and we build a list.
05:00.47 Chris Ah, sure.
05:06.69 Chris It does it.
05:16.67 Anthony And these are our top you know 20 games if you want to be represented in that top twenty if you if you listen to it every year and you’re like and where are the games I like well did you fill out the form because if you didn’t fill out the form that we don’t know what games you like so get in there fill that out you get in for a chance to win 1 of those games. Um. We will be recording that episode next week so you got about a week when you listen to this, you’ve probably about 4 or 5 days plenty of time and yeah, just get in there. do it. just do it
05:48.23 Chris And this is episode 3 hundred and Fifty. So this is of course 1 of the big episodes and 1 of the biggest episodes each and every year is our listener feedback episode and this is kind of like the brother sister cousin to it. Which is the listeners top 20 right? So we certainly want to hear the games that you love and that are in your top 20 because again we wanted to you know spread the love out there and the more that we know about your stuff the more we can talk about it and again it’s a lot of fun. You listen to all of our games all the time I want to hear your games. Come on. Seriously what what come on here your games get your games out there. So yeah, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun. You know we might ah we might you know shower your games with praise and and might ri on a couple I don’t know we’ll see we’ll see how it goes but it’s definitely definitely definitely a great episode. So. Um, next weeks episode 3 fifty listeners top twenty again, a lot of fun all right anthony so that’s what’s going on. We’re listeners and again if you like to be able to drop your games in there for a chance to win a game obviously facebook twitter board gamers anonymous dot com and we’re pretty much everywhere else. Ah, thanks to anthony so if there is some other place you would like to see board gamers anonymous let us know I don’t know maybe we’ll come to a town near you if that’s if that if that’s something we need to do or whatever the the most immediate social media thing happens to be at that time. So yeah. Let us know we’ll hit you up. We’ll get to you and again, a lot of fun and again. Thank you especially for hitting us up and dropping all your fun stuff on the table are anthony so. That’s what’s going on with our listeners. Let’s talk about the games that we want to get to table and maybe they do too who knows. By being their top 20 oh my god what are your acquisition disorders man.
07:48.48 Anthony Acquisition disorder this week it’s it’s been a little while I’ve been honestly kind of avoiding kickstarter I Know last week I talked like about a ten ten dollars game but this week I have another small game that’s.
07:50.35 Chris Ah, oh no.
08:04.43 Anthony Decently expensive despite how small it is of it’s send jutsu battle for japan and so this is a game a 1 to four player game about the send goku period in Japan which is also known as the warring States period the 100 and 50 years or so after the achikaga showguin it fell apart.
08:10.80 Chris Ah.
08:23.75 Anthony When all the warlords were vying for power in Japan right? So it’s what we think of when we think of samurai riding off and fighting in battle against some other clan is that like 1 hundred and 50 year period typically like Medieval japan and so.
08:40.30 Chris Yeah, yeah.
08:43.44 Anthony San jutsu is a game about individual samurai clashing with each other on this little hex map. So when you first look at it when you look at the top you like you see the miniatures. There’s four like beautifully crafted miniatures and you see what looks like a big box.
08:57.40 Chris And yes.
09:01.24 Anthony And then you scroll down a little bit and you see it’s actually like you know a 1 foot by 1 foot board and just the four miniatures and these little tiny boards and it’s a relatively abstract looking game like car-driven kind of abstract Combat. And there’s not a lot of artwork on those cards and you’re like wait a second is this not a giant miniature game which is what I went through when it first went up on kickstarter a couple days ago I was like huh this is not at all what I was expecting and it’s not at all so sinjitsu is a 15 to twenty minute fighting game.
09:26.82 Chris Yeah, yeah, so.
09:37.40 Anthony Ah, you will be 1 of the four samurai on the board and you will use. Um these cards that are in a ah deck that you’ve created every deck is gonna be unique with different types of attacks and blocks and meditations and and all these different things that you can utilize and you’re trying to defeat the other. Samurai on the battlefield right? So you put your put your samurai out there. You draw your hand of cards. There’s like it’s a forty card deck I think’s what it says choose a card play it reveal the cards. Everybody acts right? first person to survive all that I guess the last person to survive all that. Um, the is the winner. So. It’s basically you know, kind of this hidden movement ah style thing where you’re like you’re putting something out and your person’s going to move around and and take various actions. Everybody else is doing the same thing at the same time and you see who comes out on top. So very very very tactical it honestly in the past this is the kind of game that would have had just like little wooden tokens and you know artwork free cards and that would have been the whole game. Um, it is still kind of that. But with 4 miniatures. Ah um, and for that reason the deluxe version of the game is 68 dollars now.
10:37.99 Chris Sure.
10:52.66 Anthony In kickstarter money you’re like whoa 68 bucks that’s nothing but in considering what the game actually is you’re like well so you’ve got standy opponents for the you know the the solo opponents you have 3 d terrain.
10:57.28 Chris Yeah, sure. Yeah. The food and.
11:11.30 Anthony Bamboo forces and Cherry Blossom trees. You have different types of Battlefields Um, these are all eximous stretch toolss that they’ve unlocked and so if you want the deluxe version. You get all that extra cool stuff. It’s almost seventy bucks Plus shipping if you just want the basic game with the core gameplay. It’s forty nine.
11:21.52 Chris So.
11:30.17 Anthony Which is still a little high but at least closer to what you kind of expect something to cost in 2021? Um, and then there are other miniatures that they’ve thrown in It’s add-ons so you can get like different characters. They have different decks and stuff so there’s an assassin. There’s an ashigarru. Which is 1 of the enemies. There’s a Monk a sailor yoske the retainer. The yojimbo got to have the Yojimbo um, there’s a ninja which thematically doesn’t necessarily make sense but he’s there so you can pay to have your miniatures ink dropped which is like a cool.
11:53.10 Chris Sure sure.
12:04.95 Anthony Fact, if you’ve never seen it like that awakened realm sometimes uses um, it’s very pretty It’s a lot of really cool looking stuff I like the look of the mechanics I like these like quick tactical combat typing games. Um, that are almost chesslike but it’s just funny. It’s it’s just kickstarter being kickstarter where they’re like hey let’s take a very. Cool abstracty type of mechanic and slap some miniatures in it and charge you Seventy bucks. So um, it’s on my watch list. We’ll see. We’ll see what ends up being on. There has a solo mode so I kind of want check it out but send you to battle for japan.
12:38.31 Chris Yeah I think that you you nailed it I think it’s a very you know going to the kickstarter page. It’s a very weird campaign. It’s 1 of those things where it’s like hey let’s make literally everything a stretch goal.
12:51.52 Anthony Yeah.
12:53.15 Chris Right? So it’s like almost like 35 pages long you like there’s endless amounts of scrolling through everything and like you said it’s it’s it’s a fairly abstract kind of chess like you know battle royale kind of game and you’re like okay I got it. So no, no, why are you here. It’s like.
13:09.98 Anthony Yeah, yeah.
13:12.65 Chris For all of your monies and you’re like oh No. So I think it’s a little confusing as far as the kickstar is concerned I Really wish that they would pull it back a little bit I wish they would rein in in a little bit but as you mentioned it. It seems to be a fairly competent. Gay Mechanic this is on I think it’s on tabletop simulator or something so you could possibly have an opportunity to try this out. It does have a ah seamlessly endless number of videos on it. But again I don’t I don’t think that in this case, it’s the videos or even the miniatures I think it’s that the cards here. Cards really are where it comes to Play. You could you know whether you play a solo or 2 play or whatever it is the 1 thing that always bugs me about Kickstarter I kind of get it. But you know since Kickstarter more and more these days is just you know a marketing distribution platform. They did an early bird.
14:08.63 Anthony And.
14:09.31 Chris Ah, really don’t like early birds that have limited number of you know awards available and that kind of bugs me. It’s because like hey you want to back this game but you were like fifteen minutes late cool. You know what? how about paying like nineteen dollars more and I’m just like.
14:24.77 Anthony Yeah now.
14:28.13 Chris I don’t feel good about that like this 1 thing if you buy something retail or you buy something after kickstarter and you have to get missed in completely. But it just bugs me It’s not a big deal like you said it’s it’s 1 of those things where you’re getting what hopefully will be very cool miniatures and again the gameplay at least with the cards and the kind of things like It’s again, it’s what kickstarter does. It’s what it does. So yeah, no, it’s cool. Um I have a not I wouldn’t say a similar campaign but I do have a I guess an overly upgraded kind of campaign myself this is Marvel dice throne. Become your favorite marvel hero in this fast and exhilarating game of skilled card and dice play I disagree with the skilled part of it I mean no offense to dice thrown. But it’s literally throwing dice. So maybe not so much skilled more like luck. So ah, probably many of you out. There have played dice throne I’ve played dice throne several times. Anthony of you played dices throne.
15:30.17 Anthony Only at a convention I’ve not actually played it significantly enough to have any opinion about this whatsoever other than the artwork is cool.
15:33.49 Chris Sure. Yeah, dice throne has been a game that’s kind of been circling around me for several years in fact I think I think you and I I want to I want to say it was gencon I think it was gencon I think you and I way back in the day had seen this. When it first came out in the convention and really the thing that really kind of spoke to me was the idea that this game the art design the art design really stuck out and it was just something like oh this is really cool art design. Really interesting characters custom dice. But basically what it came down to was you got a character.
15:56.24 Anthony Man.
16:15.43 Chris Really nicely illustrated character and like right the middle of the board and then on the left and the right of it. It had options for your dice rolling. So when you would roll your dice kind of like Yatziesque. You got 3 opportunities to reroll your dice. And then you match it up based upon some ability on your particular board and then you do that ability now. The whole game is really again, we could have done this on our squid game episode. This is very much you know last person standing kind of situation because what you’re trying to do is knock out the other person or the other team.
16:40.84 Anthony Fifth.
16:51.40 Chris So you roll your dice you get your abilities you upgrade your abilities with cards and then there’s other cards that kind of come into play. But basically it’s kind of tin king of tokyo in a way you know like it’s again, it’s really a beautiful art design that I’ve I’ve really admired that I spoke to the artist. Way back when and I didn’t know was the artist and I’m like this artwork here. This is fantastic I really like the the characters and everything here. It’s like I did that I’m like oh awesome so they had a season 1 and then they came back and they did a season 2 and I think that kind of bummed people out because. It was kind of a revised thing and it was packaged better so that was a little thing and I think on kickstarter they had an adventure version of this where you could actually take your characters out of venturing which financially did well. But I I have not played it I did not hear the best things in the world about it. But I do appreciate the idea that they try to do something different with their gameplay. So as expected Marvel dice thrown is dice thrown again character sideboard left and right that has the special Abilities. You roll the custom dice that match your character and then you do a thing so they have. Miles morales spider-man they have loki thor captain marvel Dr. Strange ah black panther. Um I guess wanda or scarlet wedge spending on and obviously a black widow so that’s your that’s your lineup here for the full kind of set. It’s currently on kickstarter and there is just again, it’s it’s not a very complicated game to kind of explain or play itself. There is only 1 backer level here that that I can at least see at this point I think there might be there was something else here but the battle chest. That’s really what you want which comes with all of the characters. In that 1 box. It comes with the promos and anthony I think this is the thing that’s going to push you over the catch a little bit because if you do back the campaign not do not only do you get the the bonus promo cards which is kind of cool I’m I’m a man who likes his promo cards. But. You could get a zinc metal mean your near hammer that comes in the game man they put it in the game I don’t know why they did that but see I know.
19:08.43 Anthony Um, ah all right all right? I yeah no, it’s good I yeah I don’t know this is cool looking I would totally pick this up at like Target for thirty bucks if it had like.
19:25.38 Chris Yeah, yeah, well it is well they’re gonna it’s gonna come out in retail and next year q 3
19:27.40 Anthony Four of these characters in it I’m not spending a hundred dollars on this like for what’s basically glorified Marvel version of king of tokyo just not going to do it.
19:42.95 Chris And for four characters at least I’m looking what I’m looking at here the retail version of it for scarlet which thor loki and spiderman is 50 bucks and then the other 2 character packons are another 30 bucks I don’t know I I think if this is something that you if you like.
19:50.42 Anthony Um.
20:02.17 Chris Dice throne and and again, um, I’ve always looked at this and I’ve always been very tempted by this because I did like the idea it’s so colorful and bright and engaging and customizable and you could throw it down and play and you could play even with teams and things like that. Surprisingly enough. The marvel thing doesn’t push me over the edge I mean maybe the artwork for me doesn’t really click like it does with the you know the I guess their own character sets this 1 it does look like the characters but not enough that I’m like oh cool. That’s a character. That you know, um I connect with and things like that to be honest, so I’m looking at this I don’t think the eighty four dollars is crazy again because you are getting a lot in the box if this is your thing.
20:42.33 Anthony Right.
20:54.22 Chris Still have 20 days to go by the time we’re recording this on Monday. So by the time you listen to this, you’re probably about 15 or 14 days or something to go. Ah yeah, Marvel dice throne. It’s dice throwing. It’s really cool characters that you might know um I’m a little kind of in the middle with it because honestly like. I have Marvel united so I don’t know if I need to have both kind of light Marvel games but this is another 1 in case you like it and it’s up right now.
21:17.35 Anthony And.
21:23.25 Anthony Yeah, now it it looks cool I’m I’m sure my kids be all about it. But yeah I also have Marvel united and I have Marvel champions. So it’s unlikely I would go near this. But if you end up backing it I will play with you.
21:35.90 Chris Ah, it hasn’t it hasn’t gotten me yet I don’t think it’ll get me by the end of the episode but ah, this is like a standard loan project. You know it’s not going to be like stretch goals for days. It’s just not that thing here. So I don’t know we’ll see we’ll see we’ll see what happens next week join us next week
21:38.43 Anthony Ah, okay.
21:54.50 Chris As we find out if chris actually back the kickstarter project. He’s in serious credit card debt I’m just saying all right cool all right? So let’s get on to our. Games I hit the table this week anthony now this week was a little different than our normal weeks because it wasn’t a game that hit the table. It was a game that hit the tablet or the computer um more specifically and you were the man who brought it to the computer. So why don’t you let us know what was the game that you and I played this week
22:23.22 Anthony We played ultimate railroads which is the big box repackaged more expensive version of russian railroads with all of the expansions jammed in from Hansen gluke
22:26.24 Chris Oh yeah.
22:36.69 Chris Of course.
22:39.73 Anthony Presumably from z-man or asthma day here in the states but they haven’t announced when and they did everybody. You know a nice thing over s in weekend and they posted ah ultimate railroads along with the asian railroads expansion on board game Arena so get a chance to play that which is pretty cool. So.
22:51.94 Chris Button. Yeah.
22:59.12 Anthony It is. It’s more Russian railroads So that sure.
23:01.51 Chris Well well, let’s let’s talk about that first. What is russian railroads for the people who don’t know what russian railroads is because there’s a reason why a lot of our listeners out. There may not know what ration railroads is right.
23:14.70 Anthony Yeah, yeah, so this is a game that came back out out back in 2013 has been out of print now since 2016 I think it was a z-man release. So of course they don’t reprint anything and the game by itself. The original game was designed by helmet orglate which.
23:21.80 Chris And.
23:27.12 Chris T.
23:34.60 Anthony He’s he’s done a lot of train games a lot of like eighteen x x type of games. He’s also done lighter games. 1 of our favorite games First class. It’s another 1 that’s kind of built off of this but the basic idea here is not so much the trains I mean that’s the theme but the snowballing of various mechanics based on worker placement. So you have some workers. You have tracks on your personal board and you have rails that move along those tracks and with your workers you take actions that are going to get you movements of those rails new trains to reach where those rails are going to and industry Marker movements on your factory track which will allow you to take various special actions. From the factories at the end of every round wherever you have all of your markers will determine how many points you get for that round and then you score those those markers don’t move so every round the amount you’re scoring goes up so the first round you might score 5 to 10 points second round maybe 20.
24:25.30 Chris 3 Do.
24:32.12 Anthony Third round maybe you’re up around thirty or forty by the sixth round. You might be scoring 1 hundred hundred and fifty points which we’ll talk about you can get a huge amount of points. It’s snowballs and snowballs and snowballs until you get you know prior to our game Yesterday. My high score in this game is like four hundred and 75 so very high.
24:37.90 Chris Crazy. So.
24:52.21 Anthony That’s the basic core of russian railroads. The original game was not perfect. I loved it because I like that snowballing mechat you know mechanic I like work replacement but it was a game that felt almost solvable because everything was static on the board. There were. They were always best actions to take so they introduce. German railroads which was an expansion for that that added variability to the player boards. It added the coal mechanic and it added a solo mode by far 1 of the best expansions for a euro game out there right? and that 1 out of print in about six months so if you if you didn’t buy it when it came out which I did.
25:22.16 Chris Yes, yep.
25:30.67 Anthony Like chris did not then you could not get it. So um, very upset because it’s it was the best 1 right? and then they had the american railroads expansion which I think was mostly available in the us on the board game geek store and was relatively easy to get for a while like that 1 wasn’t quite as bad.
25:32.60 Chris Very upset.
25:42.72 Chris I got it? Yeah now.
25:50.34 Anthony And that added like a side stock market thing which not as good as german railroads fun and different. But like german was like the core. So anyways, backing up to where we are now ultimate railroads it brings in russian railroads it brings in german it brings in american it brings in the small promos and. Mini expansions that have been released over the years everything that’s ever been released for russian railroads is in this box and then they decided hey just because we wanted ready to buy this game again if they already have it. Let’s add another expansion asian railroads and then hey. Just in case people are going to ask us to release asian railroads separately as its own expansion. Let’s make a few small changes that make that not Possible. So um, they’ve changed the colors of all the rails. So it used to be black gray brown.
26:41.26 Chris Boo.
26:45.33 Anthony Beige and then white and now it’s Beige green brown silver gold I don’t know why there’s probably a good reason. Maybe there’s not and we’re just being cynical I’m I’m cynical. So let’s let’s go. Yeah.
26:50.51 Chris So yep, there is a. Well, you’re you’re being optimistic that there is a good reason.
27:02.70 Anthony I Don’t know we were trying to figure it out like maybe it’s a colorblindness thing. Maybe it’s like something else more complicated. Maybe it’s just they want more money I don’t know. Um, yeah, which is annoying because there’s no reason for it that I can see they also removed.
27:13.73 Chris They they have kind of say something though. They have a reason on their website and again it it goes back to like I think you and I talked about this about the their Marco Polo Maybe this is this the rationale for it with the black dice about purchasing black workers and some like that.
27:29.10 Anthony Earth.
27:32.95 Chris And that that is a very understandable you know, considerate scene kind of thing I don’t see that here I think this is I mean again, like you said I’m being cynical. You’re being optimistic. My cynical nature says they just really they want to. They want you to buy the base thing game again I don’t know.
27:48.35 Anthony Yeah I I mean I mean the result of all this is that you they’re like oh we couldn’t release Asian railroad separately because you wouldn’t have the right pieces like yeah sure. Thanks guys. Um, so there’s that.
27:51.26 Chris Maybe it’s just me I’m just it’s just me. Ah you know I’d like to be optimistic on it. But.
27:59.36 Chris Yes, yes.
28:07.13 Anthony Asian railroads then mechanically so we’ll just talk about the expansion here because that stuff separately like if we want ultimate railroads it’s going to be a hundred dollars box I probably won’t back it or buy it because I have everything else and this is just 1 expansion and paying a hundred dollars to 1 expansion is a little too much.
28:22.66 Chris 2
28:24.76 Anthony But if you have none of that stuff and a lot of people don’t because it hasn’t been available forever. You know that is an option coming soon. Asian railroads does 2 things 1 you get a new board which all these expansions introduce which the top track of the board. Typically the longest now very much the longest instead of going to 15 now. It goes to 21 I think or 22 it adds construction sites so in the base game and and most of the maps you can have 2 trains on the first track and then 1 each on the second and third track. Now you can do 3 to 1 but 2 of them on the first track and 1 on the second track is under construction so you have to get to a certain point on these various tracks take certain actions to unlock those trains or unlock the ability to place a train there even like the train you get separately. Um, the trains now go up to ten s because there are more train options and then the the big big change is they removed the factory track from individual player boards and they have a central board. So the central board you’re you’re moving around still and you’re going up and getting points that will score at the end of each round.
29:29.46 Chris M.
29:38.77 Anthony But then there’s also like these little pit stops along the way kind of almost like great western trail where you’re like you’re you know parking on the way around the track to to use the factory and then it comes with some pre-printed ones and so when you build a factory, you’re going to build over the pre-printed 1 and you activate. That thing you just covered up. You also have the chance to activate 1 of your wagons which is a new mechanic or piece that you get to use and then the wagon will go to that factory location and as soon as somebody passes the factory or stops there. It will activate your wagon. So basically it goes from on its side to standing up. And then you can use that as an action in the future to activate that factory yourself. Essentially you’re programming actions for the future so you can build a factory get a bonus from it throw down a wagon and then come back later and use the new factory that you just built. There’s also more bonuses around this track in General. There’s some coins out there. There’s. Um, the light bulb tokens. There’s a train that you can pick up so a lot more options here moving around this track. Um, that combined with the addition of you know, new types of bonus cards and then the kind of more open nature of the player board. Resulted in bananas scoring. So um I like I said that my highest score I’d ever gotten before in this game was four hundred and seventy something points with german railroads using the coal I think and last night playing this. On board game Marina when we went through it again I broke 600 so a full hundred plus points beyond that and chris your score is like 4 25 right? or four fifty.
31:20.50 Chris Yeah, it was up there for fifty two or something like that it was it was crazy high too and I and I think I have not played the game as much as you did. But I was I mean that was another 1 hundred and fifty points at least higher than ever I ever scored and you know. Again, it’s 1 of those situations where the beauty of this game is the fact that you are regimented on a rail to actually do certain things in order to be able to other things but the snowballing effect and as you mentioned anthony the you. Cumulative scoring throughout the game is a lot of fun that you get to see like oh I scored this many points. It’s trying to scored this many points. It’s trying to scored this many points like it really is a lot of fun and yet I think we’ve gone to a point where we’ve pushed a threshold to the point where it’s just like.
31:57.47 Anthony Move.
32:16.00 Chris it’s it’s incalculable you just can’t do the calculations at the table to figure out like I could go here and do this thing and it’ll score me like just the number of choices and the numbers of just a basic arithmetic. You have to make over and over and over again I mean 6 I mean anthony that was again.
32:16.10 Anthony Yeah.
32:33.65 Chris You you’ve played the game a lot I’m I’m sure that’s not not going to be your top score I’m sure you’ll hit eight hundred at some point you know like I’m sure that like now that you know like what are the best you know actions and what the best tracks and how to build in that kind of order I think you’re going to top 800 I wouldnt be surprised.
32:38.41 Anthony I guess.
32:50.31 Anthony Yeah I don’t know where this thing would cap out but it’s it’s definitely I don’t know it’s a funny thing like you talked about like is this too much I Love snowballing games I Love Euros in general where you build up and you build up and you build up and then the game has to end.
33:00.10 Chris Yeah, there a.
33:07.39 Anthony Right? before the point at which you’ll run out of things to do if you hit the end of multiple tracks then it’s not going to work. It’s 1 of the reasons I didn’t like tapestry right? We talked about tapestry I guess a couple years ago now is in that game every time you play it or every time I played it.
33:15.37 Chris Yeah, sure sure.
33:25.23 Anthony I got to the end of 2 or 3 of the four tracks and then for the last four or five actions I’m just like I don’t know I guess I’ll do this, they’re they’re anti-climactic. It’s not fun because you don’t you don’t feel like there’s a diversity of options that got you to where you are and you’re like okay I could try this something different next time.
33:30.40 Chris Yeah, yeah.
33:42.20 Anthony This asian railroads expansion is right on the line like you know I got to the end of the industry track in the sixth round I got my gold rail though in the fourth round. So I got it up like 5 spaces on that top track with all the doublers on it I got 2 tracks completely completed had.
33:44.71 Chris So yeah, true.
33:51.78 Chris Yeah, for sure. Yes.
34:01.85 Anthony I don’t know 2 ten trains I had all the trains I had all of my light bulb tokens out and we played it online so I know we didn’t play it incorrectly unless the debateit is broken who knows so it’s not even like oh we maybe we messed it up and we got crazy good scores like no this is how it was supposed to go like and so.
34:03.24 Chris Yeah, yeah.
34:18.46 Anthony I Don’t get that sense of like okay I just missed it here and I didn’t quite get this The the tightness wasn’t quite there. It was like a blue ocean type of thing of like I can do all these things and I’m going to score all the points because of it. Um, which is fun. But for some reason not quite as satisfying when the game’s a little bit tighter.
34:28.25 Chris And.
34:38.00 Anthony That makes sense.
34:38.58 Chris It’s It’s like a co-op game that you can beat almost every time and that’s strangely enough. It’s not fun and even for me who doesn’t play the game other I mean I have a copy of Russian railroads. It’s still in shrink wrap because I never got German so I never brought it out since way back when.
34:41.27 Anthony Yeah, yeah, yeah.
34:56.50 Chris But yeah I mean I got all my light bulbs I did the industry track way way in advance I Honestly thought the game was a sooner but I I spun that track and again there you know there’s no real competition for really much of anything throughout the game. So you’re really running your own game.
35:00.73 Anthony Yeah, yeah.
35:15.70 Chris Other than there’s again, just like the original game. There is still a better first second kind of spot but beyond that it’s just almost an annoyance. It’s just like oh I didn’t get to push this track. Okay well I’ll do 1 of the other 5 things that are available to me and I think 1 round I had like 6 coins which.
35:30.96 Anthony Yeah, ah.
35:33.90 Chris Should not have ever been a thing and I’m just like I move a track I move it because I ran out of think because I had so many so many workers and so many coins that I I could constantly spam actions throughout the game and it’s just like all right now that I know what the. But the best bonus cards how to kind of maximize certain tracks and things like that I’m just like it’s kind of solved you know, like again, it’s always going to be a race when you when you’re playing at the table. But even I think I think 1 of the things Anthony we have to kind of really focus on here is the new industry board.
36:05.59 Anthony So yeah.
36:07.54 Chris Because instead of having an industry track on the bottom as you mentioned earlier you have this general board which everyone utilizes. It’s not great for small numbers of players because you’re not able to kind of like kick it into action or have the overlap as much if you did have a large number of players at the table and also it’s not fun. But you also again, there’s no competition like when you play Nipon you are you know there is good technologies and services that you want to be able to put into play and you fight for those you know and it’s very it’s It’s very um. Type process as far as getting the materials you need to be able to do that Here. You’re just kind of running around the track there was like you know you play Russian Railroads least the initial I used to I Love the industry track and I used to just run up there and like then do a track right? but it was fun because it was a thing but it was also very tight. Like you can’t maybe you could do 2 things maybe kind of but here you could kind of do almost everything I think you could do yeah you could kind of run everything to to where it needs to be so it’s interesting Again. It’s something that I’m sure as a Russian railroads and especially a German Railroads fan. I want this right? I want to be able to do everything I want all the resources I want all the funds that go along with this but I do think it’s 1 of those situations where at some point there is a serious diminishing return and when you get to four 5060700 points.
37:31.73 Anthony Yeah, yeah.
37:38.79 Chris That it’s just sloppy I Just find it sloppy I Mean again, if you could do all those calculations in your head God Bless like I’m down with that I I respect and appreciate that at some point it just doesn’t become fun to me because if I have to if I have to like count like you know point and point to point. Really don’t want to do it I Want to do the fun things that thematically you know makes sense and those things should be scoring me points So I don’t know like I thought this was going to be the end old definitive ultimate you know pun intended version of Russian railroads. But I gotta go back to the german 1 I Think the german 1 just like it gives you enough wiggle room that you don’t feel choked from having to take the absolute right? Ah action in the right order but this 1 is just kind of the opposite. It’s just like you get to do everything I like. Ah, all right? Um, yeah.
38:36.44 Anthony Ah, yeah I I wish the thing is is I don’t think I would bring out asian railroads to play with other people. Um very often because it’s gonna take a long time like the combos. Like you mentioned this like you have to think a lot more because the combos end up being like five six actions deep and that it just takes a long time people are going to get stuck like you and I both got stuck and we’ve played this game before I’ve played this game a bunch and I still got stuck a couple of times being like okay if this than this then this then this then this crap. No this then this then this.
38:52.90 Chris Yeah.
39:01.42 Chris Sure here.
39:10.80 Anthony Then this and it just makes the game take a lot longer than it should like I feel like this is a game that you should be able to play in 2 to 3 hours and it took us 3 to four hours which yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:12.34 Chris And and that’s a bor game Areina yeah, and that’s a borg game Areina that’s what the computer helping us all along the way I’m just like you would have forgot things like.
39:26.11 Anthony Yeah, yeah, definitely it’s too long so I don’t know what that will turn out to like 3 to four people physically playing at the table but I have to imagine this becomes a four hour game like which is way too long for a worker placement game. So I don’t think I would bring this out physically.
39:29.11 Chris And.
39:34.20 Chris On mobile.
39:44.28 Anthony I would love to play asian railroads solo though because I love games like this that play solo with all these different combos because it makes me feel. You just get those dope that dopamine hit when you pull off a combo and you’re just doing it by yourself. So if it takes too long. You’re constantly playing that would be great, but there’s no way for me to do that without spending 1 hundred dollars.
39:58.44 Chris Yeah.
40:04.28 Anthony So I’m probably not gonna pick it up if I was gonna play this with other people. It’s gonna be German Railroads Anyways, so I’m happy with what I already own which is a shame I was really excited that this was coming out and people be able to get it and have all the content. It’s gonna be high quality release and I just I can’t justify it. You know.
40:14.78 Chris So yeah.
40:23.20 Anthony Maybe they’ll overprint it and it’ll be half price at some point but for 100 bucks and that’s not even we don’t even know if that’s the final price that’s just it’s 85 euros so I’m assuming 1 hundred dollars. Maybe it’ll be more um I just I yeah, don’t know you know and this is like in my top 20 games of all time and I’m still just like I don’t know so.
40:40.20 Chris Yeah, it’s really hard for me because I don’t own german railroads I do own american railroads and obviously russian railroads. But like I said it’s been in shrink wrap since I bought it I bought it on sale at some point because like I I always liked the game. But like I said playing russian railroads was he played on a rail like there was always a first second Third fourth best choice and you know which is not the end of the world and not the worst thing in the world but german railroads really opened the game up and when I couldn’t get that the idea that this set was coming out I was excited about it. Especially since. Asian ray ros was coming out with as well I had assumed like if russian was the base level and then german was a little more complex asian would be like really complex. It’s not more complex at all.
41:33.17 Anthony Now.
41:35.10 Chris I didn’t I was never mentally challenged at all with the game. It was just a matter of like was I going to take the appropriate amount of time to do the math to maximize my points and honestly the answer is no I’m not going to do that.
41:51.29 Anthony Ah, but yeah.
41:52.72 Chris Like I honestly like lost track how many rounds we had talk and I’m just like it’s not. You know it’s not like again I know you’re not a big fan of agricola but it’s 1 of those situations where in Agrico you become so invested in feeding your family and meeting the special conditions that you do like. Overly focused and like really bear down on the cards here I never felt that way here I never felt like oh I need to ensure that I get the maximum number of points. But if it’s if it’s difference of hundreds of points. What does it matter. You know, like there’s just there’s just nothing to it I would rather it be the opposite way. Give me a.
42:23.13 Anthony Right.
42:30.60 Chris Incredibly painful version of it like make asian railroads down to the point where like you only can score a Hundred some odd points at most right? It’s like it’s the most difficult railroad to build so again to each its own I think. Think people will enjoy this but again I think I agree with you anthony I’m not sure who plays I’m not sure who plays asian railroads other than a solo version right? because I feel and maybe you feel that german is the definitive version of this and so you’re going to play that. Right? It’s a little more complex than russian. So if you really want to get a good game night together. You’re going to play with german railroads american is neither here or there it’s kind of like it’s there if you really want it. But yeah, you can’t you can’t play this with you can’t play asian railroads with first time players because they’re going to get consumed by all the options. It’s not hard just consumed and again if someone’s played it a lot. They’re going to be able to wax you up and down the board. But you also need to play with a lot of players so you have all the actions available to you and so that the and that that co-op board that you’re all using is actually like fun.
43:33.90 Anthony Yeah.
43:43.67 Chris And engaging right? Oh you covered over the action that I had set up for me to do when you got the bonus off of it. You dropped your thing there like you want to have multiple players in that so you’re not going to play it as small player Count. So I Honestly, never thought I would say this but I’m going to skip out on ultimate railroads. I mean it’s not a full review because I haven’t played the physical Copy. Maybe like you Anthony if this came down to like you know some sort of like radically cheap price. Maybe 60 bucks I pick it up but na I can’t I mean I can’t I mean I feel bad I Really wish I had German Railroads But. I Guess I’ve had that itch I’m going to open up Russian sure.
44:21.36 Anthony Yeah, well hopefully with this coming out other people will sell off their old versions with German and you can get that and you don’t have to worry about this. So um, yeah I’m with you man like if if you’re out there and you don’t own any of this. This is the only way to get any of that content Russian Railroads with German Railroads is still again.
44:27.83 Chris I Fan says any air.
44:41.33 Anthony In my opinion 1 of the best games of all time. It’s in my top Twenty is it 1 hundred dollars good. That’s up to you I don’t I don’t know it’ll be hard to like judge that without seeing the physical components and what they put in the box. But I love it if I didn’t own any of this based on what I played before I probably would buy ultimate.
44:51.96 Chris Share.
44:58.53 Chris I agree I think if I didn’t own any of this but I had a chance to play it I would buy it I would I would buy it but I have Russian and again like you said maybe I pick up German but again it’s It’s what you know what gets to your table like you said as far as.
45:10.10 Anthony Right.
45:15.16 Chris But anthony I think that’s a really smart observation like again asian railroads as a solo play where you could just go crazy and you could just throw you would throw everything at the wall and just be like 8 hundred points like ah it took four hours to do but 800 points so
45:20.96 Anthony Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah, her.
45:32.37 Chris Maybe they just need to throw a bot in there and just call it a day. But anyhow if you would like to learn more about russian railroads or german railroads our review of russian railroads is our feature review on episode 32 so way way way back back in the day. If you’d like to learn about german railroads that’s episode 1 16 so 2 reviews to go back to those games as you heard anthony and I said we both love both of them. They’re both good, not as high for me as for anthony but german railroads does certainly move it up I think german railroads has been in my top 1 hundred so there you go. All right? So that’s the games that hidden our table and our tablet anthony guess what my friend. It’s a feature review a feature of you This week is certainly an epic feature of review from book to board. It’s all about dune.
46:18.59 Anthony Let’s do it.
46:29.88 Chris So anthony again ever so briefly if you would not mind. Could you again. Give us a brief you know I don’t know it’s so it’s so hard to say brief when you talk about Dune but can you mention a little bit about what Dune is you know and you know where we’re at.
46:46.29 Anthony Ah, man you just watched the movie making me summarize dune dune of all things I okay okay nineteen sixty five frank herbert this crazy Madman this madman absolute crazy person. Um, he wrote and.
46:52.24 Chris Yeah, ah ah yeah.
47:05.62 Anthony In in my mind this book is crazy Long. It’s really not that Long. It’s like 500 pages. It’s just really, It’s a lot going On. Um, so this is a science fiction book. It’s you know it it draws on a lot of the the things that people were writing about in the sixty s and seventy s um, you’ve got like a distant future. It’s far away and. All these different noble houses are controlling their own little fiefs on these different planets. Um, enter Paul Treaties So and he his family now is basically running the planet oracus which is by all accounts a complete wasteland. But.
47:30.83 Chris Ah.
47:44.56 Anthony But it’s the only place that you can find millange or spice. We talked you’ve got to have the spice. So it’s obviously home to a lot of different factions vying for this powerful powerful thing. Um and then the book does 600 other things that hurt my brain if I try to.
47:47.16 Chris Who.
48:02.98 Anthony Pack it all into a 3 minute description but essentially it’s it’s a book about vying factions. Lots of backstabbing and big old worms chasing people away from their spice. So um and those are the things you see when you’re playing this game.
48:18.97 Chris And that’s why I had you do the recap because that was awesome man obviously obviously for me I came upon doing from the nineteen eighty four film from David lynch my dad thought this was a good idea because I liked sci-fi and I think.
48:22.96 Anthony Yeah, oh well.
48:35.60 Chris He did too and he was like hey hey son let’s go see a ah movie together I don’t know if you know anything about 1980 s film. But the the idea of like Pg films they could have been like just weirdly rated our just mine kind of. Messing horror kind of twisting and dude was 1 of those films. Um, you know it’s like definitely 1 of those traumatizing kind of moments where you’re like oh no, That’s ah yeah, that’s really out there I Love David lynch.
48:53.99 Anthony Yeah.
49:07.52 Chris And I and I have so much affection for do nineteen eighty four I know he doesn’t have as much affection for it as I do. There’s certainly some good moments to it obviously having such a great staff. You have Patrick Stewart Bradol Max Van so you have sting in there man you got sting Dean Stockwell and.
49:22.62 Anthony Yeah.
49:27.34 Chris You know I mean again, it’s it’s again, it’s it’s ah, a product of its time. It’s a lot of fun and again if you like lynch this is very lynchian but obviously not, you know, not his not his favorite work but kyle mclaughlin’s in this. So if you ever watch twin peaks this kind of like. Reunites the 2 on a great you know adventure. The new film. That’s that’s currently out in theaters or on hbo max um is something that I think that everyone should take a look at again I mentioned denise ah villanu. He’s recently produced some of my most. You know at least modern day favorite sci-fi movies out there at this time I mean Blade runner twenty forty nine arrival arrival I got to say it’s like 1 of my favorite movies of all time now like it just is and he’s done so many incredible movies. Not just those 2 but so many other incredible movies that.
50:16.83 Anthony Is.
50:24.89 Chris He is a director you do want to watch and I think he’s done a very good job here. I’ve seen the first movie unfortunately because of covid I I could not get out to the theaters I really did want to go because honestly this movie for the visuals and the sounds and it’s just it deserves to be in the theater. Again, if if you can do it safely I highly recommend seeing it in the theater that being said because Dune is such a cultural phenomenon you know from its book from its movies and there’s also been a tv series movie as well. I think back on the sci-fi channel I think way back in the day. It was a thing for five minutes and and again dune is bigger than 1 book dune has a ridiculous number of books with a ridiculous number of history. But it’s brilliant. It’s subversive again. Not getting the spoilers but it’s a lot of fun. That being said, it may not be filmable. But it definitely has gotten into the board game Arena not board game Arena necessarily but into board gaming substantially because Dune and I guess the system where we should start off anthony dune nineteen seventy nine was a board game. Of course that went out of print. Became a grail game and was 1 of these kind of early games that everyone just again, you know the kind of joke from the David lynch films was like everyone had inner monologues so Dune the board game was kind of those games that people whispered about like. This is a great game if only I could get it I would control the universe and it’s just it’s fantastic and I never got to play it because again out of print super grail game. Everyone loved it. It was amazing. It changed the industry. It was everything anthony how did it play. Oh oo yeah, oh.
52:11.47 Anthony Ah, poorly poorly. Yeah, so here’s the thing about dune nineteen seventy nine which is the same as doon 2019 because when they rerelease this when gail force nine finally got the licensing figured out and they brought dune back and they. They pulled in all new artwork and its beautiful presentation. They didn’t change the game at all. They’re just like here’s dune from 19 seventy nine which is a 40 year old game and yeah and it plays like a 40 year old game now I I believe that this is.
52:39.66 Chris Yeah, is.
52:48.40 Anthony Probably created amazing spectacular just jaw dropping gaming moments especially for 1979 but at a modern table with modern gamers who had just played twilight imperium 2 weeks earlier. It was a bit of a letdown.
52:54.88 Chris Sure little.
53:05.38 Anthony Um, you have your asymmetrical factions. You have your asymmetrical approach to the game but it’s very it’s very very much you have to keep track of everybody on behalf of everybody because if you don’t if 2 or 3 people get into a thing and somebody else in the corner just like.
53:16.70 Chris Yes.
53:22.73 Chris Um.
53:23.42 Anthony do do I’m just gonna move my guy over here and that’s exactly what they did and the worm came out at the exact right locations for them and the game lasted I think 2 maybe 3 rounds we were done in thirty minutes which again I’m sure a lot of people are like that’d be amazing. It could be this or it could be this but I only got to take 2 turns. Right? I didn’t get to do anything I got to control the worm and I only got to move it once? Um, so again I’m sure this can be amazing, but it’s just it’s fiddly and wobbly and creaky and old and it just is not a tightly designed game because that’s just on how games were designed back then. And it did not go well. Um I’ve not tried to play it again since so this is obviously not a review I’m not saying don’t buy dune. Maybe it’s amazing I don’t know but my experience was not good and you could definitely feel the age of the game through the mechanics. The presentation of the mechanics and um. Ultimately how the game ended.
54:22.71 Chris Well, it’s it’s unfortunate again because ah again, it was 1 of those kind of grail games that kind of built its own lore because it was out of print and again when it came back into print. It was not that special.
54:32.44 Anthony Right.
54:37.98 Anthony Yeah.
54:39.91 Chris Unfortunately and again, that’s kind of sad because I was really interested in playing it and you got a chance to play it I was like oh no, he’s going to play the game. It’s great and not not not at all. So yeah and we actually I think you reviewed this a while back.
54:49.60 Anthony Ah, yeah.
54:55.56 Chris So that might be something to take a look at if you want more details on you know the nineteen seventy nine or the 2019 version of this and again I’m really happy that gail forest nine got it because typically they do ah a rather decent job across the board. But I think that.
55:02.81 Anthony Yeah.
55:13.46 Chris They did as and as Anthony said like they did make a tactical error. Not you know, doing something different so to speak now. Get.
55:18.50 Anthony Right? yeah yeah I just gonna say like I would like to play this 1 more time just so that’s not the only experience I have because I want to know I want to see what other people see in this game like it still has an 8 point 2 or an 8 point 1 I’m sorry I’m board game geek like people love it.
55:28.20 Chris Shirk.
55:32.52 Chris Sure.
55:37.57 Anthony Ah, want to know why? um and they have released an expansion to which I don’t know if this is content that came out before or not I couldn’t find whether it is um but they’ve added 2 new factions and technology tiles and everything that comes with that to the game in an expansion that came out last year so
55:37.75 Chris Yeah.
55:43.49 Chris So.
55:55.16 Anthony There’s more content. There’s more stuff I think there’s a rata as well like tweaking the rules a little so I’d like to give it a go again if I can find 6 people willing to to go through that with me.
56:04.93 Chris 1 of the things I do want to point out was while duned was off planet so speak there was a game that kind of replaced and re-implemented Dune which was rex final days of an empire. Which was the ti was a ti I four at the time where ti I 3 was ti I 3 right? it was twilight top twilight imperium 3 that was this is back in 2012 so yeah, not ti I four so it reimplemented that and it did a better job I think generally it has been.
56:24.57 Anthony Ah, yeah, 2012 would have been t a 3 yeah.
56:40.19 Chris Think everyone has said again other than the fact that it’s not dune which is kind of sad because if you’re not in you know you know, really kind of solidly invested in the in the ti universe this is really not going to speak to you necessarily especially if you’re a dune fan but the mechanics are here in a much. Better updated way which really bums me out because that’s all gail force nine had to do was to take this game. That’s never going to be reprinted because again right fancy flight I mean am I right? am I right? So yeah.
57:09.30 Anthony Dear, you are right.
57:15.30 Chris But it’s again, it’s a great game. It’s at apprice. Well unfortunately I do want a copy of this surprisingly enough I got to use copy a while back but again a great game if you get Chancell play wrecks final days of an empire.. It’s a good feel for. What the original dune could be if it was updated. So again, kind of fun Anthony I don’t know if you know about this but I guess back in the day which was not that far back in the day. But in fact, there was a.
57:35.45 Anthony Yeah.
57:47.42 Chris Kind of dice version is dune the dice game. This was something that was like a super big thing for like five minutes and I remember seeing this because again big fan of dune and this was 1 of those situations where it was like Dune but dune express with a bunch of dice. So.
58:03.94 Anthony Yeah.
58:07.60 Chris You could basically kind of print this out on your own and get it to the table and again it’s it’s dice rolling. It’s bluffing you have a rackus the planet there you had all the essential elements that made it dune but it was just a quick fast version of it. It’s not the essential doom so to speak. But it was a cheap and easy game to get to the table and back in 2015 It was the best print and play out there. So for a lot of people out there who wanted to get dune to the table but again could not get wrecks could not get the original Dune and wanted to get something that kind of closely aligned with it. This was a. Very very good alternative at the time so get.
58:46.10 Anthony Yeah, absolutely yeah and it’s and like speaking to that too like it’s coming back Apparently so they’ve they’ve rethemed it in the peak oil universe which is just our universe I’m pretty sure. Ah and it’s a game called the oil must flow. It’s.
58:51.51 Chris So yeah.
58:57.64 Chris Ah. A.
59:04.79 Anthony Working on right now. So I think that’s funny I don’t know maybe.
59:07.57 Chris Are you trying to say that that Dune has messages to today’s situations that we’re dealing oh maybe.
59:13.64 Anthony Ah, yeah, and it’s definitely funny when you strip away all the subtext and you just tell the joke right? right? It’s hilarious. Um, we should also mention too before we move on too far there. There is a new version of Dune being made reeves.
59:20.16 Chris I Know yeah people love that? yeah.
59:31.16 Anthony Theming the old 1 again just like Rex right.
59:31.65 Chris Yeah, supposedly I mean again that the fact that the movies come out and and it’s been somewhat of a hit and if it does get part 2 which it certainly does need again. I Please watch it on Hbo Max watching the theater. It’s a real experience even if you’re if you’re not sure if you’re really into it and it’s not the horrifying experience I had as a child so you’re Fine. You’re fine, mostly fine. It’s kind Anthony above and beyond that Obviously there’s been a lot of other games that kind of popped up recently. I Guess in particular, the 1 that really I guess is the dune game at the time you and I both have played it is dune imperium that came out in 2020 and it’s going to get a expansion any day now.
01:00:14.44 Anthony Right.
01:00:19.71 Anthony Yeah, doing imperium came out last year it’s already number twenty eight all time on the top 1 hundred which is crazy. Um and the expansion is supposed to release like now I don’t know if they’ve started shipping it yet or if it’s just stuck in a boat somewhere but it is.
01:00:32.36 Chris Yes.
01:00:39.66 Anthony Floating around should be hitting tables in the very near future. But this is a deck built dig worker placement type of game lost ruins of Arnox style. They both came out at the same time. So I guess I don’t know which 1 is the style of the other but you have a hand of cards that’s going to influence where you can place workers and and how you take actions. But with. June so um, it’s interesting I know I’ve played this at lolo player counts and I was fine with it I don’t love the solo mode very much 2 players is not great, but everybody says it’s best at 3 and four so I can’t speak to the quality of it.
01:01:13.75 Chris You.
01:01:18.14 Anthony Definitely feels like kind of ah, an evolution of like that clank mechanic though that Dyar wolf is so well known for.
01:01:22.87 Chris Yeah I’ve played this with the higher versions and again if you’d like to learn or hear our full reviews on dune imperium anthony played and reviewed it on episode 3 hundred and ten and I played and reviewed it on episode 3 34 so as you mentioned anthony this is. You know a deck builder in that kind of same vein as a lot of the other deck builders with a board that we’ve seen recently and obviously the designers hear from klank. So basically you get your you know your special character that has a unique ability representing 1 of the different houses in play here. And then you start with a starting hand of cards again very much. You know resembling the different cast of characters that that you come across in the bookend or movie and then your job here is to utilize aracus the different worker placement spots on the board and all the different guilds that are available. In order to gain all the you know the spice the water all that kind of resources that you need and then throughout the game. Update your deck. So again, the no spoilers but very much What’s integral to the dune story and universe is that very much game of thrones thing where there’s allies and enemies and back and forth kind of things. So the fact that you could build up a deck of allies to be able to serve you and provide their special abilities through you throughout the game is pretty fun. And pretty thematic. It does sometimes you know challenge you a little bit because the deck is so big. The market doesn’t clean out easily or quickly and sometimes you are building a certain you know deck of characters. But they’re at the bottom of the deck and that was part of my review that it was just kind of like well that’s kind of frustrating but there is not just work replacement throughout the board but there is also battling so you you throw all your cubes in you. You throw down some special cards again, it’s a luck of the draw kind of situation. What special cards you get to kind of throw into play. But again right now and I don’t think this is going to be long term the definitive version of doing because again what the movie’s out right now I think as as we’ve already mentioned that we’re going to see sequels and rereleases especially if they actually do come out with the. I guess reeskin redeveloped rex version of it I think that might be the the most duneesque so to speak. But it’s a very good version of dune I enjoyed playing it randomness aside and chance aside and just whacking this aside. It’s a pretty good game.
01:04:05.92 Chris And it and it definitely gives you a feel for all the cast of characters that come into play when you know you’re reading the book or watching movies of dune. So yeah, lot of general fun as far as that’s concerned and again check back with our reviews on that because I think that’s a lot of fun as far as that’s concerned so anthony again. As we kind of wrap up here a little bit. There is some oddities right? because everyone’s trying to get in on Dune right? So dune house of secrets. We’ve talked about this I still don’t understand it can you can you can help us out there a little bit. Why is this a thing.
01:04:37.46 Anthony Ah, yeah, so the thing about put of house of secrets and it’s it’s very simple description. What do you know? what? it is is they took detective a modern crime board game portal games did which is 1 of the great all time. Detective style board games. It’s up there for me with Sherlock holmes and they stripped out all the interesting parts and they replaced it with kind of wishywashy lore story stuff from the Dune universe loosely mapped over to to the movie I p and they. Made a dune game out of it and so I have not played it so I guess I’m being a little harsh in describing it. So I can’t you know I don’t know I don’t know if it’s good or not but by all accounts not as good as detective. So um, the thing about detective is it’s it’s app based and the reason it works so well in detective is that.
01:05:24.26 Chris Yeah.
01:05:31.40 Anthony Not only was there a database that you could go through in the app but it would send you off to the actual internet to search various things do research bring back information add information into the database and kind of build from that this is a little more scripted. It seems and that formula and with the app and the scripting I don’t know how well that would even work. Let alone with Dune where the narrative is so complex like trying to streamline it into like little pieces to play through in an app on a board game I don’t know I’m not at all excited to play this but I would be interested if if any of you all listening have played it and have any opinions.
01:06:03.17 Chris You.
01:06:11.14 Anthony Um, good or negative but the general consensus is not super hot on it at the moment.
01:06:15.40 Chris Very confusing, very very confusing if you know the book you understand why it’s confusing I mean I guess it makes sense as far as some of the things that occur. But it’s also very confusing because the so the story is very thematic to take a part out of it’s kind of weird. I guess finally as far as the board games are concerned dune a game of conquest and diplomacy that I think is supposed to come out this year has come out this year from ah gae force nine games. They are looking to do you know another version of this so again, this is going to be. Area majority variable player powers and again generally that that’s really up and down on the line as far as things that I like to play here but it’s a very slim down version of dune this might be again the definitive version if this is is this the version of it for you. But again.
01:07:02.58 Anthony Yeah, yeah.
01:07:11.16 Chris It’s this is the most recent movie version of this and it’s a very tactical brainy kind of game as far as that’s concerned.
01:07:19.56 Anthony Yeah I mean it’s taking that old dune board game from 19 seventy nine stripping out a lot of the chaff making it designing it. So it only will take up to an hour and trying to balance it out a little bit I don’t know if that works because it hasn’t hit Broad market I think they headed a gencon. Maybe.
01:07:24.35 Chris Yeah, yeah.
01:07:36.20 Chris Yeah.
01:07:39.18 Anthony People could play at a gencon. Maybe some people were able to bring home copies but I like that idea it worked in Rex maybe it can work olo rex is a much longer game than this is this says 20 to sixty minutes which is crazy. It’s also fewer players like the original do and I think played 6 this plays 2 to four and they say it.
01:07:44.85 Chris Yeah, it is. Yeah yeah. Yeah, yeah.
01:07:57.20 Anthony Runs pretty decently with 2 players at the 2 player mode which would make zero sense in the original dune to have 2 players only so I’m interested to see how it plays because you know again that original Dune is kind of a sprawling messy thing if you can streamline it and make it work. You know.
01:08:01.20 Chris Yeah, yeah.
01:08:14.86 Anthony The main thing about the dune game and all the games based on it. That’s so good is the asymmetry right? Every house is so different from every other house. It’s like playing like Marco Polo or something or twilight imperium where they’re so different and it just they seem almost broken how different they are which is cool.
01:08:18.52 Chris Ah, m.
01:08:29.37 Chris Yeah, yeah.
01:08:32.75 Anthony And you want to do that and you want to see what that does So I don’t know I’d be excited to see what this game does.
01:08:35.46 Chris Cool and again finally Anthony We do have some video games Dune to.
01:08:42.95 Anthony Yeah, so doing to for those those have been around long enough. This was kind of like the rts that kind of kicked off pc Rts right? This was the 1 Um and so there was an original dune game but then dune 2 came along and.
01:08:53.55 Chris M.
01:09:01.56 Anthony They’re like oh let’s try out this real-time strategy thing back in 90 ninety 2 so before warcraft or starcraft or command and conquer like all those games that can come out in the ninety s shot off from this specific release. So I don’t know that I would want to go back and play it now like it’s probably not great. Um.
01:09:06.26 Chris So.
01:09:12.99 Chris Yeah, no, no.
01:09:21.10 Anthony But the the legacy of the game you know and the fact that it’s based on the movie not the book. So it’s it’s you know it’s it’s based off of all of lynch’s craziness a full 8 years later nonetheless. Um, yeah.
01:09:35.62 Chris So yeah, yeah.
01:09:40.71 Anthony I don’t know it’s it’s kind of like a weird soft spot like I remember playing this and not understanding at all. It was happening but thinking that the ideas behind it were cool because I was like 9 years old or think at the time. Um and it’s just kind of cool to see where it’s come from there. You know, especially because it was not just on the you know pc um. At the time or I guess daws. It was a dos game at the time but they released this on genesis too somehow so it was a console game.
01:10:03.52 Chris Yeah, it’s crazy and then it came out Dune 2000 which again kind of revamped again the same like westwood studios who made command and conquer which I was a fan of I did play that I did play that Rts version of it came out think even had. I think once said they had an expansion or enough it would be an expansion or yeah I think it was expansion. Nothing was like downloadable content at the time and it was a fun game. It was a lot of fun. It was very much in line with all the other rtss especially command and conquer back in the day but it did have those little kind of like cutcenes situations.
01:10:39.34 Anthony Yeah, yeah, those westwood cut scenes are great Ah, bring that back. It’s so that it’s so bad. It’s good. Yep.
01:10:41.69 Chris So a lot of fun. Oh my god those are the best. Ah I know the camp’t be so campy. All right? So again. We hope you enjoyed our from book to board our examination of doing in board games I think again. We talked about several different versions of dune in board game and in video game format that could bring that whole expanded universe down to the table in a way that’s really unique and a lot of fun and I think that’s ah what we really want to have we want to have the experience of that firsthand. And again as anthony said there’s a lot of different elements to it and a lot of these different you know games employ some of those different pieces different times. But I think anthony I think you know give it a year or 2 like you said ah if they revamped you know Rex ironically back into dune that might do it. Or maybe this expansion from Dune imperium really does it I’m not sure we’ll see what happens next. But obviously this movie’s going to do big the second 1 hopefully what gets out there and hopefully it does huge because I think that’s the big part of the movie and maybe other movies too. So we might be ah. Hanging around Dune and iraqus for quite some time all right I hope so all right? So that’s everything from this week until next time this is chris and we’ll see if you all a seat at the desert planet a raus also known as.
01:11:55.96 Anthony Yeah I hope so.
01:12:04.40 Anthony And this is anthony.
01:12:13.88 Chris Dude.
01:12:15.13 Anthony Dune by ah.
01:12:16.25 Chris Save your water.
Next: Episode 350 – Listeners’ Top 20 Games of All Time
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