by RockyMountainNavy, 18 April 2024 ~ #UnboxingDay
With 11,449 backers pledging just over 1.3 million dollars the strategy boardgame Dune: War for Arrakis from CMON was a true Kickstarter hit of 2022. Campaign delivery was projected for October 2023 but U.S. backers had to wait until early 2024 for fulfillment. A slim majority of the backers went for the “Carryall Pledge” which included the core box, two expansions, and other campaign rewards. I, alas, was not a Kickstarter backer so I had to wait for the retail version. I was fortunate to buy my copy in mid-March 2024 at an excellent price.
Dune: War for Arrakis is pretty much what you expect from CMON; a rally big box with lots and lots of miniatures. Shipping weight of my box was barely under ten pounds. That hefty ten pounds is packed into a BIG box that is 10.5″ x 15″ x 4.5″. I don’t know if I have a game shelf that can handle this beast…
The box cover for Dune: War for Arrakis is very nice as it is two sided letting you decide which House has your allegiance as you display the box on your shelf.
The cover for Dune: War for Arrakis immediately shows off the independent style of artwork for this licensed IP game. The game has its own look that is neither the Lynch 1984 movie version nor Villenueve’s 2020’s movie imagining. I will admit, however, that the font used for the title on the game cover is awfully similar to the newer movie but most of the rest almost feels like the artists tried to mix the old and new versions, perhaps with a bit of bias towards the newer.
It is a good thing the back of the box of Dune: War for Arrakis is so big because that is the only way CMOM could show all the content.
Though my copy of Dune: War for Arrakis is “only” the retail core box there is still lots of plastic and cardboard inside.
Opening the box of Dune: War for Arrakis the first time may cause some to worry as the content is stacked all-the-way-to-the-top.
Pulling all the content out of the box of Dune: War for Arrakis one discovers boxes-within-boxes.
Opening the box-within-the-box of Dune: War for Arrakis one discovers the many plastic bits.
There are three layers of miniatures inside that the box for Dune: War for Arrakis. The top layer has space for the extras like the dice.
The middle layer of miniatures is only a partial tray to allow space for the worms below.
The bottom layer is the worms and larger vehicles. Not so sure this is the best storage solution for those minis that need stands; I am worried that the repeated put together / take apart is not the best answer in the long run.
If you forget how to pack the inner box of Dune: War for Arrakis the bottom has a helpful guide.
Given how chunky the components of Dune: War for Arrakis are I was frankly a bit surprised the dashboards are just fairly light cardstock. Maybe that’s the retail version exception.
My retail version of Dune: War for Arrakis ships with only tokens; the Kickstarter version adds 3-D printed components in place of some of my cardboard bits. Yeah, those would look nice but the tokens work good enough for me. I was actually a bit surprised by how few tokens there are in the game. Guess the plastic other bits take the place of some of the cardboard.
I was also surprised by how few cards seem to be in Dune: War for Arrakis. There are 125 cards but no one group seems too large.
The artwork on the cards in Dune: War for Arrakis is very nice…and as CMON promised not AI generated. Some of the cards are a bit busy and maybe more iconography could be useful but given the recommended age is 14+ it is not unexpected that a fair amount of reading is required.
Dune: War for Arrakis comes with its own custom dice…in two sizes. Shaking either in the hand for some reason feels vaguely unsatisfactory. Maybe, in a product where chunk is the name of the game the dice simply aren’t chunky enough?
After punching all the tokens and sorting the dice for Dune: War for Arrakis I was a bit worried that there was not enough space to fit all the components back into the trays. I found a way to make it work but it’s not pretty nor the best organized but it (kinda) works.
The rulebook for Dune: War for Arrakis keeps to the same high-standards of production seen throughout the game with glossy paper that is saddle stapled. The text is easy to read and there are huge graphical inserts used throughout.
Dune: War for Arrakis is designed as a two-player game but there is an optional 3-4 player mode.
There is also a solo-play mode for Dune: War for Arrakis where you to take role of House Atredis against the bot Harkonnen.
The map board for Dune: War for Arrakis is composed of two mounted maps that each are quad-folded.
Laid out, the map board for Dune: War for Arrakis will need lots of table space. My office gaming table (33″ x 47″) is not big enough to play a game on.
The giant footprint needed to play Dune: War for Arrakis may present the biggest challenge (no pun intended) to enjoying the game. The sheer size of the game, in terms of both table space needed for play and the many components, means I will only be able to set up and play in certain areas of the house and for discrete time periods (i.e., when I can have the dining table for 4-6 hours uninterrupted). While playing time is rated at two hours, the size of the game and the surrounding time needed to set up and pack away Dune: War for Arrakis truly make this a monster game.
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