John Cougar Fremen Camp

 This Tuesday I texted ahead to say I wouldn't arrive until 8 and I got the rather ominous reply from Sam that they were setting up Dune Imperium and wouldn't be ready by then anyway.

This week, we were only four in number. Host Joe and Sam, Ian and myself. In the absence of Martin and Katy, we turned our back on “tapas games” with their unnecessary emphasis on fun and chose the sort of game that can ruin somebody's evening.

We set off across the dusty planet after a rules refresher. Each player starts with two meeples and a basic deck of cards. You can use a card to place a meeple and get the reward or not play them until the end of the round, revealing your leftover cards in order to buy or fight. Chain together cards of the same clan (such as the Fremen, who gave rise to today’s blog title) to get extra money/combat/etc.

That’s the basics. The depth comes from the options laid out in front of you. Do you want to make money or gain influence or take a seat on the High Council or even get down and dirty looking for spice on the planet’s surface?

Ian was an early leader, doing well on the battlefield. I was first to get my third meeple, so I felt like I was in with a chance but it seemed like everyone else kept using Influence Cards which kind of made up for it. And then they all got their third meeple too.

Then Ian won a huge battle - the first big combat of the game - but soon regretted it when he saw the reward for winning the following battle.”Why did I use all my troops?” he said, racked with regret as Sam won the next war and pushed himself into a lead that he never really looked like losing. He reached 8 points (only two away from triggering the end of the game) when the three of us were still on 5 and 4 points.

But Sam had a fallow round, and didn’t pick up any points while I nabbed two and Joe screwed over Ian twice, taking a point and a troop from him, and pushing himself up the score track and leaving Ian back in last.

In round 9, the reward for winning a war was two points. Sam went all in, and I did what I could, too. During the round I briefly squeezed ahead of Sam when I picked up a 9th point, but Sam’s victory in combat was never really in doubt.

Sam 10

Andrew 9

Joe 8

Ian 6

It was now about 10.50. I had to go, with no time or stamina left for So Clover which, I’m told, saw them screwed over by some unlucky decoy cards. They scored 12 out of 18.

Thanks all. It was an event. And a half.