Dune: Imperium Openings: The First Three Rounds

Dune: Imperium has no fixed opening. The Imperium Row is different every game, your Leader pulls you one way, and the first Conflict card changes what the round is worth. But the first three rounds still follow patterns, and they all come from one fact: the game lasts at most ten rounds, one per Conflict card. Anything that pays you every round is worth more the sooner you have it.

Your starting deck is weak on purpose

Everyone starts with the same ten cards: two Convincing Argument, two Dagger, Diplomacy, two Dune, the Desert Planet, Reconnaissance, Seek Allies, and the Signet Ring that triggers your Leader’s second ability. They do a little of everything and nothing well. Your first buys should do what these cannot.

Pick a direction, loosely

The board offers a few broad paths, and the rulebook’s strategy tips point at most of them:

• Spice. Harvest in the desert, then sell to CHOAM at Sell Melange or trade it to the Emperor at Conspire. The Spacing Guild’s Heighliner takes a large pile of spice and returns five troops and 2 water.
• Solari. Money buys the permanent upgrades: the Swordmaster, a High Council seat, troops at Rally Troops, or a round with the Mentat.
• Factions. Each Faction has one space with a cost and one without. The free ones build Influence while you gather resources for the others.

Commit to a direction by round two, but hold it loosely. Karlis Povisils, the first Dune: Imperium North American Champion, told Dire Wolf in an interview after his 2022 win that flexibility matters: spot the good opportunities and take them, without trying to do everything.

The third Agent

The Swordmaster space costs 8 Solari and gives you a third Agent for the rest of the game, starting that round. Count what that means. Bought in round 3, it can give you an extra Agent turn in up to eight rounds. Bought in round 8, three at most, and the game may end sooner.

That is why so many openings aim at 8 Solari quickly. Secure Contract pays 3 Solari with no cost. Wealth pays 2 and a step of Emperor Influence. Conspire pays 5 Solari, two troops, and an Intrigue card for 4 spice. Sell Melange turns 2 to 5 spice into Solari.

Uprising: the first player to buy a Swordmaster pays 8. After that, the price drops to 6 for everyone else. Going first costs 2 Solari more but buys you more rounds with three Agents.

The High Council seat

The High Council costs 5 Solari, once per game, and adds 2 Persuasion to every Reveal turn you take afterward. Over seven rounds that is 14 Persuasion, more than one big card. Over two rounds it is barely a card at all.

Uprising: the High Council is not once and done. After you have a seat, each later visit gives you 2 spice, an Intrigue card, and three troops.

Water opens the desert

You start with 1 water, and water is the gate to the best spice and troops. Hagga Basin and Hardy Warriors cost 1 water. The Great Flat and Research Station cost 2. Water comes from Stillsuits, from Sietch Tabr once you have 2 Fremen Influence, from the Heighliner, and from cards. The rulebook’s tip is short: if you need water, look to the Fremen.

Bonus spice is a clock

Each Maker space without an Agent gains 1 spice in the Makers phase. An untouched Great Flat pays its 3 spice plus everything that has piled up. Watch those piles from round one. A Maker space nobody has visited for three rounds pays at least twice its usual spice, and if you do not take it, someone else will.

Your first buys

Look for three things in the Imperium Row:

1. New Agent icons. A card that reaches a Faction or space your starting deck cannot is worth more than it looks.
2. Persuasion. More Persuasion means better buys next time around.
3. A way to trash. The Bene Gesserit’s Selective Breeding space lets you trash a card and draw two. Every weak starting card you remove makes your good cards show up more often.

The Spice Must Flow is a Reserve card worth a Victory Point when you buy it. It is a fine buy late. Early, a card that improves every later hand usually does more.

The first Conflicts

The Conflict I card on top of the deck is the opening skirmish, and it usually offers the smallest prize. You start with three troops in your garrison, and every troop you spend now is one you do not have for the Conflict II cards that follow.

The exception is a Conflict that gives control of Arrakeen, Carthag, or Imperial Basin. Control pays you whenever anyone visits that space, for the rest of the game, and early control has the most rounds left to pay.

Uprising: three opening tools

• Spies. Espionage costs 1 spice and gives Bene Gesserit Influence, a card, and a Spy. A Spy next to a busy space lets you follow an opponent there later.
• Maker Hooks. Reach 2 Fremen Influence, visit Sietch Tabr, and take Maker Hooks. Worms add 3 strength and double the rewards you earn.
• Contracts. With the CHOAM module, the contract spaces pay you for visits you were going to make anyway, and Dire Wolf’s design diary says a little over half of the contracts reward Solari.

A good opening, roughly

There is no perfect target. After three rounds, a strong opening often looks like this:

• Your third Agent, or a clear path to it next round.
• At least one new Agent icon in your deck.
• 2 Influence with at least one Faction.
• Troops in your garrison for the first big Conflict.

Level 2 shows what to do with them.