Dune: Imperium Uprising, Player Counts, and Expansions

Dune: Imperium now comes in two boxes that share one engine, and a shelf of expansions that work with one or both. This lesson covers what changes with player count, then Uprising in depth, then the expansions and how to choose.

The original, by player count

The original plays 1 to 4. Our article on player count design explains why a game can feel so different at each number.

• Four players. The most crowded board. Everyone starts at 1 Victory Point, and the third Conflict reward is in play.
• Three players. More open spaces. The third reward appears only when two players tie for second.
• Two players. A third house, House Hagal, plays the spoiler. It takes an Agent turn after each of the first player’s Agent turns and fights in Conflicts, but it does not collect resources, build a deck, earn rewards, or score. If it wins a Conflict for a space someone controls, that Control marker comes off.
• Solo. You face two Rivals driven by House Hagal cards, at one of four difficulty levels from Mercenary to Kwisatz Haderach. Either Rival can reach 10 and beat you.

Dire Wolf’s Game Room companion app can run House Hagal in place of the cards.

Uprising in depth

Uprising is a standalone game for 1 to 6. If you know the original, these are the changes that matter.

The board

• No Mentat. Imperial Privilege, a new Landsraad space, offers a different boost: with 2 Emperor Influence and 3 Solari, you may swap an Intrigue card, recall one of your other Agents, and draw a card.
• Spice Refinery replaces Carthag, paying 2 Solari, or 4 if you pay 1 spice.
• Deep Desert replaces The Great Flat: 3 water for 4 spice or two sandworms.
• Shipping needs 2 Spacing Guild Influence and turns 3 spice into 5 Solari and a step of Influence on any track.
• High Council rewards repeat visits with spice, an Intrigue card, and three troops.
• Swordmaster costs 8 Solari until anyone has one, then 6.
• No Foldspace. The Reserve is Prepare the Way and The Spice Must Flow.

Sandworms

Troops and sandworms are both units. Visit Sietch Tabr with 2 Fremen Influence to take Maker Hooks. From then on, Hagga Basin can summon one sandworm and Deep Desert two, in place of their base spice. You still take any bonus spice.

A sandworm adds 3 strength, goes straight to the Conflict, and returns to the bank after Combat. One or more worms double the rewards you earn, except Control and battle icons. The Shield Wall keeps worms out of Conflicts at Arrakeen, Spice Refinery, and Imperial Basin until someone removes it, through Sietch Tabr or a card. Once it is gone, it stays gone.

Spies

Each player has three Spies. You place them on observation posts, through the Bene Gesserit’s Espionage space and other effects. Each post connects to one or more board spaces. Recall a connected Spy on an Agent turn to:

• Infiltrate: send your Agent to that space even if another Agent is on it.
• Gather Intelligence: draw a card when you send an Agent there. Decide before you resolve anything.

You still play a card with a matching icon either way. Some cards carry a Spy Agent icon that sends an Agent to any space your Spies watch.

Contracts

Contracts are the optional CHOAM module. Two sit face up. The contract icon, at Accept Contract and Dutiful Service, lets you take one. Most are completed by sending an Agent to the space they name; completing them is mandatory, and several for one space complete together. Without the module, the contract icon pays 2 Solari. The module also adds four Imperium cards, four Intrigue cards, and a Leader, Shaddam Corrino IV.

Battle icons and Objectives

Everyone starts with an Objective card, which also decides the first player. When you win a Conflict you take its card. Two matching battle icons, among your Objective and the Conflicts you have won, flip face down for 1 Victory Point. Dire Wolf’s design diary says second and third place rewards are generally bigger than in the original, and first place rewards generally smaller.

Two players and solo

Uprising’s Rivals use their own Rival cards with House Hagal cards, and they collect resources and score. In a two-player game one Rival is a shared opponent that never holds the First Player marker; the Rules Supplements recommend a Streamlined Rivals variant for your first one. Solo uses two Rivals and four difficulty levels.

Six players

The six-player mode is two teams of three on the board’s reverse side, where the Great Houses and Fringe Worlds replace the Emperor and Fremen tracks.

• Each team has a Commander, Muad’Dib or Shaddam Corrino IV, with a personal board. Commanders have no troops. Each turn they activate one of their two Allies, who takes the troops, Influence, and swords.
• Allies fight separately, so all three Conflict rewards are in play.
• Commanders start at 4 points and Allies at 1. Any player reaching 10 triggers the end, and the higher team total wins.
• The CHOAM module is required, there is no Conflict I card, and each Swordmaster is used once.
• The rules recommend no private talk between teammates.

Expansions

Rise of Ix was the first expansion. It adds technology, dreadnoughts, infiltration, new Leaders, and an Epic mode. Its Epic mode changes the starting decks and plays to 12 points, and it is the version the 2026 World Boardgaming Championships used for its final.

Immortality brings the Bene Tleilax: genetic research, specimens, and grafting two cards together.

Both were built for the original, and Uprising’s rules explain how to add them.

Bloodlines expands both games with Sardaukar Commanders, new tech tiles, Leaders, contracts, and cards.

Conspiracy is next, and Dire Wolf’s page already takes pre-orders. It works with both games and adds Conspiracy cards, Raids, Imperial Edicts, and an Overthrow mode where one player is the Emperor against two or three others.

Which box first?

• You want six players, or spies and worms: Uprising.
• You own the original and love it: add Rise of Ix or Immortality, one at a time.
• You own Uprising: play without contracts first, then add them.
• You own both: Bloodlines works with either.

If you are starting fresh, the original and Uprising both teach well; pick by player count. Our piece on whether expansions are worth it has a broader way to decide.