For research cubes: It is allowed to withdraw them from the specimen pool into your garrison, but you are not allowed to take troops from garrison or combat to put into your specimen pool. The flavour is likely that you have bodies incubating in your research lab that you can awaken and send into combat, but you can't experiment on live troops 😅 Also, I do believe specimens are a reward and therefore mandatory. There is no arrow or trashing trick to get out of gaining them. But as mentioned earlier, the specimens can be taken back at will, so it's no big deal.
Petition for you to try playing a game of true clown baron (mass intrigues) its fun and at the least would be funny content. strategy: -secrets/carthag every turn, including turn 1 -if you have 3 intrigues, go to secrets first, otherwise, go to carthag first. -prioritise playing your signate ring over saving the solari for SM -save your water>hardy warriors play for when you have a decent set of combat cards where you have intrigues and a VP reward -keep getting intrigues and easy VPs until you figure out a plan that will get you to 10vp, then enact that plan adaptively in the mid>late game. pros: -your deck building is already complete on turn 1 (you shouldn't buy more than 1 card) -you are scary to face in conflict, forcing people to overcommit or potentially lose -good players rarely ever go to secrets to steal on their first action when their game plans/engines require them to go to other spaces in the early turns. -the more intrigues you draw, the more the probabilities and plays become consistent -the random nature of intrigues makes for fun and adaptive play -you can usually expect to play around 2 endgame intrigues for your endgame -bene gesserit alliance is easy to get -your agent spaces are unlikely to be contested (compared to the usual shipping track play) -you can get 1 VP and an extra intrigue from just revealling your dune the desert planets and buying beatles -theres a small chance you win the game by turn 5 -your engine activates immediately -I've literally beat lannister with this (for what thats worth) cons: -its fairly risky and dependant on the draw -you're unlikely to have a swordmaster in the late game -if you dont end the game by turn 7/8, you fall off in the late game -people occasionally get the opportunity to steal your intrigues (rare, countered by proactively playing your good cards, and not playing your bad cards)
The biggest mistake is over-commit to your both alliances. You can use QPQ to get + 2 bumps on Bene and Emperor which will win you the game at the end of the day, but you managed to make a mistake of over-protection.
2:11 i think using signet ring to go smuggling might have been better here? I know it’s nice to move up that research track, but seeing an intrigue could help inform your 2nd move. I guess not having purple access if hardy warriors gets blocked is a bit annoying though…. Hmm just my thoughts
Thanks for another interesting and entertaining video. I've started playing Dune on TTS - and have so much to learn. Will be going to PAX this year - if I run into you I'll say hi....
If you had done Hardy warriors first round second action, you get easy shipping access... I don't know how 1 water was worth delaying multiple shipping access rounds back to back
Funny how you entirely misread what is going on turn one with Ecaz and Handro ;) By the way - I understand that all of us will be playing Uprising "Vanilla" a bit at least at the start - but what do you expect will be the tournament scene after that - Uprising + xpansions? Vanilla Uprising only? 2 separate tournament setups (or 3 even?). Sure it is just speculation at this point, but I wanted to hear your thought. I really don't find the new leaders that interesting as the old bunch (and at the same time I really do hate "house rules") so at that point I'm at a loss as how am I even supposed to play this going forward... Sure there will be "team preference" but sheeeesh I'm not that big on free-hand approach.
I think this is the second or third time I've seen you lose a game by going Conspire last turn. Obviously low sample size and not necessarily criticizing your play just very funny that it's happened more than once :)
For research cubes: It is allowed to withdraw them from the specimen pool into your garrison, but you are not allowed to take troops from garrison or combat to put into your specimen pool. The flavour is likely that you have bodies incubating in your research lab that you can awaken and send into combat, but you can't experiment on live troops 😅
Also, I do believe specimens are a reward and therefore mandatory. There is no arrow or trashing trick to get out of gaining them. But as mentioned earlier, the specimens can be taken back at will, so it's no big deal.
Petition for you to try playing a game of true clown baron (mass intrigues)
its fun and at the least would be funny content.
strategy:
-secrets/carthag every turn, including turn 1
-if you have 3 intrigues, go to secrets first, otherwise, go to carthag first.
-prioritise playing your signate ring over saving the solari for SM
-save your water>hardy warriors play for when you have a decent set of combat cards where you have intrigues and a VP reward
-keep getting intrigues and easy VPs until you figure out a plan that will get you to 10vp, then enact that plan adaptively in the mid>late game.
pros:
-your deck building is already complete on turn 1 (you shouldn't buy more than 1 card)
-you are scary to face in conflict, forcing people to overcommit or potentially lose
-good players rarely ever go to secrets to steal on their first action when their game plans/engines require them to go to other spaces in the early turns.
-the more intrigues you draw, the more the probabilities and plays become consistent
-the random nature of intrigues makes for fun and adaptive play
-you can usually expect to play around 2 endgame intrigues for your endgame
-bene gesserit alliance is easy to get
-your agent spaces are unlikely to be contested (compared to the usual shipping track play)
-you can get 1 VP and an extra intrigue from just revealling your dune the desert planets and buying beatles
-theres a small chance you win the game by turn 5
-your engine activates immediately
-I've literally beat lannister with this (for what thats worth)
cons:
-its fairly risky and dependant on the draw
-you're unlikely to have a swordmaster in the late game
-if you dont end the game by turn 7/8, you fall off in the late game
-people occasionally get the opportunity to steal your intrigues (rare, countered by proactively playing your good cards, and not playing your bad cards)
The biggest mistake is over-commit to your both alliances. You can use QPQ to get + 2 bumps on Bene and Emperor which will win you the game at the end of the day, but you managed to make a mistake of over-protection.
I agree. Definitely take the alliance, but when you’re 3 spaces above the next player you can hold off for a turn or 2, and take a better action
2:11 i think using signet ring to go smuggling might have been better here? I know it’s nice to move up that research track, but seeing an intrigue could help inform your 2nd move. I guess not having purple access if hardy warriors gets blocked is a bit annoying though…. Hmm just my thoughts
Thanks for another interesting and entertaining video. I've started playing Dune on TTS - and have so much to learn. Will be going to PAX this year - if I run into you I'll say hi....
If you had done Hardy warriors first round second action, you get easy shipping access... I don't know how 1 water was worth delaying multiple shipping access rounds back to back
When you miss having orski gameplay 😢
Funny how you entirely misread what is going on turn one with Ecaz and Handro ;)
By the way - I understand that all of us will be playing Uprising "Vanilla" a bit at least at the start - but what do you expect will be the tournament scene after that - Uprising + xpansions? Vanilla Uprising only? 2 separate tournament setups (or 3 even?). Sure it is just speculation at this point, but I wanted to hear your thought. I really don't find the new leaders that interesting as the old bunch (and at the same time I really do hate "house rules") so at that point I'm at a loss as how am I even supposed to play this going forward...
Sure there will be "team preference" but sheeeesh I'm not that big on free-hand approach.
I think this is the second or third time I've seen you lose a game by going Conspire last turn. Obviously low sample size and not necessarily criticizing your play just very funny that it's happened more than once :)
Swear I've seen this game before... deja vu!
You have, it was a streamed game he did from a 2 months ago.