How to Play Dune: Imperium: Agents, Reveal Turns, Combat & Victory
Dune: Imperium combines worker placement with deck building. Cards have an Agent box used when you send an Agent to the board and a Reveal box used when you stop placing Agents for the round. Choosing which half of a card to use is the core rules rhythm.
Researched rules guide. Checked September 20, 2026 against Dire Wolf’s current Dune: Imperium rulebook and resources. Rise of Ix and Immortality are expansions; Uprising is a separate standalone game.
Each round starts with five cards
Draw a five-card hand from your deck. Starting with the first player, take turns until everyone has taken a Reveal turn. Before revealing, your normal choice is an Agent turn if you still have an available Agent and a legal board destination.
Agent turn: play one card and send an Agent
Play a card from your hand and use an Agent icon on that card to send an available Agent to a compatible board space. Pay the space’s costs and resolve its effect, then resolve the Agent box on the card as applicable.
Some board spaces also advance influence with one of the four factions. Crossing faction thresholds can award Victory Points, and the highest influence can hold a faction Alliance worth a Victory Point until another player overtakes it.
Recruit and deploy troops carefully
Troops are recruited to your garrison unless an effect lets you deploy them. When sending an Agent to a Combat space, you may deploy eligible troops to the current Conflict. Troops in the Conflict generate strength for that round and return to the supply after combat.
Reveal turn: stop placing Agents for the round
When you choose to Reveal, reveal all cards still in your hand. Add the Persuasion, swords and other Reveal-box effects from those cards and any relevant cards already played. Use Persuasion to acquire cards from the Imperium Row. Swords contribute to your combat strength.
After taking your Reveal turn, you take no more normal turns that round, although Combat Intrigue cards and other permitted effects can still matter later.
Combat resolves after everyone reveals
Players with units in the Conflict can play Combat Intrigue cards in turn order until everyone passes consecutively. Compare final strength and award the first-, second- and where applicable third-place rewards printed on the Conflict card.
Makers add spice to empty desert spaces
During the Makers phase, each Maker-icon desert space without an Agent gains bonus spice. Unclaimed spice can accumulate from round to round, increasing the value of visiting later.
Endgame: 10 Victory Points or an empty Conflict deck
During Recall, trigger the endgame if any player has 10 or more Victory Points or if the Conflict deck is empty. Resolve Endgame Intrigue cards, then highest VP wins. The official tiebreak order is spice, Solari, water, then troops in the garrison.
Continue learning
- Dune: Imperium game guide
- Dune: Imperium strategy
- Victory Points and endgame
- Dune: Imperium vs Uprising
Sources and scope
Checked September 20, 2026. Expansion rules are excluded unless explicitly stated.