Pug's Guide to Dune - Harkonnen Strategy
Let me begin by giving you a frame of reference. I play with the Basic Rules plus Optional Rules – no Advanced Rules and no expansions. If you play by a different ruleset, then what I have to say may or may not be helpful – but if you play with different rules then you’ve got bigger problems than the details of my little strategy article!
The Harkonnen are one of the most feared factions in the game. They don’t have the dramatic powers of the Atreides or the Bene Gesserit, but their treachery is so daunting as to give the other players pause before moving against them.
Their disadvantages are that they don't have the spice income of the Emperor or Guild and are therefore relegated to chasing it all game, and that they don't have any fancy-schmancy combat powers like the Bene Gesserit or the Atreides.
However, the advantages of the Harkonnen are:
- Four traitors (the Harkonnen get to keep all four traitors that they draw).
- Increased hand size (the Harkonnen may hold 8 treachery cards instead of 4).
- Sneaky, hidden cards (the Harkonnen may draw an extra treachery card that the Atreides don't get to see, for every one they win)
- Carthag (the Harkonnen start with a Stronghold, Ornithopters and Harvesters).
- Good token revival (the Harkonnen may revive 2 tokens for free each turn).
- Starting spice (the Harkonnen start the game with 10 spice).
- Stealing leaders (the Harkonnen may steal an opponent’s leader when victorious in battle).
Now that's a lot of juice.
So they start with a ton of spice, great position, and some really nasty abilities – so why don’t they always win? The answer is usually that they squander their starting spice.
HOW TO BEGIN
The main objective of the Harkonnen in the early game is to get a
hand full of cards – but not at the cost of all of your spice.
Buying one card in the first auction is good; buying two is better;
but try not to spend more than 3-4 spice for your first card and no
more than 7 for both. That will give a nice hand size of 4 cards
(everyone else’s max) or 6 cards (a very healthy hand indeed). Since
the Harks have no special abilities in combat (like the Atriedes or
Bene Gesserit) they depend on their Treachery cards to carry them
through. A Harkonnen player without cards is a pathetic sight indeed,
and one that doesn’t inspire the requisite fear to keep your opponents
from stomping your grapes – real hard.
Do not try to make early moves. Shipping costs spice that you can
ill afford and moving out of Carthag just makes a tempting target
for ambitious opponents. Even if you manage to survive their attempt
on Carthag, you will have used valuable resources that will cost you
dearly to replace.
Going early in the turn can be particularly bad as it allows your
opponents to pick their fights, deciding how hard to hit you and
where, but going later in the turn can provide you with opportunities
to strike – which leads us to…
MAKING YOUR MOVE
So have I gotten the early moving thing out of your mind? Good. Now I’m
going to put it back.
You shouldn’t throw away your moves, but you do need to be moving early.
Spice management is the key to your whole world (and that of the Atreides),
so you’ll need to be hunting it as soon as you can. That’s the real point
of you getting early cards.
Your increased hand size makes you particularly formidable early in the game,
so try to jump into battle against any weaklings as early as possible. Even
the mighty Atreides, with their peek into your battle plan, can do little
against you if they don’t have enough cards (or the right ones) to make good
on their information. Going for spice is good (if you can get it without
expending more resources than you are getting back), but murdering leaders
can be just as good – and it has the added benefit of weakening your opponents
and maybe getting them to burn some of their treachery cards early. If any of
your opponents move before you, and they have a small pile of tokens lying
about, then jump ‘em. Otherwise, try for the spice.
This is why you needed to hold onto a small reserve of spice. You need to be
able to get some tokens onto the planet, and maybe reinforce them with up to
2 more from Carthag (8 tokens is still a formidable force).
You will constantly be chasing spice in this game, and if you run out you
are doomed. Make spice acquisition your top priority and everything else will
fall into place.
NASTY TRICKS
Traitors – Your traitors are a glorious asset – so don’t throw them
away too early. You do not have to call a traitor simply because you fought
against him/her in battle. You may choose to keep this information hidden,
and you would be well advised to do so in any battle that is of little relative
importance. Fighting over a few spice? Don’t worry about it. Are you losing a
chump leader or not losing a leader at all? No problem. Is this some random
attack made against you that you don’t really care about. Keep quiet.
Evaluate how much you stand to lose before you decide to call a traitor.
If your opponent uses a leader against you and you don’t call a traitor then
they are much more likely to play that ‘safe’ leader against you again in a
more important battle!
Karama – If you are playing with the optional rules then you can use
Karama cards to trade hands with your opponents. This is best done right
before an important battle and can cripple them for many turns to come.
Use it wisely though, as a crippled opponent may lead to the strengthening
of another, who might be in position to win the game.
Stealing Leaders – Don’t forget that you get to draw a leader from
your opponent every time you beat him in battle. You can even steal the
leader who was just used against you. This is frequently neglected by the
Harkonnen player, so make sure to keep it fresh in your mind at all times.
Intimidation – Often your opponents won’t want to risk going up
against the Harkonnen in battle when they stand to lose cards and two leaders.
Push them around mercilessly and extort spice from them in exchange for
promises to not attack or to go easy on them in battle. Depending on your
group, this works pretty well so long as you don’t do it too often.
Intimidation works particularly well when dealing with spice blows.
Fighting the Harkonnen and their handfull of cards is so odious and
dangerous (risking 2 leaders instead of just 1) that the threat alone
will often allow you to extort spice from whomever is collecting it. It
can work out much better for both you and your opponent to simply agree
not to waste resources on fighting if they simply pay you off with some
of the spice they will collect - but you have to stand behing your threats!
If you back down too often your opponents will begin taking you for granted
and if that happens you'll have to do everything the hard way from then on.
HOW TO WIN
Dune is a game of opportunism, and nothing is a sure thing, so there’s really
no way to make grand strategies. Everything depends on the moves (and especially
the mis-moves) of your opponents. Learning to stalk your prey carefully and
striking when the time is right is the most important (and difficult) thing
that you will learn in this game.
Getting off to a good start with the Harkonnen will make you dangerous
throughout the rest of the game, and a solid contender. Maintaining a handful
of cards is key, so make sure to cycle the bad or duplicate cards out of your
hand as quickly as possible. Small attacks using Cheap Heroes are the best way
to do this without suffering significant losses.
Cultivate fear through intimidation and successful attacks and your opponents
will often think twice before standing between you and your well laid plans.
IN SUMMARY
- First priority is buying cards.
- Remember to save some spice.
- Don’t weaken Carthag (much).
- Be aggressive early.
- Make spice acquisition your focus.
Note: This strategy article is intended primarily for new-ish players. The game is far too fluid to allow any definitive statements on strategy, and it may vary a lot depending on the group you play with. Experience is the best guide (as the old timers will tell you), but I just wanted to point the newbs in the right direction.