Dune: Imperium is a digital adaption of a deck-building board game based on the popular book series and films.

While I haven’t read or seen Dune, I had heard so many good things that I didn’t hesitate to pick up Imperium. And the good news is that you don’t need to know anything about the world to enjoy the game, although it probably adds to the fun.

It is, however, a fairly complex game to learn, so following the tutorials is a must.

At the start of each round, a Skirmish card is turned, which is an opportunity for all players to battle over various prizes, from victory points to basic resources.

However, we only have two action points per round, so picking our battles carefully is important. The interesting thing about this game is that we take these actions by playing cards from our hand, like a pawn we can place on the map.

After a few games, this all feels less complicated. The lightbulb moment for me was realising that I didn't need to fight every battle, and that it was worth spending time building up allies and resources.

In addition to the single-player AI matches, the game features both live and asynchronous online multiplayer, and same-device local multiplayer. There's also a series of challenges where the game's rules have been tweaked in some way.

I switched between playing on my phone and tablet to take turns, and while it’s perfectly possibly to play on a phone, the UI is blatantly designed for larger screens.

Dune: Imperium is a $10.99 premium game with no iAPs but a DLC in the works.

It’s a fun game once you get your head around what’s going on. So if you love Dune or board games in general, it’s worth checking out.