They were trying for an established IP, but it was dragging on. Really curious which IP they were gunning for now.
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Who was the maker of that Rex? Is it the Rex: Final Days of an Empire?
I have to agree, Dune was a riot to play, and that is only after having played an unfinished game of 3 and half hours. It is definitely one that eventually I will get in my collection, if only due to my loving of the book series.
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I’ll certainly be interested to see what’s come up with, but once you change the theme and the mechanics I think it’s tough to say that it’ll be Forbidden Stars in any meaningful sense. Fortunately, I bought Forbidden Stars before the FFG/GW deal fell apart.
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That’s the one. Mechanically, it’s 95% Dune with a few rules tightened up, a few of the sillier bits taken out (Duelling Grounds, anyone?) and much, much better components.
The theme is changed and it’s not a perfect analog (the Xxcha as Bene Gesserit doesn’t really make sense, but the rest of it is pretty good if you are familiar with the Twilight Imperium universe), and I love the fleet but it isn’t quite as clear how it moves around the board compared to the sandstorm, but honestly, I think it’s a very, very good Dune-clone.
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From what I can see from reviews of Glorantha: Gods’ War and Cthulu Wars, they seem very over the top, and quite niche. If you are a fan of the series and want to splash money on them, they can be for you, but that is quite some money that I think I would definitely put on other games first because: a) they will hit the table more often, b) they are not ridiculously long and c) there are other games that are way cheaper and can achieve similar levels of joy for me.
Saying that, if money and space were no object, I think I would get both for the fun of it. But sadly, that’s not the case.
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I disagree. CW is midlength, running for 2 hrs on average like any medium weight area controls.
And I certainly played my copy waaay more than most TI4 owners get to play their dusting copies of TI4, which is at the same price range.
Speaking of “number of plays:price” ratio. I get to play the dead simple Big City Jumbo way more than people get to play their big epic games.
Neither game is all that long by boardgame standards. I think you could probably knock out a four player Gods’ War in maybe a couple hours if everyone were experienced and decisive, and Cthulhu Wars is a bit shorter than that.
But yes, they’re very difficult to widely recommend because they are enormous and enormously expensive, and they’re not really doing anything totally original. Which is pretty much what I would say about all of Sandy Petersen Games’ output, except maybe Evil High Priest, which isn’t enormous or expensive, and is doing some interesting things with worker placement that…well, okay, they’re still kind of comparable to Dungeon Lords. But they’re relatively rare. And I’m going to have four of those games once Hyperspace ships.
Still. They’re good, also.
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I don’t deny their quality. They are definitely games that I’d love to have and play often. But one has to be realistic about these things, I am pretty sure unless I get 3 or 4 other fans (like with TI 4, by the way) to meet often, they will hardly hit the table in my circumstances.
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As with all things, “it depends”. Sometimes these things work out, other times they become a shadow of their former selves. I’m curious how they change things up considering many think FS itself is an adaptation of StarCraft.
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I got Forbidden Stars for a good price on BGG 2 years ago but haven’t played it yet 
Also own Inis, haven’t played it… my Blood Rage copy is also unplayed but have played a friend’s copy at least. Enjoyed it a lot but not sure how it compares to other options 
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