How a Roman Empire prototype became Dune's cult strategy classic

Dune is a nice little game, but nothing special." In Issue 77 of the UK magazine Games & Puzzles, Nick Palmer was impressed, writing, "The ability of the game to bring out the delicate power balance in the planetary power struggle depicted by the book is nothing short of extraordinary - and yet the rules occupy a mere three pages!" However, Palmer had issues with the alliance rule, which states that players in an alliance can jointly win the game.