No.142 / 280Strategy & systems · Drafting & allocation

Place a Worker, Claim a Spot

Put a worker on an action space, and it’s yours for the round.

Prototype complexity
Who plays: Competitive play
Design focus: Planning · Economy

No.142Dune: Imperium

01The core loop

Action → feedback → next choice

01Scan open action spaces
02Place a worker
03Resolve and block it
04Recall workers at round end

↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.

Walk through one round

A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.

T1
Turn 1 · The situation
You have 3 workers; the single ‘Recruit’ space is likely the rival’s next move, while ‘Gold’ has two openings.
T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
Place your first worker on Recruit.
T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
The rival shifts to Gold, and your army gains 2.
T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
Your remaining workers find only one Gold spot left.

How it plays

Players have few workers and take turns placing them on action spaces for resources or effects; occupied spaces are closed to others. You always want more than you have workers for, so each placement forgoes something. Worker positions on the board are the clearest feedback.

What the player weighs

Grab hot spots vs do what others ignore
More workers vs stronger actions

02Start small

Quest · 0/3Prototype complexityCompact prototypeWho plays · Competitive play

Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.

03One mechanic, different implementations

Dune: Imperium

You play cards to send agents to board spaces, with icons limiting where they can go; most spaces block others once taken, blending with deckbuilding.

D&D Lords of Waterdeep

Agents visit Waterdeep buildings to gather adventurers for quests, and newly built buildings add spaces that reward their owner when others use them.

The difference worth noticing

Dune: Imperium uses cards to restrict placement; Lords of Waterdeep lets players expand the action spaces by building.

Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.

04What could you combine?

Fusion · Original design proposal · not an existing feature

Place a Worker, Claim a SpotDrafting & allocation+

Action spaces are built in sequence, upper ones locked until lower ones exist, so players decide whether to lay foundations or wait to exploit others’.

Prototype this combo in Yoroll