Gnome's Lair

For some odd reason I haven’t played a game of Civilization IV for more than a few years. Even more shockingly Civ IV has never been installed on my latest PC, despite being one of the first games ever reviewed for Gnome’s Lair. Happily and thanks to this most interesting Rock Paper Shotgun post, things are about to radically change; apparently a new version of an excellent free mod for the game has been made available and it’s all about Frank Herbert’s political, epic, eco sci-fi masterpiece that was Dune.

The mod’s name is none other than the rather apt Dune Wars and can be download in its spankin’ new 1.8 version via modDB. It is of course free and apparently a total conversion of the original Civ IV, featuring a ton of new rules, buildings, graphics, units, models, sounds, factions, wonders, civ abilities and even AI, that should make this the best turn based strategy game in the Dune universe ever. The production values seem fantastic too, though nothing sounds as exciting as a worm eating up a unit or having the Guild transport units from other planets.

Here are the piccies that will whet your appetite (click for larger versions):

Related @ Gnome’s Lair:

• And a dark fantasy Civ IV mod
• A couple Half Life 2 total conversions
• Three indie game reviews
• 10 excellently picked free games