Fantasy Flight Games

Available Now: July 22

Published 22 July 2022 | Cosmic Encounter

Available Now: July 22

The Cosmic Odyssey Expansion for Cosmic Encounter is Now Available

Check out the latest product from Fantasy Flight Games, now available in the United States at your local retailer or online through our web store!

Cosmic Odyssey

You’ve conquered the stars in Cosmic Encounter®. You’ve weathered storms, defended against incursions, forged alliances, engaged in countless conflicts, and established dominion for eons. Or perhaps you’ve done none of those things, and Cosmic Encounter has only recently entered your life. Either way, there is still the ever-burning question: what comes next?

Well, dear friends, this comes next. And it’s going to be epic.

Cosmic Odyssey is a massive expansion bigger than anything Cosmic that came before it (aside from the base game, of course), and it packs enough wallop to enhance your wild and wonderful space shenanigans for countless games to come. Even if you don’t own any of the previous expansions, Cosmic Odyssey brings loads of aliens, variants, and a brand-new campaign mode to the table. It has more of everything Cosmic Encounter has to offer, and lots of things that have never been seen in the game before. It’s a never-ending odyssey, and one that no Cosmic fan will want to miss!

Not a standalone expansion. A copy of Cosmic Encounter is required to play.

You can pick up your own copy of Cosmic Odyssey (CE08) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!*

*Available in the US and select markets. To find updates on this product's release in your territory, please follow this link.

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The copyrightable portions of Cosmic Encounter are © 2018 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Cosmic Encounter is a registered trademark of Eon Products, Inc. Used under license from Eon Products, Inc. Fantasy Flight Supply is a trademark of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

An Odyssey of Cosmic Proportions

Published 7 April 2022 | Cosmic Encounter

An Odyssey of Cosmic Proportions

Announcing a New Expansion for Cosmic Encounter

You’ve conquered the stars in Cosmic Encounter^®. You’ve weathered storms, defended against incursions, forged alliances, engaged in countless conflicts, and established dominion for eons. Or perhaps you’ve done none of those things, and Cosmic Encounter has only recently entered your life. Either way, there is still the ever-burning question: what comes next?

Well, dear friends, this comes next. And it’s going to be epic.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Cosmic Odyssey, the latest expansion for Cosmic Encounter!

This massive expansion is bigger than anything Cosmic that came before it (aside from the base game, of course), and it packs enough wallop to enhance your wild and wonderful space shenanigans for countless games to come. Even if you don’t own any of the previous expansions, Cosmic Odyssey brings loads of aliens, variants, and a brand-new campaign mode to the table. It has more of everything Cosmic Encounter has to offer, and lots of things that have never been seen in the game before. It’s a never-ending odyssey, and one that no Cosmic fan will want to miss!

A Cosmic Campaign

The main new feature of Cosmic Odyssey is, of course, the aforementioned campaign mode.

This mode sees you and your fellow Cosmic Encounter-ers leading coalitions of aliens through a series of games across the cosmological “ages” while garnering prizes along the way. These prizes can be used in subsequent ages or saved for the final age. However, regardless of your win/loss record during the journey, every player that’s declared a winner in the Final Age Game is crowned a Campaign Winner.

In all the years and editions of the game, this campaign mode is unlike anything that has been seen before. With it, you and your friends can build an epic tale of conquest, strategy, and discovery that is entirely unique. It’s the wildest way to play Cosmic Encounter to date!

The different ages that play out through the campaign are represented by different variants, and there are a lot of them in this expansion! You’ll find variants from previous expansions (which will add content to the existing variants if you have those expansions but also function perfectly well on their own), variants from previous editions of Cosmic Encounter, and even variants from an alternate timeline that haven’t been seen before!

Will you revolutionize the cosmic setting with additional Technologies? Can you brave the dangers of the Hazard Deck? Perhaps you’ll wish to chase down all-new Objectives alongside your usual win condition. Or, maybe you just want to occupy a bunch of Moons. There are thirteen variants in all, and each of them can be used whether this is your first Cosmic expansion or your seventh!

We plan to go into more detail about the campaign mode and how it works with all these variants at a later date, so stay tuned!

Crowded Cosmos

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Cosmic Encounter expansion if it didn’t come with a bucketload of new aliens!

Some of the zany new aliens include the overly-honest Aura , the bombastically bursting Bubbles , the energy-manipulating Magnets , and the wickedly-wrathful Witches . If you’re feeling cooperative, you could always protect players’ assets as the Lloyd , or, if you’re feeling nostalgic, you could always just play as the Throwback . 30 new aliens can be found here, but there’s also a little something extra this time. Longtime fans of Cosmic Encounter may recognize some familiar faces that snuck in alongside the new aliens, though they may look a little…different.

The original Grumpus (left) from Cosmic Storm and the new alternate timeline Grumpus (right) from Cosmic Odyssey.

That’s right, in addition to the 30 brand-new aliens found in Cosmic Odyssey, there are also 12 “alternate timeline” aliens! Each of these aliens is a new spin on an alien from a previous Cosmic Encounter product; some are a little more powerful, some are a little less powerful, and some are just different from before. Whether you put yourself in peril as the Daredevils , kick people off your lawn as the Grumpus , or absorb your enemies as the Void , you’ll love revisiting these old favorites under a new light!

An Awesome Odyssey

With the new campaign mode, plenty of aliens, and an overall ridiculous amount of content, Cosmic Odyssey is a must-have for fans of Cosmic Encounter old and new. Launch your cosmic campaigns into the stars when Cosmic Odyssey arrives this summer!

You can pre-order your own copy of Cosmic Odyssey (CE08) at your local retailer or online through our webstore today!

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FFG Live in December

Published 30 November 2018 | Arkham Horror Third Edition

FFG Live in December

Join Us for Four Gameplay Livestreams

Curious about some of the latest titles from Fantasy Flight Games? You’ll have your chance to go in-depth with some of our newest releases in four upcoming FFG livestreams—the perfect opportunity for you to learn more about these new games and come hang out with us as we play.

We’ll have four livestreams on YouTube over the next few weeks, each looking at a different title from Fantasy Flight Games: Arkham Horror Third Edition, Heroes of Terrinoth, Discover: Lands Unknown, and Cosmic Encounter. In each livestream, we’ll play an entire game, and even if you can't join us live, the streams will be archived on our channel for viewing later.

Find the dates for these FFG livestreams below! All livestreams begin at 12:00 PM Central Time.

Whether you’re curious about how a new game looks and plays, or you just want to join us for a few hours around a board game table, tune in to our YouTube channel throughout December and catch our gameplay livestreams!

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The Latest from FFG

Published 21 November 2018 | KeyForge

The Latest from FFG

Games You Might Have Missed in the Holiday Rush

The holidays are nearly upon us, and the last few months have been stacked with new releases from Fantasy Flight Games. Now, as you start picking out games for your wishlist or shopping for your loved ones, we want to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

Take a quick look at our recap of some of the hottest new games we’ve released in the last few months and complete your holiday shopping today!

Arkham Horror

The year is 1926, and it’s the height of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers dance till dawn in smoke-filled speakeasies, drinking alcohol supplied by rum runners and the mob. It’s a celebration to end all celebrations in the aftermath of the War to End All Wars. Yet a dark shadow grows in the city of Arkham. Alien entities known as Ancient Ones lurk in the emptiness beyond space and time, writhing at the thresholds between worlds. Their occult rituals must be stopped and these dread creatures must be destroyed.

Arkham Horror is a cooperative board game for one to six players who become investigators battling to defeat the servitors of the Ancient Ones. Based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, players will have to gather clues, defeat terrifying monsters, and find tools and allies to stand any hope of defeating the ancient creatures that exist just beyond the veil of our reality.

Pick up Arkham Horror at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

New California

Ah, California: sunshine, ocean breezes, and radioactive wasteland as far as the eye can see. This desolate coastal state was once a shining jewel, but since the Great War, the region known as New California has fallen into chaos. Which is great news! Where there’s chaos, there’s loot!

The New California expansion brings new quests, companions, vaults, and items to Fallout: The Board Game, letting you venture out into the wasteland as five new characters. While there, you can wander across twelve new map tiles that expand the scenarios found in the original game or head into sunny New California and visit some of the most memorable locations from throughout the Fallout series.

You can pick up New California or Fallout: The Board Game at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Heroes of Terrinoth

Strike back at the foes of the realm in Heroes of Terrinoth! In the Free Cities, the Bloodguard sows discord, while in the Mistlands, the dead rise from their graves. Now, the realm turns its eye to you and your team of heroes in search of saviors.

In this cooperative card game of questing and adventure, one to four players take on the roles of unique heroes who must unite to face deadly villains, navigate treacherous terrain, and defend the realm to earn fame and fortune! Terrinoth needs champions—do you have what it takes?

You can find Heroes of Terrinoth at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Discover: Lands Unknown

You awaken with a splitting headache and no idea of how you got here. The wilderness stretches in every direction, and something howls in the distance. Your quest for answers will have to wait; first, you need to survive. Will you help the others stranded here or will you save yourself at any cost?

When two to four players find themselves marooned in the harsh wilderness, you must cooperate and compete to search for water, food, and tools that will be essential to your very survival. But your adventure holds many secrets. Discover: Lands Unknown is a Unique Game, and every copy of Discover: Lands Unknown is unlike any other in the world. A mix of environments, storylines, characters, locations, items, and enemies have been engineered to tell a story unique to every copy of the game, thanks to an algorithm that ensures no two copies are alike. Your adventures will be your very own as you struggle to survive in the heart of the wild.

Pick up your own copy of Discover: Lands Unknown at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game

It is an era of sudden change and upheaval in the realm of Rokugan. Mortal schemes, natural calamities, and celestial turmoil alike have disrupted the political, military, and spiritual equilibrium of the land. Long-simmering rivalries and fresh betrayals ripple through the courts and on the battlefield. The Chrysanthemum Throne is beset by threats from without and within, and the honor of the seven Great Clans shall be put to the test. Who among the clans will prove strong enough to guide Rokugan in these tumultuous times? Will their names be lifted up beside those of the honored ancestors, or will they fall among the ranks of the empire’s most infamous villains?

This is the stage of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying, a roleplaying experience in the world of Rokugan. If you’re new to roleplaying the Beginner Game is the perfect place to get started with advice for players and new Game Masters, and with the Core Rulebook, you can take your adventures in Rokugan to the next level with detailed options for creating your own characters!

Pick up your copy of the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Beginner Game or Core Rulebook at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

X-Wing

Enter the next era of interstellar combat in the Star Wars galaxy! In the second edition of X-Wing™, you assemble a squadron of iconic starfighters from across the Star Wars saga and engage in fast-paced, high-stakes space combat with iconic pilots such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

With refined gameplay that focuses on the physical act of flying starships, X-Wing lets you create your own Star Wars space battles right on your tabletop. Intuitive mechanics create the tense atmosphere of a firefight while beautifully pre-painted miniatures draw you deeper into the action. Man your ships and enter the fray!

Pick up your copy of the X-Wing Core Set at your local retailer or online through our webstore, and look for the expansions of Wave II at your retailer soon!

Across the Galaxy

Step into the Star Wars saga with Across the Galaxy, a new set of boosters for Star Wars™: Destiny featuring 160 new cards!

Across the Galaxy brings the characters of Solo: A Star Wars Story to Star Wars: Destiny. Before he was a hero of the Rebellion, Han Solo was a cocky young pirate just looking for a little adventure. With a crew of like-minded individuals that includes Lando Calrissian and Tobias Beckett, the dashing young rogue finds his way to Star Wars: Destiny.

Across the Galaxy finishes the block started by Legacies and expands on its themes. You can look for plot cards with negative point values, cards that grow stronger when you spot specific characters, and new ways to upgrade some of the most famous vehicles in the galaxy.

Pick up Across the Galaxy booster packs at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Cosmic Encounter

In the depths of space, the alien races of the Cosmos vie for control of the universe in Cosmic Encounter. Alliances form and shift from moment to moment, while cataclysmic battles send starships screaming into the warp.

This classic game of alien politics returns from the warp once more. Features 51 aliens, flare cards to boost their powers, Cosmic Combo cards with suggested pairing of aliens, 100 translucent plastic ships, a host of premium components, and tech cards that let players research and build extraordinary technological marvels.

Pick up your copy of Cosmic Encounter at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Mother of Dragons

Cross the Narrow Sea with the Mother of Dragons expansion for A Game of Thrones: The Board Game! Clawing their way into power, this expansion includes a side board of the Free Cities of Essos and an overlay of the Eyrie, as well as new characters and mechanics to bring House Targaryen and House Arryn into the fray. As you make your claim to the Iron Throne, you can call other Houses to your cause or even ask for aid from the Iron Bank of Braavos.

Pick up your copy of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game at your local retailer or online through our webstore, and look for the Mother of Dragons expansion, coming soon to your retailer!

KeyForge

Enter a world where anything is possible in KeyForge! In the center of the universe hangs the Crucible, an artificial world built from the pieces of countless planets. Here, in the world’s first Unique Deck Game, created by legendary designer Richard Garfield, two players step into the roles of mighty Archons, racing to forge keys that unlock the Crucible’s hidden Vaults.

Leading their diverse teams, filled with followers from three of the Crucible’s great Houses, the Archons must gather Æmber, stave off their opponent’s progress, and ultimately be the first to open a Vault and gain its incredible knowledge. With a vast array of creatures, artifacts, and abilities, and over 104 quadrillion possible decks, every deck is completely one-of-a-kind, and no two battles will ever be the same!

Pick up your KeyForge: Call of the Archons Starter Set and Archon Decks at your local retailer!

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Enter the Cosmic Age

Published 6 September 2018 | Cosmic Encounter

Enter the Cosmic Age

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition Is Now Available

Across the universe, countless aliens have taken to the stars, seeking to spread their influence to the far reaches of space. Some might be great diplomats, turning to negotiations to accomplish their goals. Others might be more warlike, attempting to conquer everything in their path. Still others may be ruthless, or cunning, or very, very quirky as they attempt to colonize new planets. No matter what, when these aliens cross paths, anything is possible. The Cosmic Age has begun.

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition is available now at your local retailer or online through our webstore!

Order your own copy of the new edition of Cosmic Encounter at your local retailer or online through our website today!

For more than a generation, Cosmic Encounter has stood the test of time and become an unmitigated classic. Featuring enhanced components, an additional alien species, and several improvements designed to welcome new players, Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition offers you the chance to experience the definitive version of this time-honored game of intergalactic colonization. In every game, you’ll launch your ships through the Hyperspace Gate in bold bids to establish colonies on foreign planets. You’ll forge alliances with other players—and break them just as quickly. And you’ll take advantage of your alien’s unique power. Answer the call of the cosmos and enter the new cosmic age!

Close Encounters

With a diverse cast of aliens, each with its own history and powers, Cosmic Encounter is truly a game of infinite possibilities. The anniversary edition maintains the wacky, fast-paced gameplay that makes the game so memorable, while also adding an extra layer of polish. Featuring beautiful translucent ship pieces, a freshly revised rulebook, a comic-book illustrated Quick-start Guide, and the previously unreleased Demon alien, this new edition is the perfect way to experience Cosmic Encounter.

Over the past few months, we’ve explored every detail of Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition in a series of previews, beginning with a look at the new Cosmic Combo cards introduced in this edition. Each of these 34 cards offers a different mixture of the 51 aliens included in the game, with combos carefully selected to help you create themed matchups and explore different types of games.

Next, we discussed the creation of this new edition with producer Molly Glover. Here, we got a chance to ask Molly what it was like to develop the latest version of an established classic like Cosmic Encounter and hear why she thinks the game has held strong for more than four decades.

Finally, every cosmic conquest has to begin somewhere, and our final preview gave you a look at the new Quick-start Guide included in Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition. While the goal of any game of Cosmic Encounter is to establish colonies on five foreign planets, any number of things can happen in the process of reaching that goal. You could forge or break alliances with other players, research new technology, or use your abilities to outsmart and outmaneuver your opponents—and this guide is an invaluable way to get started on this path. It runs you through every aspect of the game, helping you set up and providing an overview of an encounter. It even helps you get the most out of your alien power by explaining exactly when you can use it!

Into the Gate

Aliens from across the stars are meeting in momentous encounters that will determine the fate of the universe. Now, you can step into the cosmos and experience this classic game of intergalactic conquest for yourself. Enter the cosmos with Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition!

Pick up your copy of Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition (CE01) at your local retailer or online at the Fantasy Flight Games website here!

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Prepare for Hyperspace Jump

Published 30 August 2018 | Cosmic Encounter

Prepare for Hyperspace Jump

Getting Started in Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

Order your own copy of Cosmic Encounter at your local retailer or online through our website today!

The classic game of interstellar exploration, negotiation, and conflict finds new life in Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition! As spaceship zip between distant planets, you seek to lead your civilization to total cosmic dominance by establishing colonies on five planets in foreign systems. Now with new ships, aliens, and matchup customization options, your mission becomes more immerive than ever as you forge and break alliances, research advanced technologies, and use your unique skills to rise above your rivals and earn victory.

It's a wacky and fast-paced race to the finish line, but you must still gather as much information as possible before the race begins to ensure that you are not left in the dust. Today, we're pleased to help you prepare for your grand cosmic conquest with a look at the Quick-Start Guide for Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition—now available for pre-order at your local retailer or online through our website!

Initiate Launch Sequence

Commence Countdown

The time is fast approaching when Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition will land at retailers and draw you back to the classic game of galactic colonization. Now is the time to ready your ship before you jump through the hyperspace gate to unknown planets across the stars. Where will destiny lead you? Build your alliances, plot your betrayals, and ensure your civilization’s dominance across the vast reaches of space!

Look for Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition (CE01) when it becomes the new standard edition in the third quarter of 2018! You can pre-order the new edition at your local retailer today or online through our webstore here!

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A Close Encounter

Published 24 August 2018 | Cosmic Encounter

A Close Encounter

Producer Molly Glover Looks Forward to Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

In the Cosmic Age, spaceships whirl through space, sending alien species across the galaxies to establish colonies and ensure their civilization’s dominance. In Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition, you become the leader of a unique species, guiding them as they take to the stars and use negotiation, betrayal, and war to earn your victory. With advanced technology and your own special abilities, the race is on to establish the colonies needed to ensure interstellar supremacy; but be wary—diplomacy is every bit as important as strength in numbers, and you never know when a friend may become your enemy.

For more than four decades, this classic social game of galactic conquest has delighted players with madcap clashes, colorful characters, and fast-paced gameplay that challenges you to think on your feet and adapt to ever-shifting alliances. Now, as the game evolves into its latest edition, we meet with producer Molly Glover to discuss what awaits in Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition!

Molly Glover on Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

Fantasy Flight Games: When did you first become interested in Cosmic Encounter? What about the game made it resonate with you?

Molly Glover: When I worked in the Sales department, I sold a lot of Cosmic Encounter. That was my first realization of how popular the game is. Then, I worked on The Wars to Come expansion for Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, and I fell in love with the Cosmic Encounter mechanics that were brought over to that game. When I found out I was working on Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition, I was so pleased that I would get to spend time with the original game and its aliens. It was really cool to delve into the game, the expansions, and the FAQ; I learned a lot!

FFG: Forty-two years is quite an anniversary! Why do you think Cosmic Encounter has stuck around?

MG: What Cosmic Encounter brings to the table is a beautiful kind of controlled chaos, and that's not something that's easy to achieve in a board game. It's easy enough to learn the basics of play, but difficult to master all the interactions of the various aliens, flares, technologies, and other abilities; after your first game, you immediately want to play again. Add that to the family-friendly nature of the aliens and the amazing art that goes with them, and you have a game that can truly be enjoyed by all ages. It doesn't surprise me at all that Cosmic Encounter has been a mainstay of gaming for more than four decades.

FFG: What do you think players will enjoy the most about this edition of Cosmic Encounter?

MG: We have this fantastic comic-book-style Quick-Start Guide for brand-new players that takes you through a basic encounter, so you can jump right into playing the game. Plus, the new rulebook is so well organized and easy to use that new and experienced players alike will appreciate it. The new Cosmic Combo cards make setup really easy and can provide fun, thematic challenges with their combinations of aliens. More than anything, though, I think players are going to adore the new translucent spaceships. The colors are really gorgeous, and the ships look so cool on the table.

FFG: What was the most difficult part of developing this latest edition of Cosmic Encounter?

MG: Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition is replacing the previous edition of the Core Set, which means we needed to keep a lot of the game exactly as it was so that it would still be compatible with all of the expansions. However, we also wanted it to feel new and fresh to appeal to experienced players, should they choose to add it to their game collection. All of those expectations required a tricky balancing act! I think we really managed to create a new edition that brings in new players, while providing exciting new aspects and components that make the purchase worthwhile for experienced players.

FFG: Which alien species do you identify with the most?

MG: If we're strictly speaking species traits, probably Mirror. Mostly because I'm bad about directions, but also because I'm good at turning things around so a negative situation can become positive. I also relish symmetry. If we're talking about game mechanics, I definitely identify with Loser. I very rarely win games, but when I do, it's an upset. And I love being able to turn the tables with Loser's power!

FFG: Can you give us any insights into the minds of the Demons?

MG: I would never presume to know such arcane and terrifying things! That said, in my experience, Demon will possess you and then go on their way. It's not an ideal situation, being possessed, but it's nigh impossible to escape. Best not to worry about it and enjoy their presence in your game.

FFG: How do you plan to celebrate when Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition is released?

MG: The only way to celebrate such a thing: gather my friends, grab some snacks, and vie for galactic dominance until the sun comes up!

Bright Lights on the Horizon

Thanks, Molly!

The time is fast-approaching when Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition will land on shelves. Are you ready to launch your ships and begin your cosmic conquest? Form your alliances, build your colonies, and ensure your civilization’s rule across the stars!

Look for Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition (CE01), the new standard version of the classic game, when it hits shelves in the third quarter of 2018 or pre-order your copy at your local retailer or through our website here!

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The Cosmos Is Calling

Published 15 August 2018 | Cosmic Encounter

The Cosmos Is Calling

Preview the Cosmic Combo Cards of Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

Order your own copy of the new edition of Cosmic Encounter at your local retailer or online through our website today!

With Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition, you’re invited to step into the shoes of one of countless aliens and challenge your friends to see who can be the first to establish colonies on five foreign planets. Featuring a revised rulebook, a beautifully illustrated Quick-start Guide and other cosmetic upgrades, this edition brings the wacky, fast-paced world of Cosmic Encounter to a whole new generation of gamers.

A fundamental aspect of this world are the game’s 51 alien species. Each one has its own unique power that interacts differently with all the others, making each game a wholly unique experience. In addition to the other changes, the 42nd Anniversary Edition also includes a set of 34 brand new Cosmic Combo cards offering different mixtures of the game’s 51 aliens. Each card provides a carefully selected list of aliens and brief descriptions of their powers, helping you quickly create themed matchups and explore wildly different types of games.

Join us today as we take a look at two of these cards and the possibilities they open in your games of Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition!

Blast Off

Your games of Cosmic Encounter take place on an ever-shifting landscape, where deals are brokered, alliances are broken as easily as they're formed, and cunning play can be just as useful as brute force. Although encounters between two players are ultimately determined by the highest attack value, each player contributes by launching ships, playing encounter cards, forging alliances with other players, and adding reinforcements, so the interactions surrounding these encounters are rarely so simple. What's more, every alien’s power bends the rules of the game a bit in their favor and, when used properly, can help you secure victory.

For players new to Cosmic Encounter, the Quick-Start Cosmic Combo card provides the perfect introduction to possibilities inherent in every game. The aliens on this card are straightforward and easy to understand while maintaining room for plenty of strategy. With the ability to make the winning side of an encounter lose and the losing side win, the enigmatic Loser immediately shake things up. If the Loser declares an upset before encounter cards are selected, suddenly everything becomes a race to the bottom, with everyone hoping for the lowest total of encounter cards and ships.

This ability gives the Loser a great deal of freedom to adapt their strategy to each encounter. If they’re hoping to lose, there’s no need for them to commit any more than a single ship, lowering the stakes if their attempt ultimately fails. But, if they have high-value encounter cards that can help them win, they can always see it through as normal. Furthermore, because the Loser does not have to declare an upset until after alliances are formed, they can keep their opponents even more off guard.

The Loser may be adept at turning strengths into weaknesses and weaknesses into strengths, but their opponents in this game have plenty of ways to counter them. For example, the Trader could swap hands with the Loser just before selecting encounter cards, stealing away the low-value cards the Loser was planning on using to win the encounter. Similarly, as the Loser tends to like encounter cards with low values, the Clone can simply continue to replicate their attack card with the lowest value, forcing the Loser to find something lower or abandon their plans for an upset.

The Trader can use their ability to trade hands with their opponent before selecting encounter cards!

Things become even more interesting when the game expands beyond three players. As cunning as the Loser may be, the Oracle can always stay one step ahead of them. These beings have developed perceptiveness about the intentions of others over millennia of civilization and can force their opponent to play their encounter card faceup. If they’re lucky, the Oracle will have the perfect card waiting to help them win the encounter.

Similarly, although they don’t have the benefit of seeing their opponent’s encounter card, the Sorcerer can work their magic to switch encounter cards with the other player before they are revealed. Although, this will lead to the occasional backlash of fate, anyone playing against the Sorcerer must proceed with caution, knowing their encounter card could be taken from them at a moment’s notice.

Let’s Get Nuts

With a group of aliens that are easy to use and create many unique possibilities, the Quick-Start Cosmic Combo offers everything you need to take your first steps into the larger Cosmic Encounter universe. If you’re looking for an even more diverse mix of aliens and powers, you can always randomly select another Cosmic Combo card. With the Let's Go Crazy card, for example, you’ll find a mix of aliens who can play off each other’s abilities, creating all sorts of interesting dynamics.

Everything begins with a pair of aliens who are almost never short on cards. Of all the aliens in this game, the Kamikaze might be willing to take the most extreme measures to secure cosmic dominance. They have raised the virtue of self-sacrifice to an artform and are willing to harm themselves in order to gain any advantage they can. If they send ships from their colonies to the warp before selecting an encounter card, the Kamikaze will receive an influx of two new cards for each ship sacrificed. Although these ships will be sorely missed, their lives will be remembered forever if they help secure new colonies for the Kamikaze.

The Kamikaze sends two ships to the warp, allowing it to draw four cards from the deck!

The Kamikaze may have fistfuls of cards, but this won’t necessarily help them win against the Mutant. These beasts evolved on a highly radioactive and unshielded moon, quickly unlocking the secrets of the genetic code itself. With this knowledge, they can regenerate their hand back up to eight cards before inviting allies to join them. Crucially, these cards can come from both the deck and other players, allowing the Mutant to pull some cards away from their opponent or even take a few away from the Kamikaze. So, while the Mutant isn’t likely to make too many friends, their handful of cards will make them a more than worthy opponent.

Cards are useful for winning encounters, of course, but you ultimately need ships to establish colonies on other worlds and the remaining three alien life forms all affect the number of ships the other players have available. Joining the Kamikaze and the Mutant in a three-player game, the Void are on a holy campaign to cleanse the heavens of all material beings. As such, they don’t just send an enemy’s ships to the warp when they win an encounter, they remove them from the game completely.

After losing its encounter and ships to the warp, the Vacuum can bring along an equal number of other ships to the warp.

If the Void reducing the number of ships in play wasn’t enough, with four or more players you’ll also have to contend with Vacuum, who drags other ships along with it to the warp. Of course, this means very little to the Zombie, whose ships never go to the warp, but are returned to their colonies to continue fighting to rule the galaxy. As an added bonus, the Zombie can free other players' ships from the warp, giving them exceptional negotiating power. The Zombie, however, is not immune to Void, who circumvents the warp entirely. The result, as the name of this Cosmic Combo card indicates, is a wild game where nearly everyone will be short on ships, but has the potential to be flush with valuable cards.

As Numerous as the Stars

Thanks to the Precursors, countless alien species now wander the stars, seeking to prove their superiority. Tap into your civilization’s potential and prove that you are the true heirs to those that came before.

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition will become the new, standard version of the game when it releases in the third quarter of 2018!

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Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

Published 25 May 2018 | Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition

Return to the Classic Game of Galactic Colonization

In the far reaches of space, the aliens of the cosmos vie for control of the universe. Alliances are constantly forged and broken in the pursuit of power as starships journey from planet to planet, ready to build colonies and battle foreign powers, ensuring the survival of their people as they spread throughout the stars. Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition!

Now is the perfect time to return to Cosmic Encounter or to experience the classic game of intergalactic colonization for the first time. Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition will become the new standardized version of the game when it hits shelves in the third quarter of 2018, and it remains compatible with all existing Cosmic Encounter expansions. To see the exciting changes that await, read on!

Search the Stars

At the dawn of a forgotten age, the Precursors sought intelligent life in the cosmos, only to discover that they were alone. Feeling the weight of their solitude, they sent the seeds of life to thousands of planets in the hope that sentience would follow. But before they could see the fulfillment of their legacy, they disappeared.

Now, the species that sprung from the Precursors' efforts populate thousands of solar systems, with only the remnants of their creators’ technology to guide them. Without the guiding hand of the elder race, these aliens fall to squabbling amongst themselves and battle for supremacy over the stars. In Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition, as in previous editions of the game, you're invited to become the leader of your own unique alien species, seeking to expand the reach of your civilization across the cosmos. You will launch the spaceships of your fleet through the Hyperspace Gate to reach planets beyond your home system where, with your own cunning and a bit of luck, you just might establish a colony. If you can successfully establish five of your colonies on foreign planets, you will earn victory and your species’ supremacy will be assured!

Extraterrestrial Expansion

As you attempt to colonize beyond the reaches of your home system, you will quickly find that every planet is controlled by someone. In Cosmic Encounter, the planets you target for your colonies are determined by Destiny cards, meaning you may be sent to the home system of a loyal friend or a dire foe, and alliances can shift in an instant. If you wish to establish a colony, you must win over the ruling species, either by negotiating a peace or engaging in conflict. If you succeed, you move closer to victory, but if you fail, you risk not only falling into obscurity, but also falling into the black abyss of space!

Cosmic Encounter is a competitive social game, where diplomacy is every bit as important as numerical strategy. Once you launch your spaceships, you can ask the other players at the table for support in your campaign… but of course, they each have their own goals, and their investment may cause you more harm than good. After the attackers and defenders are declared for conflict or a peace has been negotiated, you and the ruler of your target planet each select an encounter card and play it facedown.

No encounter takes place solely between two players, of course. At this time, every player can weigh in, using their Alien Powers, Artifacts, Reinforcements, or Flares to tip the odds in one side’s favor, allowing alliances to be forged and broken between anyone who wants to be part of the action. If your fleet wins the encounter, you may establish your colony, but if you lose, your ships may be sent into the Warp, trapped until you find a chance to rescue them! The back-and-forth action, surprising moves, and treacherous backstabs of Cosmic Encounter take center stage as every species struggles for supremacy, and we'll take a much closer look at these encounters in future previews!

Customize Your Conquest

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition welcomes new players to the game of infinite possibilities with a freshly revised rulebook and a beautifully illustrated Quick-start Guide that captures the nostalgia of the original game and makes it easy for anyone to learn. The Quick-start Guide’s comic book style throws readers back to the 1970s, providing vital insight into the core rules of the game while embracing the fun of a cosmic conquest filled with wacky aliens and outrageous abilities. What's more, with the beautiful translucent ship pieces (as shown above), spreading your colonies across the galaxy has never been more stylish!

A newly discovered species joins the classic line-up of aliens. You can, of course, play as old favorites such as Mite or Remora, or you can try your hand at leading the ruthless Demon to victory. Previously only released at Cosmic Con, this species was exiled from their original galaxy for unprincipled opportunism. Now they seek cosmic vengeance, using their power to possess other players’ hands to bolster their own strength and sap others’ will to win.

In addition to this monstrous newcomer, Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition offers you new ways to customize your games with the introduction of Cosmic Combo cards. These carefully assembled cards offer a list of alien species with a brief description of their powers to create themed matchups and explore different types of games. You may find yourself among some Big Time Clubbers or Cellar Dwellers, that can be integrated into three, four, or five-player games. Every card spins a new challenge, and with these new options for customization, no two games are ever the same.

Conquer the Cosmos

The infinite possibilities of the cosmos lay before you. Forge your alliances, plan your betrayals, and expand your civilization’s reach to the farthest star.

Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition will become the new, standard version of the game when it releases in the third quarter of 2018!

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Cosmic Eons

Published 10 August 2016 | Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Eons

Announcing a New Expansion for Cosmic Encounter

“Excuse me, sir. I see you’ve only got one ship stationed on this here planet of ours. Well, around here we call that vagrancy, and it’s illegal. So I’m sorry sir, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to write you a ticket.”

The galaxy of Cosmic Encounter, like most galaxies, is constantly changing. Just when you think you’ve explored every corner of it and met most of its aliens, you turn around to find that a new star system has just materialized, full of new species with astonishing, wildly unique customs. You’ve learned that when interacting with a strange alien for the first time, its best not to reveal all of your hand at once. If you want to establish colonies in these recently-formed parts of the galaxy, you’ll have to be conceal your true intentions, negotiate with cunning, and be careful not to put your foot into cross-cultural quicksand—or into your mouth.

Cosmic Eons, an upcoming expansion for Cosmic Encounter, introduces new aliens with abilities unlike any you’ve dealt with so far, but it doesn’t stop there. This expansion features the Hidden Alliances variant, which enables you and your opponents to reveal simultaneously whose side you’re on. With this simple mechanical twist, Cosmic Eons promises not just to open up a new part of the galaxy, but to change how you play the game.

Keep Your Plans Close

In Cosmic Encounter, you have to make friends if you want to establish as many colonies as possible. That doesn’t mean you should trust all your friends, or even stick with them for the whole game. The Hidden Alliances variant makes it possible to engage in all sorts of discussions about whose side to take in the encounter, then only reveal your true intentions at the possible last moment.

When using this variant (which works best with at least four players), you have an alliance dial that shows exactly how many ships you will commit to which side—if you want to get involved in the encounter at all. Once you and your opponents are finished discussing alliances and have determined what they want to do, you place their dials facedown until everyone has made a decision. Then, all at once, you reveal your plans. This simple adjustment creates lots of opportunities for persuasion, deceit, and betrayal, as well as adding another element of suspense to the game.

Keep Your Friends and Enemies Closer

Of course, not all the aliens in the galaxy are your friends. Some may be your enemies, and most will likely switch back and forth between the two. In Cosmic Eons you’ll discover a new genus of aliens that can keep closer tabs on (and has greater power over) both friends and enemies than any aliens before. These are the six aliens able to dole out Essence cards.

Essence cards work slightly differently for each alien, but generally as an alien who has them you can, once per turn, give one out to another alien of your choice. The Essence card then affects the behavior of the alien that you gave it to, perhaps by preventing them from doing something, perhaps by encouraging them toward an action, perhaps by penalizing or rewarding something they’ve done. The Sheriff, for example, can hand out Tickets which force other players to pay fines for certain infractions, such as Loitering, Vagrancy, or Littering. Similarly, the Nanny can give a Consequence to an alien she thinks is likely to behave badly. The Assistant earns rewards for helping out other players by, say, tidying up their Messy Colonies when they ask her to.

Aliens with Essence cards are just a few of those who appear in Cosmic Eons. If you’d rather not hand out Tickets and just want everyone to get along, you can play the Bleeding Heart, who compels players to negotiate rather than fight. The Coward also doesn’t like fighting. He runs away from encounters and earns a reward for each ship the opposing player threatened the Coward with. Or you might be the Moocher, who doesn’t actually have any planets, so he is forced to camp out on couches across the galaxy.

Infinite Possibilities

Cosmic Encounter has always been a game of infinite possibilities. Cosmic Eons allows you to explore more of that infinitude than ever before and interact with the aliens you meet in two entirely new ways. You never know who or what you're going to encounter, and whether they'll deserve a Ticket or just some friendly Help along the way.

You won’t have to wait eons for this expansion to appear, either. Cosmic Eons will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. In the meantime, you can learn more about this timeless game and its current expansions on the Cosmic Encounter minisite.

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Fresh from Outer Space

Published 14 August 2014 | Cosmic Encounter

Fresh from Outer Space

The Cosmic Dominion Expansion for Cosmic Encounter Is Now Available

Cosmic Dominion, the fan-designed expansion for Cosmic Encounter, is now available at your local retailer and in the Fantasy Flight Games online store.

Cosmic Dominion introduces thirty new alien races and accompanying flares, a reward deck for allies filled with game-changing cards, and ship markers that allow players to create their own ship variants. Designed for the fans and by the fans, along with of one of the game’s original designers, Peter Olotka, Cosmic Dominion blasts open the possibilities of Cosmic Encounter game play.

In the announcement for Cosmic Dominion, Peter Olotka and some of the expansion's fan designers – Jefferson Krogh, Bill Martinson, and Jack Reda – shared their insights into the expansion’s unique and collaborative design process. A preview of the expansion’s alien races featured these designers’ comments on their favorite fan-designed aliens and some classic aliens newly revised for Cosmic Dominion. We also announced CosmicCon: an upcoming celebration of Cosmic Encounter to be held in Roseville, MN at the Fantasy Flight Games Center on the weekend of September 19-21.

As you prepare for interplanetary adventure, take a peek at the expansion’s reward deck, special ship variants, and two of its many alien races.

Interstellar Rewards

Cosmic Dominion allows defensive allies to draw rewards from a separate rewards deck containing a variety of enticing cards. From encouraging alliances and multiplying your attack points, to transforming negotiation or allowing a safe retreat from an attack, the cards of the reward deck can wreak havoc with any encounter.

Intimidate cards can draw allies towards you or make yourself a more desirable ally. Played facedown before planning, intimidate cards serve main players as an attack card. If you are not a main player, the intimidate card signals that you would like to be an ally in that encounter. A main player allied to you can then use the intimidate card you played instead of his own encounter card. Main players cannot, however, look at their allies’ facedown intimidate cards before making a choice.

Kicker cards, introduced originally in the Cosmic Incursion expansion, multiply your attack points or the amount of compensation you receive in a negotiation. Unique Negotiate Cards have a variety of effects. If you play Faulty Translator opposite an attack card, you lose the encounter and collect compensation from an opposing ally. Played opposite another negotiate card, it forces you to reach a deal using gestures instead of words, since two aliens seldom speak the same language.

Customized Ships

Colored ship markers included in Cosmic Dominion allow players to create a single special ship in their fleet. Some ship variants are suggested in Cosmic Dominion, but the possibilities for special ships are as vast as the cosmos itself.

You could use the ship marker to create a flagship with three extra attack points in every encounter. Flagships also have a hyperspace drive action, which allows them to speed between colonies, or in and out of encounters, ignoring regular limits on ship movement. Or, you could create a salvage vessel, which allows you to retrieve a card from the discard pile using the salvage vessel’s tractor beam action whenever you like. If you win an encounter with the salvage vessel involved, you can receive two rewards or draw two tech cards, increasing your ability to win future encounters and colonize other planets.

Alien Invasion

Cosmic Dominion brings you face to face with a multitude of aliens, some mischievous, others belligerent, some chaotic, others sly, manipulative, and surprisingly powerful – like the Quartermaster. As the Quartermaster, you regularly supply the rewards to the other players. They may choose which type of reward they want – a ship back from the warp or a card from the reward deck – but the Quartermaster selects which colonies ships return to, or what card a player is dealt. Quartermasters also receive a reward for their hard work whenever their power is used.

The Yin-Yang alien race seeks to establish cosmic balance. Therefore, as the Yin-Yang you can ally with both sides in an encounter, allowing the defense to prevent a ship from falling into the warp or enabling the offense to receive a reward. If a player does not invite you as an ally, you can give them a Yin-Yang token, causing them to lose ships if they defeat an opponent. By creating equality among the other players, the Yin-Yang can protect their own interests and safely expand the boundaries of their empire.

Conquer the Cosmos

From new alien races to the tantalizing reward deck, this fan-designed expansion fuels planet-shaking encounters and player innovations. Whether you prefer to intimidate or retreat, take on a whimsical alien personality or invent a new kind of ship, Cosmic Dominion opens up a universe of possibilities for Cosmic Encounter.

Download the rules from the Cosmic Encounter support page, make your plans for September’s CosmicCon, and pick up your copy of Cosmic Dominion from a local retailer today!

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A Space Ark of Aliens

Published 8 July 2014 | Cosmic Encounter

A Space Ark of Aliens

The Developers of Cosmic Dominion Preview Its Alien Races

Recently, we announced the upcoming release of Cosmic Dominion, the fifth expansion for Cosmic Encounter. Designed for the fans and by the fans, in conjunction with Peter Olotka, one of the game’s original designers, this expansion is a must-have for anyone looking to explore all that the galaxy has to offer.

Chief among the elements that Cosmic Dominion adds to your games of Cosmic Encounter are its alien races. Cosmic Dominion introduces no fewer than thirty alien races, which include a mixture of new aliens and classics redesigned to function within the game’s current edition. No other expansion has introduced as many alien races all at once, and that means you’ll find more wacky new powers and flares in Cosmic Dominion than ever before.

Today, the expansion’s fan designers help you navigate through these new alien races and the options they introduce.

The Fan Designers on Cosmic Dominion’s New Aliens

Jefferson Krogh:

“I'm biased, but my favorite fan-made alien in Cosmic Dominion is Tourist! It combines much of what I love about Cosmic Encounter: whimsy, unpredictability, and sneakiness.”

Jack Reda:

“One of the new aliens I'm most excited about is Reactor, which gambles on playing the game in a slightly different way – one that rewards other players with their super flares. The radioactive Reactor counts on players being greedy for an advantage, opening up a path for Reactor to win the game in an alternate way.”

Bill Martinson:

“I especially like Engineer because it brings the core game’s Technology variant back into focus in a fresh way; it’s fun to play an alien that can have its own twenty-card side-deck. There actually were two different Engineers submitted, and we realized that the gameplay from one made a nice marriage with the alien history of the other.

“I'd also have to give a shout out to Joker. This little harlequin probably experienced more life-changing events during development than just about any other alien in the set. It actually ended up as a marriage between two completely different designs that came together nicely, while spawning off some cute little baby joker tokens, one of which ties into a brand-new card type in the new reward deck.”

The Fan Designers on Cosmic Dominion’s Revised Classics

Jefferson Krogh:

“For the classic aliens, it must be said that the three of us were guided by a poll Peter Olotka ran a couple of years ago. The poll asked fans which of the classic aliens they would most like to see republished. Since Cosmic Dominion is a fan expansion, we let the fans guide us on those selections.

“The classic alien I was most excited to revive was Mesmer. I love Mesmer because I love artifacts – though they were called edicts back in the day – and Mesmer lets me play with all of them! The only thing we needed to change was the super flare. Originally, that let you play any wild flare as if it were any other wild flare you could name. With over 160 different wild flares now in the game, that just seemed unwieldy, so we decided to focus the Mesmer super flare back on artifacts.”

Jack Reda:

“I was also very glad to see Mesmer finally added to the lineup. It’s an amazing alien to play, and one that I feel was long overdue. Mesmer’s inclusion was notably a nice excuse to introduce a brand new artifact to the game and bring back a few more of the classic edicts that had yet to be made into artifacts.

“Another classic alien that underwent a bit of revising was Laser. While clearly powerful and unique, the original Laser was guilty of robbing its opponents of a lot of decision making. The new version of Laser takes the power to Blind in a new direction, randomly selecting a number cards that its opponent can no longer play for the rest of the encounter.”

Bill Martinson:

“Like my partners in crime (and many other fans, no doubt), I am overjoyed to see Mesmer make its way into the FFG universe. It’s one of the most-loved classic aliens and really deserves to be part of the best edition of the game that’s ever been published. Jefferson mentioned the minimal tweaking it received, which reflects our desire to be as faithful as possible to the original designs of these favorites, while promoting more great gameplay in the modern Cosmic Encounter universe.

“Another classic favorite on my happy-radar is Aristocrat. It's a simple, obvious pleasure to play. Cherry-pick your starting hand and then get fresh flares all the time; who could resist that? We tweaked it a little to keep your analysis-paralysis buddy from taking too long to pick his starting hand in the Game Setup phase, and we also revised the Super flare to make it a one-shot with a potentially big payoff that takes the power’s ongoing game effect to a higher level.”

Conquer the Cosmos

You’ll find an astounding array of wacky new powers and flares among the thirty alien races of Cosmic Dominion. Each of them allows you to break the game’s rules in an all-new way, and as a group they further ensure that you’ll never play the same game twice. Plus, if you’re cunning and ruthless enough, these fan-favorite aliens will give you a wealth of new tools to surprise your rivals and colonize their planets.

Take your next step toward cosmic supremacy. Head to your local retailer today to pre-order your copy of Cosmic Dominion!

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Cosmic Dominion

Published 22 May 2014 | Cosmic Encounter

Cosmic Dominion

Announcing a Fan-Designed Expansion for Cosmic Encounter

The forces in the Cosmos have grown. New aliens have appeared, and with their arrival, the tensions between all races have never been higher. Who will reign in this crowded Cosmos? Only time will tell.

Fantasy Flight Games is pleased to announce the upcoming release of Cosmic Dominion, the fifth expansion for Cosmic Encounter… an expansion that goes further than ever before to acknowledge the game’s debt to its enthusiastic and imaginative community of fans!

In this fan-designed expansion, thirty new aliens blast their way onto your tabletop. Chock full of fan-favorite aliens, wacky new powers and flares, and a brand-new reward deck, Cosmic Dominion will have you and your friends competing to determine once and for all who rules the galaxy. Four new variants allow you to modify the classic Cosmic Encounter experience, and new ship markers allow players to create their very own variants.

Designed for the fans and by the fans – in conjunction with Peter Olotka, one the game’s original designers – Cosmic Dominion is a must-have for anyone hoping to explore all that the game’s cosmos has to offer!

Thirty New Aliens

Cosmic Dominion features thirty new aliens, the most an expansion has ever offered. With all the fan favorites and zany new powers among them, you’re sure to find an alien among the bunch to play as you endeavor to take over the galaxy.

From the Doppelgänger and its haunting presence to the Alchemist with its transmutative abilities, the thirty new aliens in Cosmic Dominion represent the fan community’s collective contributions and offer an assortment of unique approaches to claiming dominion over the galaxy.

You can use the Privilege of the Aristocrat to leverage your way to victory, or embrace the Pickpocket’s sneaky methods to Lift cards from your opponents. Raid fellow players when you play as the Pirate, or Discover the galaxy as the Explorer.

For more about the origins of Cosmic Dominion and the fan community’s involvement in the creation of the expansion’s thirty new alien races, we present you with a few words from Peter Olotka.

Peter Olotka on the Development of Cosmic Dominion

Cosmic Encounter has always been about breaking the rules, so it stands to reason that the game should break the rules about designing expansion sets. In this case, the rule that only the designers and publishers would create new expansion sets was broken by the Cosmic Encounter fans!

The design process took a couple of years and was organized online. Roughly eighty fans are cited in the Cosmic Dominion rules for playtesting and development, about twenty of whom are cited for Alien Design. The credits for Expansion Design and Development also go to fans: Jefferson Krogh, Bill Martinson, and Jack Reda.

In addition to new aliens, the fans decided the set should include fan updates of some of the original Eon Products aliens that were left out of the FFG version.

The design process evolved as it went along. Initially Bill Eberle, another original Cosmic Encounter designer, and I participated by adding our own ideas to the mix and critiquing the work of the fans. That process did not work. We were getting in the way and defeating the purpose of the fan set, so we bowed out and pulled our ideas out of the mix. I converted my role into a liaison between the fans and FFG.

Jeff, Bill, and Jack then buckled down and did an astonishing amount of work to wrangle a Space Ark of aliens down to thirty. They also created a considerable amount of other new content as well.

Within this new, ever-expanding universe, there will now be 165 Aliens. That makes 29,772,765 different four-player alien combinations. So unless you are the Zombie with the power of impartiality, while you are not going to play them all, you’ll never have to play the same game twice.

I want to publicly thank all of the thousands Cosmic Encounter players who in one way or another participate in this one-of-a-kind endeavor.

On behalf of the fans of Cosmic Encounter, I would also like to thank FFG CEO Christian T. Petersen, VP of Research & Design Corey Konieczka, Producer Jason Walden, and all the other good folks at Fantasy Flight Games for trusting this project to the Cosmic Encounter players!

Thoughts from the Fan Designers of Cosmic Dominion

Longtime fans of Cosmic Encounter, Jefferson Krogh, Bill Martinson, and Jack Reda took their love of the game to an unprecedented level with their work on Cosmic Dominion. Like Peter Olotka, each of them was inspired to offer some words about the process of working on this unique fan-created expansion.

Jefferson Krogh:

“I love Cosmic Encounter because I never know where it will take me, and it evokes a sense of wonder and humor that's rare in real life. Now it's taken me to where I had the chance to work with other people to help design Cosmic Encounter, and it's like the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I'm not sure how I got here, or what really happened, but I know that it's been intensely cool and mind-blowing.”

Bill Martinson: “You'd think after all these decades of adoring fans stretching, twisting, flip-flopping, and transmogrifying the game system (which somehow remains as resilient as ever) we would've seen it all. But it's a big cosmos, and we were amazed by players' ingenuity again and again. Having so much great material to choose from made it a privilege and a pleasure to help guide it all into yet another eclectically fun, serious, whimsical, and fun expansion set for the best board game on the planet!”

Jack Reda:

“There are so many things to enjoy about Cosmic Encounter, and each fan brings a perspective about what he or she likes best. It was fun and rewarding to be exposed to so many varying effects, and to help shepherd everything to the end product.”

Variants in the Cosmos

In addition to its thirty new Aliens, Cosmic Dominion introduces special ship markers that allow players to enjoy a range of variant play options as they compete for control of the galaxy.

The Flagship Variant grants players the ability to add a plus three to encounters in which their flagships are involved, while the Salvage Vessel variant rewards players for involving their Salvage Vessel in encounters, allowing them to receive two rewards or draw two tech cards (if in use) and choose one to keep.

Moreover, the new special ship markers are also designed to allow players to create their own variants, and you will be encouraged to browse the different variants, as well as contribute your own, in a special ship marker variants thread that we will add later to our community forums.

Brand New Rewards

Cosmic Dominion also includes a brand new reward deck as part of one of the expansion’s new variants. This new reward deck includes several brand new types of cards, as well as more of the new cards types introduced in previous expansions.

You’ll find new Intimidate cards that may turn the tide of encounters before they begin, and Retreat cards which allow players to completely avoid conflict. Meanwhile, Rift and Kicker cards, similar to those found in the Cosmic Incursion expansion, offer a wider variety of game effects to shake up the galaxy.

Claim Dominion!

In our upcoming previews, we’ll explore more of the new aliens, ship variants, and rewards coming to Cosmic Encounter in Cosmic Dominion.

This fan-designed expansion is scheduled to make its way to your galaxy late in the third quarter of 2014. Until then, keep checking back for more news and previews, and keep an eye to our Facebook page, where we’ll spoil aliens not shown on our website!

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The Storm Has Come

Published 19 August 2013 | Cosmic Encounter

The Storm Has Come

The Cosmic Storm Expansion Is Now Available for Cosmic Encounter

The galaxy is trembling as twenty-five new aliens burst onto the scene. The Cosmic Storm expansion for Cosmic Encounter is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore. With its new aliens, the addition of Space Stations, and the new win condition of the Space Station Conquest variant, Cosmic Storm ensures the universe will never be the same!

New Aliens

Across the vast expanse of the cosmos, strange quakes and startling explosions make the galaxy an even more dangerous place to wage war. In Cosmic Storm, twenty-five new alien races are making themselves known in the interstellar clash for control.

Will you grump as the Grumpus, threaten the galaxy as the Brute, or hold your territory as the rocksteady Bulwark? Maybe, you’ll even take over the galaxy as the Sloth… eventually.

The wide variety of new aliens and their powers greatly expands your games of Cosmic Encounter, offering new strategies and entertaining new encounters.

Space Stations

Cosmic Storm also adds space stations, which attach to one of your home planets and give you additional powers to use in your encounters!

Additionally, the new Space Station Conquest variant introduces a new win condition as players work to conquer their rivals’ space stations. Each space station you steal in this variant not only grants you its powers, but moves you closer to victory.

Space stations are compatible with all previous expansion variants, so no rules have to be changed to include them.

Batten Down the Hatches

New galactic turmoil has arrived. You can prepare yourself for the new challenges of Cosmic Storm by reading our previews. In them, designer Jay Little offers a few words, and we explore several new aliens and their powers. You further prepare yourself by downloading the rules (pdf, 520 KB). Then, once you’re prepared, pick up your copy of Cosmic Storm from your local retailer, set up your space station, and launch into a new wave of galactic disturbances and epic encounters!

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Four New Faces

Published 25 July 2013 | Cosmic Encounter

Four New Faces

A Preview of the Upcoming Cosmic Storm

Across the cosmos, warring races fight for galactic domination. With the approaching Cosmic Storm, an expansion for Cosmic Encounter, twenty-five new aliens join the battle for interstellar supremacy. In earlier previews, we looked at the space station variant introduced in Cosmic Storm, and we heard from designer Jay Little about his experience working on this expansion.

Today, we will introduce four more aliens who will come blasting out of the upcoming Cosmic Storm and on to your gaming table.

The Sloth

The Sloths will eventually arrive in force to take over the sector. Any time now. Just wait for it. They should be here soon.

The ‘Laziest in the Galaxy’ title certainly belongs to the Sloths, likely placing them in the running for ‘Laziest in the Universe.’ Indeed, the Sloths fully intend on conquering the galaxy and ruling over the Cosmos. However, with the power of Laziness, the Sloths often have a hard enough time even sending a few ships into battle. When a Sloth is the offense or an ally, instead of sending ships to an encounter, the Sloth sends the Sloth token instead. Only after encounter cards are selected can you count on the Sloth ships to show up. That is, of course, if they show up at all.

The Tide

The Tide’s cultural philosophy is simple: go with the flow. From an early age, members of the Tide’s army are trained to react and respond to even the slightest change of plans. While some may consider the Tide’s approach to military and diplomatic matters wishy-washy, the Tide seem resolute to vacillate on issues and continue to change their minds at a moment’s notice.

The Tide are excellent at letting a situation play out, and responding to its changing variables. The Tide don’t let anything keep them down for long, because in their experience, circumstances are always shifting.

With the power to Ebb and Flow, the Tide adds tokens to his alien sheet each time he wins an encounter, and the Tide player and each of his allies can draw one card for each token on the sheet. Conversely, when a Tide player loses an encounter, he discards one of the tokens from his alien sheet, and the opposing player and allies must discard one card for each token on the sheet. The Grumpus

The Grumpus is indeed a stodgy curmudgeon. Other species prefer not to interact with the Grumpi, lest they be drawn into a long-winded conversation about how the Universe was better back in their millennium. And be careful where you tread when visiting the Grumpus home world; they cannot stand it when there are aliens on their lawn.

The Grumpus, as a race, has been around the proverbial space station, and could tell you a thing or two about these new-fangled alien technologies. Pull up a chair, sonny, because the Grumpus, naturally, have the power to Grump. Any time one of the Grumpus’ colonies is removed from a planet, the grumping begins. Every other player with a ship on that planet must send one ship to the warp, because, let’s face it, a trip to the warp is preferable to listening to the Grumpus pout and complain. The Brute

What the Brutes lack in subtlety, they make up for in simplicity. They tend to be an aggressive race, with blunt, thuggish tactics where they can use their strength and massive frames to intimidate any opposition in their way.

The Brutes are a fairly straightforward species of alien, and interaction with a Brute is relatively easy. Simply give them whatever they request, and allow them to move on to someone more fun to intimidate. Brutes have the power to Threaten, and they are very, very good at painting a picture of what might happen should one not comply. Though Brutes aren’t big on words, their gigantic fists, determined attitudes, and overall intimidating appearance is usually enough to get a Brute what he wants.

As a main player or ally, a Brute may use his power to Threaten an opposing player. No one says no once they have been threatened by a Brute, so that player must allow the Brute to look at his hand and choose a card for himself. Or, the Brute can choose to remove all ships that player has committed to that encounter.

These four aliens aren’t the only ones who will emerge from the upcoming Cosmic Storm. Keep checking back here for more on which aliens will be included, and more information on Cosmic Storm. Also, be sure to check out our Facebook page, where we will be previewing aliens included in Cosmic Storm that won’t be discussed on our website!

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A Cosmic Collaboration

Published 18 July 2013 | Cosmic Encounter

A Cosmic Collaboration

A Preview of Cosmic Storm by Jay Little

The release of Cosmic Storm, the newest expansion for Cosmic Encounter, is coming soon. Expansion designer Jay Little took the time to share his thoughts about his work on the upcoming Cosmic Storm, and becoming part of the Cosmic Encounter legacy.

A Word from the Designer

Getting to work on Cosmic Encounter was an incredibly important milestone in my design career. I've been playing Cosmic Encounter for more than twenty years, and it is far and away my favorite board game of all time. It's hard to explain just how special it was to be able to work on a game that's been so influential to my life as both a player and a designer. It fits my free-wheeling, social style of gameplay better than anything else I've ever come across. I still have dozens of hand-written index cards featuring alien powers my friends and I designed ever since I was first introduced to the game.

During Cosmic Storm's development, one of the real treats for me was being able to work with Peter Olotka and Bill Eberle, two of the original designers for Cosmic Encounter. Throughout the development process, Peter and Bill were incredibly helpful and made themselves available to brainstorm ideas, offer feedback, and share anecdotes from the long, storied history of Cosmic Encounter. I was already enthusiastic going into the project, but the support Peter, Bill, and the dedicated play testers provided kept me energized and focused throughout.

Even with my experience with the game, there were several surprises along the way. For example, designing alien powers is a much more complex, time-intensive process than I think most people (myself included) might expect. With one hundred existing alien powers, new aliens had to provide a distinct and novel feel. And with twenty-five alien powers in Cosmic Storm, when previous expansions included twenty alien powers, adding twenty-five percent more awesome alien goodness required even more careful design and thought.

As a long-time player and as a game designer, I was surprised by how some of the simplest concepts could be difficult to articulate in a way that made them fit into the game's mechanics while delivering the sort of gameplay experience Cosmic Encounter players have come to expect. One of the fun design challenges was choosing a number of those home-brewed alien powers my friends and I had designed so many years ago, then updating and refining them to fit into the game. My old gaming buddies got a real kick out of it when I told them some of our fan made powers were going to be featured in Cosmic Storm.

Then there are the inside jokes and humor. Cosmic Encounter is a blend of strategy and social gaming, but it is also a bit of a parody of more traditional games. There are a number of games that take themselves far more seriously than Cosmic Encounter – after all, one of the defining elements of Cosmic is that it is a game all about breaking its own rules. It can be bizarre, extreme, wacky, and even unbalanced. It can feature a session where everyone at the table shares a win. It can produce unpredictable and unforeseen events based on two crazy effects running into each other. Victory can be snatched from the jaws of defeat, or quashed with a well-timed betrayal.

More than any other game I've played, Cosmic Encounter creates game sessions people talk about for years to come. I'm hoping my contributions to Cosmic Encounter can have that same effect, and offer years of entertainment and enjoyment to the game's passionate players.

Thanks, Jay! Below, we share two of Jay’s aliens who will burst onto the scene in Cosmic Storm!

Dervish

The constant whirling and high-speed revolution of the Dervishes make them unpredictable and chaotic. In fact, their undulations have been known to make some aliens queasy. Dervishes delight in bold sweeping tactics and surprises in combat, sometimes turning their opponents’ resources against them.

Always in motion, the Dervish swirls its way through the galaxy, turning the tables on its opponents. With the power to Whirl, the Dervish can determine whether he would like to whirl clockwise or counterclockwise. Then, each player involved in the encounter must pass his hand of cards in that direction to the next player in the encounter.

Converter

The versatility of the Converters makes them highly prized as manufacturers and business partners. They can take virtually any piece of technology and change it into something completely different. Some theorize that they eat the original materials, creating some suspicion about how the new materials appear.

The Converter is skilled at adapting to a given scenario. With its power to Exchange, the Converter can discard cards in order to keep ships from the warp, and draw cards instead of retrieving ships from the warp!

Keep checking back for more previews as you prepare for a Cosmic Storm! Also, be sure to check out our Facebook page, where we will be previewing aliens included in Cosmic Storm that won’t be discussed on our website!

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Prepare for a Cosmic Storm

Published 12 July 2013 | Cosmic Encounter

Prepare for a Cosmic Storm

A Preview of Cosmic Storm, an Upcoming Expansion for Cosmic Encounter

Get ready for some turbulence in the galaxy with Cosmic Storm, an upcoming expansion for Cosmic Encounter! This new addition sets the galaxy trembling as twenty-five alien races come zipping through the cosmos to join the fray. Space stations are an added variant that allow players to enhance their home worlds. Each space station has a unique ability that can be harnessed as you battle for intergalactic supremacy.

Today, we’ll take a closer look at the Space Station variant in Cosmic Storm, as well as two other ways to play with the new space stations. Then, we’ll take a look at two of the alien races vying for galactic control!

Set Up a Space Station

Prepare to conquer the cosmos by setting up a space station. This variant allows each you to draw one of the space station cards and then attach the corresponding Space station to one of your home worlds. Each of the ten stations has a unique ability that can be utilized as long as you have at least one ship on the planet the station is attached to. Space stations can be traded as part of negotiations,

Space station abilities like the Big Space Laser or Alien Outpost add even more exciting options for decision making. The Alien Outpost allows you to gain an additional alien power.

If you control the Big Space Laser station, you can add 10 to any encounter in which you are a main player, and don’t have allies, making you force to be reckoned with.

Space stations are compatible with all other published variants, so they can be integrated with your favorite Cosmic Encounter expansions! What’s more, space stations can be incorporated into your game in several different ways. If playing with five or fewer players, each player can take two space station cards, and attach two space stations to their home worlds. This gives you access to an additional space station powers to use as you attempt to take over the galaxy!

The Space Station Conquest variant introduces a new win condition – the first player to acquire five space stations is the winner. In this variant, players can conquer space stations by winning offensive encounters outside of their home system. If a planet has a space station attached, the offensive player may remove it, and attach it to one of his own home planets that doesn’t yet have a space station attached.

Chow Down on the Competition

Although considered more of an annoyance than a genuine threat, the Mouth can devastate the unwary with its constant eating. Anything within reach of a Mouth will likely be swallowed whole in the blink of an eye. Objects too large for a single bite will be systematically devoured to satisfy its voracious hunger.

Meet the Mouth, the gluttonous, always-hungry alien species with the power to Gobble. The voracious Mouths eat everything in their path, and their ability allows them to snack on cards that would be discarded. As a Main Player, any card that would be discarded by their opposition gets gobbled up and placed on their Alien sheet. Once five or more cards pile on the sheet, the Mouth can belch up one of the cards and place it in his hand during the Resolution phase.

This Planet Isn’t Big Enough for the Both of Us

The Outlaws are rightly feared throughout the great expanses of space. They arrive in a fury of laser blasts, explosions, and angry threats. Their victims barely have time to react before the Outlaws have swept through a sector, pillaging and stealing loot as they go.

The laser-gun-toting, big-talking Outlaws and their power to Waylay are certainly rustling up a disturbance in the cosmos. As the Main Player, an Outlaw can take a random card from his opponent, and anyone allied against him. These cards are added to the Outlaw’s hand, giving him greater selection as he storms through the galaxy on his quest for galactic domination.

Play as the perpetually hungry Mouth, the gunslinging Outlaw, or one of the other new aliens included in Cosmic Storm, the upcoming expansion for Cosmic Encounter! But before that, keep checking back for more news and previews for Cosmic Storm.

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A Storm in the Galaxy

Published 5 June 2013 | Cosmic Encounter

A Storm in the Galaxy

Announcing Cosmic Storm, an Upcoming Expansion for Cosmic Encounter

Across the vast expanse of the cosmos, strange quakes and startling explosions make the galaxy an even more dangerous place to wage war. New alien races are making themselves known in the interstellar clash for control. Set up space stations to boost your skills, then prepare for galactic disturbances and more epic encounters than ever before.

Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce Cosmic Storm, the fourth expansion for Cosmic Encounter! This new addition sets the galaxy trembling as twenty-five new alien races come zipping through the cosmos. Guard yourself against the sticky-fingered Swindler, and stand in awe of the massive appetite of the Mouth.

Cosmic Storm also adds space stations, which when attached to one of your home planets, gives you additional powers to use in your encounters!

Batten Down the Hatches

Prepare for the upcoming galactic turmoil by setting up a space station on one of your home planets. This variant allows each player to draw one of ten space station cards and then attach the corresponding space station to one of their home worlds. Each of the ten stations has a unique ability that can be harnessed as long as a player has at least one ship on the planet the station is attached to.

Space station abilities like the Big Space Laser or the Alien Outpost shake up interstellar encounters, and provide even more options for players to maximize their options on their quest for galactic supremacy!

Space stations are also compatible with all previous expansion variants, so no rules have to be changed to include them.

Meet the Bulwarks

The toughness of the Bulwarks is legendary. They think nothing of facing overwhelming odds or throwing themselves into the thick of battle, knowing they have the ability to endure nearly any hardship. The Bulwarks can also be as thick-headed as they are thick-skinned.

The Bulwarks are just one of twenty-five new alien races bursting into the galaxy and entering the chase to become ruler of the cosmos. Incredibly tough and strong, the Bulwarks are widely known for their Resilience, a power which allows them to withstand even the most brutal battles.

With the help of this power, any time a Bulwark would lose ships to the warp, they can reduce the number of ships lost to one, making them incredibly difficult to defeat. Brace yourself for the upcoming Cosmic Storm! Equip your home world with a space station, choose your alien race, and prepare for the strange and exciting altercations that can only occur in Cosmic Encounter! Meanwhile, keep checking back here for more news about Cosmic Storm!

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Time to Party!

Published 1 March 2012 | Cosmic Encounter

Time to Party!

Cosmic Alliance, an expansion for Cosmic Encounter, is now on sale

Cosmic Alliance, the third expansion for Cosmic Encounter, is now available at your local retailer and on our webstore! This new addition to the beloved game of galactic politics brings 20 alien races, both original and classic, exploding onto your tabletop. Players will now stand petrified by the hideous Gorgon, be baffled by the puzzle of the Schizoid, and feel obsolete before the bionics of the Cyborg.

Cosmic Alliance also makes the Cosmos even bigger, adding another player as well as rules for large eight-player games (if you own all three expansions). Finally, Cosmic Alliance introduces a new variant – team rules, which allow steadfast allies to dominate the Cosmos together!

Let’s get this party started

The optional Team Cosmic variant places players in randomly determined teams of two, in which they’ll attempt to conquer the Cosmos cooperatively. Without discussing their race selection in advance, partners sit opposite each other at the table, where they can occasionally offer a helping hand; whenever a player gains a new foreign colony, he can choose to instead gift that colony to his partner.

The Lightning Alien sheet. Click to enlarge.

But be careful! While each player is still responsible for his own victory condition, neither partner can claim a win until both partners can. It’ll take teamwork and clever play to rule the galaxy together. Will you carry the alliance, or ride the coattails of your partner? Will your alien abilities form an unstoppable synergy, or will you be at constant odds?

It's a big galaxy

Whether or not you choose to divide into teams, the new eight-player rules are ready to make your games of Cosmic Encounter even more epic. Players who own all three expansions (Cosmic Incursion, Cosmic Conflict, and Cosmic Alliance) can broaden the galaxy like never before, creating the perfect option for large parties of Cosmic Encounter fans.

Are you ready to be a team player? For more on Cosmic Alliance, check out our series of previews or download the complete rules (pdf, 996 KB) from the support page. Then, head to your local retailer and join the party!

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Serving Up Victory

Published 21 February 2012 | Cosmic Encounter

Serving Up Victory

Cosmic Alliance, an expansion for Cosmic Encounter, is coming next week!

From the time their ancestors crawled out of the crystal blue sea on a paradisiacal world under a particularly lucky sun, the Winners have always been incredibly fortunate. Random factors have a bizarre tendency to go their way, and the stars always seem to shine down just a little bit brighter on them. Now, as they casually sail out into the Cosmos under a favorable solar wind, they know that they will soon take their place as the rulers of the Universe. After all, they’re Winners – it’s what they do.

Cosmic Alliance, the much-anticipated expansion for Cosmic Encounter, will be on store shelves late next week!

For those who haven’t followed our previews so far, we’ve already met the fun-loving Animal and charismatic General, versatile Cyborg and pint-sized Pygmy, and the toxic Poison and vampiric Sting. We’ve also seen the rules for Cosmic Alliance (pdf, 996 KB), which are now available on our support page. Today, we’re pleased to present the final preview in our series, in which we’ll reveal the alien sheets for the highly fortunate Winner and the ever-obsequious Butler.

Duh, winning!

If the object of the game is to win, then this alien is a no-brainer: he wins more. The stars always seem to align for these fortune-favored spacefarers, and “Overkill” simply isn’t in their vocabulary. If they win an encounter by 10 or more, they can gain one free colony on a planet in any system!

Click the image above to enlarge.

Will there be anything else, sir?

With a far more subtle approach to galactic domination, the Butlers are a race of interstellar servants who harbor a secret desire to lead. This classic alien must (courteously) perform all menial tasks at the table, whether it’s flipping cards or looking up rules (depending on your game group, your Butler may even open soda cans, fetch pizza, or warm your seat while you visit the restroom... go nuts!). Just be careful; should the house of Butt ever rule the Cosmos, there will be a reckoning.

Click the image above to enlarge.

With 20 new and classic alien races and rules for an additional player, Cosmic Alliance expands your battle for the Cosmos in exciting new ways. Head to your local retailer late next week to grab your copy!

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