Required information
price: $ 69.99/£ 69.99
Publisher: Fantasy flight game
Type: strategy
Player: 3-5
Recommended Age: 14+
Per game time: 1-2 hours
Complexity: 5/10
The cosmic encounter space board is an experienced of the gaming style. The first edition came in 1977, the same year original Star wars It is released, which is fitting because this game is about fighting wars between all stars. The most recent edition of the game is since 2008 … a little. These days you are likely to see in stores, which is the Rerelaze of 2018 that came up with new art and a new alien race, but it is the same game as the 2008 version otherwise.
The easiest way to describe cosmic is that it is a risk in space, but it almost fixes everything that is also wrong with risk on the way. Three to five players take control of each foreign race, chosen from the roster of 51 different species. You each is given five planets and a simple mission – convert those five planets into ten. You will fight it using the card counted with other players and, as you expect, will win in large numbers. However, these are foreign races that provide immense depth and recurrence to the cosmic encounter that has made it a head Best Space Board Games List to close in 50 years.
Each race has its own special rule that breaks the game wildly in some specific way, which gives them a big benefit. This is balanced with the fact that everyone has their own broken power, and these have these conflict abilities that make some of the most stressful and strategic moments in board gaming.
Cosmic encounter: what is in box and set-up
Establishing a game of cosmic encounter is a simple case. Basic mode is advised for beginners, although there is also an advanced mode for experienced players to add some variety.
The main rule is very simple to follow with the book, explaining the set-up quickly and briefly. A Quick-Start guide is also written in the style of a comic book with multiple races of the game, interpreting the game. It is cute, but honestly is very difficult to follow the actual rule book, so I would advise you to just stick to him.
Players choose a color and set the components of the respective color in front of them – 5 planets, 20 spaceships and a colony marker. Spaceships are adorable small UFOs that stack the disturbances of pieces from top of each other to minimize, which is a great design idea that can with focus on other sports.
The taunt marker (which acts as a spaceship cemetery and score tracker) is placed in the center of the sports area and everyone keeps their colony marker in zero position. Next, you will set two decks of the card – Destiny Deck and Cosmic Deck – somewhere.
That is everything for everyone to choose a kind of foreign caste for everyone. If you are playing the original mode, you can use the preset card that coincides with five foreign races that are complementary to each other to create an interesting, but some balanced experience. Advanced players can actually choose a race from a pool of 51 to create an chaotic battle.
Alien race cards are kept face-up on the table so that everyone can see them. Each card comes with rollplayers, some beautiful artwork, and a fun backstory for a section that explains their unique ability. A simple version of their rule at the top of the card is reverse, so the protesting players can quickly remind of their specific rules. I like it, because it keeps flowing the game without players, which constantly stops each other to ask “what was your rule again?”.
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Once everyone’s own foreign race is resolved, each player is dealt with eight-cards from the cosmic deck with an early hand. Now you are ready to start a fight for cosmic domination. Official rules say that the youngest player goes first, but feels free to ignore this rule and simply rands the first player (otherwise your group’s youngest player will always go first).
Cosmic encounter: playing a game
Playing a cosmic encounter is as easy as installing it. Its purpose is to catch the five enemy planets, and you do this by sending them out to win them. Unlike sports like sports, you don’t get to choose from whom you are struggling with. Instead, you attract from the Destiny Deck and the fate decides who your opponent will be at every turn. It is a great system that avoids the strategy of ganging that is prevalent at risk. You can’t choose the weakest player, you go where the Destiny tells you to go.
Once the Destiny has chosen her goal for you, you indicate the hyperspace gate tokens on one of your planets and send four ships to attack them. Both players can then start with colleagues, starting with the attackers. Many players can share the conquered world, so there are real benefits to teaming, but you also want to be careful that you do not help anyone else, which is far from the ladder to win.
The winners are determined by the number of ships on each side of the fight, with the card of the encounter. These cards have a number between 0 – 40. Once all the vessels are assembled for both sides, each chief player (ie no colleague) faces a encounter card. Players then flip the card and combine their total ships and card numbers together – whatever wins the higher number in the side. The ships on the losing side go into the taunt and if the attackers wins, they achieve a colony, leading Vijay Tracker to a notch. If you win as the main attacker, you can choose to attack again and draw a second Destiny card, but after that, win or defeat, it’s on the next player.
And this is the basics of the game. It is simple with joy … is very simple in itself, but it is where foreign abilities come, which gives some very important depth and strategy for action. Foreign abilities are wild and break down badly in many isolation. The mind can look at the hands of his opponent, the gambler said what his encounter is the card, and the loser fights them. And 51 of these epic capabilities are! As a result, an inadvertent number of combinations means that no two games will feel the same. I have played dozens of games in the cosmic encounter and each of them felt fresh and different – many board games cannot.
Game design is often a delicate balance, in which the creators are trying to ensure that every capacity is fair and balanced. The cosmic encounter threw everyone out of the window, ‘Endrome from the perspective of incredible – When everyone is super, no one will be.
Beyond foreign capabilities, there are some other card types that can throw a spanner in tasks. The cosmic deck along with the counted encounter card also has artifacts, reinforcement and interaction cards. After the encounter card surfaced, the reinforcement cards can add additional bonuses to a combat score, while the artifacts trigger powerful uniform effects when played. The dialogue card lets you get some compensation in the necklace (and if both players play a dialogue card, they have to invest their money where they have their mouths and make a deal against the clock – if they cannot agree, they lose both ships).
If you choose to play with advanced rules, there are also techniques that you can do research and powerful inflammatory cards that trigger special effects, which anyone can use, even more powerful with a specific race with more powerful versions if played by a specific race. All these add additional variety to all sports, with even more equipment to screw the players with each other.
The end result is a game that hits the amazing sweet space of being easier to learn and difficult to master. Knowing how to fight and win is one thing, but know when to call the colleagues, when to use their reinforcement card, when to spend artifacts, and even knowing when and simply to lose a fight to save their resources is the key to winning. It provides a lot of recurrence for the cosmic encounter, which is undoubtedly survived in a form or another for about 50 years. You can bolt even one or more Seven expansion To give more spices to your gameplay.
When it comes to playing a cosmic encounter my only real complaint, it suffers from an issue similar to sports like Manchkin – the player who gets closer to winning first, gets rid of all the people, as they are trying to stop all their cards and ships from spending. This means that the second place behind them often stops for victory, resulting in an anti-climatic final fight.
Should you buy a cosmic encounter?
If you are interested in space and science-fi board games, the cosmic encounter should be a part of your collection. It is easy to take and play, which means that you can present new players quickly. It provides such a immense depth and diversity that the veterans will enjoy for years without getting bored.
Every player who fights is a stroke of genius that prevents people who feel bad moments where players give gangs on weak players, kicking them when they are down. Instead, the cosmic encounter is a true free-for-all and, for my money, is one of the best board games so far.
If the cosmic encounter is not for you?
Want little more diplomacy and politics in your Ganges victory? Then Twilight Imperium is a space board game for you. Think of it as a game of mixed risk with the United Nations Security Council meeting. It is expensive and each game will take you a full day to play, but you will be rewarded with one of the most immersive and strategic games from there.
Or maybe you have a more optimistic approach to space trip, and do not want to explode aliens into pieces? See again Terforming MarsA wonderful game about turning red planet into heaven.
