Category: Cardboard

Board Games and the like

New Awful Green Things from Outer Space!

Looks like AGTFOS is getting a new printing from Steve Jackson games with an actual real board and thick counters.  I’ve gotten about 10 games of this since I picked it up for 3$ on clearance at Kay Bee toys when I was 12 or so and  it’s solid 2 player fun and one of Tom Wham’s best.    Now if we could get The Great Khan game printed on a real board with real cards and a few tweaks to speed up combat that would be pure dwarven gold.

First Game with Cosmic Conflict!

I got in on a 4 man, 4 planet game with the new expansion and it was great, though I got my ass kicked all across the galaxy during this particular game.  Fantasy Flight continues to prove that they are making the ultimate version of Cosmic Encounter with no let up in sight.  The new expansion is mostly about the new set of 20 aliens, but the 7th player cards and ships helps (black looks much better than I thought it would).

As for new rules and stuff in the box, the Hazard deck was entertaining in our first game, but it definitely made the game more crazy.  One of the Hazard cards shuffles all the cards in the hands of the player and redistributes them (same number of cards, just random ones) and this was a game changer as the landscape of Flare cards was instantly different.  A second hazard card is proof that the fantasy flight version of Cosmic Encounter will never have the Reverse Cone as one of the new Hazard cards did just that (Defensive allies get a base, offensive allies get cards).  Really thinking about the Reverse cone and the hassles surrounding it (it comes up too often in the Mayfair version) I don’t think I will miss it in the FF version.

Though others may dig it, the alien power I played in this first game did I was not a huge fan of: Warhawk.  Essentially, the Warhawk never negotiates and gets either a free Morph or a negotiate card converts to a 00 attack card.  I am a wheeler and dealer and not having the option of negotiating with other aliens is tough to swallow tactically, and also means you are always going to have to fight for your bases. With so many better combat powers out there, Warhawk is going to have a tough time competing when he can only fight it out all the time.

All in all, art, components and new rules in Cosmic Conflict are top notch and if we needed even more excuse to just play Cosmic Encounter over all other games, here it is.

Cosmic Conflict is on sale for you to go and buy

xenophile
Ready for Love!

It’s not quite around in stores (at least around here) but FF posted that the expansion is for sale.  Now that this is out– will there be another?  Really only your cash on the galactic barrel-head can determine it.   I read the list of aliens, as well as the list of previously published aliens that didn’t make it in and my only slight sadness is no Silencer this time.

Here is the list of (non Lucre) alien powers that are still out there to be included in a new expansion.  The bold ones are Aliens I absolutely think should be in the game. (thanks boardgamegeek’s ‘Barney Bustoffson’):

ANOMALY Changes Luck – Mayfair
ARISTOCRAT Picks Hand And Draws Flares
AURA Makes Others Reveal Hands
BERSERKER May Challenge Everyone – Mayfair
BOOMERANG Challenges Challenger
BUSYBODY Can Replace A Challenge Card – Mayfair
CONNOISSEUR Draws Double Cards – Mayfair
CRYSTAL Tells Allies Number To Commit
DELEGATOR Assigns Main Players
DEMON May Replace Offensive Player
DIPLOMAT Can Negotiate 3-Way Deals
DOPPELGANGER Gets Opponent’s Cards
GHOST Uses Tokens From Warp – Mayfair
GORGON Freezes Others’ Tokens – Mayfair
GRIEF Gets Cards In Sympathy – Mayfair
INSECT Copies Opponent’s Power
JUDGE Assigns Extra Win/Loss Terms
LASER Makes Opponent Play Blind
MAGNET Attracts Or Repels Allies
MESMER Can Change Own Artifacts
NEGATOR Reverses Decisions
OBVERSE Switches Signs – Mayfair
PAVLOV Can Reward Or Punish Opponent – Mayfair
PENTAFORM Has 5 Life Stages – Mayfair
PHANTOM Has Ghost Tokens – Mayfair
PROLONG Can Extend Challenge – Mayfair
QUEUE Selects Order Of Play – Mayfair
SCHIZOID Changes Goal Of Game
SERPENT Leads Others Astray – Mayfair
SILENCER Stops Communication By 1 Player
SKEPTIC Doubles Risk Of Challenges
STING Switches Dying Tokens – Mayfair
SUBVERSIVE Lures Opponent’s Allies – Mayfair
VAMPIRE Uses Eliminated Tokens – Mayfair
WITCH Casts Spells
WORM Repositions Cone
WRACK Tortures Opponent
WRAITH Keeps Tokens Off Board – Mayfair

Some More Cosmic Expansion Info

xenophile
Love the Hate

Fantasy Flight posted more info on the Cosmic Conflict expansion to the greatest board game ever made with the release of info for a new alien: Xenophile!  Other than the self-referential artwork comedy of an alien blubbering over one of the most hated alien powers in the game (aptly named HATE), I think the power is pretty solid as it’s after card reveal and add OR Subtract– given that you’re going to have at least one enemy colony in your home system during a game, this gives quite a bit of flexibility in the face of Anti-Matter, Loser, Magician, etc. Here is a link to the info page.  Hopefully this is out soon while we’re still stuck indoors due to old man winter.

NEW COSMIC ENCOUNTER EXPANSION

Queen's Blade Mellowna
Mellowna says YAY!

Wow, I can’t believe I missed this last month!  Looks like we have Lunatic (new), Claw (new), Filth and Empath confirmed as part of the new set of 20 aliens (bringing the total to 90!) as well as another set of planets and ships in JET BLACK for 7th player slot.   Not that I needed another reason to play Cosmic Encounter, but there it is: I’ve never played a 7-player game unless player 7 was the Advisor variant (who could still win).  I just feel bad for many of the other board games slowly going to dust in my basement region.  They have emotions and they are crying (except for Calyus and Agricola).

Which aliens are you hoping for? I was really hoping for the Filth and that’s in, but for me– Silencer, Aristocrat, Vampire, Terrorist.

Talisman Sacred Pool – There can be only one!

We finally got a 5-man game with the new Fantasy Flight expansion to Talisman 4th edition: the Sacred Pool.  Starting characters were Rogue (Scott), Highlander (moi), Valkyrie (Cain), Vampiress (Jeff) and Gypsy (Chris).   None of the new characters were selected even though the Magus and Dark Knight were drawn.

I was the Highlander and pretty much everything went my way during the game, however, tactically (and I know some may roll their eyes at this because it’s all just random rolls right?), my goals were to get at least one strength increase from the main board before hitting the Highlands, then, if possible, clip a few magic items off the craft ladies (Rogue, Vampiress or Gypsy) on my way to the Dungeon, barring death, then head up to the Middle and Center region FTW.  I was able to slip through the Highlands and crush the Eagle King: getting the one-shot teleport item as a reward.  I then hit the Vampiress and grabbed a +2 craft Sword off of her, which really helped during my decent into the dungeon (highlander ain’t the smartest bloke to start).  The hapless Highlander wasn’t able to beat the Lord of Darkness on the first try– but that just gave him an excuse to rush right back into the dungeon for more beatings.

During this time, both the Gypsy and the Vampiress fell prey to the Highland ICE BRIDGE space in comical fashion and were replaced by the Prophetess and the Ghoul.  The stack of cards sitting on the ice bridge  space was a veritable mountain of goodness, but no one else attempted it during the game.   This brings up a  key point with Highlands and Dungeon–I very much prefer to play the game with the published variant stating that once you start to go into one of the side boards, you have to declare that you are leaving to go the other direction– and then you cannot switch to go back through the board until you have exited the board itself.  Without this rule, no one would ever land on the Ice Bridge space on purpose.  Since the Highlands are relatively easy for weak characters, there should be some danger in getting to the relatively weak Eagle King.

We didn’t get too into the newest mechanic from Sacred Pool, the quest reward deck. I think only myself and one other person were able to pull from the deck during this game.  That said, I love it.  It’s simple and builds on the importance of the Middle Region.  Next time we play, I want to combine the Quest Cards with the Warlock’s Quest ending card and see how it works with a deluge of quest reward cards hitting the table.

Anyway, the Highlander made it to the middle and a Battle Royale was drawn which pulls all characters to the middle for a throw down if they have a Talisman on them.  This eliminated all but the Valkyrie who was summoned to the Crown of Command space only to be struck down by the highlander (after some spell chicanery that might have let her win with a little luck).