Reminder: Halloween tournament at CE Online

What better way to relax before or after some trick-or-treating? Or, you know, while you're ignoring the doorbell because, honestly, you really don't even like those neighborhood kids ...

Get yer details right here.

CE alien survey #29: RESERVE

First appearance: More Cosmic Encounter.

Plain-English power: Attack cards of 6 or less can be played as Reinforcements. Negotiates can cancel others' Reinforcements.

Loved by: Everyone (when he's allied with them); spammers; fans of the cavalry; World War II Russian tacticians.

Loathed by: Everyone (once he's in the lead); those who despise surprise attacks.

Three ways to win as Reserve:

• With 15 applicable Attack cards in the deck, there's no reason you shouldn't win every encounter you're invited to ally with, more or less. Jump to an early shared lead by joining the offense. When they start to realize you'll only pull ahead more, they'll start to only invite you on defense. Use that to refuel your reinforcement hand. (Then they'll stop inviting you, period.)
• Reinforce intelligently. Only play what you need to edge out your opponent. If you're dropping down an Attack 6 when you only need one more point to win, consider losing so that you can save the Attack 6 for when it really matters. If your opponent blew a big card (20-plus) to beat you, then you can be confident that his next card (and possibly others' cards) will be considerably less powerful.
  
  

The Cosmic Twitter madness continues

Ladies, gentlemen, and aliens: I give you ...

... Cosmic Encounter designer Peter Olotka's Twitter feed.

CE: INCURSION DETAILS ANNOUNCED!

No release date yet, but Fantasy Flight Games has posted some information about Cosmic Incursion, the first expansion for the 2008 edition of the game.

No huge surprises so far: 20 aliens and pieces for a sixth player were very much expected; reward decks and "cosmic quakes" sound pretty interesting.

Suggested retail is $24.95. That sounds about right, from what I'm seeing. Hell, that cover is worth $10 all on its own.

And now even aliens have Twitter feeds

That Anti-Matter has always been a bit of a rebel. You know, with the whole "lowest total wins" thing and all that.

But now it's broken some entirely new ground. Anti-Matter is the first Cosmic Encounter alien to have its own Twitter feed. Oh, Anti, you crazy, nutty non-conformist.

My only question: how does it type without any hands?

You do NOT want to miss aliens in costume

Be sure to set aside some time on All Hallows Eve for a visit to Cosmic Encounter Online. There's nothing quite like seeing all of the aliens get dressed up.

All of the details can be found here. Be there or be relentlessly mocked.

Wow, down to two already ...

It looks like the item below was posted just in time, as Fantasy Flight Games has already revealed the first of the three Big Black Mystery Boxes.

It's not Dune: Imperium. It's something called Runewars.

Actually, it looks kind of cool.

It'll be Twilight: Dune. Wait, no, it won't! Hmmm ... yes, it will! Gah! I can't decide

Some out there in gamer-land might remember that Fantasy Flight Games ended its annual GenCon "state of the nation" address with a mysterious graphic showing three large black boxes. These served as teases representing three larger products — apparently, two huge "coffin box" games and one game of "standard" FFG size — that the company had in production, but was not prepared to announce publicly.

Now, two months later, the boxes are back.

Pictured above is a screen capture from FFG's home page, heralding the return of the three black boxes and promising that details are forthcoming. Being basically the same person I was two months ago, I'm still wondering the same thing I was back in August: will we be seeing Twilight: Dune (or Dune: Imperium, or Dune with Dinosaurs, or whatever) in one of those boxes?

I think we might. Being a gamer has taught me that wishful thinking is often a disappointing road to travel, but there's a few reasons to believe that there might be a new Dune game announced soon. For one thing, the original announcement that FFG would use the Dune mechanics for a new Twilight: Imperium-themed game came in 2007, so they've had plenty of time to work on it. For another, FFG
has lately shown a willingness to go into stealth mode concerning some upcoming projects (Android, I'm looking at you), and I think Dune: Imperium would fit in with that concept quite nicely. Lastly, Twilight: Imperium will always be important to FFG and founder Christian Petersen — the first edition essentially launched the company — and I'm just having a gut feeling that it's time to announce something that involves the TI universe.

So, my official prediction: yes, there is a new Dune somewhere in one of those boxes. Some other guesses from throughout the interwebs can be found here and here.

Anyone else have any strong feelings? Hunches? Complete guesswork?

A quick note, then my favorite word

First, you've just to love a game that makes people want to say things — to potentially millions of other people — such as this:

I'm the ruler of the universe! MUWAHAHAHAHA!#@!#

Now, part II: it's time for a hiatus. What a wonderful word; it ranks right up there with "plethora" and "penultimate." Anyway, there's too much RL going on right now, so the 'ol blog is on hiatus until at least next Tuesday.