Virus and Zombie: switched at birth?

Not wanting to end the year on a negative note, I'll end it instead with this interesting thought: when you get right down to it, FFG's Virus sort of looks like Zombie, and Zombie sort of looks like Virus.

I won't got so far as to say there was a mistake — I can say with first-hand experience that CE designer Kevin Wilson really nurtured the game during its development phase — but I will say that it's a pretty interesting side-by-side comparison. My guess would be either, A) a last-minute switch in artwork, for reasons unknown; or B) everything is as it was meant to be, and the folks at FFG must be thinking we're all a bunch of conspiracy theorists.

Still ... just look at those pictures.

Uh, oh ... Incursion due date slipping?

Don't take this as the gospel truth, but at least one major gaming retailer has shifted Cosmic Incursion's due date back a month. Funagain Games, which I've always found to be a pretty reliable indicator of these sorts of things, now lists "March 2010" on its CI page.

FWIW. YMMV. SPQR. UCLA.

There's a Fungus among us!

And, yes, I've been just waiting to do that headline ...

To the point: the fourth alien preview for the upcoming Cosmic Incursion expansion has been announced over at Fantasy Flight Games, and it's a classic from the Eon expansions. It is my great pleasure to introduce Fungus.

Because I haven't done the eBay thing in a while

It's a beautiful set, no doubt about that. I'd love to have sealed copies of all nine Eon expansions for Cosmic Encounter.*

I just don't think it's going to sell at $730.

*I've got seven of them sealed, for those wondering. Which was probably no one.

Lawl! Cosmic rules "discussion" FTW!

Man, we've all been there. Sometimes, alien Q acting in phase V does not play well with player X attempting to play flare Z. But, still, it's funny to see someone actually take it public:

... wish I got to play that game of Cosmic Encounter with you guys. The argument after you left went on for another hour.

Locust ready to devour unwary players

The third alien preview for the upcoming Cosmic Incursion expansion has been posted, and it appears to be Cosmic Encounter's answer to Marvel Comics' Galactus.

Everyone say hello to Locust.

A late candidate for Best Line of Year

Bill Martinson, via BGG:

Mayfair's flares are Curly-Joes ...

For the full context, click upon this hyperlink. It's worth it.

Yeah, I'm a rebel. That's how I roll

Inspired by this thought over at BGG ...

... why would I want to ask for allies? An extra point per ship is pretty weak and the reinforcement cards are rare.

... I'm going to repeat an experiment I did a couple of years ago. For my next 30 games at Cosmic Encounter Online, I am not going to invite a single ally, offensively or defensively.* I will track the results and post a summary.

Anyone thinking "playing the 'no-invite' guy should be an easy win' " should look for user ID TheDukester at CE Online.

* The obvious exception, as always, is asking for defensive allies when defending against a possible game-winning challenge. I won't play kingmaker just for the sake of an experiment.

Terrifically tantalizing Twitter tidbit

I try not to read too much into these sorts of things, but I did find the following Twitter tweet pretty interesting. Oh, who am I kidding? I love to read too much into stuff like this.

Cosmic Encounter designer Peter Olotka:

In the future (late 2010 + -) there will actually be an abstract connection between Cosmic Encounter and Twilight Imperium.

Let loose the hounds of rabid, uninformed gamer speculation!

CE alien survey #30: GAMBLER

First appearance: Eon expansion #2. 

Plain-English power: Play an encounter card face down and just say what it is (often legally lying about it). 

Loved by: People with good poker faces. 

Loathed by: The insecure and the gullible. 

Three ways to win as Gambler:

1. If you don't have that many ships in the warp, you can afford to bluff more freely. It helps if you attack with only 2 ships (then you'll only lose 2 more ships if your bluff is called).
2. When your opponent reveals his or her card, take a moment to "do the math" before declaring what your card it (especially when you are NOT bluffing and your card is giving you a higher total). Your opponent may be more likely to call your bluff and suffer additional losses.
3. When you play a negotiate, and your opponent reveals a decent attack card, look disappointed and then declare your card is a negotiate. You may be able to trick your opponent into calling your bluff this way as well. You'll still lose the encounter, but you'll at least sting your opponent.

I was bluffing about only three ways to win. Here's a fourth:

1. Use negotiates early to get cards away from your opponents. It helps you if there are players that know about certain cards in your hand. If you get the 30 or the 40, you want players to know you have it. You can bluff about that for several encounters.
   

FFG's second big mystery box: not within the scope of this fine blog

Cutting right to the chase: it's a big-ass Warhammer 40K thing. I know zero about the setting and care even less.

What I do care about is that fans of the classic Dune boardgame are now down to just the remaining "small" mystery box if they're hoping to hear any news concerning Dune: Imperium / Twilight: Dune / Dune: Dinosaur Planet in 2009 or early 2010.

My gut feeling is that the small box will not be the new Dune game. Considering the original announcement came in the summer of 2007, I'm beginning to lose faith that FFG will ever get this game to market.

Incursion: It's a work of pure genius

A brand new alien known as Genius just became the second official Cosmic Incursion preview posted at Fantasy Flight Games. It joins Sniveler on the short-but-hopefully-getting-bigger-soon list.

First reaction: another clever alternate-win alien. And I'm a card-hoarder, so this one automatically gets my seal of approval.

Interesting review from a new CE "convert"

I somehow missed most of this discussion the first time around, but it's certainly worth a quick link. Click here for a solid Cosmic Encounter review from a new-ish player; there's some interesting perspectives.

The highlight for me:

The biggest miracle though, is that it's an absolute blast to play. The game feels untamed, as if it is bucking against the confines of its own design.

Well-said, brother.