Cosmic Encounter 4th Edition Board Game by Fantasy Flight Games - Classic Intergalactic Conquest Strategy Game for Kids and Adults, Ages 14+, 3-5 Players, 1-2 Hour Playtime

Amazing Game!!! LOVE LOVE IT!I’ve played Cosmic Encounter more than any other game, and it’s still just as great every time.RECOMMENDATION TO THE DEVELOPERS:I recommend removing the second turn for the offense after a win. At 6 players, the game can end before the last player even gets two turns. We made a house rule—no second turns after a win—and now everyone gets to play more, and the game feels less dragged out. I highly recommend considering this as a firm rule because right now the game plays best at 5 and only 5. My tweak makes it great at 6 also, and we need more games with higher player counts and flexibility.Also, since tech cards are so fun, we added a rule where everyone starts with the standard tech card and then gains a tech every time they lose a home planet. It keeps tech in play and adds a nice bonus when you’re behind.Thanks for an incredible game!

I'm going to preface this review by saying that I own many board games and host a weekly game night at my house to play awesome games with my closest friends.What is this game?The galaxy is at war. You are the leader of a specific alien race. Use your special species specific powers to take control of your opponents planets and claim them as your own. Ally together and negotiate with others to help and hinder each other along the way. At its crazy heart, this is a card game, plain and simple. Yes, there are neat little planets and colony ships to mark who is winning, to "wager" in fights and such, but the vast majority of the action has to do with the cards in your hand and how you manage them. The strategy has to do with alliances forming and melting throughout the game. Also the crazy variety of different aliens with different powers to end up with ensures that every game will be different than the last one. First one to gain five colonies on five opponents planets wins.Should you buy this game?Probably! If you don't mind a bit of randomness. This game provides for some truly epic moments. It's a classic of a game. Strategic yet randomized. The best way to introduce it to new people is: "These are the rules, and this is how your specific power lets you break them." By the way, the rules themselves are at MODERATE so you do have to have at least one person sit down to read through and know them before everyone gets together to play for a smoother teaching and learning experience. (Also, having a sheet with all the different phases of the game written down in order and moving a marker to the current one helps everyone better keep track.)My thoughts:What can I say? I have about 50 board games in my collection, and this one is the best of them all (my game group would contest this). It's awesome. Every game is memorable. Every encounter tense. I'm always jumping at the chance to introduce it to new people and play it every time I can. I see a couple of people who have written reviews on here seemingly haven't read the rules on the Alliance Phase. It is crucial to the games strategy and is by far my favorite mechanic. Hmm... trying to convey joy and fun through typed words is hard. Play this game, if you get the chance. That is all.

I first played the original Eon CE in 1978 at a friends house, ran out and bought it and all its expansions. When I joined the military I brought CE with me everywhere and played hundreds of games with hundreds of people all over the world. Mayfair brought it back with bad artwork, weird player color choices and some odd new rules, but it was still CE. Hasbro published the game in such a bad way with dismal rule re-writes and a clear effort to prevent expansion or mix with old game elements, that I threw it in the trash after spending the overblown price.Now I've packed up my worn, beloved CE box. CE has returned and Fantasy Flight just GETS the game. It's clear the developers are long term lovers of the game. It's colorful! Artistically Mayfair CE was muddy and...well...not very good. FF CE is beautiful, vivid and has depth without looking cluttered.Everyone knows that when you play old CE your chances of losing one of the ship token are pretty good. FF solved this problem with plastic ships that are cute, clever, and stackable.The alien powers have been heavily play tested and researched. Some changes from the older versions have been made but in all cases to the benefit of the game. But some of the old, highly debated elements, such as the Filch Wild Flare power have been added as Options to the game. So you can use the balanced Filch Flare, or use the optional Eon version as you choose. Nice touch.Initially I was sad to see that the card design was changed so that I can't use my old CE cards with the new, but that's okay because they have produced a good number of Expansions so I don't really need my old game elements.Some of the newer game elements like Tech and Hazards aren't to my taste, but neither were Moons and Lucre neither of which (thankfully) made it to the FF version, but its nice to have choices and neither of them are silly or burdensome or frankly lame, like the aforementioned Moons and Lucre, and are in their own way, vibrant and interesting.I gave the durability of the game a fairly high rating because I'm comparing it to the old versions. The card stock is heavy and matted (and the ships are larger and plastic!). The box is cleverly designed and I was able to easily fit the game and all expansions in the game box. One thing missing might be a sturdy place to put added cards from the expansions, but I have put those in standard card deck boxes for their protection and easy storage.I have only two VERY SMALL critiques of an otherwise spectacular version of my all time favorite board game:-Though the rules were very well written and ordered clearly some were not. For example, Hazards aren not clearly explained. Their backs don't match the standard game cards and appear to be used seperately from the standard deck. None of this is cleary explained in the rules which seems to make assumptions that I am not aware of.-Second, the rules changed the names of various game elements, most of which seem pointless (like Edicts to Artifacts). None of these changes are used by any of our dozens of players. I guess it was just FF's way to put their mark on the game.In closing, after excitedly opening and searching through the last expansion (Cosmic Alliances), I was heart broken when my favorite Edict card, Warp Break, didn't make it to this version! I hope that means they are saving it for another expansion. ;)Get this game! If you're new, you'll love it. If you're an old player, you'll love it all over again!