Review of Cosmic Dominion

Blurb from the publisher: 'Your time of power is now!

This is not a standalone product. A copy of the Cosmic Encounter Core Set is required to play.'

What you get: Your USD 24,95 or equivalent will buy you Cosmic Dominion, one of the six expansions for the Cosmic Encounter game line. It is reminded that the Cosmic Encounter 42nd Anniversary Edition is the game's current base game and the newest iteration of the 3-5 player classic boardgame of exception-based aggression, simultaneous bidding, hand management, bluffing and deceit. Depending on the number of players and their familiarity with the game's nature, expect a game to last around two hours. The present expansion can be purchased autonomously of any other expansion. No expansion is a prerequisite for another.

In addition to the 4 pages of rules that can also be downloaded from the publisher's website free of charge, the game contains the following: 62 cards (32 Rewards, 30 Flares), 30 Alien sheets, one Cruise Liner token, 9 Joker tokens, one Hazard token, 2 Yin-Yang tokens, and 8 Ship markers.

Gameplay: Cosmic Dominion is mostly a fan-created expansion. It does not increase the number of players of the base game. The 30 new aliens cover all levels of difficulty, with 6 easy ones, 16 moderately difficult, and 8 hard. They include the Greenhorn (ignores four different minor rules), the Diplomat (create three-way situations out of thin air and negotiate deals), and the Mesmer (plays Artifacts as if they were any Artifact).

The new Flare cards are similar to those found in the base game. All cards bear the mark CD. One can thus easily distinguish them from the cards of the base game and those of the other expansions.

The Reward Deck is a new subsystem that can be used in parallel with the Cosmic deck. It was first introduced in Cosmic Incursion, even though almost all the card types and all the individual cards of the present set are unique. Defensive allies may pick from this slightly stronger deck when receiving defender cards. A player may pick from either the Cosmic deck or this one when he picks an allocated reward. However, used cards from this deck go to a separate discard pile that cannot be tampered by any of the effects that affect the Cosmic discard pile. The new types of cards in the present Reward deck are the following: intimidate cards (non-encounter cards that can turn into either attack or negotiation cards, depending on what the opposing player plays), variable attacks (two attack values, depending on whether a Hazard card from Cosmic Conflict is in play or not), unique negotiate cards (each of them with a unique effect), retreats (lose the encounter but save your ships), rifts (return ships from the rift, on the other hand however they explode when taken from a player's hand), and kickers (which multiply attacks or compensations). The kickers in this set have an additional effect as opposed to the more straightforward kickers of Cosmic Incursion. The deck also contains two reinforcement cards, new Artifact cards, and another Morph.

The expansion also introduces Special Ships, ships that have been marked with a token and which are now distinguished from your standard fleet. Three special ship variants are already included in the game. In Flagship, the mere presence of your Flagship in an encounter grants you a +3. Salvage Vessel increases the rewards you gain after an encounter. The Double Ship variant on the other hand allows you to use more than one special ships in your fleet. Additional variants for special ships can be found on the publisher's community fora.

The Cosmic Quake is an optional rule that first appeared in Cosmic Conflict. Whenever both the draw and the discard pile are empty and a player cannot draw new cards, all cards are reshuffled, including the cards that the players hold in their hands. Each player then draws eight new cards.

The strong points: This is the first expansion I playtested which emphasized links and added value with previous expansions more than inserting new systems. I like that. As with pretty much every other expansion of Cosmic Encounter, you can start playing as soon as you get the material out of the box; even more so if you own Cosmic Incursion and you understand how the Reward deck works.

That having been said, the variety and surprises of the present deck are of a much higher calibre than that of Cosmic Incursion. Everything is more flashy while doing more things. I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is an expansion addressed to experienced players, yet experienced players and those who own some of the previous expansions are going to make much more out of it. If you own both Cosmic Incursion and the present set,I suggest that you mix the two Reward decks. Clearly, you will feel more cheated if you draw blander cards than your opponents, but seriously now, when was the last time you didn't feel cheated in this game? It almost feels as if the Cosmic Incursion Reward cards allow the Reward cards on this deck to take off. In any event, this is a luxury question. If you have both expansions, you can experiment any way you like.

The special ship rules are great fun, if you can remember what everything does. Cosmic Encounter veterans will play with two different ships per faction, it goes without saying. What do hardcore fans want besides exceptions? More exceptions!

The more-of-the-same stuff are impressive as usual. The game is likely to make you chuckle even before you play when you read the factions' wildly different powers. Some races' powers feel like variations of previous ones, I am not however going to whine about it. Small nuances can turn out to be important in this game, and besides, we play for winning as much as we do for the laughs.

The weak points: For the umpteenth time: Cosmic Encounter is a particular beast. You may like or dislike it for what it is, this cannot however be changed by an expansion. This is more about thinking on your feet and making the best out of the things you already know, than about strategizing for the far future. There's chaos, there's playing the players, there's grudges and slapstick comedy. If you didn't like all that in the first place, I don't see why you will like it now.

If you are uncertain whether you need this expansion or whether you should invest into other ones, the answer is fairly straightforward. This expansion does not increase the number of players, it does however add on the rules introduced by Cosmic Incursion and Cosmic Conflict. You don't need those expansions in order to enjoy it, since its cards can be used as is. I have a few questions about the frequency of some of the cards (e.g. the number of retreats), on the other hand however we are talking about Cosmic Encounter, not an all-encompassing game of grand strategy. If you prefer to add on the effects and the complexity without increasing the number of players, this is the expansion you seek.

The expansion has not been brought in line with the current, 42nd Anniversary Edition base game. There are no suggestions on how to use certain aliens with others, there are no combos, there is nothing... at least not inside this box. Scour the net for more info on how to create interesting matches.

The box/insert combination is a joke. If you sleeve your cards, the components fit only if you arrange them chaotically. This is a typical case where the publisher cares about the components getting to you, but not about you keeping them safe and usable forever. I can't believe this keeps happening expansion after expansion.

The price is expensive for what the game includes. Frankly, it should have been around the USD 15 to 20 mark. It shouldn't be impossible to find it at those prices as opposed to its catalogue price.

Conclusion: Cosmic Dominion is by far the meatier expansion when it comes to rules and engagement. If you don't care about introducing more players or team play into the game, this might be the first expansion you want to buy.

For more info on Cosmic Dominion visit Fantasy Flight Games at https://www.fantasyflightgames.com.

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