COSMIC ENCOUNTER DUEL (2020)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
2	30 mins	Frank Brooks Bill Eberle Peter Olotka Greg Olotka	Fantasy Flight Games

This was the first boardgame that my girlfriend bought me. I’d never played the original, and didn’t know much about it, but we were all into 2-player only games during the height of the Pandemic.

In COSMIC ENCOUNTER DUEL you’re trying to outmanoeuvre your opponent by ‘bidding’ your attack and hoping they don’t have higher. The winner of the battle takes the planet, and the next location is drawn.

Except with this game, it’s not always that simple.

Each player is given an Alien Species card at the start of the game and on it you will find a potentially game breaking power. Seriously game breaking.

You also have the opportunity during the game to gather Envoys which also can have game breaking abilities.

Each round sees players trying not to over extend themselves, while still trying to come out on top in each battle.

I’ll start off by saying that, despite playing this several times now, I still spend a fair amount of time with my head in the rule book.

I guess it’s a side effect of the chaotic nature of the game. I feel like we’re always learning it.

There is also an odd choice to some components, with the Straggler Token being unnecessarily unsimple, and the Tactics Tokens being awkward.

But that’s forgotten when I’m looking at 80’s Arcade style art on everything, and I’m pushing my plastic spaceships forward into combat like poker chips into a high stacks bet.

And the best part is the pure chaos. Sure it’ll put some people off, but this is one game that I love to win or lose just because something crazy happened.

Like the time I won, because the first person to win, loses. Genius.

It’s not for everyone, and I can’t compare it to its older brother, but the madness that blooms from this 1vs1 game can be a lot of fun if you don’t take it too seriously.