Cosmic Incursion , FFG's first expansion for the beloved board game Cosmic Encounter , will be here before long. If you haven't had a chance to read the first preview, check it out . The second stop in our interstellar journey of alien life is the ever devious Genius, whose placid, emotionless visage is feared across the galaxy for reasons that will be made clear shortly.

Genius is one of ten brand new races introduced in Cosmic Incursion and is brought to us by Eric M. Lang, the celebrated designer of Chaos in the Old World . Here’s a bit of background regarding these most nonviolent marauders of deep space:

Originating on a planet filled with some of the universe’s deadliest predators, the Geniuses had to be smarter and more ruthless than any other creature on their world in order to survive. Now that they’ve left their home planet, the Geniuses have turned their prodigious intelligence towards a bloodless coup of the universe.

There are a few alien races that offer a crafty player an alternate to the standard victory conditions, and both Masochist and Tick-Tock from the Cosmic Encounter core set are great examples of offering you more than one path to stellar domination. The crafty Geniuses have discovered yet another new path to winning a game of Cosmic Encounter.

You can always choose to pursue a traditional course towards victory by starting five colonies in other players’ systems. However, by applying their monumentally advanced intellects to the problem of interstellar conquest the Genius can actually win the game without ever landing a single ship in a foreign system!

The Genius' alien sheet. Click to enlarge.

As you can see, you’ll need to keep a close eye on the Genius if he’s seated at your table, calmly observing the other players battling it out towards victory. The brilliantly devious Genius perfectly exemplifies how much a game of Cosmic Encounter can be bent with no fear of it breaking. You’ll have to stay aware of the number of cards in his hand, because they might be moments away from the win!

Cosmic Encounter is a classic board game for three to five players where fate and destiny collide against the unpredictable nature of the cosmos. With innumerable combinations of alien powers, and exceptional wheeling and dealing between players, this fan favorite game of galactic conquest is brimming with outlandish twists as players race to be the first to establish enough colonies to win.