Anywho, I'd like to start this edition with a story about my beautiful wife.  As dear to my heart as the woman is, she is the only person I've ever met who didn't flip out over the game Dominion.  I thought of divorcing her on the spot, but it would have taken too much money and I needed to buy a chancellor that turn.  So I chose to allow her this one transgression and played it with my friends.  A lot.  Suffice it to say I loved and love this game, though overplaying backlash has hurt its spot in my current rotation.  Now, after months of wait, the expansion is here!  Dominion Intrigue from Rio Grande adds 25 new kingdoms to the game.  That's right, doubling the original game.  That, my friends, is a worthwhile expansion.  You could probably just play the expansion for a year before even mixing it in with the original.  The possibilities - and therefore replayability - are truly off the charts with this game.  If you don't own the original, don't pass this up.  Buy both.  Do it.

Now, a story about my sexy mistress: Dune.  It's great, it's out of print, sell your firstborn to get a copy; 'nuff said.  The people responsible for the original Dune board game masterpiece (by the way, this won't be the last time you'll hear me mention Dune in the coming months) made something else, which you can get your hands on without losing a child, in theory.  Cosmic Encounter was originally printed in 1977, which was most notable due to its hilarious flailing alien cover.  But wait!  In 2008, the game was reworked and reprinted by Fantasy Flight, sans flailing alien, complete with typical FF quality and awesomeness.  The game runs a parallel theme to Dune (see, here it is already) in the sense that you use a different race each time you play the game, and that race dictates your actions and strategy; as opposed to the base mechanics of the game, which are just a template for the multi-racial happenings.  Oh yea, and it's in space!  Basically, you take your dude, who's got a super-mega power, and you exploit that power as much as possible to land your pretty plastic ships on other player's worlds.  You have a handful of number and power cards to accomplish this and the ability to negotiate peaceful resolutions.  Race to five.  Go!

Also check out this month the new Race for the Galaxy expansion; Rebel vs. Imperium, which by all accounts is superior to the first expansion.  And don't forget Ra, another of my all time favorites, in its brand new edition, coming in August.