Race For The Galaxy: Xeno Counterstrike Expansion

The Galaxy Just Got a Lot More Dangerous

The cards were flying, your empire was humming along, and then the Xenos arrived. Xeno Counterstrike shakes up the familiar rhythms of Race for the Galaxy by introducing a hostile alien force that doesn't care about your carefully laid plans — and forces every player to adapt or fall behind. The pressure is real, the decisions are harder, and the satisfaction of holding your empire together while everyone else scrambles makes every session memorable.

What It Is

Rio Grande Games built Race for the Galaxy into one of the most celebrated card games in the hobby — a fast-playing, deeply strategic game of building space civilizations through simultaneous role selection and card tableau development. Xeno Counterstrike is a standalone expansion that brings a dramatic new threat to the table: the Xenos, a violent xenophobic alien race now launching coordinated assaults across the galaxy. Players must balance their drive to develop the most prosperous and powerful space empire against the urgent need to defend against Xeno invasions. New cards, new starting worlds, and new mechanics weave the Xeno threat directly into the core engine, making every decision carry more weight.

This expansion builds on the foundation of the base game and its predecessors while carving out its own identity. The Xeno storyline adds a shared threat that can shift alliances and strategies mid-game, giving experienced Race for the Galaxy players a fresh set of puzzles to solve.

Who It's For

This is an expansion aimed squarely at players who already know and love Race for the Galaxy. It plays best at two to four players — the same range as the base game — and sits firmly in the medium-weight category: complex enough to reward strategic thinking, fast enough to get multiple plays in an evening. If your game group has worn out the base game and its earlier expansions, Xeno Counterstrike is the injection of tension and new decisions you've been looking for.

Features & Highlights

The expansion introduces new start worlds and cards built around the Xeno conflict, giving players distinct strategic identities tied to how they respond to the alien threat — resist, exploit, or even align with Xeno technology. The military and defense dimensions of the game become significantly more relevant here than in earlier expansions, rewarding players who build their empires with an eye toward resilience. Artwork carries the same high-quality illustrated sci-fi aesthetic that defines the Race for the Galaxy series, and the card quality is consistent with the series standard. Compatible with prior Race for the Galaxy expansions, it slots cleanly into an existing collection.

Specifications