Origins 2016 - If You're Into Gaming, This Is The Show

First of all, thanks for reading this; this is our

fourth Special Edition Magazine, and the

previous response has been overwhelming.

So, from the bottom of my heart, thanks.

This was my third Origins, and I have to say,

I’ve come up with a one line comparison to

GenCon: “If you want to hobnob with pub-

lishers and designers, GenCon is the conven-

tion for you, but if you want to play lots and

lots of games and party it up, Origins is the

way to go.” Every time I go to GenCon, it has

ended up with me doing lots of press work,

looking at a lot of new games, and buying all

kinds of games. Very little actual gaming has

ever gotten done there, for me and the peo-

ple I know. Origins, however, has very few

new releases and many publishers don’t have

a presence, but I end up playing twenty times

the games that I ever did at GenCon.

Everything at Origins is set up for gaming,

versus consumerist bollocks, from the wide

open gaming area, the huge board game li-

brary area, and the multitude of events. De-

mos are everywhere, and despite having far

fewer new releases launched at Origins, it

seems like games that came out just prior to

“Con Season” are being shown off and sold

by the truckload. I played so many games this

year, and I was only there for three full days.

Suffice it to say that I think Origins is simply

a better convention to go to if you’re looking

to play a lot of games and meet a lot of new

people, but GenCon is great if you’re looking

to buy the latest, greatest new games on the

market. For me, Origins is absolutely the way

to go.

This year was far busier than any other years

I’ve attended, and the lack of downtown ho-

tel availability finally got me. I ended up

down by the airport, nine miles away. To be

honest, though, the parking situation in Co-

lumbus is vastly superior to that in Indianap-

olis, and the Chestnut Street Garage (Corner

of Chestnut and High, on Chestnut) cost me

9$ per day, and was 300 feet from the Hyatt,

which connects to the Convention Center. As

tempted as I was to bring my cooler along in

the trunk, I figured it would be a pain to run

back and forth for beers. I ended up just

bringing a flask of Fireball Whiskey, which

worked out for everyone involved.

Make sure to book your hotel very early if

you can...or you’re going to be stuck without.

Origins 2016 - If You’re Into Gaming, This Is The Show

Best of Origins 2016:

AETHERSTEEL is AWESOME

Sergeants Miniatures Game

opens new US plant, delivers

aPlace2Play terrain

AEG Launches Several

Games, and they all rock

Dust Studios has an engage-

ment in the African Front with

Dust: 1947

Gale Force 9 owns the minia-

ture gaming world

Defenders of the Last Stand

is an autobuy

Ralph Anderson’s Chimera!

Inside this issue:

Lost Battalion’s Sergeants and

Award-Nominated Tiles

1-2

Gale Force 9 Launches WWII

Tanks and WW3 Warfare

5-9

The Networks Delivers Bad

TV But Great Gaming

10

Gamelyn Games Has Every

Genre Nailed

12

Aethersteel Rocks The Post-

Apoc Miniature Scene

14-15

Wizkids Delivers Heroes,

Villains, and Starfleet

20-22

Eagle-Gryphon and 8th Sum-

mit Delivers The Awesome

26-29

Origins 2016 Special Edition Magazine

If you’ve never heard of Sergeants, from Lost Battalion, you’ve been missing out. I had the opportunity to speak to a prin-

cipal there, Jeff Billings, who was a delightful and interesting guy. He indicated that Sergeants is made in the Northeast

US, and is looking to get a larger plant somewhere in the Midwest so they can keep up with demand. Jeff’s experience suits

his position perfectly: he was a Navy man as well as a manufacturing engineer, which gives him the skill set to both design

and manufacture military games. If you’ve never played the game, the quick version is that it’s a low model count skirmish

game that uses pre-painted metal miniatures, mounted on little bases with salient information. Each model has a card

which has the character’s abilities and weaknesses, making lookup very simple and making game play very brisk. I’m a big

fan of the game, although it’s a little on the pricey side, so I’ve held off on taking the plunge. There is a companion board

game which is less expensive, and the models seem to be compatible. Currently they have two box sets: Day of Days and

Red Devils, and they also have a multitude of terrain. It should be noted that the terrain is amazing stuff; it’s made of a pro-

prietary material which looks like very thin, veneered MDF but is stiff and hard as a much thicker slice of metal. I was

shocked at the amount of quality that the new terrain stuff delivers, in fact. I’ll keep you updated on the progression of the

plant move when it comes to fruition, and with any luck, I may do a plant tour and then report on the company from in-

side the plant.

Sergeants Miniatures And Board Games: Proudly Made In The USA

Page 2

Superfly Circus: Origins 2016 Special Edition Magazine

Origins 2016

The board game version of the miniatures game is shown (smaller, inset pic) on the opposing page, which retails for

around $70.00 and can be found solely at www.lostbattalion.com, but the tiles on the right is why this is a two-page article.

Lost Battalion is selling these sets of aPlace2Play locking terrain tiles for use with any of your games, such as X-Wing or

Seas of Glory, and they look incomprehensibly awesome. The photos do them no justice, because they look stunning in

person. One pack retails for around twenty dollars and covers a 24”x14.5” or so area, with the corner/edge packs being less

expensive. Each of these tiles are double sided and made of the same nigh indestructible material as the Sergeants terrain

and miniatures bases. These are so good that they were nominated for a 2016 Origins Award, and ended up coming in third

place behind two expansions for existing games...no small feat. The sea-scape tiles are mind-blowingly beautiful and I’m

going to be buying a bunch of them.

I wholly recommend checking this game system out if you’re interested in games with a WWII setting or if you just like

light-to-medium weight miniatures games. And those tiles...if you’re considering buying some of that Secret Weapons

Miniatures terrain, consider buying these instead, because they are hands-down more versatile and cheaper. Lost Battalion

is a great company, and these products are outstanding.

aPlace2Play Tiles Shine In Origins Awards

http://www.lostbattalion.com

I got AEG’s new game, Octo Dice, to the table five times at Origins. The first time I played it I

found it really hard to “get”; the second game was better, and after the third game every

game we played after was awesome. It’s not so much that the game is hard as much as that

there’s a lot of things going on and it really just takes a few plays to truly understand how eve-

rything interacts for an overall strategy.

The idea behind the game is that players are trying to fix and launch subs, collect crystals, ex-

pand the lab’s capabilities, perform research tasks, and finally, catch octopi. This is done by

rolling six dice, keeping two, rolling again, keeping two more, and then rolling the last two.

You can choose two actions which the white die faces provide, but the catch is that opponents

can use sometimes use them as well. The game is broken into six rounds, broken up every two

rounds by an intermission scoring round. It’s really a fantastic, quick game that I really love. I

think I said it best when I said it is “Yahtzee mixed with Euro mechanics”, although the one

friend who didn’t enjoy it called it “Euro Point Salad” and I can’t deny that there’s a bit of truth

to that.

I ended up giving it to a reader at Origins (remember the Circus Rule that most review copies

are given to readers) and immediately placed a pre-order of it when I got home. At around

twenty dollars, it’s short on price and big on fun. The production is very good, with ample,

double-sided score sheets and nice wooden dice. The game is top notch. I really recommend it

if you like dice games and deeper, “thinkier” filler games.

Alderac Entertainment Group Drops The Dice

Page 4


AEG sent me a copy of Mystic Vale as

well as Octo Dice, and despite me truly

abhorring most deck building games,

Mystic Vale is a completely different

kind of deck builder. Basically, you have

big sleeves that fit big, tarot sized cards,

but the cards are translucent, printed

plastic and you combine two or three

per sleeve to create a three-section

spell, not unlike my favorite card game,

Epic Spell Wars. It works fantastically

well, with a lot of push-your-luck and a

lot of planning. It’s like a cross between

Race for the Galaxy, Splendor, and Epic

Spell Wars. It’s a FANTASTIC game.

The main walkway’s stairs were painted

with Mystic Vale signage, so it looks like

they’re really pushing this, and for good

AEG Changes Card Games Forever With Mystic Vale

reason. I’ve never seen anything quite like

this, especially with the plastic cards that stack to make one big, greater spell card.

I’ve got seven plays in, and this is a genre-bending 5-star game. I highly recommend it.

http://superflycircus.com/circus-rules-and-methods/


If you like miniatures games, you have

to know of Paolo Parente’s Dust uni-

verse, and more specifically, Dust Tac-

tics: Battlefield. They were smart

enough to make a board game and a

tape measure-and-terrain tabletop

game with all interchangeable parts.

Well, Dust Tactics: Battlefield is getting a

new facelift with Dust 1947, a free

downloadable rulebook that takes a lot

of the rules from previous iterations and

refines them into a simple-to-use book.

It will also be available for sale on the

Dust website, but only to cover printing

and shipping costs.

In addition to the new book, they re-

leased Operation: Babylon, the fourth or

fifth big box release from them in the

past several years. I wasn’t thrilled with

the last one, Operation: Icarus, primarily

because it only came with three crappy

little bivouac huts, but this new box

comes with some awesome, resin Mid-

dle Eastern terrain for your blasting

pleasure. As you can see from the pic-

tures, it’s well sculpted and looks pretty

easy to slap some paint on. I don’t play

much Dust anymore, but I keep buying

the box sets for the terrain. It pairs real-

ly well with the JR Miniatures terrain

and has a similar look, so this stuff is a

no-brainer for me.

Operation: Babylon expands the Dust

universe a bit, moving from Weird War

II Europe to the battle over Africa. The

miniatures and the overall setting make

for a very Indiana Jones type of pulp

ficton, complete with soldiers wearing

German Flecktarn while shouldering a

laser cannon bazooka. Very cool stuff.

What I like about this game is that each

squad is very unique in what it can do,

and everything is right in front of you.

While I’ll never completely abandon

games like Strange Aeons and Wreck-

age, I keep thinking I’ll have to eventual-

ly steer back into the world of Dust, es-

pecially with the African Front vibe,

since that’s far more interesting to me

than the usual half-destroyed Austrian-

style hamlets.

Definitely worth checking out if you re-

ally dig the models, since they’re so well

sculpted.

Dust Studios: Rule Updates And Babylon Rising

Origins 2016

I love Greg and J from Inappropriate Gaming. I always buy

a hat from them (they have high quality hats), and I love

their logo. This year they were selling America’s Next Top

Pimp, a really fun “screw you” style game where you play

cards against opposing pimps to get more cheddar than

the next guy. Also, they’re selling Shooting Blanks, a su-

per fun set collection card game where you’re trying to

score the highest hand of mecos of matching colors. The

player with the lowest card loses a life; lose three, and

you’re out.

In the picture, my Partner in Crime ™ Dangerous Dave

was rolling to do a drive-by in my homebrew game,

Hoodrats. It’s basically a street crime game that uses

worker placement and lots of dice to help your little thugs

buy and peddle dope of various flavors, snatch purses

and chains, do drive-by hits, and bang out little achieve-

ments along the way. Greg and J seemed to like it a lot,

and as you can see from the pic, many little hoodrats

were already cut down just after being released from the

Inappropriate Gaming Is Always Appropriate

Page 6


GF9 had an enormous booth again, and one of

the first things I checked out was this wall of

Fillion fun. At this point, I suspect they have

more expansions for the game than there

were episodes of the show. It’s a truly remark-

able setting, and I still say that the paper mon-

ey they provide is the best-looking currency of

any kind, real or imagined. Absolutely fantas-

tic looking.

I’ve owned all of the expansions aside from

the Kalidasa region, and I really liked the

game quite a lot, especially with the Pirates

expansion. The PvP action is intense, and the

new bounty hunters really spice up the game.

Gale Force 9 Are Still Browncoats At Heart

Tackett County Jail. Good times were had all around,

and if you like offbeat games with more colorful and

diverse settings and themes, check out Inappropriate

Gaming.

https://www.inappropriategaming.com/

If you’ve never heard of Gale Force 9’s premier wargame, Flames of

War, you’re missing out. I’ve talked about this game for years because

there’s no better WWII combat miniatures game. It has everything

you need to re-create any major battle or minor skirmish from any

theater in WWII, and because it’s in a smaller 15mm scale, you can

get more units for less. In addition to their Flames of War stuff, they

are a great source for high quality bases, terrain materials, and cast

resin terrain features. Their Battlefield in a Box series is phenomenal,

and very inexpensive; it’s like the Kiwi version of Pegasus Hobby stuff.

I cannot talk about these guys enough; they produce incredible board

games while also selling D&D miniatures and a vast hobby supply line.

In my opinion, these folks are showing the rest of the publishing

world how to do things right.

Gale Force 9’s Flames Of War Still On Fire

Page 7

Origins 2016

Gale Force 9’s New Tank Game: TANKS

Page 8


Being proficient at WWII games, GF9 has delved into a new tank skirmish game, cleverly named “Tanks”. Each tank is packed in a

small box, not unlike Star Wars Miniatures used to be, with one tank model inside. The price point looks to be around seven dollars

per tank, which isn’t horribly expensive. As you can see from the pics below, the tanks look great, but will require some paint to

really shine. While I didn’t get to really see too much of the battles going on, I spoke with a GF9 employee about it and it sounds a

bit like Axis And Allies Miniatures, but with a focus far more on tank-based tactics. It almost looked like X-Wing, with tanks.

I’d love to get my hands on some of these tanks to try out for myself, because they look great and I’m a sucker for WWII-set

games, and most especially ones that include armor.

If all the other GF9 games were

not enough, enter Team Yankee, a

World War III based miniatures

game that has combined arms

style play, with infantry, armor,

helicopters and attack planes all

duking it out for the fate of the

world. This game looks absolutely

fantastic, and it’s yet another

game that has been added to my

ever-growing “Miniatures Bucket

List”.

The models are breathtaking, es-

pecially the Warthogs and Super

Cobras. I kind of wish I’d have

picked some of them up just to

distress them for my Post-

Apocalyptic terrain set.

GF9’s Team Yankee Is Romeo Alfa Delta

Well, it took forever, but Gale Force 9 finally made a

game that I don’t like. It’s a weird blend of deck building

and area control, but done in a sort of Euro style which

I found rather bland. The art is great, and I love the fac-

tions that include Dragons, Drow, and other creatures,

but the reality is that this game just didn’t do it for me.

It reminded me a bit of something like Plaid Hat’s Siege

of Columbia, where you’re trying to take over cities, but

in this game, the paths to get to the cities are almost

more important than the cities themselves, like the

skyhook lines in Siege of Columbia.

Lots of people really seemed to be digging it, so it’s

probably just that the game isn’t a great fit for the kind

of games I like. It sure looks cool.

Gale Force 9: Tyrants Of The Underdark

Gale Force 9: Dungeons and Dragons Collector’s Edition Models

If there’s anything that GF9/

Battlefront Miniatures knows how to

do, if you’ve seen all of the previous

pages’ stuff, it’s miniatures. I have to

say, these D&D Collector’s Edition

models looked outstanding, and if

you want the top of the line in D&D

models, as either art pieces or for

use in games, look no further. These

are the cream of the crop, and it

seemed like they are selling the hell

out of them. I didn’t realize there

was such a market for this kind of

thing!

Between the time that I looked to

get my camera and when I took the

picture, the shelf second from the

bottom went from being completely

full to as you see in the picture to

the right. I don’t know what kind of

crazy demand there is for beholders,

but people were grabbing them like

it was the last day on earth.

Origins 2016

If you didn’t pay attention to

designer Gil Hova’s “Bad

Medicine”, which launched

last year and just funded a

new expansion, you aren’t

paying close enough atten-

tion. His latest creation, The

Networks, is a card-based

game where players are try-

ing to control the airwaves

by acting as the heads of TV

channels. The goal is to take

the UHF-era crappy channel

you start out with and turn it

into the next ABC. What

caught my eye the most was

the really neat art style and

the impressive graphic de-

sign work by the amazing

Providing Yet More Bad Television Programming With The Networks


Heiko Günther.

I watched a demo and was

captivated by the speed of

the turns and how truly slick

the player interface is. I really

wanted to try it out, but I

was late for my annual Spar-

tacus match, so I didn’t get

the opportunity. I really

loved the look and feel the

game seemed to offer, so I’ll

probably be buying this one

down the road, once my

backlog is cleared.

Between the setting and the

gameplay, this sure seems

like it’s a winner.

Page 11

Origins’ timing was such that the heart of the Columbus Pride Festival and Parade was right across the street. I’m huge on personal

freedom, so I was delighted to speak with Derek and his two sisters, and their girlfriends about what “Pride” meant to them. We

talked at length about the nature of true freedom, and how absolutely brave they were not only to be there celebrating their love,

but in the wake of the Orlando terrorist attack, to collectively toss up a giant, rainbow colored middle finger to anyone who would

try to constrain their freedoms. What a great group of kids.

What struck me the most about our conversation is how they have come to terms with the injustice in the world, how they see the

United States as a dichotomy of oppression and freedom, depending on what you want to do with your life. I posited that any op-

pression of any of our brother or sister Americans is oppression of us all, and they all agreed that in America, you should be free to

do what you wish, provided you’re harming no-one else, and that the Anglo-Saxon, old men that have been driving the country into

the ground for decades is going to change very soon because we’re all one nation, united, and we’re eventually going to either

breed or outlast the old guard haters and demagogues. They are loving, smart, street-wise kids who are going to end up doing

something important later in life, and were doing something important by just showing up and partying at the festival.

The amazing thing to me is that they and I agreed that many “Christians” who were harassing them throughout their lives (Derek’s

father is a pastor at a Baptist church) are forgetting that Jesus’ Great Commandments were to love God with everything you are,

and to love your neighbors as you love yourself. As a Catholic, myself, I have no other option than to love them and treat them with

dignity and respect, as brothers and sisters. Nor would I do otherwise, because even if I was an Atheist, I am an American, and this

is supposed to be the land of the free, and equal protection for all. God bless these kids.

American Pride Was Evident At The Columbus Pride Festival

Origins 2016

Page 12


Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Gamelyn Games’ “Tiny

Epic” series of games. They started with Tiny Epic Kingdoms, a sort of Risk-light empire

game, then moved onto Tiny Epic Defenders, a light, co-operative game. Their latest game,

Tiny Epic Galaxies, is a light 4X-style affair which I had pined for since I missed out on the

Kickstarter campaign, and picked up the moment I saw the booth. I played it when I got

home, and it’s fantastic, for what that’s worth, and it was $30 well spent.

Well, their next venture is Tiny Epic Western, a small cowboy-themed game that uses poker

cards for action allocation in a wagon-wheel style play area. I spoke with Michael Coe, lead

designer and co-founder of Gamelyn, and from his description, it’s yet another Tiny Epic

Win.

Gamelyn Games: The Honey Badger Of Gaming

Beyond that, it looks like a fantastic year for Gamelyn because they’re also launching an expansion for Tiny Epic Galaxies called

“Beyond the Black”, and also, they’re launching a big box adventure game called Heroes of Land, Sea, and Air, which is loaded with

highly-detailed miniatures. I really love this little company and while Tiny Epic Kingdoms didn’t really rock my taco, Defenders was

fun, and Galaxies is awesome. Can’t wait to see their new wares next year!!

Magic: The Gathering is obviously

a huge behemoth that sucks up

much of the oxygen in the com-

petitive card game universe, but

it also has allowed other compa-

nies to come up with really slick

combative, non-collectible card

games, such as Plaid Hat’s Ashes:

Rise of the Phoenixborn. Well,

entering the arena is Punch It

Entertainment’s new non-

collectible card game, Battle For

Sularia.

This new game is sold in starter

sets, with two factions per set.

Each deck is complete, so you

only need to buy one set to play.

With multiple modes of play such

as the usual pre-built and drafting

modes, and a unique building

system, you can assemble your

deck and know that it’s balanced

due to Punch It’s proprietary al-

gorithmic system.

It really looks great, with amazing

illustrations and fast gameplay.

Definitely a game to watch.

Punch It Entertainment Launches Battle For Suleria

Origins 2016

Aethersteel Is Definitely What The One Ring Is Made Of

Page 14


If you’ve been reading the Superfly Circus for any length of time, you know that I’m a miniatures guy at heart, and every year I go

out looking for the “best game ever made” in the miniatures world. I still say Wreckage from Hyacinth Games and Strange Aeons

from Uncle Mike’s Worldwide are the best-in-class for Post-Apoc and Pulp RPG/Skirmish hybrids, but this new game, Aethersteel

from O2 games, is definitely a contender for the best miniatures game right now. Sadly, it’s not available for sale yet, but the mo-

ment it is, I’m selling off whatever is left of my liver to purchase it, and with a projected MSRP of $70 for 24+ metal miniatures and

two big decks of activation cards, it’s a no-brainer for me.

Basically, it’s a ruler-and-dice miniatures game, but each unit has its own card and stats a’ la Heroscape, with one activation per

squad or hero per turn, driven by a simple and effective initiative system. What makes this stand out, though, are the power cards.

If your hero is alive and within 15” of any one model in a squad, you can play cards from your hand. There’s a currency system

based on dumping cards to stack buffs on your guys or nerfs on enemies, and it’s brilliant.

I played a full game with my Partner In Crime, and it was fantastic; The simple but deep dice system is really amazing. I literally

threw my money at them and they said that it won’t be available until next year. I can’t wait until I can get this!!

CENSORED

Origins 2016

While Catalyst Game Labs has been hit-or-miss with me lately, especially my bro-

ken-hearted hatred of their deck building game, Shadowrun: Crossfire and their

Batman adventure game that was an unrelenting failure, I am absolutely a super-

fan of the Shadowrun setting and love dice games, so I am all over this. I pre-

ordered it several months ago from Miniature Market and am awaiting it with

baited breath. It was on demo at Origins, but sadly, there was nobody there

showing it off because they had wall-to-wall Battletech tournaments and games

going on, amongst other things. I did, however, sneak a look at the bits in the

box, and it looks like it’s going to carry the setting and dark, grim theme as I had

hoped it would.

I tweeted Catalyst and asked for a street date,

and they responded that until it’s in their ware-

house, they don’t release street dates. Seems

fair, but man alive, am I just completely drooling

to play this game.

I’ll review it ASAP for you, and hopefully my

Shadowrun bias won’t affect me too terribly

much.

Shadowrun: Encounters Releasing Soon(ish)?

Page 16


I reviewed this for Miniature

Market, and they were doing

demos at the Catalyst booth,

showing people the game

and they seemed to be hav-

ing a good time. It’s a serious

Euro game, at its core, and if

you’re the kind of person

who likes serious Euros

where you have to really

manage resources well and

optimize your moves, this

might be the game for you. I,

personally, kind of detested

it, but I’ve never seen the

television series that it’s

based on, so maybe I’m not

the target market. YMMV.

Vikings: The Board Game Full Sail Ahead At Origins

There’s something wrong with a person who doesn’t like fifty

foot tall, bipedal death walkers, in my book at least. While I

wasn’t a fan of Wizkids’ Mechwarrior CMG series, I’ve always

loved Battletech, and Catalyst seems to have breathed life

back into the aging game. With simpler rules, less need for ten

trillion books, and really sharp looking models, Battletech has

never looked better.

The streamlined rules for builds and gameplay has made this

much more approachable to those who don’t know what

ComSimWorld is, and there were dozens of people playing it at

any given hour, even late into the night. Check out the starter

box if you’re interested. It has everything you need to start,

except a million terrain bits.

Catalyst’s Battletech Miniatures Game Rocked The Tables At Origins

Origins 2016

Malifaux 2.0 is still going strong, but a

little offshoot game, not unlike

Games Workshop’s Specialist Game

series, has popped onto my radar

with slick gameplay and a sinister

setting: Puppet Wars. This is set in

the Malifaux world, but in a marion-

ette workshop, where leaders take

turns summoning puppets for work-

shop warfare. The sinister bit is that

once you’ve dispatched an enemy

puppet, it leaves its fuzzy guts and

string in the space which you can

then pick up with your models to give

them additional powers.

The cool models and neat character

powers make this something I wish I

had heard of before!

Malifaux’s Puppet Wars Is A Hidden Gem

Page 18


Remember that you will eventually have to go to

your room, so make sure that there’s a cooler full of

water (HYDRATE!!), whiskey, and beer.

Bring many games, because there’s tons of open

gaming and there’s lots of people who will walk by

and want to sit and play with you. Have a favorite

game that nobody wants to play with you at home?

BRING IT. Someone, somewhere, will want to try it.

Rooming is cheap, but close hotels fill up fast. Get

one EARLY, and if possible, room with a bestie so

you can split the costs of a room, and always have

someone to play 2P games with while drinking said

whiskey and beer.

Origins Sidebar: Preparation is Everything

Malifaux’s New Models Look Spectacular

So, while I was looking at Pup-

pet Wars at the Malifaux

booth, I was drawn to a case of

miniatures they were showing

off their latest creations, and

they looked fantastic. I’m not

the world’s biggest Malifaux

fan, primarily because I don’t

like post-release huge rules

rewrites, but it’s still a capable

miniatures skirmish game.

The case sure made me won-

der who painted them, because

they were truly stunning. I can

see a lot of these being repur-

posed for other games, such as

my all time favorite miniature

game, Strange Aeons. That blue

ghost-thing on the right imme-

diately caught my eye, as did

this bear-creature.

Origins 2016

WizKids’ Heroclix Is Still Dominating Superhero Games

Page 20


There were literally a hundred and fifty or more people play-

ing various iterations of HeroClix at Origins, and they all

seemed to be having the time of their lives. I spoke with sev-

eral people about the quality of the game after all these

years, and they all adamantly stated that the game has never

been better. From the hoots and hollers that were going

down, it sure seems like they aren’t kidding.

In the photo to the right is the setup for the finals in the tour-

nament; it had a full-on camera setup with professional

lighting and all that jazz. They really went the extra mile to

show love to the most dedicated players, and I’m sure that

whatever video they took is going to look absolutely crazy

good. They’re just a great company.

Dungeons And Dragons Miniatures: Icons of the Realms

Wizkids is launching some new products, not the least of which is

the new Icons of the Realms starter set, which has six cool-

looking models as shown below. They also had other packs and

this really bad ass looking hydra.

Star Trek: Frontiers, the Star-Trek

universe’s reskin of Mage Knight:

The Board Game has finally re-

leased, and it’s like a dream come

true for people looking for a true

Star Trek adventure game. It

looks awesome in every conceiva-

ble way, and the gameplay

seemed to be pretty straightfor-

ward, especially to those who are

familiar with Mage Knight. I

couldn’t find a copy for sale at

Origins, but as soon as I can, I’m

getting my paws on a copy. An-

drew and Vlaada together is like a

board game Supergroup!

Vlaada Chvátil And Andrew Parks Boldly Trek The Stars

Origins 2016

I’m a big X-Men fan, so when this came out, I was

all about it. As it turns out, it’s a smart re-skin of

Spartacus, with each mutant leader trying to

make the best team and accomplish goals. De-

spite my love of the Uncanny X-Men, I still like

Spartacus much, much better, but that’s not to

say that the game isn’t awesome. A lot of the

grittier, more sinister stuff has been replaced

with more Marvel-friendly fare, so there'll be no

tainting of gladiator’s wine in this one.

With a huge cast of supporting characters, which

are sort of like the gladiators in Spartacus, the

game still has the arena battle phase, which is

actually even cooler than the original, simple but

fun system that made Spartacus so much fun.

One of these days I’m going to have to pick up a

copy, because this is definitely like Spartacus, but

one that I can play with the kids.

X-Men: Mutant Revolution Blasts Its Way Into Origins

Page 22


Origins 2016

While I didn’t see anyone playing this expansion,

I spoke with some people who gave me the

heads-up that this is the reprint along with the

previous two expansion reprints. I’d never seen

this one, so that’s why it’s headlining here.

This is great news for people who missed out on

the first print run, as well as new players who

want to delve into the deck building adventure

game as rookies. I’m not a big fan of the game

myself, finding it a bit too complex for my tastes,

for what it is, and not being a fan of deck build-

ers, it kind of was expected.

That said, lots of people love the game and will

probably be happy to learn of this if they hadn’t

heard about it before.

Mage Knight: Shades of Tezla Expansion Reprinted

Car Wars Is Still Cruising For Victims

Back in my “yoot”, I played Car Wars

a bit, and I always found it to be a

really great spin on The Road Warri-

or. Well, I saw this setup and had to

take a pic, because it’s straight-up

bad ass. There was a large crowd

playing it at one point, but I didn’t

want to bug them to move out of

their spots for a pic, so I waited until

the battle was over.

This is what gaming is all about.

Cool Mini or Not had some tables set up in their

area for Blood Rage, the 2016 SXSW award-winning

game. I had the opportunity to play it with some

friends but it just never materialized. One of my

buddies said we could play another time, but with

two players it isn’t great, so I just talked to these

dudes about it.

They were really enthusiastic about the game and

said it was one of their favorites. The blend of

strategy and cool looking miniatures has me con-

vinced that I’ve been missing out all along. It was

odd, though, because one of the guy’s little Vikings

was killed and somehow, the guy was happy about

it, spouting rhetoric in a bad accent about how his

warrior was in the Great Lodge in Valhalla. What a

blast!

Cool Mini or Not: Blood Rage Still Raging On

Page 24


Zombicide: Black Plague Was Turning Heads And Weakening Wills

I’m not a huge fan of Zom-

bicide, but I was really dig-

ging what I saw with Black

Plague, the latest stand-

alone expansion for the

game series.

This new game is set in a

fantasy world of heroes

and wizards, necro-

mancers and spells. I love

the artwork, but honestly, I

got hooked on the plastic

player mats. Everything

about this game screamed

“awesome”, and I wish I’d

have backed it on KS when

it was going on.

If I can ever find a buyer for

a kidney or something, I’m

definitely going to give this

version of Zombicide a try.

Origins 2016

I, many moons ago, began a love affair with

painting wee metal miniatures, and it has never

relented. I kept passing the event’s area, and I

was thrilled to see so many enthusiastic painters

of all ages working on Reaper, CMON, Ninja Divi-

sion, and other models. They looked fantastic,

and more importantly, everyone was having a

great time.

I spoke to a girl who was painting a fairy creature

and she told me this was her favorite thing to do.

This kid had to be twelve years old, probably,

and it warmed my heart to see her daddy taking

the time out of his gaming schedule to give his

daughter something she’ll likely cherish her en-

tire life: the love of art. Guy won “Dad of the

Con” in my book.

Paint n’ Take Event Brought All The Artists Out To Paint

I strolled through the Mayfair wing of the conven-

tion center, and people were playing Catan, most-

ly, but I couldn’t believe how many people were

there. There had to be fifty tables of people all

laughing, joking, and having a great time. It’s easy

to think of companies like FFG, with their ultra-

popular miniatures games, when one thinks

“leaders in gaming”, but based on what I saw in

this wing, Mayfair still has it going on, and people

are increasingly coming into gaming through their

German-style family games which are both fun

and innately approachable.

Keep these guys in mind when you’re going to

family gatherings, because the fastest route be-

tween a new gamer and an addict is Mayfair.

Mayfair: Still On Top Of Their Game

Page 26


Eagle-Gryphon’s Gallerist Is A Work Of Art

While I was going to speak to E-G’s

Ralph Anderson about Chimera, I saw

this absolutely beautiful-looking game

and had to ask about it. All four players

sheepishly said that the game is very

difficult to learn, but that it’s about be-

ing an art gallery owner and trying to

attract the best artists’ works to your

gallery. This picture doesn’t do the

game justice...it looks absolutely stun-

ning. Clean, crisp art and great player

boards that helped guide players.

I asked the most important question

about it: is it fun? All four of the folks at

this table and the four at the next table

over agreed that it was fun, beautiful,

and challenging, so I left there pretty

impressed.

Not really my kind of game, I suspect,

but man, did it look beautiful.

Origins 2016

If you’ve never met Ralph Anderson, a principal

at Eagle-Gryphon Games, you are missing out. He

is such a kind and gregarious gentleman, and he

is always willing to talk about anything, from

sports to games or anything else. We talked

about many of the latest E-G games, such as

Baseball Highlights 2045, which knocked my

socks off. It’s clear that Ralph is a fan of baseball,

and he really helped make that game the phe-

nomenon that it’s quickly being recognized as.

This year, he was showing off his take on Tichu,

in the form of Chimera, published by the awe-

some Z-Man Games. It’s special, in my mind, be-

cause it can only be played with three players,

and it’s sort of a rotating two-versus-one situa-

tion. The object is to score points, with the first

player leading with a pair, triplets, and straights,

with each following player being forced to play

the same kind of hand, but with higher values. I

really enjoyed talking with him about Chimera

because his enthusiasm is completely enthralling

and contagious. I actually ordered a copy for my-

self because it sounded a lot like the kind of

games I play at my neighbor’s house, like Euchre.

This is definitely one to check out if you like card

games, especially if you have “Chronic Fourth

Player Flake” syndrome. It really seems like a lot

of fun, and I’m going to pick it up for sure.

E-G-G’s Ralph Anderson Knows Games: Z-Man’s Chimera

If you’ve ever played anything with Richard

Launius, you’d know that he has a house rule for

everything. He taught me Flying Frog Productions’

Conquest of Planet Earth and I had to relearn it

when I got my copy, because he was literally play-

ing his own game with their bits. It was actually

better when I played it with him, and I love that

damned game.

Anyhow, it makes sense to me that he took my

beloved Defenders of the Realm and transformed

it into what I consider to be the gold standard of

post-apocalyptic adventure board games with Ja-

son Maxwell and his re-imagining , Defenders of

the Last Stand. This game is completely and totally

blowing my mind, because it does everything I

want an adventure game to do, and on top of that,

it’s got Chad Hoverter’s insanely awesome models

in the box. While the bad guy minion models did

not get cast all that well, leaving them a hair on

the “muddy” side, the heroes and bosses look fab-

ulous.

This is a must-have, 4.75/5 star game in my opin-

ion, and I actually cancelled a pre-order from Min-

iature Market in order to fund the purchase. It has

a bazillion miniatures, five heroes (I got it with the

stretch goals, so like eight maybe?) and it has this

incredible game board which is so much easier to

play on than the Defenders of the Realm board.

There’s adventure, scavenging, allies, ancient tech-

nologies (like baseball caps), and the game just

feels like it should. The player aids are phenome-

nal, and you can literally play the game right off of

them, especially if you’re familiar with the original.

Total win, and as of this writing there’s maybe 150

copies left at 8th Summit’s web store. I really

should’ve spent a few more bucks and gotten the

oil well miniatures...

8th Summit Defends Last Stand With The King Of House Rules

Page 28


Origins 2016

E-G-G’s Dawn: Rise Of The Occulites Is An Experiment In Evolution

While perusing the Eagle-Gryphon

booth, I came across this awesome

looking miniatures skirmish game,

Dawn: Rise of the Occulites. What

makes this game really slick is that it’s

not just a beat ‘em up style skirmish, it’s

actually a game about evolution where

each side has goals to achieve, and the

fighting is secondary. The setting is trip-

py and really cool, and the evolution

them is so totally integral to the game

that there’s even a Natural Selection

deck which controls pretty much every-

thing your tribe can do. It’s enough to

make Ken Ham stroke out!

What captured my attention was the

beautiful and brilliant miniatures, all

painted and beautified to pretty much

anyone’s satisfaction. I talked to a rep

and it’s for sale online, with the full

monty, fully painted base game and all

three fully painted expansions going for

a budget-murdering $230.00 or so.

I definitely couldn’t swing that kind of

cheddar after my Origins trip, but if I’m

lucky I might find this under my Christ-

mas tree so my kids and I can work out

our frustrations on the evolutionary

ladder. It looks great, and sounds like a

ton of fun.

I’ve been to Columbus a million

times, so I know all the cool

attractions, and I figured you

may want to bring your non-

gaming family with you, and

they’d like something to do

while you play war toys with

your nerdy friends.

Below are the addresses and

phone numbers to help you plan

your trip.

Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

4850 W. Powell Rd.

Powell, OH

( 800) MON-KEYS

COSI (Center of Science

and Industry)

333 W. Broad St.

Columbus OH

(614) 228-2674

Gran Prix Karting

300 Alum Creek Drive

Columbus OH

(614) 2GO-FAST

Ohio Statehouse

1 Capitol Square

Columbus, OH

(614) 752-9777

Museums And Other Attractions That Don’t Involve Games

Page 30


COSI is my kids’ favorite museum of all time. It’s a fantastic

time for kids of all ages and parents alike. Highly recommend.

COSI’s new Game Masters exhibition is an area devoted to reminding

kids that Asteroids is still one of the best games ever made.

Gran Prix Karting has racing, indoor tactical laser tag, and

more! A great time for older kids and their parents.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a fantastic place. I mean, it’s Jack Hanna’s zoo. Seriously, it’s worth missing a day of games to see.

The Ohio Statehouse is an impressive building, rich with history and

interesting facts about the founding of our nation. Great place for a

few hours.

Origins 2016

INDEX OF ARTICLES BOARD, DICE, AND CARD GAMES

America’s Next Top Pimp 6 Baseball Highlights 2045 27 Battle For Sularia 13 Blood Rage 24 Chimera 27 Dawn: Rise of the Occulites 29 Defenders of the Last Stand 28 Firefly: The Board Game 6 The Gallerist 26 Heroes of Land, Sea & Air 12 Mage Knight Expansions 23 Mystic Vale 4 The Networks 10 Octo Dice 4 Puppet Wars 18 Sergeants Board Game 2 Shadowrun: Encounters 16 Star Trek: Frontiers 21 Tiny Epic Galaxies 12 TEG: Beyond The Black 12 Tiny Epic Western 12 Tyrants of the Underdark 9 Vikings: The Board Game 16 X-Men: Mutant Revolution 22 Zombicide: Black Plague 24

MINIATURES, RPGS, AND BITS

Aethersteel 14

Battletech 17

Car Wars 23

D&D Miniatures: Icons 20

Dust 1947 5

Dust Tactics: Babylon 5

Flames of War 7

Heroclix 20

Malifaux 2.0 19

Sergeants Miniatures Game 2

Tanks 8

Team Yankee 8

SPECIAL THANKS

“Danger Dave” Denton (For sleeping with me 3 nights in a row, YET AGAIN),

Mark Thomas (Hot Seat Games) for just being a fantastic friend, Shane, Harley,

Ralph Anderson, Jeff Billings, Zev Schlasinger, Greg and J from Inappropriate

Gaming, and so, so many others for tolerating my continual questions and

unrelenting awe at their talent in delivering pure, unadulterated fun to so, so

many people.

And thanks go to the staff at Origins, who make all of this possible for us to

enjoy every year. Origins Game Fair….Doing Gaming Right.

EVERYTHING ELSE

aPlace2Play Tiles 3

Columbus Attractions 30

D&D Collectors Edition 9

LGBT Pride Festival & Parade 11

Mayfair Commentary 26

Origins Preparation Sidebar 19

Paint n’ Take Competition 25

Self-Referencing Index 31

Thanks and Author 31

Danger Dave The Author

Thanks for taking the time to read our magazine; we put a lot of time and work into producing it, and all of the time taken doing interviews, snapping photo-

graphs, and other non-gaming activities stops us from playing games, the major reason that we go to these conventions.

We have no sponsors, take no advertising dollars, and this magazine is totally, unconditionally free to read and distribute without modification. Feel free to use

any images you wish, but since we spent money to go there, stay there, and buy a nice camera so the images aren’t completely bollocksed, do us a solid and men-

tion us, and take a second to check us out on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SuperflyCircus, or on our brand new website,

www.superflycircus.com, formerly located at superflycircus.blogspot.com.

Happy Gaming!

Pete - Editor In Chief and God Emperor For Life of the Superfly Circus. WE ARE LEGION.


Many moons ago, a dear friend of mine who you all know, Matt Drake, convinced me that the world needs more writers who don’t really care too much about the

feelings of designers and publishers. People whose sole purpose was to tell the truth as we see it, unfiltered, and in such a way that it’s fun to read; more like a

story a friend would tell another over a rules reiteration or a boring analysis that doesn’t really express the writer’s feeling if the game was fun or not.

Please, I implore you, if you like this magazine, support the Circus by coming by, reading us occasionally, and sending a note to me letting me know I’m not wasting

my time. I used to be very aggressive in my defense of my articles, which ended up with a long-term ban from Boardgamegeek.com (blessed be the maker) so it’s

hard to get people to even know my site exists anymore, despite me blowing the lid off of one of the biggest scandals in the board game industry, like, you know,

true journalism to help the world.

Anyhow, check us out at www.superflycircus.com, check out our policies to see how we’re different from many other sites, and most importantly, check out our

index of articles where you can find well over a hundred reviews as well as commentary on bad beer, gaming addictions, consumerism, and all other manner of

interesting subjects.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to meet you someday for a game!

About SuperflyCircus.com And Pete

Games I Played At Origins Or The Day After Spartacus

Fiasco

Hell Rails (x2)

Machi Koro (x6)

Suburbia (x2)

Ferox

Thunder Road (x3)

Octo Dice (x5)

Mystic Vale (x7)

Xia

Tyrants of the Underdark

Vault Wars

Boots on the Ground

Hoodrats (x2)

Guildhall: Fantasy

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Origins 2016 - If You're Into Gaming, This Is The Show