Whether they're an alien from the planet Krypton, the victim of a radioactive Spider bite, or a bored billionaire who decides to dress up like a bat and start pummelling people, every Superhero has a backstory. And Stonemaier Games has turned those all important origin stories into, er, Origin Story, a brand new board game about crafting the history of several superheroes that combines trick taking and tableau building elements.
Revealed online on October 1, Origin Story has already attracted some attention from the board games community over the weekend, and that's no surprise. Stonemaier's most famous title, Wingspan, is rightfully listed as the best engine building game of all time in our top list of the best board games ever made. We rank Scythe, another Stonemaier stalwart, among the best strategy board games money can by. Anything these folks do is, at the very least, worth your attention.
So, what's this superhero one about, then? In Origin Story, players draw hands of cards that occupy one of four suits: brains, love, speed, and strength. Then you compete in a trick taking game, aiming to play the highest value card from one of these suit. Since love conquers all (at least in the realm of comics) the highest valued love card played will automatically beat out any cards from other suits.
The game spans five rounds. Every round, players decide whether they want to be a hero, and aim to win as many tricks as possible, or a villain, and attempt to lose at every opportunity. There are also story cards, and special abilities that bend and tweak the cardplay.
Trick taking mechanics (those with suits or categories of cards, played in turn, where the high card wins the trick) pop up in all kinds of tabletop games. Sometimes it's the main event, as in the marvelous Scout; at other times it's one of several interlocking mechanisms supporting a larger game (for example in Leder Games' blockbuster Arcs).
Where exactly Origin Story fits in among them, we won't know until we get a chance to play. But if there's one thing about this game that'll definitely stand out, it's the artwork. Origin Story's phenomenal illustrations come from Clémentine Campardou, a French artist who previously worked with Stonemaier on Wyrmspan, Wingspan's draconic duplicate. Campardou's art makes Origin Story feel like an oil painting, it's as though you're splashing the actions of your hero onto the canvas of their life.
According to the official announcement, Origin Story will be available from the Stonemaier Games webstore on Wednesday, October 15. It'll then get a wider retail release in November. Sadly, Stonemaier's given no price estimate just yet.
Does this one get your super senses tingling? Come let us know your thoughts in the free Wargamer Discord community. Heroes, villains, and board game fans of all kinds are welcome. For some more Superhero action, have a look at our piece on The Invincible TTRPG.