As March of the Ants begins to arrive, I wanted to discuss the blank, home-brew cards that were created for the Kickstarter campaign. This article expects a familiarity with the March of the Ants, but if you have any questions please reach out to me in the comments- I’d love to help!

These blank cards have the same backs as all the regular cards and the fronts have the same borders, but the cards are blank so you can create your own new cards and mini-expansions. There are three Evolution cards (one of each segment), two Event cards and a Colony Goal – the same design space we used to create the Bee mini-expansion already in the game.

(For perceptive readers you may have noticed that an error was made preparing these cards for print and on the red bordered cards it says Evolution, where it should say Event. Our apologies for this error. Ryan suggests the possibility of making a hybrid Event/Evolution card or aggressive Evolutions.)

Ant cards have two main values: Cost and Power. Each card has a Cost that is paid in Ants or Larvae when the card is played. The more powerful a card is the higher the cost should be. The cost of Cards currently range from 1 to 4 but some cards specify they must be paid only in Ants, not Larvae. The effect of paying in Ants makes the card more expensive, because you are forced to give-up position in the Meadow.

The second value on each ant card is Power, a number that is used during battle to boost your ant armies by discarding cards from your hand. More powerful cards tend to have higher power values, which helps new players evaluate how useful cards are when making discard decisions. If a card has a very situational effect, we tended to lower its power value so a player would be tempted to wait for that specific moment rather than just tossing the card in the heat of battle. The higher the power value the better and it currently goes from 1-4, with a single card at 5 (to spice things up!). Colony Goals have some of the highest Power values, so that players balance long term goals versus short term victories.

Evolution cards are the majority of the ant deck, since evolving and creating new ants it what the game is all about. To reduce complicated card interactions and to reinforce the flavor of the game, the ant Evolutions are tied to the three castes of ant society- Queen, Soldier and Worker, and each caste is represented by a specific phase of gameplay. The game is further structured by tying all the Soldier cards to the Head segment, the Worker cards to the Thorax and the Queen cards to the Abdomen. Players only need to pay attention to a single segment of their ant during the corresponding phase of play. players are less likely to forget about cards they had in play, and it also becomes easier to pay attention to what your opponents have going on.

Event cards are played instead of taking taking colony actions like Explore or Forage. They generally attack an opponent, help get your ants to otherwise inaccessible hexes in the meadow, or smooth out your economy by giving you resources. Their cost ranges from 1-4 Ants/Larvae, and these cards would be mostly likely to have alternative costs, like paid only in Ants or some other resource. Be careful of creating Event cards that give too much free food, because this can bloat the economy and make the game drag on. Since Events happen once, rather than evolutions which a player can use over and over, feel free to make the game effects bigger than you would an evolution.

The final type of card is the Colony Goal, which represent different strategies a player can choose to gain points at the end of the game. The Colony Goals are structured so when you play it you gain an immediate boost that works towards the theme of the goal, and each Slumber you gain Colony Points if you met the goal. They cost 2 Larvae/Ants each, and are balanced to produce 0-2 points each turn, with the most powerful going all the way up to 3. You might make a more powerful colony goal that gives even more points, by making its condition very difficult or you could make the initial boost into a cost to balance the bigger, late-game reward.

I have been thinking about this article for months as something i wanted to write before these blank cards started landing on your doorstep. I hope this information about how we designed our ant cards helps you make your own cards that are awesome to play and fit cohesively in the game. The best place to share your great ideas is on the forums on our Board Game Geek page, and is also where we will share and test our own ideas.

It has been a wild ride over the summer as we diligently worked to finish up March of the Ants for production. The production files were all finalized and sent to the manufacturer in early August and we are eagerly awaiting the hard copy proof. The exciting image above is the Centimeeples, which we are still waiting to actually see, but are looking exceptionally awesome in the photos.

In the coming weeks we will be writing some post mortem reflections on the Kickstarter and pre-production process but for now I wanted to give you all a picture of what we have been up to for the last few months. June saw extensive playtesting of newly added stretch goals including new cards, primitive species and solo and coop mode. These all developed quite nicely and enhance the game in exciting ways.

July was spent finalizing all of the artwork and preparing everything for print. I had been warned that preparing the mechanical files (images with bleed for print) was a bear and it is the truth. For future games I plan to use bleeds from the start so as not to have to build them in after the fact. The other major time sink was finalizing the rules. Great thanks to all of the backers that helped proof read and gave feedback on the rules. I am very happy with how they turned out and am sure that all of that hard work will pay off with people learning the game with relative ease.                                                             New artwork created by Ryan and Lukas

The first half of August was occupied with the transfer of files to the printer (sending them the image files and then double checking that they were set up to print correctly), and with the construction by hand of 12 prototype copies of March of the Ants for the Early Ant backers. The second half of August saw a well needed vacation with family while the manufacture worked on the hard copy proof.

And what is Weird City Games up to now? September will see us working on distribution and post Kickstarter outreach as well as development of Little Pig (coming in early 2015) and several other titles we have in the works. That’s all for now. Thanks for checking in and enjoy the last days of summer.

Thank you to all the amazing backers who not only made this possible, but showered us with amazing ideas and endless encouragement.  This game would not be what it is, or even exist, without your support.  We’re off to celebrate, but you’ll hear more from us very soon.

If you know anyone who missed out on the Kickstarter, but wants a copy of the game, until July 1st they can now pre-order a copy of the retail version, which will be shipped with the Kickstarter copies early next year.

It’s been a whirlwind of activity at Weird City Games getting ready for our March of the Ants Kickstarter launch inthe past few weeks, but we’re finally here.  From the page to the video to the game itself, we’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and we’d love for you to check it out and support us.

• Pledge at the Marching Ant level or higher and you will receive the game before it is available at retail and at $10 below expected MSRP.
• We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with the game, return it to us with 30 days of receiving it and we will give you a complete refund.
• Your Support is Essential: We have completed all of the design and original art for this game and need your help to make it a reality.
• Awesome Stretch Goals: By pledging now for $35 or more you are eligible for any and all Kickstarter stretch goals.

Join us, and help make March of the Ants a reality!

The excitement is building as we are only a few days from launching our Kickstarter campaign for March of the Ants. The game has been in development for over a year, has undergone extensive testing in large part thanks to all of you, and we are ready to share it with the world. The launch is set for 10 am pacific standard time on Tuesday, April 29th 2014.

You are cordially invited to join the designers to celebrate the launch of March of the Ants, Portland’s hottest new boardgame. Play your first game, compete in the first ever tournament, hobnob, eat pizza and salad and make merry. Food and prizes will be provided. Drinks will be available at Guardian Games bar the Critical Sip. Party starts at 6 PM and goes till 10 PM.

Invite friends and family and everyone who loves games. We hope to see you there!
Guardian Games
345 se Taylor St, Portland, Oregon 97214

If you are unable to make it to the launch party we would still love your help and support. First off please share the event and the Kickstarter page with everyone who loves board games, ants and fun. Secondly, if you can pledge support of any amount we seriously thank you. Not only is Kickstarter about raising funds it is also building a community and the more supporters we have the more awareness we will have. Thanks so much!

As spring dawns the great thaw begins. Deep beneath the lush meadow grasses the queen stirs in her nest as the colony comes to life. Soldiers venture forth, battling centipedes while competing for territory with opposing colonies. Workers dig an ever-expanding network of tunnels as they search for food. As the first larvae hatch it is clear this generation will be different: the young colonies are rapidly evolving into a multitude of new forms, marching out to claim the meadow as their own. In this mid-range strategy game, each player takes the role of a newly formed ant nest seeking to achieve ecological dominance through expansion, conquest, or evolution. Coming to Kickstarter in April 2014!

March of the Ants is Weird City Games first full project. We are finalizing playtesting and graphic design and are very excited to be launching our Kickstarter campaign in April 2014. Our design goals for this game were to make a complex strategy game that was approachable, fun, interactive and with minimal set-up. With beautiful, original artwork and highly thematic gameplay, we are very excited to be publishing March of the Ants.

A conversation I have quite often goes like this:

“Wow I have never met a game designer, how did you get into that?”
“Well I was looking for a new creative career and I play a lot of games and always tinkered with them and thought hey this is something that I will be happy I did, even if I don’t make any money.”

All of which is true, but to really explain why I now spend the majority of my waking life thinking, making, discussion and designing games I need to go farther back. When I was young my father taught me and my brother to play chess. I can’t remember exactly how young but I am sure that by age 5 or 6 I was moving my pawns, sliding the bishops and hopping about with my knights. My dad would play us without his queen, he would offer us a hundred dollars if we won, and all the while he taught us the basic openings, how to control the center, the value of the pieces. Later he taught us exposed checks, forks, trades for positions and everything he knew.
One of my most profound experiences with chess happened when I was traveling in Nicaragua and met another traveler named Tim. He had a chess board and we played a game. I clobbered him. I was one or two steps ahead the whole time. After we played he wanted to play again, and moreover he wanted to learn. He asked me to teach him and explain my moves and help him see his options. He was very attentive and very into learning. After 5 or 6 games we played and it was a close game. I learned as much as I taught in those games and through teaching reconnected and realized a lot about the inner workings of chess that I knew intuitively but hadn’t really consciously processed.
Chess more than any other game instilled in me the love of the logical interconnected nature of games. The precise mathematical alignment of games. I continue to learn more about chess and revel in its complexity, beauty and challenge.

My next great love affair with a game came about through my mother and father’s cribbage rivalry. During elementary school my parents would play a game of cribbage every day and keep a running tally of wins and losses. Cribbage was fun in a way that chess wasn’t. Cribbage had random chance and guessing. It had a fun track and was quick and light. It to me epitomizes a near perfect balance of luck and skill. I have played cribbage for over 25 years and played probably 1000 games at least and it still confronts me with new hands and situations, forcing me to choose which cards to put in the crib and which to keep.
Cribbage is an excellent game for many reasons but the aspect of the design I love the most is the dual nature that your hand has. Not only do you count the points present in your hand, you also use it to peg which brings it to life and makes the game full of interaction, second guessing and bluffing. I think games that have multiple uses for game components offer a more complete experience and really make you involved in the game.

When I was 13, after a half year of him talking about it my brother bought us each a starter deck of Magic the Gathering 3rd edition. This changed my life. If cribbage and chess had laid the foundation for a love of games, Magic took that and transported it beyond my wildest expectations. Magic is a great game, it is fun, diverse, full of art, it is logical, complex, fun and exciting. It is also not the best game ever. It is not chess or cribbage. Many times playing magic it is one sided and not a really fun game. Other times it is a universe unto itself with heroic comebacks, vicious losses and near legendary plays. The greatness of Magic is more in the fact that it taught me what a game is. Magic is always evolving, it continually has new rules and cards added to it, it occasionally has cards removed and rules changed. It is a live game. Chess and cribbage are thousands and hundreds of years old, respectively, and so approaching them you don’t see the rough edges (many have been worn down by the centuries), you take them as they are. Through playing magic and reading about its design I began to realize the possibility of creating games.

That’s all for now. In the second in this series I will talk about Catan, Improv theater and what it means to play.