March of the Ants: The Ultimate Ant Civilization Game

Pledge Manager is Open!
about 16 hours ago – Thu, Nov 21, 2024 at 04:20:56 PM

Hello Fantastic Fans of March of the Ants!

It took us slightly longer than anticipated, but we have now opened the Backerkit pledge manager. For those new to crowdfunding, you will use the pledge manager to finalize your order,select any extra add-ons, and pay shipping fees and taxes. Backerkit has sent a survey to the email you used on the Kickstarter. Please complete that to finalize your pledge. We've compiled a short FAQ on Backerkit below:

Q: How do I find my BackerKit survey?

A: If you don't see it in your main email, search for Backerkit in your spam and junkmail folders. If you accidentally deleted the email containing your BackerKit survey, you can recover your survey by going to Backerkit’s survey recovery page. Enter March of the Ants: Evolved Edition for the project and then the email address you used to pledge on Kickstarter.

Q: When are my rewards shipping?

A: We plan to begin shipping all rewards by September 2025. We’ll send out monthly updates to keep everyone informed on our progress!

Q: When will my card be charged?

On the final page of the survey you will submit payment information and see the final total owed. However, the pledge manager will not charge you until the we close it in May of 2025. This can be confusing, but allows you to change or update your pledge at a later date, and let's us run all the cards at one time. We will send an update before the pledge manager closes to let you know that your card will be charged. 

Q: How do I choose the local pickup option if I'm in Portland, OR?

A: This one's a bit tricky! On the first page of the survey, you'll need to choose the local pickup option from the country list dropdown. When you reach the address section, you can then put 'N/A' in all other fields. We’ll reach out closer to fulfillment to let you know about the time and place!

Q: I have a question not listed here.

A: Email us at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

Final Development and Pre-Press

We're wearing many hats over hear at Weird City Games HQ as we prepare to hand off files to the manufacturer. We're doing final testing of the base game variants and expansions, revising the rulebook, planning box layout and storage, commissioning final artwork, designing box backs, preparing die layout for the punchboard components and many other small but important tasks. We're making good headway and feel confident we'll be able to meet our goal of handing off the final files in January 2025. 

Online Playtesting has been going great! Many thanks to all the folks who've joined us for games or played independently. Getting outside eyes on the game is super helpful before we go to print. If you haven't jumped in a game yet, but would like to you can find all the info here: PLAYTESTING LINK

We're putting final touches on the base game cards and rulebook and will have those components ready to share soon with all the wonderful backers who signed up to help proof those files. 

We'll be back in early December with another update. 

Thank you!

Tim, Ryan and the Weird City Team
 

Marching Towards Production
23 days ago – Wed, Oct 30, 2024 at 12:14:04 PM

Greeting Ant Friend!

We've rested up and recovered from the amazingly successful Kickstarter, and we are now in high gear doing final development and getting the game ready for production. In today's update we'll share our timeline for the project, a call for playtesters, and a link for previous owners of March of the Ants to verify their discount. 

Estimated Timeline

• November & December 2024: Final playtesting and Prepping Files for Manufacture. 
• January 2025: Submit Files to Printer
• February 2025: Lunar New Year - Pre-production samples 
• March & April 2025: Games in Production
• May & June 2025: Games Complete/Shipping Commences
• August 2025: Games Arrive to Fulfillment Centers
• September 2025: Games Ship to Backers!

This is of course an estimated timeline and may shift a bit. We've built in some extra time to account for any unknowns. We feel confident we can fulfill all games by September 2025 and we'll keep you updated here with any changes or adjustments to the schedule. 

Pledge Manager

We will be using Backerkit for pledge management. Our plan is to open the pledge manger on November 18th. In the pledge manager, you will be able to select add-ons, pay for shipping and finalize your pledge. We'll send another update when the pledge manager opens and you'll also receive an email coming from Backerkit with login instructions. 

Discount Verification

If you backed a previous March of the Ants campaign no action is needed. Your discount will be automatically applied in the pledge manager. 

If you own a copy of the original game that was purchased outside of Kickstarter, you will need to verify ownership to qualify for the discount. We've sent a direct message from Kickstarter with a link to a form to gather your info. You can also find the form here: 20% Discount Survey To claim your discount, please complete the survey by November 15th so we can apply it before the Pledge Manager opens. 

Online Playtesting

We’ve had a good number of folks join our playtesting Discord and we’ve been building a strong testing community for March of the Ants. If you are interested, we’d love to have you join us as we put the base game and expansion content through their paces. If you’re interested, please fill out this form to Join our Playtesting.

If you are new to Tabletop Simulator and/or March of the Ants, we will be happy to schedule a learning session to get you up to speed. Our good friend Bill is working with us as a dedicated playtesting and development moderator, and Ryan Swisher and myself will be running games every week or so. On the interest form, you can indicate your experience level and let us know if you would like to join a teaching game.

If you are experienced with Tabletop Simulator and have your own playgroup, you are welcome to organize your own testing and share your notes in the Discord or via our feedback form.

Thank you!

Tim and Ryan

Don't Miss Out On New Projects
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Our project was featured on the First Backer Newsletter, and we'd like to invite you to join its growing community of Kickstarter backers - You'll receive fresh Kickstarter projects, and amazing early bird offers, as well as awesome freebies delivered right to your inbox. Click here to subscribe.
 

A Nest to Be Proud Of
about 1 month ago – Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 11:03:43 AM

We absolutely cannot thank you enough for your support and help in making this Weird City Games’ most successful Kickstarter campaign yet. We have so much appreciation for all the new backers and the returning fans of the original game. 

Next Steps

The team will take the weekend to rest and recover from this amazing final week, and then we’ll jump right back into action.

In about two weeks the pledge manager will open on Backerkit where you can finalize your pledge. We'll send an email and post an update when the pledge manager is open so just hold tight until you hear from us.

Our goal is to send the files to our printer in early December, and there’s a lot that needs to be done before that. And for that, we could use your help!

Ways You Can Help

We love the support and enthusiasm backers bring to the game. If you’d like, here’s a few ways you can stay involved: 

Online Playtesting

The game is in a great place right now, but we have added a lot of content during this Kickstarter that all needs to be put through its paces. It's been tested internally, but we’d love your help in honing it to its final form. If you’re interested, please sign up here. You will need to own a copy of Tabletop Simulator to participate. If you're new to Tabletop Simulator or March of the Ants but still want to playtest, don't worry--we'll be around to help you learn!

Rulebook and Card Proofing

Many of you have already offered to help with both the rules and the scientific information, but the more eyes, the better! We’ll be sending an update and reaching out as the components are ready to proof. 

Tiny Titans Promo

If you signed up for the Tiny Titans promo at Essen, Gen Con, or through our email list, rest assured—it will be automatically added to your pledge when the pledge manager opens. You don’t need to take any further action for this.

Returning Backer Discount

If you are a returning backer, or you purchased a retail copy, we’ll be verifying that when we send out the survey in a few weeks. Sit tight, you don’t need to take any further action right now!

All Other Questions

If you have questions about your pledge, we recommend you email us at [email protected] or message us through the Kickstarter interface. While we will be keeping an eye on the comments section, we don’t always see new comments right away. Messaging or emailing us is the most efficient way to contact us so we can resolve any issues in a timely manner.

Final Week!
about 2 months ago – Mon, Oct 07, 2024 at 09:11:32 AM

Hello fellow ants!

Our nest has been quietly marching along two by two through our stretch goals. We’ve finally neared the end of the (ant) tunnel. As we enter the final week, we wanted to extend another thank you, and share our final stretch goals with you!

$300K - Silkscreened Predators

All the Predators will be getting silkscreened designs to enhance their presence! Predators are fearsome allies that you can recruit by completing a specific task they require and making an offering to them. Each Predator has a large, centimeeple sized figure that represents it (the Broodmother is even bigger) and a tarot card with its abilities, battle strength, point reward and the price you must pay each round to keep it in your service. Each game starts with a random subset of the predators, so you’ll need to adapt your strategy to account for these powerful beings, whether they become friend or foe. Which brings me to our next announcement!

$315K - Final Stretch Goal - The Deadly Dragonfly

For our final stretch goal, we will be adding an all new Predator to the game! Dragonflies are aggressive predators, eating about a fifth of their weight in insects each day. They fly back and forth over the water or dart in a zig-zag fashion above the grass, catching winged ants and other small insects from the air using their spiny front legs. They are one of the world’s deadliest hunters, catching 95% of the prey they pursue. 

This stretch goal includes the figure and tarot card featuring all new art from Alder. Alder's rendition of winged insects blew us away from the very first time we saw their work, and we're excited to see what they do with the dragonfly!

Thanks from Essen!

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth at Essen! There was so much excitement for March of the Ants, and it was really fun to show it off to such an enthusiastic reception. It was our first time there, and it was great to meet long time fans of the game and introduce it to new folks. Our booth was bustling the entire time!

Help us spread the word!

We’d love your help during this final week to bring others to the nest. Share an image on social media, or give the thumbs up to this image on Board Game Geek!

Thanks! 

The Weird City Team

A New Ant is Born!
about 2 months ago – Fri, Sep 27, 2024 at 01:47:31 PM

Ahoy Ant Friend!

We’re back with our weekly update and happy to report that this campaign is keeping up the pace. Thank you to you all for marching with us to create this game! With a little less than 2 weeks to go in the campaign we are excited to keep building this project with you.

New Ant Has Been Hatched

Thanks to all of you for suggesting ant species, voting on them and voting on what abilities they should bring to the meadow! We’ve now finalized the backer created ant and we’re excited to print it out and add it to our final development testing. We’ve sent the art description to our artist/biologist Alder and should have a sketch and final artwork to share in an upcoming update. We can’t wait to see the final version of the Exploding Ghost Medic ant scurrying about in the meadow!

Ants Marching on Essen

This weekend we’ll be flying to Germany to attend the Essen Spiel. This is the largest boardgame convention in the world and it will be our first time attending. We’ll be showcasing March of the Ants: Evolved Edition at our booth to build up excitement for the Kickstarter! If you haven’t yet we’d appreciate if you could thumbs up March of the Ants on the Essen Preview page of Boardgamegeek! And if you are attending the show, please come by booth 2E111 to say hello.

We’ll be checking in and updating the Kickstarter during our travels, and we're very excited to meet some European ant enthusiasts!

Stretch Goals

With the awesome pace of the campaign we continue to unlock stretch goals, adding more content and upgrading existing components. We’ve just unlocked 2 more Great Tunnel rewards which will add more variety to what you can earn for winning the Great Tunnel.  Next up we'll be adding a silkscreened design to the Major Worker meeples. We’re super excited to add details to the Major Workers so their presence is felt throughout the meadow!

Thank you for marching with us!

Tim, Ryan and the Weird City Crew

P.S.

Want to Help us Grow the Campaign?

Keep this campaign cooking by spreading the word and boosting our presence on game websites.

Spread the Word

It would be amazing if you could do us a favor to keep the campaign growing and share the game with someone. This could be on social media, a message to a friend or family member who likes biology, bugs or boardgames. 

Thumbs on Board Game Geek

To boost our presence on Boardgamegeek (one of the biggest boardgame websites) we would love it if you could visit the March of the Ants: Evolved Edition page and hit the heart button to become a fan of the game. Then if you can thumb this image that would be fantastic!

BGG PAGE 

BGG Image