March of the Ants: The Ultimate Ant Civilization Game
Created by Tim Eisner
Expand your colony and evolve your ants in this fast-playing 4X nature civilization game.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Marching Towards Production
over 1 year 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.
Backer Designed Ant Sketch by Alder. Final version coming soon!
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.
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
over 1 year 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!
over 1 year 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!
over 1 year 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!
Ant Sketch is from a previous ant illustration by Alder!
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!
The Ghostly Exploding Medic Ant
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 08:15:02 AM
Hello Marcher!
We are 11 days into this fantastic Kickstarter and we really appreciate the support of the over 3,000 folks who’ve showed up and enthusiastically joined our project. We are thrilled to be bringing March of the Ants back to print in style and are so glad you all are excited as well.
The Ghostly Exploding Medic Ant
A big thank you to everyone who contributed ant species ideas and to everyone who voted on our Backer Designed Ant Poll over on BGG (boardgamegeek). With all the votes tallied, we are very excited to welcome the Matabale ants (Megaponera analis), Exploding ants (Colobopsis explodens), and Ghost ants - (Tapinoma melanocephalum) to March of the Ants!
After doing some research, Ryan and I put our heads together and came up with 2 potential abilities for each ant species to add to the game. And now we invite you all to weigh in to decide what each of these ants will bring to the meadow.
We have set up a poll on Boardgamegeek.com where you can vote for which ability each new ant should have. Voting will be open until Tuesday, September 24th. Once the final abilities have been chosen, we will have the fantastic artist Alder start working on the illustration. Thanks for your help making this game!
Voting on Boardgamegeek helps raise awareness for the campaign and uses a handy polling system. However, if you do not wish to vote on Boardgamegeek you can still vote by commenting on this update. To see all the suggested abilities visit the poll at the link below.
With the fantastic support the campaign has received, we’ve cruised through several more stretch goals, allowing us to bring additional content to the game and improve the components. We’ve added linen finish to the cards, and will be adding a screen printed design to the centimeeples to make them even more fearsome. We'll share the design as soon as it is complete!
We’ve got a lot of great goals on the horizon and with the pace that this campaign is marching, we feel confident we’ll be able to add even more goodness to the game! Thank you for helping us make this new version of March of the Ants even more awesome.
Tim, Ryan, and the Weird Citizens
P.S. Want to Help us Keep the Campaign Growing?
Thumbs Up Our Essen Preview on BGG
Weird City Games will be at Essen Spiel convention for the first time this year! And we’ll be showing off March of the Ants. Our booth is not big enough to allow us to run playthroughs of the game, but if you stop by we’ll be happy to give you a deep dive on the mechanics and show you all the components. We’ll be at Booth 2E111. To help boost excitement for the game at Essen visit BGG and thumb the game on the Essen Preview list: https://boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/68/spiel-essen-24-preview?parentitem=10554.
Spread the Word
It would be amazing if you could do us a favor and share an image from the campaign to your social media. You can talk about what excites you about the game or just share the image and see if folks are interested in it. Sharing to board game groups can be especially effective (but be considerate and make sure there are not too many other posts from backers already in the group).
Visit Kicktraq
If you can visit the site to check the page that will help boost us on the page. Kickraq LINK
