111 – The Artemis Project, with Marc Specter – The Family Gamers Podcast
We’re turning this episode up to 11! We’re joined by Marc Specter, the Grand Poobah of the Grand Gamers Guild.
We’ve had Marc on the show before to talk about Pocket Ops, but this time we’re talking about a brand new Kickstarter, The Artemis Project.
The Artemis Project
The Artemis Project is a bit different from the games we normally feature. Intended for 13+, it’s more of a game for your family to grow into.
The premise of The Artemis Project is the colonization of Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, which has an icy crust with an ocean underneath. The game combines dice “displacement”, set collection, worker placement, and engine building.
Because of the dice displacement, there is lots of player interactivity. In normal worker placement games, once you’ve placed your meeple, that spot is taken and no one else can do that action. But with the dice, a lower number can bump a higher number down the queue. So multiple people can get resources in a location, but the smaller “more nimble” teams are more likely to get the resources they want.
Gain points in several ways: Build buildings by spending minerals. Staff those buildings to help build your engine or score points. As you are staffing your buildings, collect sets of 4 different kinds of colonists for bonus points.
For our listeners who are familiar with some other resource management games, Marc compares The Artemis Project to a mix between Alien Frontiers and Homesteaders.
Kickstarter Details
The Artemis Project is already fully funded. Hooray!
The player boards will have recessed wells to collect the items. Not like a dice track that holds everything snugly, but giving all items a place to go.
The regular edition costs $55, but for an additional $10, you can upgrade to metal expedition tokens. (We’ve found the metal point coins in Century: Golem Edition to be tremendously satisfying.)
The stretch goals already unlocked include support for a fifth player! This has become an important aspect of games added to our collection as well.
More News
Although Kickstarter has been tremendously helpful, Marc shares his goal to eventually get away from it. With the success of The Artemis Project, the Grand Gamers Guild may be able to release their next small-box game direct to retailers.
We mentioned Pocket Ops and Unreal Estate… and we’re also giving them away! Enter the giveaway here.
Where did The Artemis Project come from?
First found at Protospiel Chelsea, the game was originally called “Colonies of Venus”. Marc and his team wanted to give it a different setting, since Venus has been a popular destination in science fiction and space-themed games.
They started looking around the solar system for somewhere that could hypothetically support life. Europa was the eventual winner; the name “The Artemis Project” is in honor of a private project that aimed to put a permanent base on the moon (and also produced a plan to colonize Europa).
NASA is even working on a Clipper probe that will be doing flybys of Europa in less than a decade! It’s an exciting place to research.
Where can you find us?
Find Grand Gamers Guild online:
Facebook: @GrandGamersGuild
Twitter: @grndgmrsgld
Instagram: @grndgmrsgld
Find The Family Gamers online:
Facebook: @familygamersaa
Community: thefamilygamers.com/community
Twitter: @familygamersaa
Instagram: @familygamersaa
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The Family Gamers Podcast is sponsored by Wild East Games. Find Wild East Games online at WildEastGames.com, or @WildEastGames on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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