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Repentants

you can see them if you squint

Gosh, it’s been a while since I thought about March of the Ants. Tim Eisner and Ryan Swisher’s eusocial civilization game is now ten years old, which in board game years represents the better part of a century. As befits the game’s diminutive nature, this has always been the smaller, faster, and scuttlier cousin to fare like Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy, Clash of Cultures, and Twilight Imperium. With the recent release of the Evolved Edition, it seemed like a good time to take a second look.

I’m glad I did. Not only is this new edition an improvement on the original in pretty much every regard, it has swiftly become a jumping-off point for my eleven-year-old into the expansive world of 4X games. And the ants! There’s nothing quite like slapping a big old butt onto your custom subspecies.

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Ants in the Pants

When I was a young'un, early one morning while walking to the bus that would take me to summer orchestra, I happened across the biggest swarm of ants I've ever seen. And I peed on it. It's the worst act of violence I've ever committed.

Sometimes, usually while showering, I think about how the eusociality of the insect order Hymenoptera — ants, wasps, bees, and so forth — is very possibly the pinnacle of feminism.

But enough about that. Let’s talk about March of the Ants. Who doesn’t love ants?

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