Game: Atta Ants

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

Sparhawk — 2008-09-26T20:56:36+00:00

GaryP wrote:

In the online implementation on yucata.de, and you are not allowed to move onto a spider. (Although, that was likely based off the German translation.)

I really like this game but the rules offer a lot of room for improvement. For no other game which I implemented on yucata.de I needed so much support from the game author to get the rules right.

The rules which are now implemented on yucata.de have been discussed with and confirmed by the author.

That's the way to go

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rober — 2008-08-12T11:18:46+00:00

game overview

Thread: Re: Ant movements (and spiders)

GaryP — 2008-07-17T22:29:06+00:00

I asked Richard de Rijk, the designer, and he replied, "No, an ant can't enter a card with a spider token on it."

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

GaryP — 2008-07-17T22:26:12+00:00

Richard de Rijk replied to me within just a few hours! That's some commendable game support!

Anyway, here is my question and his reply.

[q=GaryP]1) Can an ant enter a card containing a spider?

The English rules say the ant may not "cross" the spider's card, which
implies that the ant may enter the card, but may not move through the card
on the same turn.
1) No, an ant can't enter a card with a spider token on it.

He also specified that a twig (from the first expansion) may be placed over a trail, as was asked in another thread. I'll mention it there.

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

peacmyer — 2008-07-17T17:53:39+00:00

Thanks, Gary!

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

GaryP — 2008-07-17T17:45:35+00:00

clearclaw wrote:
echdareez wrote:
2. I've been looking through the rules but couldn't find anything relating to that... Not that I'm critizing you or anything [in the contrary] but we played all our games with the rule that an ant can't enter a space with a spider [makes it more difficult]...

IIRC the rules (which are out in the car) explicitly state that an ant may not move through a space containing a spider. That directly implies that an ant may move into a space containing a spider, it is merely constrained from then leaving it.
The German rules specifically forbid the ant from "entering" a card with a spider on it. However, the original Dutch uses over, generally meaning across, similar to the English translation. Still, I find it highly suspect that ants can ever enter a spider's card.

In the online implementation on yucata.de, and you are not allowed to move onto a spider. (Although, that was likely based off the German translation.)

Allowing movement onto the spider also creates the trouble described in this thread and the second part of this post.

I'll see if I can get an answer from the designer.

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spearjr — 2007-10-07T13:14:42+00:00

Online Interface on Yucata.de

Thread: Re: 2nd expansion of Atta Ants

Liggur — 2007-05-25T15:54:33+00:00

Got mine at Essen '06

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Silke_und_Andre — 2007-03-14T09:01:39+00:00

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Terraliptar — 2006-10-17T09:17:47+00:00

A close-up of the components

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

echdareez — 2006-09-24T16:44:19+00:00

I'd say : it's a way of 'bending' the rule :-) All 'joking' aside : we've played 2 games this afternoon : one with the ants allowed to move into the space with the spiderand one with the limitation > seems it gets harder for the ants to escape from narrow corridors when this last option is chosen. Oh well, thanks JC again!

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

clearclaw — 2006-09-23T16:58:22+00:00

echdareez wrote:
2. I've been looking through the rules but couldn't find anything relating to that... Not that I'm critizing you or anything [in the contrary] but we played all our games with the rule that an ant can't enter a space with a spider [makes it more difficult]...

IIRC the rules (which are out in the car) explicitly state that an ant may not move through a space containing a spider. That directly implies that an ant may move into a space containing a spider, it is merely constrained from then leaving it.

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

echdareez — 2006-09-23T16:51:39+00:00

Hi there JC,

Talking about being fast ;-) Thanks a lot!
If I may run over your answers quickly :
0. thanks a lot for that suggestion, will try it out tomorrow
1. thought so!
2. I've been looking through the rules but couldn't find anything relating to that... Not that I'm critizing you or anything [in the contrary] but we played all our games with the rule that an ant can't enter a space with a spider [makes it more difficult]...
3. Doh! You are absolutely right : this is one part of the rules that I oversaw

thanks again,
/dimi

Thread: Re: Tons of questions...

clearclaw — 2006-09-23T16:21:06+00:00

echdareez wrote:
0. as the starting position includes 8 tiles that need to be joined : what if you receive a combination which can not be placed as a valid starting position?

This very rarely ever happens. If it does I suggest re-shuffling the deck and starting again. I also strongly suggest ensuring that the spiders and leaves don't come out too heavily clumped. Having too many spiders or leaves together makes for a poor game. I do this by dealing the tiles into piles, each pile containing one leaf and one spider, shuffling the contents of each pile, and then assembling those piles into the draw deck. This ensures that the leaves and spiders are somewhat evenly distributed through the deck.

1. spiders are allowed to move without restrictions I think? [ignoring roads and except for the nest tile?]

Yes.

2. I've seen the previous posting in here that asks the same question but still : is an ant allowed to move over a tile with a spider inside?

Ants may move into a tile containing a spider, but may not then leave it (ie move through it or go in and back out). It is can be wise to move into a tile containing a spider if you know that the spider will then leave.

3. what's the use of the tile that has NO roads but a leaf depicted? As the ants will never be able to reach this tile???

Ants can walk two spaces along roads and one across open fields.

Thread: Tons of questions...

echdareez — 2006-09-23T15:20:13+00:00

Hi there,

What a great game! This arrived last week and we've already seen the potential of this small yet great game :-)

But... There are some situations that aren't clear yet :

0. as the starting position includes 8 tiles that need to be joined : what if you receive a combination which can not be placed as a valid starting position?
1. spiders are allowed to move without restrictions I think? [ignoring roads and except for the nest tile?]
2. I've seen the previous posting in here that asks the same question but still : is an ant allowed to move over a tile with a spider inside?
3. what's the use of the tile that has NO roads but a leaf depicted? As the ants will never be able to reach this tile???

that's all for now
thanks a lot!
/dimi

Thread: Re: 2nd expansion of Atta Ants

RPardoe — 2006-08-25T18:35:52+00:00

Been released already as I own a copy. Got it from Adam Spielt a few months back. Has an entry here on the geek: Atta Ants Expansion 2

Thread: Re: 2nd expansion of Atta Ants

Liggur — 2006-08-25T17:41:14+00:00

Any update on when this is released? its been over a year since the announcement.

Thread: Re: Ant movements (and spiders)

macron — 2006-01-05T15:10:34+00:00

Good question, to which I don't a definitive answer.

However, later in the rules, when describing a spider's movement, they use the phrase "cross or enter". So, assuming it's a decent job of translating and editing, it would appear that you can enter a card with a spider -- as long as you don't leave. But that just doesn't seem right, so we don't allow it.

Also, allowing an ant to do so raises the question: "Does a spider have to move?" The rules say a spider moves one card (not up to one card) toward the card with the most ants. If every card has only one ant, the nearest one would be the one the spider's on -- but if he has to move, where does he go? Not allowing entry to a card with a spider avoids this situation as well.

Thread: Ant movements (and spiders)

gotswe — 2005-12-24T21:53:24+00:00

When our group played, we were a little confused by the rule text, "Ants...cannot cross a card on which a spider is standing." Can an ant enter a card on which a spider is standing provided that it does not cross the card, or should cross and enter be considered synonymous?

Thread: Re: Ant and Spider Stickers

alkaiser — 2005-11-09T16:25:26+00:00

Print that document to full page labels and then cut out the stickers.

Thread: Re: Ant and Spider Stickers

mergryphon — 2005-11-09T14:52:42+00:00

Neat... but how do you all get them to be stickers to put on your bits... is there an easy way?

Thread: 2nd expansion of Atta Ants

Revilio — 2005-10-02T21:46:35+00:00

At Essen 2005 the second expansion will be released, containing: trees (they bring extra leaves into the game), storage rooms (where you can bring leaves to gain victory points) and golden beetles (which attack the nest. Introduction price: € 5.

Thread: Re: Tile Placement Oddity

alkaiser — 2005-09-21T18:27:15+00:00

I was planning on doing that in the future. Seems like a quick easy fix. I was mostly just wondering if I was missing some interesting tactical moves that made an initial layout like this more fun!

Thread: Re: Tile Placement Oddity

clearclaw — 2005-09-20T05:53:23+00:00

We divide the deck into sections and then shuffle the spiders into each section before re-assembling the deck. This ensures as reasonable, but not determinable spread of spiders.

Thread: Tile Placement Oddity

alkaiser — 2005-09-19T23:07:58+00:00

I came across an annoying map tile placement issue that seemed to break the forward progression of the game. In the initial eight tiles that were placed on the three of them were spiders. This made it almost impossible to escape the spiders. Maybe it was the initial placement of the spiders or the way we built out but it seemed that given the three spiders at the start we were doomed from the beginning. Also, the 4th spider came out several turns into the game which didn't help at all either. So my question is, are there any strategies for dealing with a high spider to tile ratio or is this something that should be dealt with when shuffling/building the deck? We tried getting pairs of ants (one of each color in a 2 player game) to draw the spiders to one area but given the cramped quarters this didn't buy us much time to get leaves back to the nest and depleted any ants that we did gain from getting the few leaves we did get back to the nest. Anyway, I'd love to hear some thoughts on this.

Thread: Re: Ant and Spider Stickers

alkaiser — 2005-09-15T21:15:48+00:00

Thanks, that was exactly what I was looking for.

Thread: Re: Ant and Spider Stickers

dschises — 2005-09-12T22:27:54+00:00

Hi,

alkaiser wrote:
I've been looking around for some nice stickers to put on the ant and spider playing pieces but have had little luck so far. I recall there being a link to something like that at the publishers website but I can't seem to find it now. Anyone know of a source for what I'm looking for?

the german web shop (and game company) Sphinx Spiele has them for download. Here's the link to the shop: http://www.sphinxspiele.de/

The link to the document itself (PDF) is here: http://www.sphinxspiele.de/kartenspiele/pdf/atta-ants.pdf

Hope that helped,
Christian

Thread: Re: Ant and Spider Stickers

RPardoe — 2005-09-12T22:18:56+00:00

The link used to be: http://www.trof.nl/atta/Downloads/stickers.pdf

But now I am getting a 404 error. You might want to contact them directly to see if the stickers have been moved.

Thread: Ant and Spider Stickers

alkaiser — 2005-09-12T21:51:11+00:00

I've been looking around for some nice stickers to put on the ant and spider playing pieces but have had little luck so far. I recall there being a link to something like that at the publishers website but I can't seem to find it now. Anyone know of a source for what I'm looking for?

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puppi — 2004-11-05T19:02:26+00:00

Thread: Re:Where in the USA can I purchase this game?

castiglione — 2004-10-22T04:06:17+00:00

Never mind - just ordered myself a copy from Funagain!

Thread: Where in the USA can I purchase this game?

castiglione — 2004-10-22T03:44:45+00:00

Only on-line vendor I could find was over in the UK...

Thread: Session Report

AmazingIntern — 2004-07-09T20:15:56+00:00

A full day of gaming at Joe's began with a quick game of Atta Ants. Stef and I had played a couple of times before, but we flubbed the rule about leaving and returning to the nest on the first turn. I was looking forward to giving it another try.
The rules were pretty easy to explain to the new players, so without further ado, Stefanie, Martin, Joe and I stacked our ant discs and started collecting leaves. The initial setup had two spiders to start, so while we all got our first leaf without too much trouble, the spiders kept me and Stef at bay for a few turns while Joe and Martin cleaned up on a few more leaves. The tide soon turned, though, and we were able to herd the spiders toward Joe and Martin, causing their numbers to dwindle. Sadly for Stefanie, an ant or two of hers made the noble sacrifice to put me in the lead.
So, with only a few more cards to go, I had 4 ants, Joe and Stef had 2, and Martin had only 1. We now had three spiders to deal with. Faced with a life of solitude, Martin's lone ant made a kamikazi run toward one of my ants, drawing the spider to the square, killing us both, and bringing the score to 3/2/2/0. In the second-to-last turn Joe was ready to bring a leaf to the nest, but a spider was blocking his path. In fact, all I had to do (as last player for the turn) was keep the totals on all the tiles at 1, and said spider would eat Joe's ant with the leaf.
It's my game to lose, I think. I immediately forget all about Joe, and worry about how to prevent Stef from doing something cool, as well as saving my own skin. So, I move away from the spider, onto the space where Stef just moved, causing that space's total to jump to 2, which causes the spiders to head that way, away from Joe, who brings in the leaf in the final turn while I proceed to be cornered by spiders, screaming "NOOOOOOOO!" as one is eaten. Joe wins 3/2/1/0.

Still, I like the game. It feels similar to Finstere Flure to me, with everybody moving their ants to send the spiders toward the leader's ants. Of course, when the board fills up with the full four spiders, it gets darn crowded around that anthill.

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AmazingIntern — 2004-07-08T16:07:11+00:00

Modified pieces in play.

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ssummerer — 2004-06-02T23:53:14+00:00

Box

Thread: A Good Thing in a Small Package

Aldaron — 2004-05-26T15:47:19+00:00

A clever game with more to it than it would first seem. Success hinges on seizing opportunities when they present themselves and on not making mistakes that can put you behind. This game is quick to learn and travels well, and unlike many portable games, accommodates a reasonable range of player numbers (from 2-4).

The ant theme is thin, but just sufficient to work with the mechanics and add to the fun.

Thread: User Review

gschloesser — 2003-11-17T14:51:50+00:00

One of the neat aspects of attending the Spiele Faire in Essen is the discovery of an unexpected gem – a game that I knew little or nothing about, but turns out to be a very good or perhaps even an exceptional design. Last year, both Ad Acta and Trias fell into this category. This year, the two surprising finds were Feurio and Atta Ants.

Atta Ants is a small, yet very tactical game released by Richard de Rijk under the Realm of Fantasy label. The game is certainly compact, stuffing an assortment of wooden disks, glass stones and terrain cards into a tiny plastic container. Each player represents a family of ants who are attempting to gather food and increase the size of their colony. The problem is that there are voracious spiders lurking about … and their favorite food is ants!

Each player begins with two ants located in the anthill, which is surrounded by eight other tiles. Tiles depict trails that the ants can follow, with some also depicting leaves (food) and/or spiders. Although the rules don’t require it, we always make sure at least one of the starting tiles contains a spider. This helps make the game a bit more perilous from the get-go.

A turn is quite simple: the start player reveals and places a new tile, then each player moves his ants. After all players move their ants, spiders move towards the closest largest group of ants. The start player then moves to the left and the cycle repeats.

The movement rules are also simple. Ants can move up to two spaces if moving along a trail, or one space if moving off a trail. Any ants that begin the turn inside the hill MUST depart and cannot return on that turn. A player may only have two ants inside the hill at any time. Spiders move one space and need not remain on the trails. If a spider moves onto a space occupied by ants, it is dinner time and the ants are devoured.

The object is to grab leaves and bring them back to the hill. When this occurs, the ants reproduce and a new ant is added to the hill. Victory goes to the player who manages to get all six of his ants onto the board.

The game is one of tactics. The moving and positioning of your ants is key. The goal is to grab leaves, bring them back to the hill and increase the size of your colony. However, leaves can be easily stolen by other ants, so you have to arrange your ants in efforts to prevent this theft. A superior tactic is forming a line so that you can run an “ant relay” and carry those leaves safely to the hill.

Of course, you must also give constant attention to the spiders. Since they will move towards the largest group of ants, it is vital to position your ants so that they will not be tasty targets for the arachnids. There is also ample opportunity to be nasty, forcing the spiders to move in a direction that imperils or even eliminates ants of your opponents. Again, clever tactics is the key.

In spite of the simple rules and basic movement abilities, the game is rich with tactical options and possibilities. Perhaps these will grow stale with repeated playings, but I don’t think so. The board can develop in so many different ways, and players will react and move differently, that I can’t see the game stagnating. There is an awful lot of game crammed into this plastic case, proving the old cliché that good things really can come in small packages.

Thread: Session Report

gschloesser — 2003-11-17T14:38:24+00:00

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TROF — 2003-11-17T13:17:17+00:00

At the Dutch GameFair in Eindhoven

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Caversham — 2003-10-27T20:55:32+00:00

Atta Ants variable board layout