Europa; the frozen moon of Jupiter. It took decades to bio-form this ball of ice into a place that can just barely support human life… but the effort was worth it to get to the great living oceans below. With the “Threshold” energy shield holding in the warming atmosphere, and the “Doorstep” spaceport fully active, teams of Stabilizers descend to compete for leadership of this hostile moon.

In The Artemis Project, you act as a brave band of Stabilizers, travelling to Europa to make a viable colony on Jupiter's hostile moon.  Complete exploratory journeys underneath the harsh tundra to find heated oceans, teeming with new, unimaginable life-forms to help build humanity's new colony.

In this competitive dice placement game, players roll to place and perform actions on six areas of the board to perform different actions.

I'm not a huge fan of dice placement games, however, The Artemis Project utilizes the 'exposure' mechanic to keep bidding varied and interesting.  Dice are placed in areas in numerical order and then activate in that order.  This means that, with limited space and resources, larger bids may end up without any resources at all.

Each group begins with their essential resources and, over time, must build structures both above and below the ice, go on explorations for energy and resources, train their crew and cope with a deck of unexpected, game-altering events, such as hailstorms and seaquakes.

Scoring takes place at the end of each round, and players are awarded victory points for their successful explorations, structures, resources, and colonists.  The game lasts for six rounds, and the player with the most Victory Points at the end of the sixth round wins oversight of humanity's new colony!

This Kickstarter has already reached its target goal and nearly all its stretch goals, and it's not hard to see why.  There is a print and play for download for those who like to try before they buy, and downloadable rulebook on the site.

The Kickstarter edition also comes with some awesome extras, like 30 metal expedition badges and silk-screened drawstring bag.  There are 10 days left on the campaign, so back it now.

What is your favourite dice placement game?