Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Insert / Organizer by js5002

Last crawled date: 2 years, 10 months ago

This is an insert for Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition. I designed it to fit the Kickstarter version, with dual-layered player boards and the promo cards. I designed the main card tray with a ramp at one end so it will hold all the project cards vertically without them spilling out of the holder. This is similar to the cardboard ramps provided in the Terraforming Mars Big Box, except this ramp is built into the tray. You can just place the tray vertically on the table and pull cards from it as needed.
I also included a spacer card tray to keep everything tight in the box so it can be stored vertically and pass the upside-down shake test. Expansions for this game seem inevitable, and my plan is to elongate the main project card tray to fit any expansion project cards in the future. I will then reduce the size of the spacer card tray. It should make for an easy modification when the time comes.
There is also extra space in the separate card tray that holds the corporations and phase cards. I suspect we may see a Prelude-type expansion with a new set of cards, and this tray should be large enough to hold those, plus any additional corporations. For now, I placed the card dividers that came with the game in the middle compartment. Because all the cards have their own slots now, I do not need to use those dividers. I like keeping them around just in case.
The remaining trays hold the player cubes, resources, forest point tiles, oceans, parameter marker cubes, phase tiles, and player aids. The trays for the resources and the forest point tiles are designed to be placed on the table and used during play.
I sleeved everything using Dragon Shield clear matte sleeves, which are quite thick. The only cards I didn't sleeve are the player aids.
Some might wonder why I didn't use the resource trays that were included with the Kickstarter version. I prefer having everything tight in the box without lids, and I also wanted to have flexibility in the shape of the resource trays. Ultimately, I wanted to maximize the available space in the box for future content, and the resource trays included with the Kickstarter version were larger than needed, had lids, and were not in a shape I preferred.
To achieve the insert pictured, print two of the resource trays and one of everything else. I print with a 0.6 mm nozzle on coarse, draft settings, so your prints will likely look better than mine.
I have included the original OpenSCAD files if anyone would like to improve on this design.