Hello everyone,
I'm writing this post for everyone, as these days I receive a lot of messages asking the same question: estimated shipping dates.
Instead of copy-pasting the identical information to everyone, I tried to collect all the relevant info here.
Some of you may already know these from my replies, but it's a good read anyway.
I aimed to provide explanations rather than excuses but I understand you’ll interpret it however you like.
The DELAYS
The last twelve months has been full of shitty events out of my control.
First, about a year ago, there was the sudden, never-before-seen tariff bullshit that halted all mail shippings* from Europe to the United States of America.
And, while 90% of the Settlement Book II pre-orders was placed from the U.S., everything messed up on my side. I decided to use this delay to give the book a bit more time to polish it to perfection, making the Settlement Book II™ even better. (And it indeed is super great now!)
Then, after nine full months(!) the tariff mess was finally resolved. Meanwhile my pro printer decided to broke down out of a sudden. How convenient! You can read my rant about it here.
Well, then it took over three months(!) from Canon Finland to fix the problem. Required several emails and phone calls to Canon, and help from the printer seller. Still nothing happened until the staff left to a summer vacation and another person stepped in to take care of my situation.
So, here we are. A whole year lost and crazy amount of pre-orders with hundreds of products waiting to be finished as soon as possible. This year has been incredibly stressful, I can tell you my friend.
The first Early Pre-orders placed almost two years ago, so there really has been some waiting time, I'm sorry about that! The original plan back then was, that it would take max of a year to finish and send out all the Settlement Books, but... Then I draw a wrong random SE card, I suppose. Everything went to South, and here we are. Now I'm doing my best to get back on the saddle again.
*Ok, there was UPS who was ready to carry something overseas, but the price was ~$95 USD for an envelope, so it wasn't a real option.
I'm a freelancer
Please also note that I'm a solo freelancer, and must grab on each possible clients and projects I can get. And, to continually improve my work, I’ve begun studying a new and challenging creative field this year. So, the time may be limited for BoardGameHell stuff sometimes, but I'm trying to work on them as much as possible.
The best way to ensure stable working on this stuff is to place an order or pre-order(s), and spread the word to your gaming buddies, so I can walk past some other stuff (when these orders pays the bills).
That said, this BGH side-hustle has become my labor of love, and I would love to work on this stuff all day long. And I still have a bunch of intriguing never-before-seen ideas in my drawer to spice up your Kingdom Death experience. I hope they'll see daylight some day. I love the game, and want my stuff to be the best third-party custom content out there. This game deserves nothing less.
I am working on you order
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working my ass off (pardon my French) to reduce the huge backlog caused by all those unforeseen events.
Over 170 orders are waiting to be printed, crafted and shipped worldwide. That's some serious amount of work by hand for a single person (and printer), I can tell you. But finally a good amount of those are ready!
The new printer has gone through a real baptism of fire, printing your orders days and nights. It might not look much but it certainly feels like it! Couldn't fit everything in here.
I attempted to count and sketch some of the workload from the last few weeks:
– Dozens of BGH Books, hundreds of character sheets, almost a thousand game cards, meaning...
– 1900+ printed pages(!!) of books, sheets, cards, labels, bookmarks, etc. (And, in case you're not familiar with professional art printers — they are not like those regular office laser ones that spit out hundreds of sheets in a minute with mediocre quality. These are slooow.)
– Almost a thousand sheets pouched and heat laminated by hand (the highest quality double-sided matte lamination is available only as laminate pouches, not rolls — at least I haven't found any automated machine that would do this work for me with reliable quality. If you know (a non-industrial) one, please let me know!)
– After the lamination process, all the pages were carefully cut, organised, wire-bound, assembled and packed by hand
– And most game cards and bookmarks requires also their four corners rounded, which adds another steps on this process
– Then, of course each bookmark needs yet another extra steps with the hole and ribbon
Please note that after the printing, each and every one of these items are crafted by hand. It takes time.
This is not a Temu sweatshop full of minors, ehrm, "little helpers" working in three shifts.
A Small gift included in every order
I know the waiting is dull, so I've designed an extra thematic gear card as a "thank you for your patience" gift for everyone who has orders of any size in. I will include a copy of this card on each shipment when they are sent out, until the queue is cleared out eventually (so it's kinda limited one).
I hope it gives you new ideas and strategies on your Arrival.
Free enhancements
While delays happen, luckily there is a silver lining to them: they give me extra time to revise, redesign or enhance the designs as needed. Sometimes it even means that I can upgrade the whole product with new bonus components (like the extra "Gatherism" in new Philosophy Arc Sheets), and usually these are all free enhancements for the previously placed pre-orders.
This is my humble way to thank you for your support and trust.
It's always a good idea to grab the items on their first release. Like the Hobo's Settlement Villagers™ currently.
Working on new stuff while the printer sweat on the old ones
I can't rest while there's work to do. Meanwhile the printer runs, I've been working on some new stuff.
Arc Survivor Sheets II™
While the first books were printing, I decided to redesign the Arc Survivor Sheets II™ from the scratch. All 18 of them! And now I love them more than ever! They are now color-coded better, with extra information (and more compatible with the Huntsman's Journal II and Villagers Expansion). I hope you'll find them useful.
The first batch of these sets are already done and waiting for fulfilment.
All previously ordered Dream and Philosophy Sets are already upgraded to this new version for free.
Hobo’s Huntsman's Journal II™
Also the upcoming Hobo’s Huntsman's Journal II™ has got some more love. The page layout is now more defined and mostly re-designed (with the same lovely, Settlement Book II's Departing Phase compatible Hunting Track still there).
Hobo's Settlement Villagers™
The first prototype location pages and the cover(s) for Hobo's Settlement Villagers™ expansion are now designed! And oh boy, they are seriously content-heavy! The first location alone required immediately 4-5 new BGH game cards!
Also, ALL of the extra locations are now unlocked — there is now 19 unique locations to manage for the Expanded Expansion book!! I will update the images and product page soon.
Hobo's Settlement Villagers™ BGH Expansion Pack will include a serious bunch of new custom gaming cards, if my visions comes true. Still in the works, so things may alter many times, though. But always for better.
More information, updates and photos of all of new sheets and books coming later, once I'll find some time and energy to do it. If this new expansion book feels like something you would be interested on, I strongly recommend to place an early pre-order today, as we might see some price increases as the work progresses (As always, this will be a way bigger project than expected, haha).
You are not forgotten, my friend!
I hope this post explains a bit why I've been silent for a while and your order is still in "unfulfilled" state.
I will keep my promise to take care of each and every order, and I truly appreciate your support and want to give you the very best content for your game I can. It just takes some time.
So, if you haven't yet received my email about UPS/FedEx shipping upgrade option or "Order Fulfilled" notification (even in Spam folder), please give it a bit more time. I'm working on it! Thank you for your patience. I know the waiting is the crappy part.
I might be able to give better estimates once these currently printed items are sent out. The inventory is currently a bit of a mess because of the volume...
And once more, my sincerest THANK YOU to everyone who has placed an order or sent a message and supported my work and crazy ideas. It means a world to me.
I hope this gives at least some peace of mind for you,
– Olli
The Designer & Shopkeeper
