Snowdonia Deluxe Master Set

Locking down addresses on 26-Jun
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jun 25, 2019 at 02:36:03 AM

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Time has come to lock all addresses down for all backers of Snowdonia, as games are on the way to all fulfillment centers and our fulfillment partners need time to prepare.

What we need to ask of you:

- If you have moved or if you have any reason to believe that you will move soon, please update your address in the pledge manager:  https://snowdonia.backerkit.com/ 

- Please make sure that your address is stable for at least 90-120 days! This is very important, as transit time for packages may vary a lot from location to location.

- If you're going to be out for holidays, or if you have any reason to think that your address may change (work going very well or not so well, family issues, getting married, etc) please use the address of family or friends who are staying in one place for sure

- The deadline to update your address is 26-Jun; That's when we issue the lockdown, and for an extra 48 hours BackerKit will still allow it, so effectively on 28-Jun all addresses will be locked down

- We cannot afford to be flexible about this, with more than 7000 copies to deliver, so please do not be that person to ask us to update the address, as most likely we will have to refuse. Once we send addresses to our fulfillment centers, we will be able to offer zero flexibility, as we have the responsibility to those 99% of people who do not want an extra delay because someone else forgot to update an address.

- Also, please log into BackerKit and double check your current address, make sure it is spelled properly and it is in latin characters - postal services will not process any other alphabets.

- We are aware that mistakes can happen, and we have prepared a bit of extra stock to cover for our mistakes in delivery. We will repair all the mistakes on our side, so even if your package is lost by the courier, this will not be an issue. However, for packages returned due to lack of availability at an address, we will be able to reship for the full shipping costs.

As of today, there are 4 shipments en route to various fulfillment centers: USA, Canada, Poland and China. From current information from logistics companies, all of them are due in July, but we do not have exact dates yet.

Have a great week,

Andrei

Production ended. Preparing for shipping
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Jun 01, 2019 at 02:40:24 AM

Ladies & Gentlemen,

We have just learned that production of Snowdonia has finally finished today! We have already contracted shipping to all fulfillment centers and the shipping companies are in touch with our factory, trying to speed up the process of export customs from China. 

We estimate that in the next two week all 6 containers will clear customs and will start moving towards their destinations.

Our transit time (these are rough estimations) are 30 days to USA and 45 days to Europe, after they vessels physically depart Shanghai port.

With all that in mind, August seems the most likely time for delivery for most (97%) of backers.

There is one more thing to consider here: the current commercial tensions between China and US, which may add some delays on the US side when processing games through customs, but we are doing our best to be complian with all new regulations, and minimize delays.

Have a great weekend,

Andrei

Another update with the insert and a few clarifications
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 16, 2019 at 01:43:54 AM

Ladies & Gentlemen,

After yesterday's update, we need to make a few things clear:

• There will be 2 card boxes inside the game box: one to use for all unsleeved cards, or both to use for sleeved cards. We only showed one as we only got one as a sample from the factory and we did not make it clear that there will be two of them
• ...except the base game cards which will fit into the main part of the insert (as  you can see in the images below)
• all wooden components fit in the insert perfectly
• the box size is justified by the amount of components, as you can again see in the images below

Now, here is how it all fits in the box...

Have a great week,

Andrei

The insert in images plus the timeline for delivery
almost 5 years ago – Tue, May 14, 2019 at 09:15:13 PM

Ladies & Gentlemen,

We have received last week the sample of the final Snowdonia insert plus the card holder, which is a final production copy. Images with the insert on our office gaming table are just below.

But before we get into that, let's talk a little bit about the timeline of delivery.

Yesterday we have got the final confirmation from the factory on the delivery date to us and we put together a plan to get fulfillment going.

We will receive the game from the factory on 10-Jun. This is later that we have expected and that they have promised - and we once again apologize for the delay - but this is simply the best they could do with such a massive production. Reasons behind this delay are: the complexity of the insert, which takes longer than expected to produce and the assembly process which does not take longer than expected, but it was postponed due to manufacturing the insert.

Here is our timeline for delivery:

10 Jun: We receive the game from the factory, on pallets, ready to be shipped

15 Jun: Games clear export customs in China and are loaded in containers

15 Jun: We lock down addresses for final delivery

15-30 Jul: Games are arriving to fulfillment centers (there is an interval here because shipping to US West coast is slightly faster than shipping to Europe)

1-15 Aug: Games are packed and sent out to You

This plan is 100% locked, and confirmed with our logistics contractor, and the only threats are some fringe circumstances like having a physical check in customs (it has happened to us twice in 60+ shipments) or extremely bad weather (has not happened yet). The dates we proposed also contain contingency for these circumstances, accounting for a less than ideal scenario, just not for the absolute worst (for example we expect customs to take 7 days, while the usual is 3 days, while the longest we have ever waited - once - is 15 days).

All in all, we hope that the extra few months of wait will totally be worth and justified by the quality of the final production.

Now, moving on to the (unedited) insert photos: you can see the 3 piece insert (originally planned as two pieces) which now also includes a card tray, which seemed to be the only decent way to store the 700+ cards in Snowdonia.

Have a great week,

Andrei

Updating from China, with fresh news
about 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 11, 2019 at 02:09:24 AM

Ladies & Gentlemen,

Just yesterday we went to the factory, had a thorough chat with the people in charge of production and check the quality of ready components.

First, a few photos, then the conclusions. The quality of photos is questionable, as they're taking with not the best phone in a not-so-well-lit room, by someone whose skill set is not photos... but enough with the excuses :)

The box and cards feel really good and together with the wooden components make for a complete game, which we plan to bring back to Europe and hopefully someone will be able to take a few decent photos :)

Now, to the status of production...

1. Cards, box, board, box sleeves

All of these components are almost ready, mass production still needs a bit more time, but the hardest part of the job is done.

2. Wooden pieces

That's simple, finished, ready for assembly.

3. Insert

This is the tricky part, which is now causing delays. Our investment in GameTrayz insert has backfired to some extent. As the insert is rather complex, and multi part, the molding process was about three times as long as for a regular insert, so the molds are not yet ready (thus the complete lack of photos of the insert). 

A realistic estimation of the inserts being ready is first half May, but on the bright side the quality should be outstanding.

Which leave us with the assembly process... Everything that can be prepared ahead is already being done, such as prepackaging the wooden pieces, but besides that everything is on hold waiting for the inserts. This gives us a chance to have another look over the rules, but other than that, we estimate that assembly will only finish in the last days of May.

Until we have a final confirmation from the factory that inserts are done, we won't venture any estimates for fulfillment, but we're doing everything to minimize waiting time once games are in our possession.

That's all from China...

Have a great week,

Andrei