June '23 Micro Update
10 months ago – Sat, Jul 01, 2023 at 07:36:21 AM

Hi everyone!

We'd have a quick update on production, but expect a follow up next week!

TL;DR

Topics: Production & Fulfillment Timeline and UK Games Expo

Action Required by Backers: None.

Current Estimated Delivery: Late July/Early August 2023

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Production & Fulfillment Timeline

It's official... as of this week the production of the revised punchboard is finally complete! It took at little longer than we had hoped, but everything is now packed and ready to go. The core game and add-ons will now be shipped to our fulfillment partners and then to you! James Naylor, who is coordinating fulfillment and handling all of the logistics, is hoping to give us a projected fulfillment schedule next week. We will share that with all of you as soon as we have it! Exciting!

UK Games Expo

In other news, UK Games Expo was a massive success! Even though our spot on the show floor wasn't the easiest to find, we had full demo tables for the entire convention. Thank you to all of you who dropped by to say hello and share your enthusiasm for both the game and Earthborne's mission. Andrew loved meeting so many of you in person! He was practically glowing upon his return.

A big reason for our success at the show was the quality of the demo. Fischer put the support materials together, but it was the demo team that made it sing. We are so grateful for Frank and Peter who did an amazing job throughout the show. They represented the game and Earthborne incredibly well, and we couldn't imagine having done a better job ourselves.

Frank and Peter host the Drawn To The Flame podcast where they mostly talk about Arkham Horror the Card Game, but they go into great detail about their experience demoing Earthborne Rangers at UKGE in a recent episode. You can listen here: https://drawntotheflame.podbean.com/e/episode-289-post-ukge-bits/

As always, if you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with the development of Earthborne Rangers, we invite you to check out our podcast. Here are the last few episodes:

Episode 32

Episode 31

Episode 30

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That's all for now, but we'll be in touch next week!

Thank you for your time, folks!

-Cory

May '23 Production Update
12 months ago – Sat, May 13, 2023 at 08:20:53 AM

Hi everyone!

We'd like to give an update on the state of production for Earthborne Rangers, as there has been some movement and timelines are taking shape. You also should have received an email from BackerKit asking you to confirm your shipping address, since we are getting closer to fulfillment and we're ready to lock those in. Let's get to it!

TL;DR

Topics: Production & Fulfillment Timeline, Confirming Addresses, and UK Games Expo

Action Required by Backers: Confirm your address in Backerkit (An email should have been sent to you).

Current Estimated Delivery: July 2023 (Sooner for Italian Backers. More below.)

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Production & Fulfillment Timeline

If you've been following updates, you'll know that we've had some production delays that had postponed fulfillment. The big hold up has been waiting on FSC paper to start printing the corrected sheet of punchboard and box insert improvements. Once those components are printed, we can begin repacking copies and shipping rewards. According to the latest information from Ludo Fact, reprinting and repacking should be complete in June. Fulfillment will begin shortly thereafter. We will post another update once we know more precisely when fulfillment will begin.

There's a special case, however, for our Italian backers, whose orders are being fulfilled by our Italian publishing partner, Fantasia. We knew that Fantasia had a goal of launching the Italian edition of Earthborne Rangers at their premiere gaming festival, Play Modena, which begins May 19th. When the punchboard issue was discovered, however, that goal was put in serious jeopardy.

Not launching at Play Modena would have been terrible for Fantasia. For those of you not familiar with the show, it would have been like planning for a big Gen Con or Essen launch event and not having any product to sell when the day came. Not good!

Serendipitously, however, there were 800 copies of the Italian edition that had not been assembled during the main production. This was because of a separate, unrelated issue that Ludo Fact QA discovered with the punchboard for those copies. Since this issue only affected copies intended to be sold at retail, we did not communicate it to backers. The punchboard material for those 800 copies was ordered at that time (in mid-March), so we simply printed new punch with the corrected graphics once it arrived a couple of weeks ago, and since those 800 copies were not previously assembled, we were able to do so with the corrected punch, just in the nick of time for Fantasia's launch event.

Additionally, we didn't want to make the game available to the public in Italy before our Italian backers received their rewards, so this means that all Italian orders should be fulfilled prior to Play Modena. If they're not, it's only because Fantasia hasn't received the items for your order yet (all of which are currently either in transit or in their warehouse). In some exciting news regarding this, Fantasia fulfilled the first batch of orders on May 12th, so if you're an Italian backer who ordered just a core set and/or a Ranger card doubler, your rewards should be on the way.

We truly wish we were shipping to everyone right now, but it is still exciting for us to know that copies are finally being sent to backers (albeit only a few)!

Confirming Addresses

All of you should have received an email from Backerkit prompting you to confirm your address. If it's incorrect, please update it. If you have any issues updating it, please reach out to us on here or email at [email protected], and we'll help you get that sorted.

If you are moving in July and don't know if you should update your address, please email us or send us a DM so we can be sure to stay in touch as we get closer to shipping. We can always manually update your address if needed.

UK Games Expo

UK Games Expo is right around the corner (June 2 – 4), and we will have demo tables at the All About Games booth (#1-752). We're very excited to have Frank and Peter from the Drawn to the Flame podcast as our demo team, and Andrew Navaro will be there as well, so please stop by the booth and say hello!

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As always, if you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with the development of Earthborne Rangers, we invite you to check out our podcast. Here is the latest episode:

Episode 29

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That's all for now, but we'll be in touch once the repacking is done, and we get closer to fulfillment!

Thank you for your time, folks!

-Cory

Quick Supplement Update
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 02:40:34 PM

Hi everyone!

As a quick supplement to the previous update, we did get a copy of some product over the weekend! We decided to post this week's podcast episode early, as we were too excited to wait until Friday to share. I've linked to 5:08 in the video below where Andrew shows off the EBR Core Set, Card Doubler, Deluxe Tokens and World of EBR book! He also delves into some of the production issues more thoroughly.

We still plan to have a larger update, but wanted to share what we could as we wait for timelines to solidify.

Thank you all for your patience and support!

-Cory

April '23 Production Micro Update
about 1 year ago – Fri, Apr 14, 2023 at 07:39:02 AM

Hi everyone,

While we’re not quite ready to post a full update on the subject, we wanted to bring you all up to speed on where things are with the production and fulfillment of the Earthborne Rangers core set. I plan on talking about this in great detail on the next episode of the podcast, but for now here is the short version:

Two weeks ago our German publishing partner, Frosted Games, received an advance copy of the German core set for their “Frosted Days” event the following weekend. This copy was the first seen by anyone involved with the production outside of Ludo Fact. Unfortunately, in this moment, the folks at Frosted discovered a mistake.

The harm, progress, and general tokens — which should have had 3s on their “B” side — did not. While the game is still playable without them, it’s not optimal as 3 – 4 player groups will quickly run out of tokens. Although, as is the case with most card games, you can use dice, glass beads, coins, or what-have-you instead of the tokens that come with the game, we want you to be able to play with the official tokens if that is your preference, and (of course) we want to offer as complete a game as possible.

To correct this error with the production, we will be reprinting the tokens with the correct “B” side.

At this point, we are unsure of how long this will take. Since all of our paper must be FSC-certified, we are at the mercy of the FSC certification process, which usually takes about six to eight weeks. We have ordered the paper stock, so the process is underway. That accounts for the time it takes to get the paper to the printer. Production and assembly will take time as well. As soon as we know more specific information concerning the timetable, we will post another update.

Additionally, Frosted Games observed that the insert, which is intended to serve as a storage solution for your cards, needs to be improved. I have not yet had the opportunity to assess the insert myself (my copy is due to arrive tomorrow), but from the images and video that have been shared with me, I’m reasonably certain that I will agree with them. If we decide to modify the insert, doing so should not impact the fulfillment timeline more than reprinting the tokens already has.

Trust that the irony of the situation is not lost on me. Earthborne Games stands for thoughtful, sustainable manufacturing, but here we are reprinting thousands of sheets of punchboard. I’m forced to remind myself, however, that sometimes errors occur in the production of physical products, and this is just another opportunity to do things the right way. Our commitment to sustainability does not make us immune to human error and its consequences, but it can light the way in how we deal with those consequences. While we have not settled on the finer points of how the corrected tokens or a possible improved insert will be packaged and shipped, the ecological impact of the solution will be at the forefront of our minds.

Please expect another update in the very near future that has more concrete information.

Lastly, I want to apologize for the delay. When I learned of the misprinted tokens, I was mortified and incredibly disappointed. I know that in the grand scheme of things that a few more weeks of wait isn’t the end of the world, but it felt pretty terrible to be so close to the completion of the project to which I’ve dedicated the last three years of my life only to discover that there is more work to be done.

On the bright side, I was heartened by the response from people in the Kickstarter comments and on the Discord server. I truly appreciate it that so many people immediately thought of our feelings and how we might be impacted by the news than being upset that they’ll have to wait a little while longer.

As always, the team and I appreciate your continued support. We’re almost there. Just one more obstacle to clear.

Much love,

Andrew

March '23 Micro Update + Factory Photos!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 03:40:39 PM

Hi Everyone!

This is a small update as we approach March 15th, which is when we'll charge accounts for shipping, and I wanted to answer a few recurring questions we've received. Also, we've got some factory photos to share!

TL;DR

Topics: Shipping FAQ and Factory Photos.

Action Required by Backers: None.

Current Estimated Delivery: April 2023.

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Shipping FAQ

Is there anything I need to do in order for shipping to be charged?

There's no action required from any backers for us to charge the shipping balance, but as mentioned in the previous update, you can sign in to your Backerkit account and see the remaining balance we will be charging. This balance will be different depending on where you're located and how many items are in your shipment.

Will the Legacy of the Ancestors expansion be shipping with my other items?

No, the Legacy of the Ancestors expansion will be shipping separately as it's still in development. We will manufacture and ship the expansion once development is complete. We're not sure yet when that will be, but we'll keep you all informed.

Will I need to pay again later for shipping of the expansion?

No, shipping for the expansion is part of the balance we will be charging on March 15th. This is a heavily discounted shipping cost, as we are only charging for what it would have cost to add the expansion to the rest of your order (weight, dimensions, etc..) instead of the cost of a second, separate shipment. We will absorb the additional cost.

Can I add more items via the pledge manager to ship with the expansion?

No, orders are now locked. Since fulfillment is fast approaching, we are unable to make changes at this point. If there are add-ons you wish you'd have purchased, however, we will have a few extra copies of each, so you'll have a chance to buy them on our webstore at a later date.

Factory Photos

Now that we've got that out of the way, how about some factory photos? These are all from the card cutting and packing facility at Ludo Fact. Incredibly exciting to see all this hard work come together!