A multi-module expansion for the Golden Geek Award nominated card game Villagers, from designer & illustrator Haakon Hoel Gaarder.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Progress Report #11: Fulfilment Updates
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, Jul 15, 2022 at 04:38:00 AM
Hey villagers!
Apologies for not updating you for a while. The good news is that we are ALMOST DONE with fulfilment!
Since most of you have already received your pledges, I will stop sending fulfilment news in these project updates, and instead, use the comments section on the main campaign page to post micro-updates! Kickstarter has added a new feature that allows us to pin comments to the top of the list, so you won't have to hunt for them. I think this is preferable to triggering an email to nearly 10,000 people that only a few are interested in.
Let's forge on with some region-specific updates!
🇺🇸 USA
Greater Than Games are taking longer than anticipated to complete US fulfilment. As of July 8th they had shipped out around 2500 pledges and had 1600 left to send. On 11th July they told me they had appointed a new Packing Room Team Lead and had made the completion of Shifting Seasons fulfilment their priority.
I have asked for another status update and will post that on the main campaign comments as soon as I receive it.
Approximately 270 US backers did not receive the Shifting Seasons Kickstarter stretch goals. We know who all the affected backers are and have sent the missing items to Greater Than Games by air freight. If your Shifting Seasons box had a green Kickstarter sticker on the shrink wrap, your stretch goals were inside the box. If not, please stand by for another delivery.
🇨🇦 Canada
I was told on July 12th that any remaining unsent pledges, plus the 16 pledges with missing items, would be sent out in the next few days. I have asked for another update on this and will post it in the main campaign comments.
🇪🇺 Europe & 🇬🇧 UK
All pledges have been dispatched.
🌍 Rest of the World
Most pledges have been sent, but if you'd like an update on a specific country, please ask in the main campaign comments.
📦 Retail Pledges
These have all been dispatched other than 5 larger pledges for Europe. I have emailed those backers to ask for their EORI number so please check your inbox if you're in Europe.
Customer Support
We have finally taken delivery of spare parts and will be sending out replacements for missing or damaged items this week and next week. These will be sent untracked from the UK.
If you have any problems whatsoever with your pledge, please contact us on [email protected]
Moon
You might have heard that we have another Kickstarter running right now, and we appreciate that some of you still haven't received your Shifting Seasons pledges. We had really hoped to be finished with fulfilment by now and we're sorry you're still waiting. Just know that we are on the case for you!
Moon is the third game from Villagers designer Haakon Gaarder, and it's a card drafting & worker placement game about building moon bases. It's already funded and hitting stretch goals, and every backer will get a free expansion with cool wooden spaceships!
You can check out Moon on Kickstarter here if you haven't already :D
That's all!
Take care & play games,
Dave
Progress Report #10: The Pledges Must Flow!
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, Jun 20, 2022 at 01:37:56 AM
Hi everyone,
It is extremely frustrating how slow things have been moving, but this is just how the world is for now. But despite that, do you know what? I think this is the first shipping update with *no* bad news! Everything is finally moving!
We love hearing about pledges arriving so keep the comments and social media posts coming! When you've had a chance to play with the expansion, we'd love it if you'd post your thoughts and an honest rating on the Shifting Seasons BGG page.
Rules Questions
If you have questions about the Shifting Seasons rules, please check the BGG forums - someone might have had the same problem, and if not, you can ask away & the answer will be left for the rest of the community. Haakon is active on BGG, so unless someone beats him to it, you might get an answer from the designer himself!
Card Dividers
Shifting Seasons doesn't contain any new dividers for the cards, mainly because they would make it almost impossible to fit sleeved cards in the base game box - it is very tight already! However, the new cards fit logically in with the existing dividers: Clay goes with 4+ cards (unless you decide to permanently mix them in). Teams go with Basic Villagers. Events go with Road Setup cards. The two Monastery cards go with the previous solo cards. New Specials are mixed in with the main deck.
Customer Support
As always, we're happy to resolve any problems you may have with your pledge, and you can contact us via the contact page of our website, or by email to [email protected] - please note we don't offer support via any other channels.
Anyway, let's dive into a big steaming bowl of delicious fulfilment information!
United Kingdom, European Union & Switzerland 🇬🇧 🇪🇺🇨🇭
Fulfilment is underway now. At the time of writing, GamesQuest are roughly 50% complete.
USA 🇺🇸
I heard from Greater Than Games on Friday - they are just bouncing back from half their warehouse staff being down with COVID and dealing with a record heatwave in St Louis. They estimate 3 weeks to complete fulfilment.
Canada 🇨🇦
Pick & Pack logistics have finally taken delivery of their pledges. I will post in the main Kickstarter comments when I get a timeline from them.
South Korea 🇰🇷
Pledges are en route to BoardM for final fulfilment and should arrive there in the next week.
Thailand 🇹🇭
Pledges are on the way to Our Games Trading for final fulfilment, and we expect them to arrive there in the next 2 weeks.
Japan 🇯🇵
Pledges are en route to Saikorodo for final fulfilment, and we expect them to arrive any day now.
Malaysia 🇲🇾
Pledges are on their way to Kohii Games for final fulfilment, and we expect them to arrive any day now.
Australia & New Zealand 🇦🇺 🇳🇿
Aetherworks are expected to take delivery of goods around the end of June.
Rest of the World 🌍
Please be on the lookout for an email from VFI Asia regarding your pledge. Pledges to Africa, India, South America, and island nations can take some time to arrive, but please be assured that they will!
UK Games Expo / Moon
Sinister Fish had a great time at UKGE, and as ever it was awesome to meet so many of our Kickstarter backers old and new. Our demo tables were on fire for Moon, and we're grateful to Haakon and our very hardworking demo team who showed hundreds of people how to build moon bases!
The Kickstarter date for Moon is confirmed for July 12th, and you can get a launch alert right here!
That's all for now - stay safe, play games, and we'll speak again soon!
Dave Clarke
www.sinisterfish.com
Progress Report #9: Logistics Isn't Fun
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, May 14, 2022 at 03:12:06 AM
Hey everyone!
We have some shipping news; some good, some bad, but nothing catastrophic. In brief, delays are still fashionable.
In wedding news: it happened, and a good time was had by all!
She won't be so happy when she realises how annoying it is to change her name on everything.
Now on to the good stuff...
🇬🇧 🇪🇺🇨🇭UK & Europe
The shipment was held up at the port for a while, but it finally arrived at the warehouse yesterday, Thursday the 12th. We've been told to expect fulfilment to begin in approximately 3 weeks, which puts it right on top of UK Games Expo (more about which later). ShipQuest has said they will try to start sending pledges out before the event, but there are no guarantees. They post updates on their blog every Tuesday, so you'll be able to see where Shifting Seasons is in their queue: https://www.shipquest.co.uk/blog
🇺🇸 USA
The Cosco Fortune has been delayed due to congestion at the wharf and is now expected to dock at the port of New York on May 14th. From there, it needs to get to Greater Than Games in Saint Louis, who will be handling fulfilment for us.
🇨🇦 Canada
The Seattle Bridge has been delayed and is now expected to dock in Vancouver on May 20th. I previously stated it was going to dock in Toronto, which is incorrect. Fulfilment is being done by Pick & Pack Logistics in Mississauga.
🇦🇺 🇳🇿 🇨🇳 🌍 Asia & Rest of the World
Fulfilment has been delayed due to COVID restrictions in China, but pledges are being packed now by VFI Asia, and are almost ready to start shipping out. We'll give delivery estimates for each region in a future update.
Sinister Fish at UK Games Expo
Shifting Seasons?
Our biggest event of the year is fast approaching, and we have a dilemma; do we sell Shifting Seasons at the convention even though fulfilment isn't complete, and in some cases will not have even started?
We always aim to hold back the retail release of our games until after backers receive their pledges because we feel it's only fair. However, conventions are a different matter - they're costly for us to attend and the only products we sell in any number are our "hot" new releases, so it's going to be a real financial blow for us not to bring Shifting Seasons to UKGE.
I'm going to leave the decision up to you the backers since you're the main reason we're still in business. If a majority of you are OK with us taking Shifting Seasons to UKGE, then we'll sell the Kickstarter edition for £19.99 (backers paid £13) at the event. Any further direct sales from us, and the general retail release, will wait until Kickstarter fulfilment is complete. Please remember that some retailers backed the Kickstarter and will have copies on sale before the general release.
You can vote here, and the live results will be visible to all. We'll finish counting at noon GMT on Monday 16th May.
Moon
We will be running demos of Haakon's new game, Moon at UKGE. We're using an appointment system for demos, so please sign up for our mailing list if you'd like to know when bookings open.
That's all!
We'll be back when we have more solid news about fulfilment dates. Thanks for hanging in there - we appreciate you!
Progress Report #8: Ships Ahoy!
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 12:38:53 AM
Greetings, villagers!
I have a really quick shipping update for you today, and there is no bad news! There was some delay due to our factory going into a short COVID lockdown, but I'm pleased to report that everyone there is OK and they are now back at work.
Please note that while we have ETAs for the three ships carrying your pledges around the world, we don't yet have estimates of when final fulfilment will begin. We'll be able to give those once the goods have landed and cleared customs. Given the ongoing chaos in global logistics, it seems pointless to try & guess when things might happen.
Address Changes
If you're in the UK, USA, Canada, or anywhere in mainland Europe, it is still possible to change your shipping address if you need to. Please email [email protected] with your new details before the end of April.
Anyway, here are all the gory details...
Norway 🇳🇴
Norway fulfilment is complete, and Haakon was the first person to report a copy of Shifting Seasons in the wild! We promise this was a fluke occurrence and not preferential treatment for the designer!
UK & Europe 🇬🇧 🇪🇺
The container ship CSCL Arctic Ocean is headed to Felixstowe. Our friends at ShipQuest will send pledges out to backers in the UK and the rest of Europe. We are covering VAT so there will be nothing extra to pay for any backers in the UK or EU. ETA at port is 27th April.
USA 🇺🇸
The container ship Cosco Fortune is on its way to New York, and fulfilment will be carried out by our new friends at Greater Than Games, who recently merged with our retail distributor. ETA at port is 4th May.
Canada 🇨🇦
The container ship Seattle Bridge is headed for Toronto. Fulfilment will be carried out by Pick & Pack Logistics, who did a great job for us on Streets. ETA at port is 4th May.
Rest of the World 🌍
Our fulfilment partner VFI Asia was due to pick up a consignment of pledges for Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Middle East, and the rest of the world directly from the factory in Shanghai, but due to the recent COVID lockdowns, they were not able to do this. Now that the lockdown has been lifted, we expect fulfilment to begin quite soon, and we should be able to share the details in our next update.
Other business!
Moon
We are getting really excited for the Kickstarter launch of Haakon's next game, Moon. We took the prototype to AireCon last month and had a great response from the people who played a short demonstration game. We're aiming to stream some full games soon so stay tuned to our Facebook page for those.
I'll leave you with a link to the Moon Kickstarter launch reminder page, and a previously unseen image of an expanding moon base!
Our first direct-to-retail release is coming this summer. HONK! (previously known as Goose on the Loose) is a simple game of tactical goose gathering for ages 5 and up. Pre-orders will open on this one soon, and we are hoping to have a few copies available at UK Games Expo in June.
Progress Report #7: Starting Fulfilment!
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 12:59:34 AM
Hello villagers!
We have some very welcome progress to tell you about!
Pledge Manager
We are close to starting fulfilment for some areas and so it's time to lock everyone's shipping address down. You should have already received an email from BackerKit notifying you that there are 48 hours to make changes to your shipping address (if you need to). We have already locked down the pledges themselves so I'm afraid it's no longer possible to make any changes to the items in your basket. If you missed out on anything, it will be available on our website once Kickstarter fulfilment has finished.
To log into BackerKit, either click the link in the email or go here and log in with the same email address you use for Kickstarter to get your unique survey link sent to you.
If you have any problems, please email [email protected] and include all the relevant information in your first message so we can resolve your issue with the minimum of fuss. We strongly disapprove of fuss.
Please note that we can't offer support via the public Kickstarter comments if they involve personal information, so please stick to email or the help section of our website.
Fulfilment Starting Soon!
Pledges for China are being sent from China by VFI Asia, and we're sending our Norwegian pledges over to the fulfilment centre there by air, so backers in those countries should be the first to receive their pledges.
VFI Asia is also shipping to backers throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and all other "rest of world" destinations. I don't have dates for any of this yet, but I will update you when I know more. Pledges for these regions will be collected from our factory by truck, so they will be processed before anything that has to go on a boat.
Speaking of boats, we are arranging freight shipping now for Canada, the USA, the UK, and the rest of Europe, and I will let you know when we have departure and arrival dates. We have been told to expect serious delays at port in the USA, so patience may be required there. In a slight change to the advertised plan, we will be shipping all EU pledges from the UK, but there will be no extra tax or import duty to pay - we will cover everything.
New Stuff!
The following information is not directly related to Shifting Seasons but lifts the lid on some of the other projects we've been working on behind the scenes for the past year or so...
Moon
As some of you may know, Haakon has been hatching a new game since last year. We're now delighted to tell you that the game in question is Moon, a pick and pass lunar base building game for 1-5 players. It is the third and final instalment in a loose trilogy that started with Villagers and was continued by Streets. It depicts an almost plausible contest to construct a base worthy of becoming the capital city of Earth's moon!
We took our Moon prototypes to AireCon in Harrogate last weekend and had a blast playing demo games with the lovely people who stopped by our stand.
Haakon's time at the Norwegian Lunar Outpost was well spent. Here he shares his knowledge with two bright-eyed would-be moon colonists, one of whom is clearly wearing the uniform of a rival base!
You can find out more about Moon on BoardGameGeek here, and sign up for a Kickstarter launch alert here.
Great Scott! Reprint
The first game released by Sinister Fish Games was Great Scott!: The Game of Mad Invention, and it's coming back with its first reprint since the original run 5 years ago. It's a very silly social game that's a ton of fun with an enthusiastic group, and this new edition contains all the original content including the Kickstarter expansion, and now comes in a cuter, smaller box!
You can find more information and pre-order Great Scott! here.
We have a brand-new website: www.sinisterfish.com - we're still working through a few issues, but all the important stuff works! To celebrate, we have 50% off our Removable Sticker Sets for Gloomhaven, and are offering free UK and EU shipping on all products until the end of March with the checkout code "NEWSITE".
