Progress Report #11 // Moon, Landing, Part 2
7 months ago
– Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 06:25:45 AM
Hey lunarians,
Sorry for another update so soon. I just wanted to give you an up-to-date picture of fulfilment, and to share some rather exciting news!
Fulfilment News
All Canada pledges have been dispatched.
All Australia & New Zealand pledges have been dispatched.
All UK pledges have either been dispatched or presented to the carrier.
About 95% of EU pledges have been dispatched and the rest should complete in the next few days.
All Asia and Rest of World pledges have been dispatched. Please bear in mind that it might still be several weeks before you receive your pledge if you're outside China.
US pledges are over 95% dispatched but we've hit a slight snag for about 100 backers who added Villagers items to their pledge. We discovered another shortage of items, so we are having to send more stock over from the UK. We're trying to figure out how this happened but our priority is getting those pledges sent out ASAP. We're really sorry to those of you still waiting.
Customer Support
As ever, please direct any issues such as missing parts to [email protected] - we can't offer support over public Kickstarter comments or social media.
Some of you asked about a playmat for Moon, and we're going to do one. We'll finalise the design and share it with you soon. We think the best way to make it available to everyone is through a new Kickstarter campaign, which we are planning to launch on October 31st.
As the image suggests, we will also be doing three new Coin Chests, which we first talked about several years ago but never got around to! These are funky cardboard boxes with a magnetic closure, containing a heap of wooden currency for use in tabletop games.
Coin Chest 2 will contain Haakon's cool wooden bank notes from Streets. These are my favourite currency tokens from any game ever, and I've played over 10 games!
I think Monopoly would be more popular if it had better currency.
Coin Chest 3 will contain medieval / fantasy coinage designed by Graham Pilling from Army of Cats design studio, who also did our lovable fish logo. They'll look something like this...
If it's wood, it's good.
Coin Chest 4 will contain a heap of funky sci-fi credit chip type things, and will be designed by Haakon. He's a little bit busy right now (see below) but it's on his to-do list :D
We will manufacture and ship the items for this campaign at the same time as Wizards & Co., for fulfilment around March 2024. Existing backers of that campaign will be able to get the Moon Playmat and the new Coin Chests as add-ons through the Wizards & Co. pledge manager (thus avoiding double shipping fees) just before it closes in December.
One Page War
Haakon launched his own Kickstarter today for a print at home roll & write game called One Page War. It's already funded, only €4, and if it gets 1000 backers then everyone will get a whole new version of the game for free!
We're ready to reveal the next game from Sinister Fish and Haakon Gaarder. I am personally frothing at my fishy gills for this one: a fantasy themed worker placement game by the name of Yonder.
The game is essentially finished but is still in prototype form, so Haakon will spend much of the rest of this year producing art for it. You can find out a little more on BoardGameGeek.
Yonder will go live on Kickstarter in 2024, and you can sign up for a launch alert here.
That's All
So, I think this will be the final "regular" update for Moon. I will carry on posting micro-updates in the main comments section of the campaign page as we go through the final stages of fulfilment.
All that remains is for me to thank each & every one of you once again. It is an absolute privilege for me to do this for a job, and it wouldn't be possible without you.
Progress Report #10 // Moon, Landing
8 months ago
– Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 08:57:08 AM
Dear Lunarians,
I said the next time I posted an update it would be because all shipping hubs had started sending out Moon pledges...
That time is now. Moon is currently arriving with backers everywhere, and already has for many of you!
Keep those arrival reports coming in, and definitely let us know how your first games go. We're seeing some really positive feedback on social media, and we'd be delighted if you could leave an honest rating & comment for Moon on BoardGameGeek if you feel that way inclined.
If You're Still Waiting
Hold tight just a bit longer. Not everything has been sent out yet. The US hub is short on a couple of Villagers items (base game & expansion bundle, and playmat) so we're arranging to send those over ASAP. Other than that, we are over all known humps & bumps in the road.
For backers in "Rest of World" destinations, your wait might be a few weeks longer as VFI Asia uses a consolidation method to get your pledges to you at a semi-reasonable price. This means we'll share a pallet or container with other publishers, and the games will only ship when the pallet / container is full. To date I can confirm that pledges are on their way to their final distribution hubs for the following countries:
India - Vibrant Hobbies
Indonesia - Monopolis
Japan - Dexker
Malaysia - Kohii Games
Philippines - Gaming Library
Thailand - Our Games Trading Co
How To Play & Rules Questions
Our official rules video is here, and you can download the rulebook here.
If you have questions about the rules, the best place to so is the Moon rules forum on BGG. Your question might have already been asked, and if it hasn't then the answer will also be useful for confused people from the future. Imagine their smiling little faces! Plus, Haakon usually answers every question personally, which is hard to beat!
Spare Parts & Support
If any part of your pledge is missing or damaged, please contact [email protected]
We are not quite ready to start sending out spare parts, but we'll be on it in the next week or two.
Curly Cards
A few backers have mentioned that some of the cards are packed a little tight and come out curved. This doesn't appear to be a catastrophic issue and you should be able to gently bend them back, or put them under a heavy thing & wait.
Fitting Everything In The Box: Part II
We are sailing close to the wind with how much we can fit into Moon's box format, and it can be tricky to get everything in neatly. I promise you everything does fit though - except if you have sleeves, in which case the lid is lifted about 4mm. That was my mistake, and we covered it in the last update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinisterfish/moon-1/posts/3857791
My best advice is to keep the boards on top of the cards, storage boxes standing up at one end, and rulebook down one side with the spine facing up. Like this...
As for the lid - try sliding it down at a slight angle, and wiggle gently if it catches at the top. There's a knack to it. We'll use a "normal" box for our next game!
Wizards & Co. Pre-Orders
The Kickstarter campaign for Wizards & Co. has been & gone, but pre-orders are open on BackerKit if you're interested in a competitive dungeon brawl from an esteemed group of Eurogame designers. It has been compared favourably to Smash Up, Libertalia, and Marvel Snap!
That's it for now. We'll probably do one more update to round things off when all the hubs have finished, and to let you know what's happening next around these parts. But until then...
Progress Report #9 // Fly Moon To The Me
8 months ago
– Thu, Aug 17, 2023 at 09:01:32 AM
Hello lunarians,
I hope you're all doing OK. I'm here with an update on where we are with fulfilment on Moon. This is a slightly updated version of my post in the main campaign comments yesterday. I will continue to share micro-updates in the comments, and will post a full update when I have confirmation that all five hubs have started fulfilment.
Fulfilment Update
UK / Europe
I made a mistake with item values on the backer data I submitted to GamesQuest, so they have had to reimport orders for backers outside the UK. They are sending address confirmation emails to those backers again, because any changes were lost. If I hadn't caught this, my EU VAT bill would have been catastrophically high!
Fulfilment is now due to begin the week starting August 28th.
USA
We are waiting for news on the whereabouts of the main shipment, which has been subject to two separate customs inspections. Last I heard, our container had been moved by rail to Detroit, where it was confirmed as entering the inspection station. I spoke to my contact in China about this yesterday and they are pressing their shipping agent for more information.
The second shipment of add-ons from the UK has arrived safely, and I have a Zoom call scheduled with the fulfilment house on Monday to make sure everything is in place.
Canada
Fulfilment has begun, and pledges are arriving with backers! Some Villagers sleeve packs were missing from our second shipment, so this will potentially delay 14 pledges from going out. We have replacements on the way to Canada.
Australia / New Zealand
Aetherworks inform me that they will begin fulfilment in the week beginning August 21st. Pre-alert address confirmation emails have been sent out.
Asia / Rest of World
It appears that fulfilment has begun. Pledges for Malaysia are on their way to Kohii Games for final delivery in 3-4 weeks. A few missing items are en-route by courier to China.
Fitting Everything in the Box
Everything fits in the base game box. The Valkyrie tokens go in the storage box with the rover tokens. You should store the rulebook with its spine facing upward as the pages will catch on the lid if you don't.
Valkyrie Cards
The Valkyrie structure cards come in foil and standard versions. The standard cards were a late addition for backers who indicated a strong dislike for foil cards. Cards aren't expensive and we were happy to accomodate. However, the sleeve pack only contains enough sleeves for one set of these cards, but there is room in the box to keep whichever cards you decide not to sleeve. They are in the box in the image above.
Box Lift
I made a goof, to the tune of about 4mm. Sleeved cards go all the way up to the inside top of the box lid, and when you add the flag reward and Valkyrie launch boards, the top of the box is lifted by the thickness of the boards: about 4mm. When I tested this, it was before we had production samples of the Moon sleeves, so I used sleeved Villagers cards, which are smaller - fine for checking horizontal fit, not so much for vertical. It's annoying but not very noticeable when Moon is on the shelf next to Streets & Villagers. It will still haunt my nightmares though, and I apologise profusely!
OK, that's it for this time - I'll hopefully be back with better news for US backers in the next update!
Take care, and play games.
Dave
Progress Report #8 // Preparing for landing
10 months ago
– Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 04:03:31 AM
Hello lunarians!
I'm back with a super quick update on where we are with shipping for Moon.
TLDR: Wheels are in motion and we're getting close to starting fulfilment. I don't have any estimated start dates yet, but I don't expect it to be very far off.
We're at a bit of a fiddly stage now, with snippets of information coming from 5 different fulfilment hubs, which makes it tricky to provide meaningful updates. So, rather than invading your inbox each time I get one nugget of info, I have been posting mini-updates on the main comments section, which you can find here. Keep your eye on that in the coming days as there will surely be more information forthcoming.
All backer data has been compiled and sent to the fulfilment hubs so they can start to prepare. If you stillneed to change your shipping address, please email Kris on [email protected] IMMEDIATELY!!!1💥
A pallet full of Moons and expansions at the hub in Australia (image rotated 180 degrees for clarity).
As well as the main shipments of Moon from China, we are sending four smaller shipments from the UK to the other hubs. These consist of add-on items needed to fulfil everyone's pledges. They are going by air rather than sea, and leaving the UK very soon.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom // GamesQuest
Pledges bound for: Europe.
Backer data has been delivered.
Moon shipment is in the warehouse.
We are awaiting a start date from Gamesquest.
🇺🇸 United States // Greater Than Games
Pledges bound for: USA.
Backer data is ready for delivery.
Moon shipment has been selected for customs inspection at port. Awaiting confirmation of arrival at the hub.
Awaiting arrival of second shipment from the UK.
🇨🇦 Canada // Pick & Pack Logistics
Pledges bound for: Canada.
Backer data has been delivered.
Moon shipment is in the warehouse.
Awaiting arrival of second shipment from the UK.
🇦🇺 Australia // Aetherworks
Pledges bound for: Australia & New Zealand.
Backer data has been delivered.
Moon shipment in the warehouse.
Awaiting arrival of second shipment from the UK.
🇨🇳China // VFI Asia
Pledges bound for: Asia & rest of the world
Backer data has been delivered.
Moon shipment is in the warehouse.
Awaiting arrival of second shipment from the UK.
Mysterious Moon!
I got some cool news in my inbox regarding Moon yesterday, but it's a secret for now. Just for fun, here's a cryptic clue...
What could it mean? To the comments with your solutions!
One Page War
Haakon's first foray into self-publishing is coming in August! Sign up to get a Kickstarter launch alert for One Page War, "An intense war game printable on one sheet of paper." There's more on Haakon's new website here.
Wizards & Co.
We've pushed the launch of our upcoming Kickstarter game Wizards & Co. back a week to July 25th to allow more time to finish the campaign video. You can get a launch alert here.
