It’s Time to Talk Shipping!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jan 28, 2023 at 09:45:18 AM

Hello, Viking Warriors!

You know the drill: Greetings. Viking story. Update.

Well, hold on to your Helmuts, because this one’s big. We’ll be talking about global fulfillment details for the Raid Core Game, Kickstarter Exclusive, and Asgard Expansion—plus T-shirts—so feel free to skip to the part that explains what you need to know for your specific region or item of interest. You can also read it all to get a more worldly, global perspective.

But first...

Gratitude

To everyone who backed Raid, we are eternally grateful to each of you for taking a chance with us on our first analog card game. We thought we were ready to go to production when we ran the campaign, but we weren't and it took us a lot longer to get through manufacturing than we expected. Every step of the process has taken longer than expected. We encountered some challenges in pre-production and during mass production. We made some mistakes along the way which slowed things down as well. We realized we needed to get an expert rules writer involved and take another pass at the rules. At times, we had to prioritize other aspects of the studio in order to grow and ensure we are around to produce games like Raid, Beasts of Balance and other unannounced titles long into the future. 

Some of you have been frustrated at the time it has taken us to deliver Raid or the time between updates on progress—rightfully so. We are sorry for the frustrations along the way and we are sorry that it has taken us as long as it has to deliver Raid to you. Now that we are shifting into global fulfillment, we hope that the years of effort that went into the design and play testing of Raid prior to the campaign and the years it has taken post campaign to get it into your hands were worth it and that you love playing Raid as much as we do. Thank you for your support and for pushing us to do a better job communicating.

This being our first Kickstarter campaign, we have learned so much about what it takes to not only launch and fund a successful campaign, but expectations backers have in terms of regular communication and, of course, their excitement and desire to play the game they were excited enough to back in the first place in a timely manner. 

To everyone who backed Raid and joined us for this journey—thank you! We can't wait for you to play Raid with your friends and family in the coming weeks. :)  

United States/Canada

The ship carrying the Raid-filled container is currently en route to Port Oakland with an ETA of Jan. 29. We have already cleared U.S. Customs for the container, but still need to clear some Consumer Product Safety Commission red tape once it arrives. Keep in mind that we have seen items get delayed at Port Oakland for up to three weeks, so there’s potentially still some time to go, but as soon as it clears and is delivered to our warehouse, we will begin fulfilling orders for U.S. Kickstarter backers.

Once the games arrive at our U.S. warehouse, we will pack up the Canadian inventory and ship it north for processing and fulfillment.

United Kingdom

Raid inventory arrived at Spiral Galaxy this week. We have already collected the VAT for UK backers through BackerKit and are working to get fulfillment going.

European Union

Although Raid arrived at Spiral Galaxy in the UK this week (as mentioned above), rules for backer shipments into the EU were different when we ran the campaign and when we launched the pledge manager than they are today. EU law has changed, and we've been advised that we either need to ship DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) or DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) into the EU. Local VAT is required to be paid by law. Collecting it directly and remitting through Spiral Galaxy is going to save backers a lot of money (as opposed to making everyone pay it + extra processing fees upon delivery), so that’s how we’re leaning.

We are working with BackerKit to send out EU backer emails after we update them with the EU country-specific VAT percentage early next week. Each email will link to the backer’s pledge manager and show the updated VAT fees. We will then automatically collect payment on those fees through BackerKit next week.

Once the VAT fees are paid, Spiral Galaxy will fulfill the EU shipments.

Spiral Galaxy has indicated a preference for fulfilling the entire campaign at once—in both the UK and EU. This could impact when all backers in the region get their rewards, but we are talking with Spiral Galaxy to prioritize fulfillment for backers who are already fully paid, including VAT.

Australia/New Zealand

DHL shows that Raid inventory for Australia and New Zealand backers was delivered to Aetherworks on Jan. 25. Aertherworks has not confirmed this yet, but we are confident DHL tracking is accurate.

Aetherworks will begin fulfilling backer orders in Australia and New Zealand as soon as they can based on their current project commitments.

Asia

A land shipment to VFI Asia was sent out before Chinese New Year, but we currently aren't sure where it’s at in the journey due to the holiday. We expect VFI Asia will receive it soon and fulfill Asia backers once received.

Rest of the World

For countries and regions not specifically mentioned, we will be working with the most appropriate fulfillment partner mentioned above, depending on best available rates—and will ship ASAP.

"Wear" in the World

Don’t forget about T-shirts! Production is complete, and the shirts are en route to the various regions and fulfillment partners around the world. If you included a T-shirt in your pledge, it’s on the way along with your game.

Address Updates

To any backer who has requested an address update: We will be processing these requests prior to fulfilling pledges. You will receive a confirmation message in response to your request through Kickstarter messages—or email, if you sent your request directly via email.

So … that’s it for now. You can let go of any Helmuts you may have grabbed. Svens, too. Unless you want to keep holding on. Vikings are great at hugging.

Until next time!

— Ryan & the Modern Games team

It. Has. Been. Manufactured.
over 1 year ago – Fri, Nov 18, 2022 at 11:28:13 PM

Hello, Viking Warriors!

Rather than checking in with our stalwart band of Viking friends for this update, I thought it would be best to open with this quote from Modern Games CEO Justin Kifer:

“It’s done. It’s done. It’s done!!!”

He’s referring not to the last full work week before Thanksgiving—and the holiday crush to follow—but to a little something known as RAID MANUFACTURING.

Yes, the “making” part of making RAID has officially concluded, so all the little Vikings and gods and their assorted accoutrements (please read that word in your fanciest French accent) are now snuggled safely together in a whole bunch of cardboard boxes, eagerly awaiting to make their way across the sea. Just like real Vikings!

As you can see from this photographic evidence, there are many, many cartons of Norse goodness ready to conquer the world. Thank you to everyone who has worked to make their pillaging dreams a reality. We’re sure Odin as his pantheon will smile upon you with favor when you bust this out at family game night or at your next get-together with friends.

As a reminder, here’s what comes next during this endgame phase of RAID production:

We’re in the purple. I repeat: We’re in the purple.

That’s a regal color, which is appropriate, since we’re royally excited for the games to be making their way to you.

In case visual references aren’t your thing, I’ll just note that the production timeline has made its way from quoting and design verification, through pre-production and mass production, all the way to assembly—and is now waiting to get “to your destination by the ocean, air, or land." Some of your games will get to do all three! Isn’t that exciting?

For the Vikings, I mean. Can you imagine if they had flight capability back then? Seeing a long airship with a dragon on the front hurtling across the Atlantic would have been … something. I think the word I’m looking for is “terrifying.”

Fortunately, the only berserkers taking to the skies these days will be the ones you can hold in your hand—soon!

In places where we are fulfilling smaller numbers of pledges, we will be air freighting the games to our fulfillment partner in your country and they will arrange local fulfillment. In this scenario, you can expect deliveries to begin mid to late-December or early January.

In places where we have a larger number of backers, the United States is a good example, we will be shipping the games via ocean freight and then by truck to our fulfillment centers. We anticipate the games should begin arriving at our fulfillment centers mid to late-January. We will begin shipping out to backers from our fulfillment centers as soon as the games arrive.

We will keep you posted on progress as we have more information and can't wait for you to start building your own longboats filled with warriors as you raid your way to glory.

Until then!

— Ryan & the Modern Games team

The End Is Near! And That’s a Good Thing …
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 24, 2022 at 03:41:41 AM

Hello, Viking Warriors!

“Sten?”

“Yes, Trygve?”

“Why are we doing this?”

“Why are we rowing? The jarl is hoping that we find an encampment we can raid to—”

“No, Sten. Why are we doing this introduction to the update?”

“You’re getting awfully meta here, Trygve.”

“I know. It’s just … I wonder whether it does any good.”

“Any good?”

“Yeah. I wonder whether these scenes are accomplishing anything. I’ve been reading the comments.”

“That’s definitely too meta, Trygve. And I’d say they’re not really ‘scenes.’ More like ‘vignettes.’”

“Are … are we silly?”

“Well, this one is a bit silly.”

“I just want to pillage.”

“Me too, buddy. Me too.”

* * *

Viking warriors, if you—like Sten and Trygve—just want to pillage, have we got news for you!

First, you hopefully saw an email alerting you that shipping is imminent. Addresses have been locked, but if you need to update your shipping address, you still have a little more than a day to do so. The ship sails (so to speak) 48 hours after we locked, which was Friday morning. Just follow the link in the email with the subject line: “Last call to update your shipping address for Raid - A Viking Card Game!” If you don’t need to update anything, you don’t need to do anything!

Our production partner, Panda, has officially reprinted all of the off-color cards for the game so that they now match the rules, the tuck boxes, and the game boxes. At this point, we expect Raid to be fully (as in 100 percent) complete by Nov. 9, with shipping to follow. The games will be routed to fulfillment centers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Asia, Australia, and South America. That’s more territory than the actual Vikings visited, and it’s a massively global, globally massive undertaking. Once the games arrive on their proper shores, they will be delivered to backers to complete the fulfillment process. Whew!

You may recall that our more recent timeline had earlier dates than this, but you may also recall that finding a resolution to the problem of the misprinted cards set us back a bit. The lemonade-from-the-lemons side to this is that we wanted to make sure that our solution was as environmentally responsible as possible. Simply throwing 792,000 misprinted cards was not an option.

With Earth in mind, we worked directly with Panda to produce an alternate version of the game. The main version of Raid is for two to four players and contains both a teal and gold tuck box full of cards, but this teal-tinted (or gold) incarnation will be for two players only. We designed a unique back to the tuck box, providing game info, mandatory details like bar codes and such, and a card with a QR code/URL that directs to online rules.

The new two-player version of the game utilizes the misprinted cards and will have matching tuck boxes (teal or gold), but these will not be delivered to backers as we want to make sure every backer receives a copy of the game that is exactly as we intended. The two-player version of the game will be available on our website, at conventions, etc along with the full, original version of the game once we have fulfilled backer rewards.

By utilizing the misprinted cards in a unique way, we can deliver an unexpected, slimmed down version of the game to future players and avoid an environmental catastrophe. Kudos to Panda for being flexible and working with us through this!

The mass production copy of this two-player game is heading out to us Monday, Oct. 24, and we anticipate approving it when we receive it on Halloween (Oct. 31).

Panda has said they can ship everything—all of the game components for every version of the game, including expansions and exclusives—nine days after that approval. Then, like the Vikings themselves in centuries past, all of the cards will make their ways over the waves to arrive at your home. Unlike the Vikings themselves in centuries past, these visitors will not hack at you with swords or riddle you with arrows when you answer the door.

Until then!

— Ryan & the Modern Games team

To Those About to Lock, We Salute You
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 07, 2022 at 08:22:53 AM

Hello, Viking Warriors!

I’d weave you a tale to kick off this update, but there’s no time! That’s because everything’s moving along at quite a fair clip now.

The most important bit of information to share is that we’re going to be locking the BackerKit orders in the next 48 hours, so if you want to make any changes to your order, you need to do so as soon as possible. You can access the BackerKit pledge manager by clicking the link in any BackerKit email pertaining to Raid.

Please note that this is not the same as locking addresses, which is something that will happen in the next couple of weeks. If you’ve moved since you first entered your delivery information, be sure that we have your current address—but also know that you still have time to do so.

More pressingly, if you have any additions or other changeroos (an archaic Viking term, I assure you) to your order, you must get them in, well, now.

If you couldn’t tell by all of these very serious pleas and reminders, Raid mass production is quickly nearing completion. Remember that printing issue from the previous update? After we engaged in some thorough internal debates and met with backers locally and at GenCon, we decided to have Panda reprint all of the cards so that they match the original designs.

That process is currently underway.

We’re awaiting an updated date from Panda for the completion of mass production, but we hope and believe that it will wrap by the end of September. That’s not chiseled in stone or etched into horn, but we’re basing that on the momentum we’ve got going and Panda’s commitment to not just moving this project along, but doing it right.

Have we mentioned that we’re very happy to be partnering with them to bring this game to life?

Panda has been an amazing partner including their handling of the card color misprint. They were upfront in communicating the issue when they realized it happened, they provided a number of potential solutions, produced samples of those solutions and shipped them to us for review. In the end, when we decided it was best to reprint all the cards, they were happy to do so at no additional cost. 

When you're producing physical products, stuff happens. What's important is how vendors handle those situations and the best of them are true partners. Panda is one of the best.

Oh, and speaking of GenCon (a few paragraphs back), Justin was excited to squeeze in some actual games of Raid with backers in between meetings and checking out the best the industry has to offer these days. The conference was a blast, and it was great to be able to meet some of our fellow Viking warriors in this world, as opposed to waiting until Valhalla someday.

Seeing the game enjoyed by real, actual people in real, actual life is a great reminder of why we do what we do. Our goal is to bring friends and family together around the table to enjoy time together … as they attack, pillage, and seek to dominate each other through strategy and sheer brute force.

In the end, what could be better?

Until then!

— Ryan & the Modern Games team

A Different Shade of Raid + GenCon!!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 02, 2022 at 01:13:00 AM

Hello, Viking Warriors!

Smiðr stilled his knife and looked up as Gorm stepped close.

“And what is this?” the newcomer asked, pointing a ragged fingernail at the small wooden figure in Smiðr’s left hand.

Smiðr sheathed his blade and handed the figure over.

“This?” he said, combing some curls of wood from his beard with his fingers. “This is Odin.”

“Odin?”

“Yes. Odin.”

Gorm held the figure close to his face and squinted, then held it arm’s length and squinted again.

“Odin?”

“Gorm, you know that this is Odin.”

Gorm opened his eyes wide, then blinked them a few times and refocused on Smiðr.

“Yes, I know that this is Odin,” Gorm said. “It’s just … ”

Smiðr waited. The fire crackled. Gorm squinted again and moved the figure closer to his eyes, then farther away.

“Yes?” Smiðr asked.

In the distance, a pig grunted.

“It’s just … I thought he’d be taller.”

* * *

This is our news outline for this update: We have good news, then a little dip in the middle, and then some pretty good news to finish up.

First off, we received the Raid mass production copies, and they look great overall. That’s the good news.

Here’s the little dip in the middle of the message: Unfortunately, there’s a bit of an issue with some of the card colors, which are not quite the same as the colors in the pre-production copy we approved.

The pre-production copy had the expected navy blue background with gold and teal accents. The mass production copy has a darker navy background and a gold that’s a touch more red than the prior version. The teal is also slightly off. It’s not glaring, but it’s also definitely noticeable.

This may seem like a non-issue, since if every card is the same color, they all match with each other, right? The problem now is that the cards no longer match the game box and tuck boxes designed for them. We’ve put a lot of effort and time (you know!) into getting these just right, so it’s important for us to be sure that everything is exactly the way it’s supposed to be.

In addition to being a fun and strategic game, Raid is meant to be beautiful. We want it to look good in your hands (where it hopefully appears often), on the table (please wipe up any spills or condensation from drink glasses before you play), on the shelf (where it hopefully doesn’t ever rest for long), and anywhere it happens to end up (we're not going to rule out Mars).

Here’s the pretty good news at the end. As we said before, everything else looks great, and we’re still moving forward. In fact—surprise!—Modern Games’ Justin Kifer is going to be at GenCon where he will be meeting with Panda (handling Raid’s production) to figure out the best resolution. After discovering the color issue, Panda immediately offered to reprint whatever was necessary. We’re happy to have such an experienced and responsible partner in Panda, which is committed to getting the best game possible into your hands as soon as possible.

With all of that in mind, as hiccups go, this is a highly navigable one, and everyone on the production end seems confident that mass production can still wrap by the end of this month. It may end up bleeding a bit into September, but overall, we’re not foreseeing any significant changes to the timeline.

Our estimate in March was that Raid production would be completed Aug. 20, and darned but if we aren’t looking to hit that pretty close. Every day brings us closer to the goal we’re all eagerly awaiting.

If you’re coming to GenCon, be sure to keep your eyes and ears out for Justin. He won’t be wearing a horned helmet, but he may smell a bit like a Viking by the time you track him down. Cons, you know?

Or, better yet, fill out this quick survey and we'll send you details on how to connect with Justin at GenCon 2022.

GenCon 2022 Meetup Survey 

Until then!

— Ryan & the Modern Games team