We're On A Boat! 🚢 Freight Shipping Has Begun!
10 months ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 03:40:25 PM

We have GREAT news with a single sad note in regard to shipping that you're going to want to read, but there's more! We have pics of t-shirts, our first official *review* of the game, an updated timeline, and a story about one of the most epic Deliverance games I have ever played. Read on for details...

We're On A Boat! 🚢 Toot Toot!

Okay, so it's happened. We finished manufacturing and sorting for our shipping companies to pick up products during the first 2 weeks of June...

"... and product was seamlessly loaded on to ships for delivery to all of our various shipping hubs around the world..."

... is what I WANTED to write, but there's a small caveat that will make our UK/EU backers have a sad.

First, here is the good news: 3 of 4 shipments went beautifully!

Then, the bad news: The UK/EU shipment got out, but it is 2 weeks behind everyone else.

I'll explain each region's shipping situation below (feel free to skip to your region).

Asia Region Backers: 

VFI Asia is prepping for delivery right NOW to our Asian backers. Here is the ETA given to me for delivery times for the Asian region by VFI (this also includes some "rest of world" backers in places like Brazil or Israel). Keep in mind, this is once they ship games which should begin in early July:

 China / Honk Kong / Mongolia: 2-3 days

Taiwan: 7 days

Japan / South Korea: 14 days

Singapore / Malaysia: 21 days

Thailand / Philippines / Vietnam: 30 days

Indonesia / Israel: 45 days

Brazil: Freight begins in October this year (wow Brazil takes some time): 99999999999 days (is what it feels like)

Short story about VFI Asia -- They were 3 dice sets short of product, BUT ...

... our awesome rep Rebecca from Longpack came to the rescue! She had exactly 3 dice sets in her office to hand them so they could fill orders! Sometimes, errors like this happen, but I am thankful for a manufacturer that is as responsive as Longpack. She even sent me picture evidence. I'm totally going to send their team some Deliverance shirts as a token of my appreciation for how well they have treated me and YOU, my backers during this process (more on shirts later).

North + Central American Region Backers: 

Bridge Fulfillment helped me with freight and logistics for 2 containers, and all of this product was loaded around mid June. The product is currently on an ocean freight liner on its' way to the US East Coast, where it will disembark and be transported by rail to Bridge Fulfillment in Smyrna, Georgia. They estimate arrival in July, and have told me that delivery in the USA will begin in early August! They will send product to Canada, Puerto Rico, and Mexico from there as well.

Important note for ALL Painted Minis / Angel & Archangel Investor backers: Our awesome professional painter that is producing your minis,  Jason of Splintered Brush Studio, is Canadian, and will receive ~60 Angel Mini sets to paint from Bridge Fulfillment. Some of these will be fulfilled from Canada, but the majority will likely be shipped from Canada back down to Bridge for final fulfillment due to the majority of these orders being from US-based addresses (it all depends on the advice I get from my awesome Bridge team).

Typical fulfillment times to the US from Bridge once sent out range from 2-5 days to most of the USA (though Alaska and Hawaii will take longer). I'll keep you posted on the specifics of when you can expect your product once it is shipped out in our next update on July 31st.

AUS & NZ Backers:

Aetherworks coordinated their shipment on June 16, and estimated the arrival of the shipment for YESTERDAY (June 29)! They told me it would then take 5-7 days from that date for the Aetherworks warehouse to receive the goods. I estimate 7-14 days for them to process and begin delivery. That means that fulfillment of this region will begin around mid July! Yay :D

I have all the positive things to say about Aetherworks so far. They have made this process extreeeeemely easy. Y'all are blessed to have 'em taking care of you down under!

UK & EU Region Backers:

To address the sad news here, we had a lapse in communication with our freight handler for the UK (UK and EU are traveling together). I wasn't happy with how it turned out, and at the end of the day, the only person I can truly blame is myself. However, I was pretty disappointed. Our other shipments made it out without a hitch, and communication was excellent. I didn't get that with the UK freight handler, and felt overall that communication was reactionary. Bottom line is I gave them what the other companies needed to get it all done, and this freight handler didn't get it done. We had 2 extra weeks of sparse and, at time, frustrating communication. But in the end, we finally gave them what they needed, and as I type this today, we have the product destined for UK/EU being loaded into a container and onto an ocean freightliner bound for the UK.

Once we get into the UK, Gamesquest is our vendor that is handling fulfillment! They will receive the product into their UK warehouse, then immediately send off the EU product to their EU warehouse as they start UK fulfillment. This ended up being the most sensible route for fulfillment (EU shipping law is quite difficult to navigate -- Many companies have decided simply not to sell into the EU, but I also see many companies, including ours, doing this in the future to make sure they don't exclude our EU patrons). 

In the end, we're tracking 4-6 weeks for product to arrive at the Gamesquest warehouse, meaning fulfillment is *still* estimated to begin "on time" in August. However, it's 2 weeks we lost that I know I can save next time given this experience. My fulfillment skill definitely leveled up handling this situation!

Overall Project Timeline Update:

Given all the info above, here is the TL;DR on our timeline:

•  October 2022 (Done): Game & Story development completes!
•  October 2022 (Done): Some items approved for manufacturing (minis & coins)!
•  November 2022 (Done): Final print files submitted to the manufacturer.
•  NEW - December 2022 (Done): Factory produces final prototype for approval.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses & item order quantities locked.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses
•  April - May 2023 (Done): Deliverance gets printed!
•  May 2023 (Done): Deliverance finishes manufacturing.
•  June 2023 (Done): Deliverance gets sorted for regional fulfillment & begins freight shipping (4-6 weeks for ocean freight).
•  July 2023 (In Progress): Deliverance arrives and is sorted at our shipping partners' warehouses around the world.
•  July - August 2023  (In Progress): The final "Deliverance" from local warehouses to your homes begins!

Given the above delay for EU backers in particular, I expect your region's final fulfillment may actually begin in September. I will keep you all posted on this next update as I get more info from Gamesquest.

What might delay this timeline?

I need to prep you all for this JUST IN CASE it happens. Each of our freight containers need to pass a Customs check in their country's port of entry. We have all our paperwork in order, but it is still possible that we are randomly selected for additional screening. I have seen this result in a delay of 2-4 weeks. While unlikely, it is a possibility. I wanted you all to be prepared. Let's pray and hope for a smooth conclusion to Deliverance's freight journey!

T-Shirts Have Arrived! 🔥🔥🔥

Hands On Originals finished and delivered nearly 900 T-Shirts to Bridge Fulfillment's warehouses. We will be sending shirts out to Gamesquest for UK/EU fulfillment with your games, but Asia and AUS/NZ regions will have these sent directly from Bridge in the US (Asia and AUS/NZ ships out so quick... I'm jealous)!

Each of the designs are screen-printed on high-quality CVC fabric, so they will last. I was very pleased to see how detailed the updated Michael, the Archangel looked on his shirt. The colors really came through beautifully on them all. The "Halos" shirt fabric came out a bit lighter than I expected, but I actually really like it. It offers a nice contrast to the muted dark colors of the other designs, but isn't so bright that it calls extra attention to itself. I LOVE those halos and how the "Free Action" icon pops. They're each a real conversation piece, and I can't wait to see you all walking around with these at conventions, in pics at game nights, or just a selfie style pic showing your epic loot off! 

I convinced some of my family and friends at my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym as well as my awesome wife Christy to model the shirts for me. Check out the final shirts!

The Most Epic Deliverance Game Ever? A Story.

I played an epic Deliverance game with a few fans that happened to live just a few towns over from me! We met at the D Pad, which is my awesome friendly local game store, and the plan was to give them a guided tour and first playthrough.

But after just a few minutes at the table, I could tell that Joshua and his two sons weren't novices, so there's no way I could let their first game be an easy run.

We started their first game on Heroic difficulty, and this decision is where everything just started to slide uncontrollably toward insanity...

The game started out well enough -- After setup and a quick rules overview, we jumped in.

As an aside, -- I really like to let the game do the teaching after the setup. Most of the "rules" of the game are explained on the various cards, which are delivered to you as the action happens in bite-sized chunks. The rulebook is 32 pages, but if you're familiar with these sorts of games (video OR board games), you only really need to review the first ~12 pages to dive in and get going.

In a 4-player game, the first round goes easy, but the start of the second round is when the epiphany strikes -- These Darkness cards will destroy us if we don't deal with them! That's a really magical moment in the excitement of the game. It makes you suddenly feel like you're in a real fight that you could lose!

We battled through the minions of Fallbrook and made it to the mighty Fallen Prince, Legion! Once Legion and his hordes were defeated, the town would be delivered from evil, and we would win the game. 

Legion had other plans.

One by one, Legion mercilessly beat down our angelic heroes. We began to break ranks and seek shelter, but none was to be found! Legion was unstoppable, and his hordes were ever-growing.

The last angel was struck down by the Legion, and all was lost...

BUT WAIT! One of our clever players revived using the Crown of Life!

We stood against Legion with three defeated angels, and the final angel on the battlefield, Sardius, stood against all odds and in defiance of the Legion.

Using his command over the earth to steady himself, Sardius stood silent and unflinching among the denizens of evil and swaths of Darkness that surrounded him, despite having only a single point of health remaining.

The next round began, and Sardius narrowly avoided certain doom through the use of Prayer cards by defeated team members. The shouts of encouragement coming from the gates of Heaven in the distance could be heard as whispers in Sardius' ears.

The great angel stood tall, shielded himself with great stones, and opened great sinkholes in the earth itself, swallowing the ranks of demons before him.

Falling to a knee, the ranks of demonic hordes beat on his shields, and despite his greatest effort, the demonic horde stood victorious over the angel. Battered and broken among the demonic ranks, his vision clouded and went dark.

But what was this? Ranks of his defeated allies stood tall once more at the Heavenly Gates?!

He bought time for his allies to make a return!

They razed through the remaining demonic hordes, until only Legion remained.

But the Legion would not be satiated. He began to once again cut through the angelic ranks in stark silence.

We fought back! Some of us were cut down as our allies pounded damage on the Legion. We danced in and out of his range as best we could, and in the end...

We defeated him, winning the game! Only two of us stood at the end, boasting a combined total of FOUR health between us.

This scenario might not have felt like this to a casual observer, but this was the story playing in all of our minds.

Several weeks later, this still feels fresh in my head.

As a fellow fan of Deliverance that has no copy of the game myself (for I have given them to reviewers), I can't wait for my game to be delivered to my house.

Here is the review Deliverance received on BGG after the game from Josh:

I wanted to give them an entertaining experience without "helping" too much as the game's creator. As a result, we had a crazy good time! Maybe I should have helped more? 😆

I may have gone a little overboard on the story, but I hope y'all are excited!

Deliverance Official Review: Sam Healey

The last thing I feel is of note that I should include in this update... We received our first content creator's review! The legit pros and cons of Deliverance according to Sam Healey in his LIVE review he did on June 30:

What's Next?

Much of what happens next is out of our control, but we're going to do all we can to ensure Deliverance has a smooth ... delivery... to your doorstep!

Look out for updated shipping timelines in next month's update along with more reviews.

Until then, thank you for following and supporting Deliverance. I couldn't have done it without you, my fellow Insider.

Kind regards,

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance Team

I spent $150,000 of your money this week. Hope you don't mind 😁
11 months ago – Wed, May 31, 2023 at 03:49:23 PM

Welcome to the May update! Timeline updates, manufacturing completed, freight coordinated, and much more! Get a load of a near-misprint fixed at the last minute, and hear how I spent $150,000 of your money in a week! Exciting times 😁

First, Read This! "To Do" List: Review Your Address

Many of you have reviewed your information on Hive. Most of the minor address errors have been resolved, but I wanted to add 1 more urgent reminder to check your address *IF* any of the following are true about your account:

1) If your Zip Code begins with a "zero" (0) 

2) If your address contains special letters not native to English such as ö, ü, ß, ñ, or Chinese/Japanese language characters.

If one of these two situations describes you, and you have not yet reviewed your address, be sure to do so in Hive (Gain access here: Hiveinteractive.net/pledgemanager). If the information looks correct, there is nothing more you need to do. If it is incorrect, please submit a support ticket to me in Hive, and I will fix that for you :)

Timeline Update

As I type this, Deliverance game assembly is nearly complete. Games and all our add-ons are being prepped and sorted for regional fulfillment. Our final completion date where our shipping partners can pick up the product is June 5th, so we're running on schedule! We had only a single minor delay, which was related to the Neoprene Mat -- it was almost misprinted, so we had to make one last tweak to the art file before mass manufacturing. More on that below :)

Here is what our timeline looks like:

•  October 2022 (Done): Game & Story development completes!
•  October 2022 (Done): Some items approved for manufacturing (minis & coins)!
•  November 2022 (Done): Final print files submitted to the manufacturer.
•  NEW - December 2022 (Done): Factory produces final prototype for approval.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses & item order quantities locked.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses
•  April - May 2023 (Done): Deliverance gets printed!
•  May 2023 (Done): Deliverance finishes manufacturing.
•  June 2023 (In Progress): Deliverance gets sorted for regional fulfillment & begins freight shipping (4-6 weeks for ocean freight).
•  July 2023: Deliverance arrives and is sorted at our shipping partners' warehouses around the world.
•  July - August 2023: The final "Deliverance" from local warehouses to your homes begins!

More Manufacturing Pics

For everyone's curiosity, I asked the factory to send a progress update for me to share in time for this update, and they obliged and also sent along some pre-assembly pics. Enjoy!

Upgrades Complete

Everyone that wanted to add items to their pledge have been updated. As a result, almost all add-ons are sold out! We will hang on to the remainder until after we have fulfilled all orders, and then anything else will be added to our website store.

Speaking of Our Website...

Did you know that we are working on a new fancy website for Deliverance? It's not completed, but if you'd like to explore a work in progress and offer some feedback as we develop, head over to PlayDeliverance.com! It is as of yet unlinked, but there might be a hidden thing or two in there to discover 😎

The "Angels" page might be of particular exciting interest to you if you'd like to learn about some of the detail, lore, and inspiration behind all the characters you unlocked during the campaign 😇

Wanna See The Thing We Almost Misprinted?

This was a close call 😨 Thankfully, the final version of the Neoprene Playmat correctly says "Darkness Track" and "Initiative Track" like it should! Also, the picture really doesn't capture how beautiful and vibrant this mat is, but wow you all are going to be REALLY happy when you see it!

Fulfillment & Huge Wire Transfers

We are now entering the stage of the process where we watch a boat slowly travel across the world to regional fulfillment centers. The four regional centers we are using are as follows:

• Bridge Fulfillment (USA & Canada)
• GamesQuest (UK & EU Region)
• Aetherworks (AUS & NZ)
• VFI Asia (Asia & "Rest of World")

Your random insider look into my head of the update is as follows (😆): I have been paying huge wire transfers and watched $150,000 vanish from the company bank account in a week to pay for all the freight, shipping estimates, and the final balance owed for manufacturing. Wow. It's not really spoken about, but wire transfers are like... permanent. If I get it wrong, everyone loses everything. While everything went so smoothly, I checked and re-checked and verified and confirmed every single digit and letter asked of me for these transfers. Publishers really never talk about how money is spent during a KS fulfillment, and you trust that it's all going well, but that has been a seriously sensitive part of any campaign. The only wire transfers I've ever done that got close were for my house! I take being a steward of your money as my Insider and Kickstarter backer *very* seriously.

What's Coming Next?

Much of what transpires next is outside of our control. We have placed our prize in the hands of capable, reliable, and proven fulfillment partners. However, as many of you that are seasoned veterans of this process understand, unforeseen delays are *still* possible.

For example, Bridge (our US/CAN fulfillment partner), recently moved to a larger warehouse space to support the influx of business that came to them from Funagain Fulfillment closing its' doors. This is causing delays for their current fulfillment. I have heard it should be resolved by the time our campaign is ready to fulfill, but truth is I am not banking on perfection.

As always, I will keep you informed on the final day of every month (and if there is important news to report, maybe even mid-month for a special update). A mid-month update is not likely for June, unless I get news worth sharing!

And lastly, because some you have been asking across our various social channels, we are indeed working on Deliverance expansions! I am not yet ready to reveal anything beyond what we shared in past updates, but I expect to share more as fulfillment progresses and games get into your hands!

We are working hard behind the scenes to make more content for you, and just like the first game, I will want your help and your suggestions to make it as awesome as it can possibly be!

Until next time, Insiders!

Kind regards,

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance Team

IMPORTANT: Review Your Information
11 months ago – Fri, May 19, 2023 at 10:05:01 AM

Greetings! This is our FIRST mid-month update we have done. This means we're getting closer to fulfillment. This one is important -- it is critical you check to make sure your information is correct for shipping AND your final chance to add items to your pledge. I will still be sending an update on May 31 as per our usual end of month update which will include more -- this update stays simple and to the point.

IMPORTANT: Review Your Information

TL;DR - Check your email today/tomorrow, verify your pledge and info is correct!

Hive Pledge Manager is taking over for BackerKit. Hive is a full dashboard + professional upgrade that will help our company with ongoing support. The system and the team behind it helped me solve massive problems that emerged with spreadsheet export issues that emerged with BackerKit. The effort put into Hive was very important to a smooth fulfillment.

ALL BACKERS (This means you!) will get an email today/tomorrow from [email protected] with your new Hive Pledge Manager details. Be patient, because the registration link will be sent within ~1-5 hours after this update releases! If you didn't get the email (or want to do it early), you can recover username using your email at this link: hiveinteractive.net/pledgemanager. It will send access to the email on your order. If you have issues with anything you see, please create a support ticket on your pledge summary. Be sure to add [email protected] to your email contacts to avoid it going to your spam folder.

If you need to change your e-mail address, send me an email at [email protected] -- I need to verify your information and manually change it. I don't want people stealing orders, so this is how we can avoid that.

IF EVERYTHING LOOKS CORRECT, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING! :D

- Some backers have had orders combined when the order was going to the same address. A few of you even backed under 2 different e-mails, which have been combined into one order under a single email. I tried to use my best judgment as to which to combine under. If this is you and you do not find your access using one email, try your alternate email.

- All addresses that have been sent to me via [email protected] have been updated in the system, BUT there were some translation issues for addresses with foreign script (Simplified Chinese in particular). In very limited cases, you may have given a correct street address with foreign characters, but double-check to be sure it is right. I will also review this again before sending the final orders.

I wanted to write a note to the backers that sent addresses -- we had about 2 dozen address change requests that came through via e-mail. Before this support ticket system, the only way I had to track if these were completed or not was to keepm the e-mail unread. Therefore, some of you didn't get a reply b/c I'd rather make sure your address got updated than tell you I'd take care of it and fail 😓 My apologies for the perceived delay in response, but you've been taken care of! Prompt and organized communication is one of the reasons I'm so excited for the support ticket system -- this will help a lot in the future if issues arise with package delivery, missing parts, etc! All future support requests will be directed to the support ticket system on Hive as a result. Make sure you look for that email (should be sent from [email protected], so add this in your contacts to avoid it going to your junk/promotions folder just in case).

IMPORTANT: 1 Week To Add Items To Your Pledge

Many backers have asked to add a Neoprene Playmat, Metal Coins, etc to your pledge, and others have asked to jump in at the last minute to get a game. We have less than 10% of remaining add-ons in stock of each type (others have been claimed), so I expect all of these to quickly sell out. We will not be immediately reprinting them, and will likely only re-print during a future Kickstarter. To avoid a logistical headache, I will be opening sales of Deliverance games and add-ons for ONE WEEK ONLY (ending Friday, May 26).

Because our pledge manager is closed, we have to do this in a different way so we can add items to your order. Here is how to purchase add-ons:

1) Choose your add-ons, add up prices (see below).

2) Send a payment for these add-ons WITH description including which addons you want via PayPal to [email protected]. 

3) I will manually add these items to your order.

Any payments that come through without a description of the item will be refunded 100% -- We have to lock in final quantities to send to our various fulfillment partners before they ship across the world!

Pricing list (post-KS prices, includes shipping):

• Deliverance Game: $114 (includes $15 USA shipping - email to inquire about shipping cost if you are from another country)
• Neoprene Playmat $51 (includes $6 shipping)
• Metal Coins $25 (includes $5 shipping)
• Acrylic Standees $25 (includes $5 shipping)
• Deliverance T-Shirts are not available to add to orders.

Refund Policy Update

Until now, we have given 90% refunds if people need them (less 10% fees due to Kickstarter/BackerKit/Processing fees incurred). At this point in the project, we can only issue a refund of 80% of your pledge due to fulfillment costs incurred. I don't expect anyone to want a refund now that you're only 3 months from getting your games, but I thought it was important to share.

Look For The May 31 Update!

As I shared before, we will update with more pics, timeline, manufacturing, and everything else that is relevant to the project on May 31. I appreciate you all for your belief, support, and prayers throughout this whole journey!

Kind regards,

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance Team

I Got Deliverance Games! Videos & Pics 🔥
12 months ago – Sun, Apr 30, 2023 at 01:05:11 PM

Hi everyone! This update will have some great content for those of you that love Deliverance, and for those hoping for delivery timelines to remain, I have good news on that front too!

You Need To See These Videos!!!

The most awesome content I have for you is summed up in these two videos below *and* the accompanying pictures. Timelines and other news is important, but it's going to be at the end of the update. On to the awesomeness! :D

This is the game you will get in the mail:

I have worked 7 years on this so that you can hold these in your hands. What began as a mission to make a game I wanted to play has grown into a passion project for you, my hardcore fans of Deliverance. It is a surreal feeling to hold these in my hands, but the mission is not complete until you have them in yours! 😇

How to play Deliverance in 15 minutes (+ solo rules!): 

I considered hard who to work with to make a great "How to Play" video. I asked you all in our various communities who your favorite people were, and you all gave a lot of ideas! In the end, I gave the challenge of making an amazing "How to Play" video to Frances and Anthony of Ant Lab Games. The content they make is incredible, and I love to watch it.

They don't normally make these sorts of videos, but they loved Deliverance and they are so good at what they do that I knew they would excel at it. I was concerned with the content being enough to actually help someone learn to play *and* to not be too long. I am so happy with the end result.

But they gave me more than I asked for! They are also talented photographers, and I gave them the opportunity to take photos of Deliverance for our future web store. I asked them to take pics that were interesting and attractive based on their vision of how the components should be laid out. My mind was exploded with the awesomeness. Enjoy!

 Deliverance is beautiful! 🤩

Timeline Update

We are 1 month closer to the production of Deliverance! Here is what our timeline looks like:

•  October 2022 (Done): Game & Story development completes!
•  October 2022 (Done): Some items approved for manufacturing (minis & coins)!
•  November 2022 (Done): Final print files submitted to the manufacturer.
•  NEW - December 2022 (Done): Factory produces final prototype for approval.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses & item order quantities locked.
•  March 2023 (Done): Addresses
•  April - May 2023 (In Progress): Deliverance gets printed!
•  May 2023: Deliverance finishes manufacturing & begins freight shipping (4-6 weeks for ocean freight).
•  June - July 2023: Deliverance arrives and is sorted at our shipping partners' warehouses around the world.
•  July - August 2023: The final "Deliverance" from local warehouses to your homes begins!

FAQ: How do I update my address?

We always post new updates on the final day of the month, BUT we are going to break that trend by giving you a mid-month update in May! This will be in addition to our normal update at the end of the month. This short update will give an opportunity for you to adjust your address and get set up on our new support ticket system! If anything goes wrong, we will address it in our new system, called Hive. Expect more details to emerge soon!

FAQ: How do I order Deliverance?

Many people have been discovering Deliverance and asking how to order the game. Pre-orders have been closed, but we are working on our web store and a way to get you all into our "second wave" shipping which will begin after Kickstarter fulfillment. Make sure to join our e-mail list at DeliveranceTheGame.com, because this notification will be sent out to our waiting list via e-mail!

Join us on Discord and BoardGameGeek!

Once we release Deliverance, I expect to have many questions arise about the game. The two best places to get answers and engage with both myself and our community are on our Discord Server and our BoardGameGeek forums (Be sure to hit that Subscribe button). 

Once Deliverance hits your table this summer, I'll be at both these places to answer your questions on all things Deliverance, from strategic gameplay advice to rules clarifications.

What's Next?

As a reminder, we're going to send a mid-month update so you all get your shipping squared away. We're working on our website and store, and we're in the middle of manufacturing all the games! May's update should tell you that the games are on a freight container bound for your region of the world. I hope to have updates on that for you all. Until then, if you want the most current info, or if you have any questions for me, join us on Discord, BGG, or our Facebook Group and ask away :D

Kind regards,

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance team

Bonus: I reviewed a game!

Jack Dunbar of New Kingdom: Gardeners reached out to me last month and asked if I would consider reviewing his game. He thought I would enjoy it because of the theme and the fit with the ages of my kids, and I figured I would give it a shot. I enjoyed my experience making the review, and will certainly do more of this for games I like on our YouTube channel. If you are interested in learning about how I decided to rate this game, I discuss my bias in board games in this video. I did this without cost, as I believe reviews are actually "previews" when they're paid for, and payment removes the penchant for honesty in the review.

Their Kickstarter is live now, and if you want to know if I am backing the game, yes I am. I felt like it was a great fit for a filler game in between the big games, or before/after the main event, at game night. Hope you enjoy!

The good sort of delay, address confirmation, gameplay vid, and more!
about 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 31, 2023 at 12:56:53 PM

Hi everyone! Welcome back to our end of month update. In this update, we prepared a new full playthrough vid on Nightmare difficulty for you, I'll deal with the question "which address should I use" and other questions about address corrections, give a manufacturing update, and more! Read on :)

New Gameplay Footage!

I had to send off my prototype to Ant Lab Games, because they're working on our "How to Play" video! But before I did, I recorded a full playthrough of a Deliverance game showcasing one of my personal favorite angels and play styles on a high difficulty -- Gabriel with a variation of his epic "Prayer" build. The difficulty level is called "Nightmare." While it's not the highest possible difficulty (Abyssal and Infernal are insanely hard), Nightmare is a lot of fun and really puts your skill to the test as a veteran gamer.  This vid took me a lot of time to edit together, but I thought you guys have waited so patiently for some recent gameplay content to chew on, so I hope you enjoy it!

I'll say that my camera's holding arm decided to betray me like the Leaning Tower of Pisa during recording which I eventually fix, but it produced some comedic results. Fast forward to 58:44 for a laugh -- it's absolutely the best part of the video.

Manufacturing News

I have some news here regarding the timeline which includes a delay. We *did* begin the mass manufacturing process in March, which was our goal. However, I had to amend some of the technical elements to ensure organization of the games and shipping/fulfillment goes smoothly. As a result, mass manufacturing began earlier this week (yay)!

Here is the process as described by our Longpack rep:

"We held a pre-production meeting this morning and the next step is system work, internal approval process and all that to set up mass printing, we expect to send the mass printing samples (3 units) in about 30-35 days from now (will send to test at this same stage), and plus 7 days to deliver them for your approval, after they are approved, we expect to finish the mass production in about 15-20 days, this should bring us to end of May."

They further added:

"As Deliverance is a large game that has so many items, I don't want to rush our factory too much, I hope this is ok for you and the backers."

My commentary:

Based on earlier timelines given by Longpack, the manufacturing process was estimated to take 45 days. This meant we would begin freight shipping in Early May, and would see final fulfillment begin after 4-6 weeks in most regions, barring customs delay. However, with the new timeline provided by the factory, Deliverance will begin its' freight journey across the ocean to fulfillment hubs at the end of May.

While this means we are delayed from the timeline I shared last week, I am glad that the explanation was to ensure these games are put together well. I much prefer a delay with quality assurance than finishing all games quickly -- In a rush, it's so easy to have parts go missing. As a backer of other KS games that have fallen victim to this, I much prefer getting a complete game to something missing an essential component.

Fulfillment News

The most important things you need to know in this section are: 

1. We have locked in our fulfillment partners! 

2. Funagain Fulfillment (not our partner) closed their doors earlier this month, resulting in a flood of creators asking our fulfillment partners for help.

What does this mean? 

First, you can expect your Deliverance game and add-ons to arrive from the following companies:

• Bridge Fulfillment (USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico)
• ShipQuest (UK, EU + Other European Countries)
• VFI Asia (China + other Asian Regional countries + Brazil + South Africa)
• Aetherworks (Australia + New Zealand)

Next, in regard to the closure of Funagain Fulfillment & Distribution, there are some ramifications we need to discuss together. While I haven't been officially told this yet from our 4 fulfillment partners, I expect to see a delay in final fulfillment due to the short-term bottleneck created -- Funagain used to fulfill a ton of clients, and now that they've closed their doors, many publishers have been forced to quickly adjust and work with our fulfillment partners (anyone that can warehouse or ship a box is probably slammed from this, really). As a result of this, I foresee the possibility of a few weeks' delay between the time our games arrive at their warehouses and when they actually begin shipping to backers. But hey, 3-4 months is a long time for these companies to hire and train folks to expedite fulfillment, right? Maybe... But I'm adding a range to our final fulfillment just in case!

Revised Timeline Update

Based on the above information (Manufacturing + Fulfillment sections), here is what our new timeline looks like:

• October 2022 (Done): Game & Story development completes!
• October 2022 (Done): Some items approved for manufacturing (minis & coins)!
• November 2022 (Done): Final print files submitted to the manufacturer.
• NEW - December 2022 (Done): Factory produces final prototype for approval.
• March 2023 (Done): Addresses & item order quantities locked.
• March 2023 (Done): Addresses
• April - May 2023: Deliverance gets printed! 
• May 2023: Deliverance finishes manufacturing & begins freight shipping (4-6 weeks for ocean freight).
• June - July 2023: Deliverance arrives and is sorted at our shipping partners' warehouses around the world.
• July - August 2023: The final "Deliverance" from local warehouses to your homes begins!

Address Changes FAQs

We locked addresses earlier this month, but many of you had questions on this that I wanted to answer here. 

The 3 most common questions I received are:

1. I'm moving soon , but not sure what my new address will be yet. When is the latest I can send that to you?

2. I need to know when you're shipping the game to me, because I change addresses during in the summer. When are you expected to ship?

3. I need to change my address, but I missed the "address lock" date. How can I change my address?

The answers:

1. I expect that date based on our timeline to be June 1. You need to send me your address by the time the games are moving across the ocean. I will make an update of addresses and send the final data sheets to my fulfillment partners once the boats reach port. After that, the likelihood of you missing a package increase if you try to change your address. 

2. Based on our updated timeline above, we're going to ship games to you starting July or August. Make sure you give me your preferred address in the worst case scenario (Aug) to avoid missing a shipment!

3. We can help you change your address now if you need help, even though it is "locked" in BackerKit. If you know your addrerss right now, send me your backer # or email used along with your new address to [email protected] 

One more thing on this front -- We have partnered with Hive Interactive to develop a really great support ticket system for our company that will streamline address corrections, reports about missing/damaged parts, and more. This goes live in April!

What's Next?

This update was full of news, and while it contained some awesome eye candy in the playthrough video, I expect the next few updates to be proportionately more about where we're at in the process. Timeline from manufacturing and forward is largely outside of my direct control. As a result, you can consider me your expert tour guide during this process. I will do my best to answer questions and keep you all informed on the latest news.

That said, I do have some other excellent plans, like a website and additional video content! We're planning on creating videos related to tactics and strategy, so you veterans can level up your Deliverance skills and newbies can learn to come back from the brink of crushing defeat. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel if you want to get the inside scoop!

In the meantime, we're on Facebook and Discord chatting, playing games on Tabletop Simulator, and working hard on future Deliverance content -- We are already working on an expansion, and while it won't be out for a while, expect teasers and requests for your feedback as we get closer to finishing Deliverance fulfillment!

Until next time, Insiders!

Andrew Lowen & the Deliverance team