Swords & Sails, Rewrite History in 1000 AD

Swords&Sails: S&S Faction Battle Boxes (Storage Boxes) now available
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Apr 26, 2019 at 07:46:02 AM

As mentioned in the last update post ( Last Update Link ) and based on popularity for this additional add on, I have added the 8 storage boxes as an optional add on.  If you wish to add this to your order, then you can either do a separate transaction here <S&S Pre-Order Store>, or I can unlock your current order on BackerKit, so you can add the item as one additional transaction to your current order.  In either case, I will not charge cards until the additional item is 100% verified that it can be added to our current shipments with no delays.  Just PM me if you need me to unlock your current order to make the addition and / or send you a link to your order.

Thanks.  

Jason Williams

Swords&Sails: Manufacturing & Shipping Update
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Apr 24, 2019 at 02:11:29 PM

Hi everyone,

Finally, all components issues have been corrected and all manufacturing is now being completed.  I was told that the game would be completed by the end of April just 1 month ago, but the factory has now reported that completion date will be on May 10th.   This is a full 2 months longer than the manufacturer's normal terms state, but this game has many more components than normal.

I was hoping to tell everyone that all Swords&Sails components were getting loaded into the ship by the end of this week but that now won't happen for another 16 days or so.

I am very much not happy with Boda for the schedule slips but the components are looking pretty good.

This revises the schedule as follows as I have been advised by Quartermaster Logistics.  This is the estimate for US backers.  International locations will vary from this and is still being estimated.

• Week of May 13th Load shipment on Ocean freight consignment.
• Week of June 17th / June 24th Ocean transport 5-6 weeks to Florida, USA
• Week of June 24th / July. 1st Average 1 week offload / Import inspection
• Week July. 1st / July. 8th Fulfillment Begins
• Week July. 15th through Aug. 12th Most backers should be receiving Swords & Sails

If anyone can't wait and would like to get their games much sooner, I could look into getting a small number of the games early through an air courier shipment, but this is normally pretty expensive (for example, it had cost up to $100 individually to courier the various prototype / proof components, including the Neoprene Map and the full Game Proof).  Heavy components aren't cheap to ship internationally.   I would expect that we could hit a sweet spot for size / weight for getting a handful of games and add on(s) and I would credit everyone who wanted to do this with their original shipping costs.   Message me if you would like to do this and if I get enough people interested, I will let everyone know how much this would cost.

On another note, The last component I was negotiating with the manufacturer was about a storage tray or something like battle boxes to store each factions components.   We did not over fund enough to add something to the game and the manufacturer's cost were to high to add individual cardboard boxes to the game, essentially adding almost $10 to the game costs for boxes which would not even include lids.  The game will come with enough zip lock bags to store all components, adequately to separate each faction in a separate bag and common components in other bags by type.

For those that have played the prototype over the years, know I have used little plastic boxes to hold all the individual components that are around 2" x 3" x 2" ( 0.14 litre Really Useful Box brand ).  These fit perfectly in the game box to store everything and allow the boxes to be handed out to the players and they are mostly color coded to the main factions.  I have tried to get a wholesale price for these boxes, but the manufacturer only supplies a discount to large sourcing such as to corporate Walmart stores, Target, Michael's or Staples, which buy in huge bulk.  You can look for them at these stores but it will be difficult to find them in all the colors and they seem to be stocked only seasonally such as during back to school week.   I have always planned on giving links to the same ones I have purchased and they are available online at  Really Useful Boxes 0.14 Litre.

I have purchased all the available transparent colors in the past to use and generally use transparent blue for Kingdom of France, transparent red for Kingdom of England, transparent purple for Byzantine Empire, transparent yellow for Holy Roman Empire, transparent green for Fatimid Caliphate, transparent Aqua for North Sea Empire, and transparent clear for the Kievan Rus Empire, Coins.   I have also used the 1/2 height .07 Litre Boxes for other components such as the City disks and scoring / tracking tokens.

In looking for sources for battle boxes, I have found a China source for very similar plastic storage boxes as is made by Really Useful Boxes in the .014 litre size.   I can get an order of a few 1000 of these alternative storage boxes for approximately 33% the price of the Really Useful Boxes brand (not including shipping).  If enough people have interest in getting an order of 8 of these alternative storage boxes for $3.50 (Really Useful Boxes cost $1.17 each before shipping, so 8 would cost $9.36+shipping) I could manage to get the order combined with the Swords & Sails fulfillment and get you these storage boxes with no additional shipping costs, if you already ordered the full game.   They aren't available in all the same colors as Really Useful Boxes, but I would work on getting as many colors as they have available.  Let me know if you are interested in these cheaper storage boxes.

Ar Unpub with Printed proof 2/22-2/24.
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 08:08:46 PM

I will be at Unpub all weekend at I can show the printed proof for Swords & Sails or we can play the game.   There is open gaming after 9pm.  I can arrange different times but this will be dependent on finding a table.  message me if you want to arrange something outside of the open gaming time.

I will be running Tali during the session 2 session 5 to 9pm Saturday and Sunday 12 to 4pm.  I can arrange times around those.

Swords&Sails: Printed proofs unboxing
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Mar 19, 2019 at 07:24:07 PM

We finally have the printed proofs.  Here is the video of me unboxing it.

Let me know your thoughts.  I do have a few components to fix.

Swords&Sails Update March 2019
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Mar 12, 2019 at 02:15:55 PM

Hello everyone, Manufacturing has been going very slowly and i suppose that is due to 3 things.  

• One, this is a freaking huge game with lots of components of many types
• Two, It took me a while to get a publisher which had good quality and could print the Wet Erase Cards (My original had backed out, based on the cards)
• Three, We ran into Chinese New Year through the start of the manufacturing process and did not get the proofs before and I had to redo and increase resolutions on many design components.

But we are almost there.

Here is a look at the Custom Dice proofs.

While we are waiting for manufacturing to continue and looking forward to the posts of the Rest of the Printed proofs (should arrive this week sometime or maybe early next week). I would like to let you know about a spinoff Kickstarter project which uses Kickstarter coins from Swords&Sails.

Tali, The Historic Roman Game of KnuckleBones is Live on Kickstarter!!!

We are re-introducing one of the oldest games in history with a twist of a modern micro role-playing game added on to increase the ways to have fun with this iconic game.

Get more Metal Coins, Simulated Knuckle Bones and a Game.

Play the game your ancient ancestors used to play.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vrsoft/tali-historic-roman-game-of-knucklebones-for-2-6-p?ref=dexho1