I talked at some length to the printers yesterday, ready to turn over
samples of the charts and material for preliminary proofing copies.
What I got was a change of our printing slot. The company was not
unapologetic and explained that in addition to partnering with another
firm, they had received orders from several ex-customers of the old
Hirschfeld Press.
The printing slot they would give us at this point is two to four weeks
out or as they put it, no later than the week of July 16th to start
printing. When I queried about an earlier data for all or a part of the
order, they will make every effort to do that.
We began thinking about other printers but now believe that trying to
find another printer will only cost us time that we can use more
productively and we may not be able to get anywhere near the same price
(with the discounts offered), excellent guarantee and process from
someone else. We will post any good news about the printing slot and
material as they print it if the printers are able to work some of the
material sooner.
We’ll continue to post samples and will have another one shortly.
We’ve been working on several interesting projects and will also post
news on their progress.
My birthday is August 28 th!! At least give us a steady flow of samples!!!!
I’m sorry to hear about your latest delay. I appreciate not wanting to incur addition costs by switching printers. Unfortunately the continued delays and explanations are tarnishing your reputation and once that is lost it is hard to get it back. I still am rooting for you guys, but another snafu by your printer and you might need to consider changing printers or face further alienation within the gaming community.
Maybe desktop publishing might be an option, at least for the counters or rules. If anything it gets some of your product in the hands of those customers, who like myself, continue to support you. Another idea is maybe post some more recent pics of the components you have might firm up support, deflect criticisms, and give hope to your customers. Just a thought.
Take care.
Gar,
Skipping the details of my disappointment and frustration at yet another delay…
Can you ship the parts you do have? I assume the counter sheets are all done. If you send me a PDF or word file for the rules,charts and OBs, I can print them myself. You can send me the hard copies when you send my last issue of the magazine from 199something.
Thanks in advace.
Steve
Ridiculous, and yet completely predictable.
Hmmmm exactly like I told my friend would happen. Sorry guys but a pattern is developing.
In fact I recently heard someone say “well maybe it will before Christmas”. Yep heard that one as well.
Thanks for keeping us updated. Its a nice change compared to some of the information voids of the past.
Have you considered Kinkos or Staples for part/all?
Lordy … bummer that there is another delay. The game printing is taking longer than the full duration of WWII ;-) But … I am still excited to ultimately getting my copies in the mail.
Bryan
Sirs,
As I understand it, all the counter-sheets and maps have been printed. What seems to be the subject for printing is the Rule-book and the OB-booklets, right? Now, this is in B/W and something that we all could print our selfs while we are waiting for the printed ed.
Please, send us the maps and counter-sheets and e-mail us a PDF of the rules and OBs. Once the printed stuff arrives, you could easily charge a few USD for extra shipping to those of us that opted for a split delivery.
Thanks for the update on the progress.I am just glad that this is almost there and completed And thanks for taking my order for TEM and back issues
As mentioned above, please do send the counters and maps as they already seem to be printed. The rules could be added on a CD or as download links on a website and we can print it ourselves. Do not lose your customers because of this printing issue! There are many more titles everyone want to see but I guess few would be keen on putting up money for pre-orders if this continues, unless there are alternatives such as printing yourself.
Well i can wait ,but i doubt a lot of the others can with this situation.You gotta do something post scenarios or post the basic rules for this so the masses quiet while you get this stuff done.
Well take your time and get it right.
Many of us realize that this a labor of love and… things happen, sometimes over and over, but don’t give up!!
I am not much of a computer person, but couldn’t you just scan a few pages in everyother day?? It would be good PR and keep people intersted and hopeful
I’ve waited, what – 9 years (or something like that) for this. To be sure, I’m anxious but … it’s a game. I have a lot more important stuff to do when you come right down to it. The delays are frustrating but like I said before (a comment that seems to have been edited out) … in my opinion, this is not a time to do things piecemeal – finish it in one effort. Klotzen, nicht Kleckern.
“We’ve been working on several interesting projects and will also post
news on their progress.”
Please don’t tell us about progress on other projects until Total War is released. Any such news will seem hollow and not credible.
We ordered my copy before xmas of 2006, and Gar sent me a personal letter several months ago explaining the delays. The problem I see if you go back and look at the excuses they are all basically the same. The excuses seem to rerun themselves, time and time again. WW2 lasted a little over 5 1/2 years and I waited for the game longer then that. If the counter and maps are done send them out with the rules and obs on a disc most of us will spend the cost to print them out. Then go on to a different project to try to gain some credibility back. The bottom line is if you guys were in charge of one of my businesses some heads would role, customer service is number one.
I am glad to hear that there is still life in the project. I have no expectation to get the game piecemeal and I belive its unfair of us to expect that. It tripples the workload just for shipping to do so. And thats not counting the work to coordinate it. Why tripple? We allready got a chance to get the fantastic unfolded maps. If, HMS are to release any more complete data I belive an order of battle and rulebook uploaded to a site for downloading with a password (or not) might be doable and give the most diehard a chance to play it now. Yes the counters would be nice but I would not expect them to be made available for downloading at any point. Living rules is quite common these days and opens up for doing the game for cyberboard gameboxes. Might give the game a broader audience. And some will eventually by the game too…. Again, thank you for continuing this labour of love. Looking forward to the complete game.
I’ve been wanting to purchase this game for a long time, I think the maps look great and so do the counters. Recently I was looking at some of the sample rules for overruns (published on your site a while back) and those will go a long ways towards resolving some of the issues associated with the “overrun proof” defensive line that seemed to bog down the earlier game. If it takes a little longer to get all the printing done properly, that’s okay with me, obviously substantial progress has been done to prepare the maps, the counters and the boxes.
My only suggestion would be to get the game into a PBEM format as quickly as possible, I realize that’s a whole different project, but realistically that’s the way these games are (mostly) played today.
I would be interested is viewing the German OB counters if possible. Combat factors seem to have changed from the FitE and SE games.
Guys
It has been almost two weeks from the last post. Couldn’t you post a new page or two every other day? It would build interest and increase your credibility!
The maps are amazing and a great sign that things will one day be complete.
However, it’s ridiculous that the printing has been pushed back, what, five times since last October. Has anyone gotten the urge to call all the printers around Denver in an attempt to identify which one HMS/GRD has been supposedly talking to? We’re now in the fourth week of a “two to four week” delay with the week after next being the absolutely latest date to print.
Its been well over two weeks since the last update…hope you all enjoyed the
4th..but, still…….how about a sample countersheet…
Coming up for a month since the last update and the promised samples have not yet appeared. How about some more info and some more tasters please?