Our priority since the night of the fire has been to get Arthur and
Jason relocated and to track down who is in charge of giving the
go-ahead for entry and removal of the inventory stored at the building.
Arthur had been working at my house and Jason qualified for student
housing at the university he is attending.
The last several weeks have seen very little information on who can give
approval for re-entry. The building was a crime scene so the fire and
police investigators were initial involved. Part of this was finally
concluded with a finding of arson. A mental health patient was taken
into custody and is undergoing evaluation. The police have had very
little comment.
The building was initially tested by the health authorities and found to
have asbestos in parts the building as a result of damage caused by the
fire and the fire department’s efforts. It was declared a health hazard
and no one was allowed to re-enter the building. A fence is erected
around the building, the windows are boarded and health warnings placed
on the walls. I am told that the testing continues.
Arthur and I did finally get into the building this week. We were
gowned, wearing respirators and lead by the restoration group’s project
leader. The storage was as reported before, without water damage and
only a few component stacks obviously damaged but we were unable to do a
detailed evaluation. There was some smoke damage in the rooms.
The restoration company has given us an estimate of what it will cost to
clean our material if that is mandated. Apparently it is very difficult
and expensive to clean any smoke smell from paper. The smoke may not
have affected the game materials still in sealed boxes. There may be a
problem with Colorado law as well but we have attorneys looking into it.
It breaks my heart to see all of the counters, maps and boxes sitting
untouched. All of our other inventory as well as all of the packing and
shipping materials we had made ready, are in the same place. We have
been told by the restoration group, the building owner and two state
groups that we should be given final word within two weeks as to the
status of the building.
We have two printing companies ready to print the final components as
soon as we can determine how many complete games can be removed intact.
“…how many complete games can be removed intact.”
Real sorry to hear that it now appears that some inventory may be damaged after all — was hoping we’d miraculously managed to dodge the bullet on that issue.
What is the count of pre-sold games vs total printed? Is the margin large enough that all prepaid customers are virtually guaranteed of receiving product, or is there a chance of some being SOOL??
Hope the lost sales from damaged games components doesn’t drastically affect the viability of the company going forward. It would really suck to finally get Total War in our hands and then not be able to continue the game past spring 1942!
The saga continues. I only check this site periodically because I believe the game won’t be delivered until December 2013 at the earliest. That’s right next year. Why bother to check, I only get to read of another excuse. The only reason we are in a bind like this today is because of all the procrastination and delays in the past. The games should have been delivered in January 2012. And this fire, though still a tragedy, for the gamers, mute. Now it appears that some maps and counters will have to be reprinted? Is that a reasonable assumption? When they should have been already mailed. Now, how long will this take? Six, nine, twelve months? It’s taken eight months and the rules are still not printed. Well, enough with my rant and ravings. I sincerely hope Arthur and Jason are well and it is nice to know that they escaped the fire unharmed. Yours, Neil
What an unbelievable trail of incredibly unfortunate circumstances … Hang tough gents!
Am glad to hear that at least Jason & Arthur have someplace to stay and are not out on the street. Not that you have to disclose anything at this time, but do you have a contingency plan for a worst case scenario? Sending good thoughts to you guys that everything will workout. Thanks for the update.
Is the contents insured?
Thanks for the update. Sending positive thoughts your way.
I know that Arthur and Jason must be housed first. And the shok of this diaster along with the others in the area has taken its toll.
What I still don’t understand and it may be its my lack of techinical knowledge, but why are there still no samples???
I ordered this game when Gary Stagliano was still alive and running Fathers and Sons Hobbies. I have to admit it has been discouraging to see this setback, and probably most discouraging to the team that has dedicated at least a decade of their time to making the ultimate game on the Russian Front. Hopefully, this will not add another year to the test of everyone’s patience. Whatever happens, I’m sure HMSGRD will rally and bring this to a successful conclusion.
why not just file an claim to have all material re printed cost etc and lost revenue with the insurance company ….. filing a claim usually gets some action back from company’s that never want to pay out ;)
just my thought otherwise lets move onto having the full rule sets and obs printed at least that way we are ahead by a few weeks for when the decision on the game components comes to light?
I suspect HMS/GRD didn’t have insurance. I have no facts, but in light of the silence on that topic, I suspect the company has been operating on a shoestring budget for years, and that the company is essentially a volunteer operation, because of that shoestring budget. 1000 games at $200/each is $200,000… not enough to support two people for multiple years and still get merchandise out and delivered. I definitely am not inclined to criticize. It would be the easiest thing for Gar and Arthur to drop this whole thing. That they haven’t is a huge testament to them that I don’t feel is recognized enough. Yes, they are still a company that owes its customers. However, this is much more “mom-n-pop” shopish. And in light of the tumult of recent years and a lot of bad luck, I think we all need to reduce expectations and just take it as it comes. It hurts to think about that, but it is what it is. My apologies if my reading of the tea leaves is way off. But I’m willing to keep supporting these guys in their efforts to keep this sort of gaming alive.
Can Purchasers of TW at least see the rules and OB’s for TW including SU from 1939? I’ve given up all hope of ever seeing this game in total form. At least we are owed something for all the money, etc. The rules and OB could be streamed thru this site.
I agree with JJenke. Give us the option of at least downloading the rules and OBs in PDF format. I feel it would go a long way to help your customers deal with the delays in getting out the full game and is the right thing to do considering the large amount of money we have invested in this. Since the rules and OBs were almost certainly written up on a computer it would not take much to convert to PDF. You could then setup a server and email us a link to download. Please give this some consideration. It would also be appreciated if you would respond to those of us that have been suggesting such an option over the past few months.