The clinic seeing Arthur has warned that he needs more testing and real rest. He has apparently been working far more hours than we thought, getting much less sleep and is seriously risking his health. Arthur has adamantly refused the electronic testing but has finally had to agree to the rest. While Arthur loves the work and and is more than good at what he does, this is not something you put yourself at risk over. We are reluctantly going to move back the printing date.
The printers share our concern and have agreed to provide an available printing slot for March 21st through the 28th. I will continue to fill in for Arthur and ask that you direct phone questions for Arthur to me at 303 377-6255 or the company toll-free line at 800 236-7442. If you call and the machine answers, please leave a clear message when I can best get back with you. Arthur has promised to defer his e-mail to no more than an hour a day and get the sleep and proper food as directed. New orders for other products may be slightly delayed but we will get them out within a week.
I want to thank all of the folks who have come forward to help during this time. The mailing of Total War should be underway by the end of March.
We returned from seeing the clinic again this morning. Arthur’s medications seem to be working and he is now getting enough sleep. Based on the new tests that were run late last week, the recommendation is for additional rest and more tests. These will address some breathing difficulty and sleep apnea. None of this is life threatening if treated but Arthur is going to have to make some changes.
I spoke with the printers and they have given us the next available slot for printing, beginning on February 16th and finishing the 24th. I’ve asked for some earlier time if possible and they will let us know. I will pass that along if we get word.
As soon as Total War is out the door, we will finish changes to The Europa Magazine (TEM) 88. We had estimated it would be sent out 30 to 45 days after TW, given the work and questions that accompany a new release. We may be able to cut that down but TW comes first.
After Total War is out and TEM 88 ready, we will begin be working on the A Winter War II (AWWII) playtest kits. These will include draft game specific rules, OBs and the production die-cut counters for the game. Maps and Grand Europa ground and air rules for the playtest will come from the playtesters own copies of TW. The production map will come with the finished game.As soon as these are ready, we will be asking for volunteers to begin playtesting the game.
We finally got Arthur into see a doctor again this morning. The doctor wanted to immediately admit Arthur for rest and more tests. Working 12-14 hours a day with very little sleep has completely done him in. Arthur adamantly refused the hospital but even he had to admit that he was in awful shape. If he continued, it could well lead to something much more serious.
The good news is that the initial tests run last week do not indicate anything more serious. With rest and separation from the work for awhile, he should completely recover. The rash and swelling are beginning to subside and hold out the promise of real sleep. He has promised to return for more tests and get at least 8-10 hours of sleep (if permitted). We will do whatever we can to make sure he does.
To give him the best chance of beating this, I will be taking over his correspondence for a short time and waving him off of the current work. We were to get proofs from the printer today and at least one of these did not pass even my preliminary scrutiny. We are going to delay the proofs and printing for a week. Arthur has always been the print expert for HMS (he ran Granell Graphics for some years). I have no doubt he can fix any problem with the proofs but we are not going to let him near the printing until he gets the ok.
For folks who want to get in touch with Arthur over the next week, please hold your questions or write to or call me directly. The 800 number is switched entirely to my home office and I will be talking with Arthur at least once a day. We will be giving updates as I get them.
We have met with the printer several times this week. They are through
with the very large order and are ready to give us a new printing slot.
Most of their staff was given time off since they had been working
overtime to get the large holiday order completed. We too, ran into a
problems here.
Arthur has had some severe problems with his legs and circulation that
has effected his ability to work. The lab has run a number of tests and
while there is no indication of diabetes or heart problems, the doctor
has ordered him to scale back his work for a week to allow the medicine
to work.
Our printing slot for Total War is now scheduled for January 24th, to
finish on the 30th or before. We will begin shipping the day after the
OBs, rules and charts are delivered. The packaged games will go out in
the sequence the orders were made. We will try to give e-mail notice
with each order as it ships.
This has been a longer process than we anticipated but it is finally on
the last leg of the printing. We want to thank everyone for their
patience and encouragement. We are planning on TEM (The Europa
Magazine) Number 88 being mailed approximately 45 days after Total War
has finished shipping.
Well, it’s the end of the first week of December, and Total War hasn’t shipped yet despite all our efforts. We’ve another delay with getting the last components of the game (the rules and OBs) printed here in Denver.
Some background is necessary to understand what has happened. The lawsuit by Cory Manka against HMS and Gar and I personally–left the company with a very large debt and could have sunk us had Gar not arranged loans to keep us afloat. It has taken years to recover from this and accumulate the funds necessary to complete Total War. We had an opportunity to finally get Total War out this summer but to re-raise the last of the money needed to do this would have required us to tap into Gar’s retirement account.
Gar was willing to do this but I didn’t want him to take on another risk of this magnitude and convinced him to await the sale of the unfolded Total War maps. And the map sales brought in enough money to cover the remaining printing costs and all but cover the game shipping costs. However, it was close enough that we made arrangements for the last of the local printing to go to the printer in late October. Various problems with file formatting delayed the printing into mid-November.
Then an unexpected opportunity appeared from our printer. A very large firm approached our local print group with a massive order that required an immediate printing start to catch the holidays. The printer explained the lucrative opportunity they had been presented with and asked if we would accept a significant discount on our printing if we would allow our job to be moved after the large rush order. This discount would more than close our shipping costs ‘gap’ for Total War. And, given that even with the delay, it appeared we could still have the game shipped in time for Christmas, we accepted the offer. This turned out to be too optimistic, since printing problems and an expansion of the large print job has delayed our printing slot.
It now appears that our printing will be scheduled for the week of 19 December. This should certainly allow us to ship before the end of the year and may allow us to get some of the early preorders off before Christmas. We know how disappointing this situation is. We really wanted to have the game shipped in time for Christmas.
‘Total War’ has been a long and expensive process with many delays and setbacks but it is coming to a close. We appreciate the patience and support we have received from all or the gamers who kept us going. We will be sending out TEM (The Europa Magazine) #88 about 40 days after the last preorder is in the mail. This will be followed by #89 about 30 days after that. The magazines will be talking about our plans for the new year and some long range plans as well.
