The counters are finally together in one place. The die cutting is exactly what the samples indicated and I think you will be as pleased as we are.
We have worked with the local printer to do the additional precision cuts. I expect a new bid this next week. The local company has been very impressive with quality and price. We will keep sending views of the maps and counters.

We’ve included another counter sheet for you to check out. Don’t be concerned about the color. When we convert the images to PDFs, the special ink colors on the counters are not always captured well on these clips. The counters have come out beautifully and the custom colors are exactly what we had wanted. As usual, the die-cutting is very exact.

We had agreed with the original printer to have a number of additional cuts made to the completed sheets before them were sent. Some needed to be cut in two halves for packing and several were to have a special cut made. The printer has offered to make the cuts if we will sent the counters back. We are not going to let the counters out of our hands so we are looking now at local shops that can make the cuts for us. The center cuts we can do by hand with good paper cutters. The special cuts we would prefer to have done by a shop with special cutter. We believe now that all remaining printing can be completed by August 29th. The local material is a one day delivery, the more distant material takes two to three days.

We wanted to share some of the samples we received of the die-cut counters. We’ll send all six of first ones we received over the next few days. The printing is moving along and we will let you know when we receive all of it.

In response to the many questions about the flat maps, we will be continuing the special offer, at least until all the games have been shipped. It appears likely that we will send these flat maps early in the mailing cycle since they are easy to pack and send in the USPS triangular ‘tubes’. The sample maps we have are awesome.

We have another map clip of the Finnish lakes for those gamers who’s weather is warming up. Beautiful lakes but fierce mosquitoes in the summer.

Of more interest is the arrival yesterday of a sample of the first production maps. We have been working with the printer to try and insure consistency of the map colors between the six Total War maps and as close as possible with previous Europa maps. For those in the printing business, matching colors can often be particularly difficult.

Our printer has done an excellent job with these samples. The color between maps is exactly on the mark to our eyes and a very good median to previous maps. We think you will be as pleased as we are.

All major components are expected to arrive together and should be ready for the trip here in about three weeks. We will get you updates as we know them.

The current map clip covers some of the critical ground between Minsk and Smolensk. Ground both sides wanted badly. Take a look.

We received the second copies of the map proof sheets printed on a new color machine. The colors look much closer to the examples of existing maps we sent to the printer for comparison. We have checked these maps carefully (just for color this time) and returned them via Next Day Delivery. Arthur has signed off on all of the components sent to this printer except the box bottom which the printer had misfiled. That should be turned around quickly and they are now working on giving us a slot. We will let you know as soon as they give us the word.