Packing to begin this weekend. PDFs going out today!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 02:32:45 AM

Thank you all for your continuing patience! We managed to get the printed books delivered to Warlord Games right in the middle of their warehouse move, and unfortunately there have been some minor delays. However, the Warlord team are planning to start packing the books (and MiniMels and Cards and Posters) into boxes this weekend, with a view to starting to ship things out next week. This is great news!

The PDFs!

Today I'll be hitting the buttons on the distribution of the digital items. If you have backed for a PDF (Terrain Essentials PDF and/or the Basing Guide PDF) you'll receive an email in the next 24 hours from BackerKit with links to a Dropbox to download one or the other (or both if you pledged for both). 

This will hopefully be a lovely weekend surprise for those receiving it. We're excited to see your reactions to the book in this format. Not only is the PDF "searchable"- you can search for terms like 'PVA' or 'scatter' or 'warping' to quickly find whatever thing you are looking for. We have also included bookmarks, to make it easier to skip around between the sections when viewing it on your PC or tablet. The Basing Guide has similar features, too. 

These PDFs will be available in January from a couple of different sites, and we'll post an update once they are live. 

The Terrain Essentials Book Club

Mel has created a new Facebook Group called Terrain Essentials Book Club, a place for reviews and conversation about the book. Everyone is welcome to join and, to be honest, Mel is nervously awaiting feedback from you Terrainiacs on this, his first attempt at teaching terrain-making by translating his knowledge and into words and photos. 

Here's the link to the group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/724917015043827

The Terrain Tutor's Wargames Show Review

One of the last stretch goals for the campaign last year was a free PDF for everyone with inspirational tables from various shows that Mel has attended in recent years. We've got that ready to go too, and because it's free to EVERYONE, we're posting the link to download it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0x62gzxjd4bah5a/TESS_ShowReview.pdf?dl=0

Take a look through some fantastic tables from Salute, Hammerhead, and AdeptiCon. You won't be disappointed. 

Thank you, everyone, for all of your support during this campaign. Take care and stay safe. 

Cheers

Dave

So close, we can taste it!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Nov 11, 2020 at 03:17:03 AM

It has been an amazing last two weeks. So much coming together all at once. 

In the photo above you can see the first shots of Terrain Essentials that were sent to me by our printers – Standartu Spaustuve - to let me know how things turned out. Since then, 7,000 of these books have been traveling from Lithuania to Nottingham, and another 3,000 have just been picked up to be shipped to the US.

In addition to the all-important book, we have a few other printed pieces going out as well. A thousand A2 posters of Mel's Rules, 1500 laminated colour reference cards, all the bookplates, and each book gets a thank you letter from me and Mel. 

These items have just been delivered to Warlord Games' new warehouse location this morning by Mel, who couldn't help himself and jumped up on a pallet of books for a photo op (below). I think you can see by the grin on his face that he is as stoked as I am to be at this stage of the process! His message to me that accompanied this photo was:

"The book looks beautiful, mate. You've done an amazing job! Thank you!"

All told, almost 5,300 books will be shipped to backers in 47 countries on SIX continents! Books will be going to all 50 US states (and a couple of territories), all the Australian states and territories, and 8 of Canada's 10 provinces! That's an incredible amount of work for the Warlord team and we hope to get that underway very soon. With them setting up in a new warehousing location, building out and organizing, as well as the busiest time of year for a distributor, we have to fit in around their plans, but they're a great team of people who are working with us to achieve something pretty amazing.

Our next update will be once the shipping begins. 

Covid Lockdowns

Some parts of the world are still under lockdown, and others have just recently returned to lockdowns of varying degrees. This has raised questions with a few backers on how this will impact the shipping of Terrain Essentials. While we can't be certain in all cases, this is what we've been able to ascertain:

• The Warlord Games team are able to work at a slightly restricted capacity, following UK government guidelines and so on. The current UK lockdown shouldn't dramatically impact them.

• The packages are being shipped out via Royal Mail, which will pass on the packages to mail services in other countries. In all cases that I've bee able to ascertain, national postal services are classed as "essential services" so they'll keep working throughout these lockdowns. There may be delays due to restricted capacities or specific national laws but, in general, the mail should get through. 

Please note:

• Addresses have already been sent to the Warlord team last week so they could start organizing them into similar package types. If you have moved recently and hadn't updated you address by October 30, then I would ask that you see if you can put a "mail forwarding" notification (or something similar) in place with your local post office, or arrange something with the new tenants. 

• If we are able to start shipping this week (currently looking unlikely) we will send out the links to those backers who pledged for either/both of the Terrain Essentials Book PDF and the Terrain Essentials Basing Guide PDF this week. If shipping is unavoidably delayed, we will send out the PDF links next week, regardless. These links will come from BackerKit, so make sure your spam filters aren't set to hide emails from them :)

Thank you!

I know Mel and I have said "Thank you!" before, multiple times, and we want you to know that we mean it, each and every time. Your support for this project has been colossal. Mel and I have both learned plenty of things over the last 20 months, and chief among them is that a kind word of support can keep your head up when times are tough, confusing, and even insanely busy. Thank you, again, for your help. We will soon have it all too you!

Cheers

Dave

The printing has begun!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 26, 2020 at 06:37:16 PM

Since our last update I have received the proofs of the 16-page sections (known as signatures) for the book. I gone over them several times and have been able to give the printer the thumbs up. The interior of the book is being printed now, and we are currently still on schedule, which is a great relief. 

The PDF version and the MiniMel

After our last update, I received quite a few messages and comments about MiniMel from those folks who pledged for "digital only". The primary reason we originally restricted the free MiniMel to the physical backers is that we don't have the funds to cover the additional shipping to everyone. Adding the mini to the physical packages won't increase their cost at all, so that's fine. 

HOWEVER, this meant that our "digital only" backers might have felt like we were treating them like second class citizens, which was certainly not our intent, and I apologize if anyone felt that way. I've spoken with Mel, John K (Monster Fight Club), and Warlord Games to work out the solution that will hopefully be the best. We want to make sure that this MiniMel is specific to the Kickstarter, so we really don't want to send out any STL files for backers to print their own, and we know that not everyone has a 3D-printer (or access to one). Instead, we are going to offer a FREE MiniMel to all "digital only" backers, but we will need you to cover the shipping costs. I hope everyone can understand why. 

So, if you are a "digital only" backer and would like a free MiniMel (you just pay shipping), I need you to email me (Dave) at [email protected] so that I can collect your mailing address and let you know the Paypal details. I think at the moment we're looking at roughly $5 for shipping. Please use the subject line "MiniMel for Digital Only" so that it's easier for me to keep track of everything. 

Additionally, I've had a few people ask about when the PDF version of the book will be released. Our plan all along is to send out all digital material at the same time as the books start shipping. Mel's currently working on the Basing PDF, and we should have that finished and ready to go out at the same time. 

Roll Call!

As part of the Survey, we collected the names of everyone who were happy to have them in the PDF version of the book. The reason they aren't going into the physical book is that they'd take up more than 30 pages! Some folks didn't want there name included, and that's just fine. 

Exporting these names from Backerkit, however, can be a little tough, as it sometimes cuts off names (no rhyme or reason) and struggles with various characters, such as é, ö, å and so on. I've gone through the list a couple of times and I think I've managed to fix 'most' of the problems, but there are still a couple, I'm sure.  So, I'd like to ask everyone who did want there name included to download the PDF from this link:

Backer_Roll_Call

Take a look through the document and see if you can find your name (as you supplied it):

If it's there and doesn't need changing, that's great. There's no need to do anything. 

If it's there and DOES need changing, send me a message here on Kickstarter.

If it's NOT there and you do want it included, send me a message here on Kickstarter. 

Shipping Addresses

Don't forget, I'll be locking down the shipping addresses this weekend, so if you have moved since July 2019 and you HAVEN'T contacted me to change your address (or changed it yourself on your BackerKit page), please do so before Friday via the messages here on Kickstarter.

In conclusion...

As always, thank you for all of your support, patience, and kind words! Take care and stay safe.

Cheers

Dave

Everything is underway!
over 3 years ago – Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 09:54:25 AM

Almost two weeks since the last update and we wanted to let you know where everything was up to at the moment. Here's the somewhat lengthy list:

• The book itself. All files have been edited and tweaked and sent off to the printers. These files have been processed at their end and screen proofs have been approved at our end. Printing of the interior will be underway next week.

• The "Mel's Rules for Terrain Building" poster add-on is designed and, much like the book, we couldn't fit all the info onto the originally planned A3 size poster. There's just too much Mel. We've increased the size to A2 (420x594mm or 16.5"x24", roughly). 

• The "Show Review" PDF that is going out to ALL backers is at the promised 48 pages, and is now 95% complete.

• The Basing PDF and the Colour Reference Sheet are both underway and should be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks. 

I can't tell you how good it feels for Mel and myself to be at this stage of the project. We thank you all sooooooo much for your patience and support over the last year. It has certainly brightened the journey along the way. 

As we all know, however, actions speak louder than words, so now that I can confirm it, we wanted to show you another way that we're thanking you. 

MINI MEL

Over the summer, I spent a bit of time talking with our friends at Monster Fight Club, about their terrain sets and their cool cyberpunk range of minis. When John Kovaleski talked me through the process of how they create their minis, I knew I wanted to try something out. Without letting Mel know,  commissioned the MFC team to create a Mini Mel that could be used by Terrainiacs the world over as a scaling miniature when they're building their terrain. The Monster Fight Club team have a Kickstarter running themselves at the moment for an expansion to their terrain line. You might want to check it out HERE.

After sending through some photos and a chat about posing and so on, John's sculptor came back with the perfect rendition of Mel, holding his notebooks, wearing his ubiquitous hoodie, and appraising terrain building work. As you can see in the pics above and below (please excuse the ropey phone camera), the miniature comes with two head options: Mel with and without his signature monster hat. You get to choose which head you use!

So, we'll be sending one of these miniatures to each person who pledged (during the Kickstarter and late pledges/pre-orders) for a physical copy of the book. We've had 5,200+ cast up for this reason, so that will be one for every physical book going to a supporter. Each bagged miniature will include a card from Monster Fight Club that contains a discount code for their online store, should you wish to take advantage of that.

In addition, we're providing 100 Mini Mels each to both Warlord Games and Ironheart Artisans who will be giving them free to the first 100 customers to order a physical book from them. If all goes well with that, we'll see if Warlord and Ironheart are interested in carrying the Mini Mel as a permanent part of their ranges for anyone else to purchase. 

We hope you enjoy this small token of our gratitude. 

TIMELINE

So, our timeline remains pretty much unchanged from our last update, but we wanted to confirm that once the Kickstarter has been fulfilled in November, the book WILL be moving into distribution in January 2021. 

• Warlord Games will be handling distribution that will cover most of the world, particularly in the UK, Europe, Australia and NZ. Your friends will be able to buy it from Warlord directly on their website, or via their local gaming stores that order from Warlord. In Aus/NZ we're also hoping it'll be available through Mighty Ape. 

• In the US, distribution will be initially handled by Bridge Distribution who will be selling to retailers AND to other distributors such as Alliance Game Distributors. Your local store should be able to get a hold of a copy, for sure. If your local store can't get a copy or would prefer to shop online, Ironheart Artisans will be selling both the physical and PDF versions of the book. 

Locking Addresses

On October 23 I'll be locking addresses so that we can start to collate the shipping information and get it off to Warlord. Over the past month, quite a few of you have updated your addresses, but if you've moved since you filled out your survey in May 2019, you might want to check/update your address. Just send me a message via the Kickstarter message system and we'll get you sorted out. (Note: depending on the volume of messages, it might take me a day or so to get back to you, but I will get back to you).

Thanks, everyone, and crack on!

It's off to the printers!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 26, 2020 at 01:26:28 AM

It has been a long time coming, and we thank you all for your patience and kind words of support through this rough year. We've all been feeling the uncertainty of the times, but you have stuck with us and it is greatly appreciated. 

As you can see from the chart above, we have completed all of the sections of the book. We actually reached this stage last weekend, and have spent this week going over the photos and text for final edits and tweaks. Today, however, we sent the first files off to the printers. This is a major milestone and we are so happy to have reached it!

This past week I have spent a lot of time going through the printout, and Mel and out editor have been going through the PDFs, making sure it's as good as we can make it. There will be errors, we know that, but as long as we can get as close to perfect as possible with almost 90,000 words and over 550 images, we'll be happy. 

But Dave, how can you fit that many words and images in 176 pages? Well, you can't. As this book is filled with all of Mel's foundational knowledge on terrain, we have had to expand it by 16 pages. That's right, a 192-page big green book is on its way to you soon.

The future timelines

The next week or so will be a little bit of back and forth with our printers, making sure we have all the technical stuff dialed in (images all in CMYK, bleed of 3mm, etc) and then they'll start printing. There are two distinct, possible timelines that are as follows:

• The best timeline - we have very few problems at any of the potential chokepoints along the way, the books will be received by Warlord in the first week of November, and they can start shipping them out around the world, meaning that almost everyone should have their books before Christmas.

• The worst timeline - we suffer a delay in printing, or in trucking from Lithuania to England and fulfillment from Warlord doesn't begin until the first week of December. This could mean that some copies might not reach you until January. 

We're working hard to achieve the first timeline, but I wanted you to be aware of the worst case scenario too. 

For our supporters who have backed the PDF version of the book, we'll be distributing it digitally through BackerKit when the first books leave the Warlord warehouse.

Locking Orders and Charging Cards

I have closed the pre-order store and have locked down orders. For anyone who has not had their credit/debit card charged (about 110 orders), I'll be doing that next week on October 1. Your BackerKit pages will remain open for editing your mailing address for the next four weeks, and I'll put out another update before I lock addresses. 

Cheers

Dave

This is it folks, we're almost there!