I've ordered the wooden pieces for It's Alive! from a supplier in Germany who provided the pieces for Border Reivers. When I ordered them two weeks ago I was told they would arrive in the third week of May - i.e. next week.
Last night, after close of business in Germany I received an email which told me that the pieces I wanted are not available - please can I order something else. I have two weeks until I hope to release at the UK Games Expo. Aaaaarrggh!
As I can see it I have four options:
- Wait for the pieces to become available (if they will), and probably miss the Expo,
- Get them to send me what they have in stock (if any) and then wait for the rest,
- Try to arrange shipment from another supplier (and probably miss the Expo),
- Try to sort out plastic pieces instead.
I'm not liking any of these options much, but I think the hour before I start work on Monday is going to be a busy one. God knows whether I'll have a product in time for the Expo.
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9 comments:
Any chance the supplier was Spielmaterial.de, also available from Game-Components.com?
I had a similar bad experience with them. Despite promise after promise, I ended up getting my goods three and a half months after I ordered them.
Yeah, it was them. The only other supplier I'm aware of is Lorenz, they didn't used to deal with small orders, then they closed and now they've opened again as a smaller company. Doesn't fill me with confidence. They've also not answered a query I made three or four weeks ago on their website.
Cheers,
Jack
What components do you need? Are similarly-shaped pieces available from elsewhere in unstained wood?
If so, you might be able to stain them to the colors you need. It means burning some midnight oil that you may not have but, if you use a dipping process, it might not take that long, even for large volumes.
Game pieces apparently use a water soluble aniline wood stain which should be available from craft & woodworking stores in your area.
Hope that helps!
Rob
Jack, you presumably need a pile of money tokens. You could consider using plastic - www.plasticsforgames.co.uk have some nice looking "thick counters". I've no idea how the price compare to wooden bits, though.
Thanks for the information Rob.
Steve, I used Plastics for Games for the dice and cards stands in Border Reivers and when the Spielmaterial order went screwy I priced it up on P4G. It would be slightly cheaper, but I'd rather have wood if I could for aesthetic and environmental reasons.
Cheers,
Jack
How about doing say 50 sets with plastic pieces to be going on with, whilst you source nice wooden bits? (you could have a special 'limited edition'!) Have you considered alternative sources eg wood turners, timber merchants, wood elves... good luck
I'm available if dipping/painting/staining is needed.
Actually, long shot but there is a fab very small social enterprise (kind of near Pontefract - 45 mins drive away)who are looking for wood working type projects (they recycle wood) called Aalto. Lisa has the details as she has visited them, may be worth a quick phone call?
Thanks for letting me know about Aalto, Paul. They've been added to my callsheet for tomorrow :-) And thanks for the staining offer - hopefully it won't come to that.
Cheers,
Jack
Ouch! That must hurt!
I'm in a similar situation with my house that I need to put on the market before the end of May. I need to restore my garden fence but unfortunately all the fencing companies I've come across are either extremely expensive or extremely unreliable.
Anyway, I hope we can both sort our problems real soon!
Good luck Jack!
Good luck, Hugo! I've been in contact with the supplier this morning, and he thinks he'll be able to sort something out in time for the Expo. He's going to get back to me tomorrow.
Cheers,
Jack
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