Sending 2021 Out with a BANG! BANG! BANG!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Jan 01, 2022 at 02:11:55 AM

Well, posse-folk, the time has come again. High Noon’s

2021 Year-In-Review

2021 has been a crazy ride for all of us. Some good, some bad, some heartbreak, some beautiful moments of joy. Here are just a few key points worth noting about where we started, how far we’ve come and where we stand today...

The obvious first start was our amazing Kickstarter campaign, which wouldn’t have been remotely noteworthy without you all. For a first-time Kickstarter, to reach the level we did, was simply astounding and we owe it all to you, our backers. You guys stepped up, supported with your wallets, your voice and your encouragement. Many of you invested further in your time to play the game with me, to test its strengths and weaknesses and help to polish it into the little gem it is today. We closed out the late pledges with nearly $160,000 and a dozen unlocked unique High Noon products going into production.

Of course, our first challenge came with everyone else, in the infamous container shortage, followed by the shipping congestion. Again, your unwavering support saw us through the storm and – even though it took longer than we had hoped or planned, and cost us an arm and a leg – we managed to get our container across the ocean and onto U.S. soil in near-record time.

After a few more run-ins with Murphy and his dag gum Law (I think I just brain-spat a new posse, hot dog!) we had our games shipped out to our backers here in the Americas and the Asia Pacific, with a container of games en route to our European Backers. That container ship is currently docked in France as of this writing (you can track the ship here) and should be in Hamburg, where the fulfilment center is, very soon.

Somewhere along the way, High Noon was graced with possibly the most epic Video Critique and Breakdown series by the legendary Board Game Hackers. If you haven’t watched their videos on High Noon (or anything else, for that matter), I strongly encourage you to check out their channel. But here’s their latest piece on High Noon:

One way that 2021 was a bit unkind was with the sudden and devastating Super Typhoon Rai that swept across the hometown of our resident artist, destroying his home and leaving him stranded on the streets, awaiting evacuation for weeks. 

I set up a GoFundMe and given what I can to raise a recovery fund to get him back on his feet once he is settled in with his family. While I don't expect us to reach the goal or anywhere close to it, if you are feeling charitable, you can donate here. Or even just spread the word as every little bit helps. Mikel is the man who has brought all of the iconic High Noon characters to life. I’m hoping we can help bring him back just the same.

Finally, going into the new year, I have launched the official High Noon website! This will be a place where anyone can go to find more information not just about the game but also about the universe, the characters, the lore, and even gather around the campfire with other players in the message boards. This will also be the staging area for the Ride or Die posse members as we start to roll out all of the additional expansions and products for High Noon. I plan to develop the website even further from its current form. I want it to be a robust platform, supporting all kinds of interactions, a sort of social media space we can all call our own. I invite you all to come on over and introduce yourselves and get the conversations going.

Moving forward, I will be posting my updates on that website, so you’ll want to bookmark it. And don’t worry. You can easily subscribe on the site so you’ll never miss an update.

Of course, as always, you can reach me here if you wish.

2021 is getting a bad wrap by a lot of folks. But the way I see it, it’s left a lot for me to be grateful for. I’m grateful for what we’ve learned, what we’ve achieved, the relationships we’ve made along the way. I’m grateful for all of you.

Thank you all for an amazing 2021. Here’s to a new and exciting adventure awaiting us just around the bend of 2022. I look forward to seeing you all there.

A little Christmas Gift and a Production Update!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 26, 2021 at 02:00:37 AM

Howdy pardners!

It’s that time of year, again, where families around the world gather together and celebrate the gift of giving. Today, I wanted to gift you all a small update on the expansions, as well as a little something for our Canadian backers.

We just received the initial pictures from our factory of the wax sculpts for the upcoming molds for the miniatures and hoo-dee they sure do look pretty!

I did have to send over some corrections, and they are working on those. It also looks like the chips and gold might be just a smidge too big, so that’ll have to get fixed. But progress is moving steadily.

I’ve also made a small update to the miniature for Father Franklin’s deployed version. This way, it will be much easier to position him on the map.

Soon, we’ll be moving into the packaging, and that’s when things really get exciting. But for now, I hope you enjoyed this little peak into the journey of High Noon production.

On to the Canada Update!

So, over the past several weeks, we’ve been getting notifications in our messages here and on our Official Facebook Group that several backers in Canada were served with some rather surprising charges by FedEx. I requested everyone who was receiving these invoices to send them to me so I could investigate.

Here’s what happened:

Our fulfillment center in the US chose FedEx for the international shipping. During the set-up phase of our account with them, when they asked who would be responsible for import duties and fees, I said it would be you, the backers. I was under the impression this was in reference to the Customs fees. I had no idea that private delivery firms like FedEx and UPS charge additional fees just because they can. I’ve always used the postal service, which has never charged anything like that. Of course, moving forward, we will not be using FedEx, UPS or DHL for our international backers unless absolutely necessary.

Aaaaaand Here’s what I’m going to do:

As far as the damage done, I’m going to make that right to each and every one of you. While I can’t cover the customs fees, I will be issuing you each “refunds” for the surprise fees associated with your deliveries. This will be coming directly out of my pocket, so we’ll need to go through PayPal or something like that. If you haven’t done so already, please reach out to me in the messages with your contact information and I’ll connect with you on your invoices and get working on your refunds.

All I ask is that you be a little bit patient with me, since this will be coming out of my personal funds. It shouldn’t take too long to get everyone covered, but it’ll be as I can afford it. That’s my Christmas gift to you 😊

I plan to push out one last update as we close out the year, so stay tuned!

Merry Christmas everyone!

European Tracking Update
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 03, 2021 at 10:21:31 AM

Howdy Pardners,

We've finally got an update on the European tracking information. The good news is that you can now track the container as it heads to Germany, where it will hit the fulfillment center to be shipped out to everyone from there. To do so, simply visit this website: https://web.troylines.com/portal-ui/#/export/lcl/tracking

From there, copy this tracking number: 509836MAHAM

And paste it into the section at the top that says "ENTER BOOKING #, CONT #, HBL OR HBL REF:"

Click the green "Submit" button and you will see the status of the shipment.

Now for the bad news: the Estimated Delivery date has changed from 12/9 to 12/27. This obviously puts the date for delivery to the fulfillment center just after Christmas. Judging from our previous experience with the US fulfilment center, with the time it will require to process the delivery and get everything sent out, in addition to the actual delivery time from fulfilment to your door, it doesn't look like games will arrive until mid January 2022 at the earliest.

That said, there is still time to have your games delivered directly to you from here. A few backers took advantage of that offer and received their games in about a week's time. With the holidays just around the corner, that might not be possible now, but it's a shot. If you want to take it, simply shoot us a message and we'll work out the details.

Otherwise, the silver lining of course is that your games are officially trackable and on their way!

Special Delivery! (A High Noon Shipping and Production Update!)
over 2 years ago – Fri, Nov 05, 2021 at 10:44:30 PM

Wow! What a wild ride it has been so far!

With copies of High Noon finally arriving at backers’ doorsteps and questions rolling in, it felt appropriate to push out an update in the form of a Questions and Answers post, so here it goes!

I received my copy of the starter game but nothing else. Is everything else coming in a separate shipment?

Yep! As you may recall, the starter set was already produced around the time of the Kickstarter, which is why we were planning to ship it out a lot sooner before the whole shipping crisis thing. We’re currently in production on the expansions right now. As soon as they’re done, we’ll have them shipped out!

I’m in Europe and everybody’s getting their games but me. What gives?

We’re still waiting on a boat out of Jacksonville. Unfortunately, that’s not something we can rush. However, after much deliberation on the subject, we’ve all agreed to break down and give you the option if you want it to have the game shipped to you directly from here. It’s not going to be cheap, but it won’t be at a markup. If you want to take advantage of this option, please send your inquiry to [email protected]. Please include your full name and shipping information in your email so we can provide you a quote as quickly as possible.

So what’s the status on the expansions, then?

After the close of the Kickstarter campaign, we submitted our final order numbers to the factory and they came back with a revised quote. The quote was not competitive and several pieces were significantly more than they originally quoted us, despite being only a few units different from the original quote.

I tested a theory on sourcing different factories for each component to see if that would make a difference and sure enough it did. I have a good relationship with a factory that specializes strictly in paper products. They came back with a quote for the playing cards and tuck boxes that was dramatically cheaper. The price was so much better that I requested samples just to make sure it was legit. Unfortunately, the samples were delayed at every stop along the way here so it took a long time to get them, but now that they’re here, holy heck! They’re downright gorgeous!

In the future, I’ll probably be sourcing almost everything separately and having the factory assemble it all. But for now, the cost savings on the cards is enough to move forward without any further delays. This likely means we won’t hit our January deadline but we shouldn’t much longer after that. As things progress, I’ll be making updates here, so just keep tuning in. And feel free to join the Facebook group and Discord server to get access to information as it flows in and join the conversations happening with others in the High Noon gaming community!

Some of the rules aren’t clear in the rulebook. Is there a FAQ somewhere with more clarification?

You can download a link to an updated rulebook here. I’m also working with a group of players and fans of High Noon on an errata that clears up a lot of the cloudy stuff in the book. In future editions of the game, expect a more well-rounded rulebook. But also keep in mind, the High Noon Constitution in the back of the book should really clear up just about anything 😉

There's also a pretty decent thread on rules clarifications over at Board Game Geek. Thank you to the High Noon fans for putting that together!

I’m loving the game! But I wish I’d ordered more expansions. Is there anywhere I can buy them?

You can get your pre-orders in at www.HighNoonGame.com! We’re still producing them, so it’s definitely not too late to get in on the action. Thank you for your support!

I was told something about a website?

A High Noon website complete with posse breakdowns, community support and more is in the works. Right now, the best way to engage with High Noon is to join the various social media channels: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Discord.

Got more questions? Shoot them on over and I'll address them in the next update!

Bulking up! (A shipping update)
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 03:10:24 AM

It always gets me when I see a bunch of comments start popping up on the Kickstarter comments section asking for updates like I’m rationing them from a bucket I keep hidden in a small compartment in the floor that definitely isn’t a thing in my bedroom closet so don’t even bother looking for yourself.

I kid, I kid. I’m actually – as always – incredibly humbled that everyone has continued to stick around to see this project through with me and the team. We are all eternally grateful for all you guys have done to make this game a reality.

But as I’ve said before, I don’t like giving updates when there’s still a chance the update will be undone by some unknown factor. I’ve been down the road of making promises that end up being impossible to fulfill and I’m not going back there. So my updates are reserved for checkpoints in the process as they are confirmed.

For instance, today I got confirmation that the shipping deposit for our fulfillment center cleared and they’re ready to begin shipping! I’ve already submitted the shipping template to them with all of your information, so shipments should be rolling out very soon here. I’ve also given them a tracking number template to fill out and as soon as I get that from them, I’ll upload it to Backerkit, which should then send all of you your tracking data. Now, depending on when they get that back to me, you may already have received the game, so just be aware. Also, I’m referring to our North/South American backers.

For those of you in the Asia pacific, I’m shooting over the shipping template for your fulfillment center tomorrow. Your shipments should begin soon after that. Sit tight.

As for Europe, I’m waiting on units to arrive at my office here on the East Coast and then I’ll be shipping a pallet out to you directly from here. That may take a few weeks to get sorted, quoted and shipped, so I’ll be reserving an update for you. This has come after exploring all options, including another production run of the game just to deliver directly to you. At the end of the day, this is what we could afford. If you missed the update about this whole fiasco, the shipping company mistakenly stuffed your games in the container bound for the USA. This despite us clearly laying out in all of our correspondence that units were expressly designated for our fulfillment center in Europe. I’d go hard on them, but this whole pandemic logistics crisis has added so much pressure on everyone that I can only encourage everyone to be understanding of human fallibility. S#!t happens. Bottom line is, your games are coming.

Speaking of production run, a lot of you have been asking about the expansions. Again, I'm reserving updates until checkpoints are reached. I’m waiting to receive the samples for the cards, which are on their way – according to the factory – before I can greenlight the full production run. I’ll post pictures of them when they get here. We’re also putting down a deposit on the materials for the plastic miniatures to lock in the current rate on goods as material costs have been shooting through the roof.

We’re chugging along, guys. It’s been a slog with everything going on in the world, but we’re making progress. And as we continue to hit checkpoints, I’ll continue to give you updates. So just sit tight and stay tuned. The games are comin’!