Age of Dogfights: WWII

Update #56
17 days ago – Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 01:57:27 PM

As we announced in several previous updates, Forsage Games in this period is simultaneously fulfilling its obligations towards backers from several projects. In the meantime, the timeline for delivering packages from our last project (Carom Golf on the Kickstarter profile Forsage Light Games) has arrived. Since it is a game that is very easy to produce, and a small number of copies were ordered, we organized the production in a very short time. In a few days, shipping will start.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2078586680/carom-golf/posts/4318274

Progress has also been made on project Tank Chess (reprint).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732812836/tank-chess-reprint/posts/4318470

As for sending packages - the Age of Dogfights project has priority. In every batch that we prepare to send, most of the packages are for backers from this project.

From the backers who have already received their game, so far we have received positive comments, but there are still no detailed reviews of the games played. We look forward to your feedback and hope to have more of it soon.

Update #55
about 2 months ago – Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 01:50:11 PM

We have been delaying the release of this update for some time because we were expecting confirmation of some good news which finally arrived today :-) . In the previous period, we completed several orders for the production of board games for other publishers at an accelerated pace, and there were also some urgent new orders. We managed to finish everything ahead of time, and today the last payment we expected arrived. The good news is that in the coming period (January - February), everyone in the company will be fully committed to the accelerated sending of packages from this and other projects. We ask the backers to reply to the emails in which we ask for confirmation of the address for sending the package.

We would like to take this opportunity to ask the backers not to send us emails or comments with questions about the status of their particular order. Answering such questions takes a lot of time. Each of you will receive an email from us asking you to confirm your address before sending the package. After your reply, the package is sent within 1 to 4 days. As soon as the package is sent, you will receive a notification with a tracking number from UPS.

Update #54
3 months ago – Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 10:45:21 AM

Sending packages from the first wave is still in progress. Unfortunately, that process is still slow and we, the authors, will definitely get more involved soon to speed it up. In the previous period, we intensively worked on some backlogs from other projects on Kickstarter. Significant progress has been made in this, which can be seen here:

Update on Panzer Strike project

Update on Tank Chess (reprint) project

Due to the fact that shipping for several projects is late, here and there people are discussing whether we will be able to fulfill all obligations to the backers; do we have money to send all the packages and is our company liquid at all. A detailed answer to that question would be too extensive, so we will say only the most important things in this update. But first we want to say that all backers from all projects will receive their games.

We always point out that our company does not operate according to some classic business model. We founded the company, first of all, to be able to realize our ideas unhindered. Profit is not our main motive, but the desire to create board games that will take their place in the world. Numerous exceptionally favorable reviews for several of our games assure us that we are on the right track.

We wrote that we timely invested money in the expansion and improvement of our production capacities in a previously published update (below the display of the control panels).

What we didn't emphasize is that we constantly get jobs to produce board games from other authors and publishers. We don't advertise in any way, but authors and some smaller publishers contact us themselves by recommendations, thanks to the fact that we are able to produce high-quality prototypes, small batches, as well as larger series of board games at favorable prices. This is because we managed to invent a procedure for the production of boxes, boards and other elements, which is very flexible and can be applied both for a single copy and for serial production.

So far, we have worked on over 60 different games for customers from Serbia, the region (Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia) and Europe (Sweden and France), in quantities of ~5 copies and up to 1500 copies. Many games are made in multiple series because they sell well in the market. About a dozen games had their own successful Kickstarter campaigns. We made all the components for most of the orders, for some we only produced individual components (mostly boxes, boards, tokens, ...), and for some we only did the final packaging.

The production of games for other clients does not in any way affect the production of our own games. The delay in the realization of our projects occurred solely because we, the authors, worked for an unplanned long time on the rules for the game AoD:WWII (and previously for Panzer Strike). It was the income from production for other clients that contributed to our company maintaining liquidity. We are currently working on the components (board, cards and tokens) for the game "Phaistos" for a customer from France. Immediately after that, two games are to be made (for the client Principles Games from Novi Sad) - "Sumrak Srpskog Carstva" ("Dusk of the Serbian Empire") and "Gladne Veverice" ("Hungry Squirrels"). We expect several more orders at the beginning of the next year, for the games for which we recently made prototype series ("Greatest Games" and "You are not Welcome").

We've already written that our decision to drastically expand the scope of the rules and introduce many new components to the AoD:WWII game has complicated our financial situation quite a bit. That decision is certainly not good in the short term from a business point of view, but we as authors are extremely satisfied because we managed to implement all our ideas in the game. Timely investments in the company's production capacity have proven to be lifesaving, because production for other clients allows us to withstand additional costs that we have caused ourselves.

But, in order to maintain liquidity and to manage to send the remaining packages in the next few months, it is necessary that we soon have at least one new decent campaign on Kickstarter. Already during December, we will launch one on this profile, and possibly another one on our secondary Forsage Games Light profile. We will publish more information about these new projects in the next update.

Update #53
5 months ago – Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 09:57:53 AM

We had planned to publish an update at the beginning of October, but we are expecting reviews of the game that some backers that have received the package have told us they are preparing, so we were waiting a little more so we could comment on those reviews. However, one day at a time and a lot of time has already passed since then.

We have nothing special to say in this update. Shipping is in progress. The procedure for sending packages via UPS is slow and complicated (but that's why the sent packages reach the recipient quickly). We have a negative experience from previous projects where we sent parcels using a shorter procedure and there were many lost or returned parcels and we had to resend them all at additional cost. Before shipping, we send each backer an email to confirm the address, after which the paperwork is prepared. All that work (communication with backers and preparation of documentation for each package) in our company is done only by Stefan. He recently, as we already announced, got a new job - to be a professor at a University, but he is still in charge of packages in our company. Lectures started at the University on October 1st, so now he has less time to devote to our company.

Our other two colleagues (Tanja and Snežana) do not know English well enough to be able to replace him in that job. We, the authors, Predrag and Dragan, had to devote some time to another "old" Kickstarter project. This is a campaign for the game Tank Chess (reprint) that was in June last year. That campaign was necessary for us to maintain the company's financial liquidity. After that, our work on the rulebook for AoD2 got even longer, so we got into production and delivery delays in that project as well. In the last few weeks we have made significant progress and just started sending packages to bakers from that project.

It is certainly necessary for us now to find an adequate replacement for Stefan, which is not easy. Among other things, he is in charge of bookkeeping, website editing and finances in our company. The person who will replace him should be sufficiently professional and have our trust, because he/she will have access to our accounts. We, as managers of the company, currently don't have enough time to invest in finding and training a new employee, as we are too busy with design, prepress, etc.

We hope that the bakers will have a little more patience, and we will try to speed up things as much as possible in the coming period.

Update #52
6 months ago – Wed, Sep 04, 2024 at 01:42:43 PM

As we announced in the previous update, after the Rulebook and Scenario Book were printed, the process of assembling the complete games and shipping followed. We didn't want to first assemble all the games, and then to start shipping after that, instead that process goes in parallel.

Because we expected the printing of the rules to be finished earlier, our two colleagues who work in production were postponing their vacations, so that both of them will be there when the assembly, packing and shipping begins. However, it could not be postponed indefinitely, so one used her vacation time in August, and the other is using it now, in September. Because of this, the assembly and packaging of complete games is currently a bit slow.

Stefan, who was a member of our team for several years and, among other things, was in charge of communication and paperwork related to sending packages via UPS, recently got a job in his profession - he became a Spanish language professor at a university. He could not refuse such an offer, but until further notice (until we find an adequate replacement) he will help us and prepare the paperwork for all the packages we send. The procedure takes some time as, beside paperwork, we check each address by e-mail before shipping because it has been a long time since the campaign ended.

We hope that the bakers will have a little more understanding and patience and appreciate the fact that we are a small company that strives to provide product quality above all. Soon all the bakers will get their games and we are eagerly awaiting your reactions. For now, we receive mostly confirmations that the packages have arrived, except for one, there were no complaints about damage during transport. There are still no detailed reviews about the games played, but we are satisfied with the first impressions that have appeared on social networks. We highlight one of Marcelo Figueroa's Facebook posts:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/324995592454494

We are also very pleased with your reactions and orders for the new expansions we introduced in the previous update: Ground Units, Operation Overlord and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Those new expansions made this game (project) complete, and enabled creating scenarios covering all aspects of the use of aviation during WWII.