Age of Dogfights: WWII

Update #54
about 2 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
3 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
5 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.

Pledge manager reopening, new rewards and more
6 months ago – Mon, Aug 05, 2024 at 03:18:43 PM

End of production and shipping status

The Rulebook and Scenario Book has been printed, assembled and bound.

The shipping will continue this week. Backers will be asked by email to confirm their shipping details beforehand, because a long time has passed since the campaign ended, and it's a holiday season so we want to make sure there will be someone to receive the package.

BackerKit pledge manager reopening

As we have announced several times, at the request of many backers, we will unlock the orders in the pledge manager so more items can be added. All the add-ons (expansions, accessories, etc.) will be shipped in the second shipping wave, as announced during the Kickstarter campaign.

All items remain at the same prices as initially offered in 2021, despite the global inflation and the elements added to the basic game and to almost all expansions. So, this is a good opportunity to order various expansions and add-ons at the old prices.

To add items to your pledge, either log in to your BackerKit account (if you have one) and search for Age of Dogfights: WWII under "Your Surveys", or go to THIS LINK to get a new survey link sent to your email address (enter the email you used for backing and click "Get My Survey", then open the link you received in an email), as explained here.

Due to unknown technical issues, about a third of the orders cannot be unlocked. If you cannot find a button "Edit Your Order", or there is a notice saying "Your order has been locked", contact us at [email protected] so we can manually add items to your order (to see all the items in offer, check the pre-order store).

New expansions and add-ons

Ground Units expansion

Given that complete rules for air-to-ground and ground-to-air actions have been added to the basic game, complex Scenarios with land units are made possible. The translucent plastic markers included in the basic set can represent various land vehicles and units (tanks, AA guns, etc.), but they are not visually appealing and cannot actively participate in combat. That's why we decided to make another expansion, Ground Units, which contains markers made of thick cardboard with printed drawings and characteristics of land vehicles and other units. All markers are double-sided, with one side showing active units and the other destroyed ones.

The expansion will come in a thin cardboard box (17x12x2.5 cm), so that the price would be more affordable.

This expansion contains 150 tokens (tanks, transport vehicles, stationary guns and anti-aircraft guns), and 12 building markers that can represent various targets (e.g. headquarters) and can be used as cover from enemy fire.

The following types of ground units are included:

German vehicles — Pz IV, Panther, Tiger, Tiger II, Jg Pz IV, Jagdpanther, SdKfz 251, Opel Blitz, SdKfz 7/1, Flak Pz IV

German stationary guns — 7,5cm Pak, 2cm Flak, 3,7cm Flak, 8,8cm Flak

Allied vehicles — Sherman, Easy Eight, Jumbo, Churchill VII, Firefly, Jackson, M3 half-track, Bedford QL, M15 CGMC, M19 MGMC

Allied stationary guns — 17pdr QF, M45 Quadmount, Bofors 40mm, 90mm M2

The rules for ground units are very simple. A ground unit moves only one Step in each Round, as it is the simplest way to make it compatible with aircraft movement, which are always much faster than tanks. The rules for firing at other ground units are also simple, adapted to use the same Durability values as for air-to-ground attacks. The rules for anti-aircraft firing are already explained in the basic game Rulebook, with the only difference being that some AA guns are self-propelled.

These markers allow creating complex and dynamic Scenarios. It is no longer necessary to, for example, artificially determine a time limit by which aircraft must destroy land targets, instead it all depends on the specific situation on the ground.

The price of this expansion on BackerKit is $14, and it will be more expensive ($18) later on our website.
 

Thematic expansions

Unlike 'regular' expansions, which provide diversity in different aircraft types, 'thematic expansions' aim to provide a greater number of the same aircraft types, in suitable colors for a particular battle, operation or a period. The first two thematic expansions that we have prepared are: Operation Overlord and Guadalcanal Campaign. Both come in thin cardboard boxes measuring 17 x 12 x 2.5 cm to make the price more affordable.

These expansions can be added to order in the BackerKit pledge manager, but can also be obtained as a special reward (see below). As you know, Forsage Games is a small company, and it doesn’t have the resources to create nor finance a serious advertising campaign. Until now, we have always relied on a 'good word', as our games have usually received a lot of praise within the community. Various video reviews and articles in web or print magazines contributed to the final number of backers during the campaigns for AoD:WWI and AoD:WWII. Also, many backers have contributed to the popularization of this series of games through various comments and posts on social networks.

 

Requirements for earning thematic expansions as rewards

After the backers get the basic game in the first shipping wave, they will have the opportunity to play games according to a given mission or Scenario, or their own setup. After playing a few games, players will be able to get full impressions about the game quality (as the first impression may be incomplete after playing just once). The best medium for giving impressions and rating games is the site BoardGameGeek, which is generally accepted as the place where all tabletop games on the market are displayed and evaluated.

The criteria to get the Operation Overlord thematic expansion is all of the following:

- Rate the game and write an honest opinion about the game in a comment on BGG.

- Make a post on BGG forum, with your impressions about the game, and detailed description and photos of at least one game played (either by a given Scenario or your own setup).

- Share the short description and photos of gameplay, including a link to the post on BGG forum, on at least one social network of choice.

- Send us the links on [email protected]

The criteria to get both Operation Overlord and Guadalcanal Campaign thematic expansions is as follows:

- Fulfill the above conditions, but instead of just one, make at least three posts on BGG forum showing different Scenarios played (at least one of which must be a more complex Scenario, with more than 15 aircraft participating), and share each game in separate posts on social networks (and send us the links).

We hope that many backers will find this idea interesting, and fulfill these conditions, to mutual satisfaction.
 

Thematic Expansion: Operation Overlord

This expansion contains the most important aircraft types that were used during Operation Overlord (the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944): 12 Allied and 5 German aircraft types (for a total of 50 aircraft tokens with their corresponding Control Panels). The expansion also contains a brochure (with 4 Scenarios, and historical facts related to Operation Overlord and all aircraft types represented) and a poster with aircraft.

The aircraft types in this expansion are already represented in the basic game or in another expansion (but usually in different version or color scheme), with the exception of Armstrong Whitworth A.W.41 Albemarle. All Allied aircraft have distinctive black and white stripes on the wings and fuselage. The Scenarios use aircraft from this expansion together with those from the basic game, since they are from the same period.

It is interesting that the Allies chose the Hurricanes to be used for communication and the transmission of mail and written orders to forward positions (in case the radio links were disrupted), as the usual aircraft in this role were Lysanders or some other liaison aircraft. The reason was that the Hurricane as a fighter (although outdated at that time) could defend itself or escape in the event that German fighters attacked it, and it had a reliable landing gear to be able to land on unprepared terrain, in contrast to the Spitfire (which had weak landing gear) and the Tempest/Typhoon (too heavy for soft terrain). In one of the Scenarios, the Hurricanes will, due to a sudden turn of circumstances, get a very important role...

On BackerKit, this thematic expansion will be priced at $15 (and will be $18 later on our website).
 

Thematic expansion: Guadalcanal Campaign

The Guadalcanal Campaign includes a series of land and naval-air battles around the island of Guadalcanal that took place from August 1942 to February 1943. This thematic expansion features some types of naval aircraft and several ships that took part in those battles.

The set contains a total of 50 aircraft tokens with their corresponding Control Panels. A big novelty in this expansion are ship markers made out of thick cardboard. The US and Japanese forces contain 6 ships each, with corresponding Control Panels.

The brochure will contain at least 6 Scenarios, a text about the Guadalcanal battles and about the aircraft. This expansion also comes with a poster with aircraft drawings.

Besides playing according to a Scenario, even the simplest setup can be very fun: Japanese ships with aircraft on one side and the US ships with aircraft on the other, with a simple task - destroy as many enemy ships and planes as possible, and it's up to players to plan how to attack (whether to use dive bombers or torpedo bombers first, where to deploy fighters, etc.). If the opponent's carriers are sunk, the aircraft located on them are automatically destroyed, and those in the air may be able to find salvation by landing on another carrier (if it is not also sunk).

The expansion is priced at $18 on BackerKit ($23 later on our website).
 

PnP - expansions pack 2

The new expansions (Ground Units and two thematic expansions) are available in "expansions pack 2" as Print and Play, together with all five micro-expansions (American Bombers, British Bombers, British Fighters, Mosquitos and German Fighters). The price of "Pack 2" is $5.
 

Notebooks and notepads

New items (add-ons) that will be offered in BackerKit are Age of Dogfights themed notebooks (in two sizes: A4 and A5) and notepads (also in two sizes 16x16 cm and 15x10 cm). The notebooks have 30 sheets each, and the pads 40. The backers will be able to choose between blank sheets, or sheets with our characteristic triangle grid. The prices of notebooks are: $3.2 and $1.7, and notepads: $1.6 and $1.

Additional content for existing expansions

Just like the basic game has received a lot of additional content that wasn’t announced during the campaign, we decided to add new components to all expansions. First, all 8 expansions and 5 micro-expansions will have posters with all the aircraft represented, and an expanded brochure with text about the aircraft.

Also, all five major expansions will get a significant addition:

The Blitzkrieg expansion gets 25 tank tokens (4 × Pz II, 6 × Pz III, 4 × Pz 38; 5 × Hotchkiss, 3 × Somua S35, 3 × Char B1)

The African Campaign expansion gets 25 tank tokens (4 × M13/40, 6 × Pz III, 3 × Tiger; 4 × Matilda II, 4 × M3 Lee, 4 × Sherman)

The Eastern Front expansion gets 25 tank tokens (5 × Pz IV, 3 × StuG III, 3 × Tiger; 7 × T-34, 4 × KV-1S, 3 × KV-1)

The Battle of Britain expansion gets 15 barrage balloon tokens with Altitude Stands. Barrage balloons were present in great numbers in the British sky at the time, especially over London. Although not being a part of the Battle of Britain, there will be a Scenario: Operation Outward (which lasted from February 1942 to September 1944) where these balloons will be used.

In the Pacific Theater expansion, there will be an additional set of 3+3 thick cardboard markers for ships (USA: Essex-class aircraft carrier, Omaha-class cruiser and Fletcher-class destroyer; Japan: Shōkaku-class aircraft carrier, Sendai-class cruiser and Fubuki-class destroyer). The scenarios use these ship markers in a variety of ways, similar to Guadalcanal Campaign thematic expansion.

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As can be concluded from the rather long text above, the AoD:WWII project is extremely rich in expansions and various add-ons. The expansions that were already announced have received additional content, and now we have introduced several new ones. Upon reopening the BackerKit pledge manager, you will have the opportunity to order new items and those that you didn't order at first, all at the lower prices.

Rulebooks are finally being printed!
6 months ago – Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 06:48:13 PM

After a longer wait than expected, we can say that the rulebook has started printing.

At the same time, the brochure with Scenarios is undergoing a final proofreading check, and it will go to print as soon as the main Rulebooks are done (we've been promised that there won't be any delays in between). We presented texts and schemes for 16 scenarios in several updates (#35, #37 and #39) from last year. The last one (Operation 'Sausage') wasn't selected for the printed edition of the brochure. However, we created 4 new scenarios instead: Jet Confrontation, Fog, Night, and Unusual Encounter, so there are a total of 19. The new Scenarios feature some specific battle conditions (night or fog), and some of them feature aircraft that haven't previously been represented in a scenario. Therefore, every aircraft type included in the basic game is now featured in at least one Scenario or Mission (missions are part of the rulebook).

We are now publishing the pages in the Scenario Book containing a short text with historical and technical data for each aircraft type. We planned to make the aircraft drawings a part of the Scenario Book, but we decided to print two separate posters instead. They are folded in half so they can be stored inside the booklet, and they have already been printed in full batch. The Scenario Book also contains text about the air forces of each of the three countries represented (Luftwaffe, RAF, USAAF).

Re-opening of the BackerKit pledge manager

The update after this one will be very important, so we kindly ask the backers to follow project updates.

The next update will cover the topic of re-opening the pledge manager, so you can add more expansions or add-ons to your pledge. Most backers have already ordered the expansions and add-ons, and those orders are locked. However, many backers have contacted us (both those who have already added something and those who have not) with the desire to expand their order. So, in the next update, we will explain the full procedure for those additional orders. All prices will remain the same as during the Kickstarter campaign, regardless of the fact that almost everything has become more expensive in the meantime.

Also, in the upcoming update, we will show some new add-ons, which we believe will please many of you. Almost all the expansions have got additional content that was not announced during the Kickstarter campaign (similar to the basic game).

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Once again, we use this opportunity to thank the backers for their trust and patience all this time.