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View Full Version : Ahoy! Glad to be here, but curious about production quality control ...



ErisLobo
06-24-2014, 20:28
Ahoy everybody!!! My husband and I are big fans of Wings of Glory (we often play it against each other or at meetings of the Colorado Military Historians in Westminster, Colorado), and so the transition over to Sails of Glory was a natural one! After getting the newly re-released starter set in the mail a couple of days ago, we played our first game today, and we love it!

Well, we love the game itself, but I'm a little puzzled regarding quality control at the game factory. There wasn't anything major that was wrong with my copy of the game, but there were a host of little things, and I'm wondering if I just got a bad box or if its happened to other people ... :question:

1) None of the four ships' base cards fit into the plastic ship bases. All of the base cards were a bit too large, and they warped and bent when we attempted to carefully fit them in. As I didn't want to trim the original cards themselves, I wound up having to drive to Kinko's to photocopy both sides of all the base cards, then cut the copies to size, making them all slightly smaller as needed. I was able to solve the problem, but it's something that should have been caught in production, I think.

2) Three of the four clear plastic ship-base covers had a line of scuff marks running down the middle. It doesn't stand out when you're playing the game, but it's a minor irritation I was surprised to see.

3) The printing was flawed slightly on the back of one of the ship mats. In particular, a small "spackling" of white (where the printing didn't remain on the cardboard surface) ran along a little area that took it across the back of the "blank" action chit. As a result, the blank chit for that ship cannot be used for declaring boarding actions, because the white spackling makes it obvious which chit it is. This can be sort-of fixed by substituting a different unused action chit for the blank one during boarding actions (maybe making the "grog" counter the accepted replacement), but it's a little annoying, and a sign of carelessness that I was surprised to see.

4) It was heck to get the Attitude Indicators put together correctly without destroying the appearance of the vanes. As it was, the bottom edges of the vanes' printed surfaces were crinkled a bit in the process, and I don't plan on taking them apart again now that they're together.

5) The front and back connectors for the Wind Gauge weren't long enough to hold the gauge together if I used the cardboard washer as indicated in the assembly instructions. Fortunately, when the cardboard washer wasn't used, the Wind Gauge snapped together great and works perfectly, so that was easily fixed, but is still puzzling that it made it through the factory process.

6) Finally, this probably wasn't a factory problem, but it still has me scratching my head. Some of the damage chits were blank, and I found nothing in the rulebook referencing this. I may have overlooked something, but I'm assuming that the blank ones are simply not used in the game.

I do hate the fact that my first post on this forum seems to be one of complaint, but the fact is that I think Ares is a great company (I wouldn't be a repeat customer of theirs if I didn't! :thumbsup: ) and I already know I'm going to love playing Sails of Glory! It's the fact that Ares IS such a great company which has me so confused regarding how all these little issues made it through the production process.

May the wind always be at your backs, my new friends. See you at sea! :beer:

-- Eris

7eat51
06-24-2014, 21:36
Welcome aboard, Eris. :salute:

Sorry you're purchase was disappointing, understandably so. It seems that lately Ares has been experiencing production problems. Fortunately, you are aware that Ares is a good company, and that it is responding to problems appropriately.

We are kicking off a solo campaign on 1 July; take a gander and see if it is something either or both of you would enjoy.

Coog
06-24-2014, 21:54
Welcome aboard Eris!

ErisLobo
06-24-2014, 22:24
Sorry you're purchase was disappointing, understandably so.
It seems that lately Ares has been experiencing production problems. Fortunately, you are aware that Ares is a good company, and that it is responding to problems appropriately.
We are kicking off a solo campaign on 1 July; take a gander and see if it is something either or both of you would enjoy.

*salutes everybody back, and bounces a bit on her heels* :happy:

Actually, saying my purchase was "disappointing" isn't quite accurate. To be honest, I think that overall what I got in the starter box was wonderful! The ships are beautiful, the rules are great, and everything about the game (except for the things I mentioned above) were done to the perfection I've come to expect from Ares! So it's not like I'm saying what I got was "bad", but that it could so easily have been par excellence! :salute:

I'll have to look into that solo campaign. As I only have the four ships from the starter set so far, I hope I'll be able to handle it! Either way, you've got my interest! :thumbsup:

-- Eris

7eat51
06-24-2014, 22:32
Disappointing might be a bit of projection given many of our recent experiences with Wave 2 ships and delays. Like you, I, too, have high standards for Ares products because their products have been of high quality. I have several of their other games, all top-notch.

I just read your posting on the 'Drome. What a great project you're undertaking. It is very inspiring.

Nightmoss
06-24-2014, 23:07
Greetings Eris and welcome aboard the Anchorage.

While I've had some of the issues you've posted about above not all in one box. The problem with the base cards and printing are especially troublesome I would think and the blank damage chits has me baffled? Knowing that Ares has such excellent customer service I'd be inclined to email them with some photos and see how they respond.

Cheers!

Berthier
06-24-2014, 23:31
Welcome Eris, I think we all may have experienced some issues with Ares quality control for SOG, Wave 2 had some siginificant issues with the larger ship foremasts and I have a Wave 1 SOL with two mainmasts (!). Despite that as you noted the overall quality is excellent and on past performance Ares will fix everything in the future. Any major problems they seem very amenable to replacing faulty parts etc. Enjoy the anchorage!

Gunner
06-25-2014, 01:59
Looks like I'll have to order a re-released starter set to compare it to an original starter set to see the differences. the ships are the same I assume:question:

And welcome from Arizona, Eris:beer:

HMS Lydia
06-25-2014, 04:45
Eris,

The wind gauge issue is one that everyone has some experience with. Most people have just left the cardboard washer out as you have. There is some concern with future wear caused by rubbing, which is what this item was supposed to prevent.

Welcome aboard! :salute:

Bob

Cmmdre
06-25-2014, 07:59
Welcome aboard Eris. :salute:

ErisLobo
06-25-2014, 14:45
Greetings Eris and welcome aboard the Anchorage.
While I've had some of the issues you've posted about above not all in one box. The problem with the base cards and printing are especially troublesome I would think and the blank damage chits has me baffled? Knowing that Ares has such excellent customer service I'd be inclined to email them with some photos and see how they respond.
Cheers!

FYI, the blank damage chits were from the "C" chits and the "D" chits, and were the last three chits for each of those sets. Here's a photo (blurry I admit) of the blank chits ...
10339

Regarding the back of the "blank" action counter I mentioned, today I looked over all four of the blank action counters that came with my starter set, and I realized that three of the four blank action counters each had some slight distinguishing mark that would indicate their identity-- one (as I noted) had a small streak of white spackle, one had a little dot of black above the hand, and one had a little brown area below and to the left of the hand. To keep things truly secret, the best solution I see regarding boarding actions will be for each involved ship to cover up their associated action token with something else (possibly another unused token), and for both ships to reveal their tokens together.

Like I said, none of these little issues are enough to make playing the game a problem (or even distract from the enjoyment of the playing experience), but I felt they should be noted in case other people encounter the same thing.
:bleh:

-- Eris

Nightmoss
06-25-2014, 15:45
Thanks for posting the photo. Now I've got to go look at the second Starter Set I got via the Kickstarter campaign. I've only used one box for chits, etc. Like Ed said above this second wave of Starter Sets need to be compared to the first.

Naharaht
06-26-2014, 10:14
Welcome to the Anchorage, Eris.

David Manley
06-26-2014, 10:52
Welcome aboard Eris, may you enjoy many happy voyages with our motley crew :happy:

Comte de Brueys
06-26-2014, 10:53
Bonjour, Eris.

Welcome on board. :beer: