Sorry, Jan.19th is taken. Would you pick another date.Originally Posted by Lucky Jack
Sorry, Jan.19th is taken. Would you pick another date.
Excellent idea! Newest member at time of arrival it is! :)
I guess March 1st.
March 1st is a Sunday. Do you want another date?
Cool Stuff, Inc. has added the USS Constitution and HMS Victory 'Specials' to their pre order listings. I think they're the only other online seller besides the Anchorage Store who have done so? Of special note is their release disclaimer.
Notes: Expected Release: January/February 2015. Date subject to change.
Worth noting is that CSI is completely oblivious to the redesigned Wave 2 packaging, insisting their distributor hasn't told them anything about it--even though I've given them Rob's direct email and suggested they contact him.
I'm seriously considering asking for a refund on my Imperial and waiting for 12-7's next restock to complete my First Rates...
atomicempire.com also shows them with a release date of 'UNKNOWN". @ $23.99 EACH
Thanks Ed. These guys are new to me. Another online store to take my money.
OK, we're almost half way through January 2015 and there's been no word on the USS Constitution or HMS Victory for weeks. Ares website still says January 2015 for the specials and the Wave 1 reprints. http://www.aresgames.eu/upcoming-products
Is the Fort Wayne warehouse screwing up again or do we have other problems? Inquiring minds and inpatient sailors would like to know what's up?
I don't know Jim. Do they have six week vacations in Italy? Haven't heard/seen a peep out of them since Dec.5th. I asked the same question on their KS site on Jan.6th. without a response.
For the record, Miniature Market is running Old Stock too--probably the same distro as CSI.
My email:
Reply:Just had a quick question re your stock of Sails of Glory First Rates: Are they the new stock with a lid on the tray holding the ship in place, or the original breakage-prone run? (Specifically 106C Imperial is the primary focus, but all six SGN106 and 108 releases are of interest since I still need to pick up a full second set of First Rates in addition to completing my first.)
I've been having an "interesting" time getting one that arrived broken exchanged for new stock from another vendor, and if you can deliver from new stock I'm about ready to tell them to give me a store credit and buy the replacement from you.
Bill at 12-7 still has ONE Imperial in stock, but I'd really prefer to snag the complete 2nd set on First Rates at the same time.Regretfully, our ships do have the old packaging still. We did receive a small restock of ships yesterday, also still in the old packaging. We are also highly anticipating the new packaging for the ships, but we do not yet know when we will begin receiving ships in the new packaging.
Last edited by Diamondback; 01-14-2015 at 16:49.
Thanks for the dealers update DB. So the bottom line seems to be, distributors & dealers have no idea when they'll receive the new packaging Wave 2 or the Wave 1 reprints, let alone the V&C.
Makes me wonder if everything was held up in China to ship at one time to save on shipping charges.
Also, Bill at 12-7 is done with Ares--as soon as he sells out of what he has, no more. Frankly, with the havoc they've wrought on his life (it's a small family business and they can't reschedule their entire lives and things that've been prearranged everytime somebody in the distro chain gets a butthair out of position and decides to F*** with the delivery date) I can't say I blame him, and if I were a retailer of similar size I'd have probably done the same LONG ago.
EDIT: The other question is, how much of this is Ares screw-up, and how much is Middle-Man screw-up?
With the lack of information from Ares, my money is on them/China.
To be quite blunt, somewhere in the chain there seem to be a lot of people with one of the following problems:
A. Ill-motivated (just plain don't care)
B. Don't know their own ass from a hole in the ground, as my grandfather would say
C. Both of the above
D. Trying to make things happen, but stymied by others who fall into A, B or C
We know the new packs have been released, Boss Dude is getting 'em just fine--but we know that the distro's don't particularly care about defect-prone merch and all they care about is First In First Out And We're Not Ordering Any More Until What We Have Sells Out.
I guess this comes down to Ares and their priorities, which may not include SoG at present. That's not to say WoG is getting any more attention because I don't think that's the case necessarily. I've read enough on their forums to know that we aren't alone in long drawn out periods of anticipation. I've also seen that errors with the sculpts, etc., aren't exclusive to Sails. Just search under Sopwith Triplane over there and you'll know why.
I'm wondering if their new KS project Conrad the Barber is prime focus right now? Anyhow, thanks for the replies and speculation. It is unfortunate that their inability to plan and communicate is hurting the vendor situation, both for Sails and Wings.
Perhaps my February 2nd guess was overly optimistic, again? Going back to my corner now.
There's another possibility:
E. Over-extended, trying to keep too many balls in the air at once for the available personnel to handle
There is a big labor dispute slowing down the west coast ports dramatically. Whether this is affecting Ares I have no idea. But really is any of this surprising? We have had plenty of past experience to extrapolate from.
Mid Feb we will get a mea culpa post on KS. March or April or so V&C will hobble in as expected. Jan or early Feb was a pipedream.
As to the new pkging, they were never going to toss all the old ships. Too many euros sunk into them. The channel just has to sell through, which will take a very long time for some of the lower demand models (I believe that when the new run arrived in the US, they were only out of stock in 2-3 models even in the warehouse and with all the breakage...)
You could be bitter, but I just choose resignation.
Rough seas for sure but our ships will come in. In my experience it has always been a later delivery than Ares claims. At least we have some ships to play with in the meantime.
Toss, no, but they COULD be more proactive about ID'ing and exchanging KNOWN defectives... another part of me's tempted to have CSI ship me my busted Imperial back and just contact Rob to see if I can make arrangements for a warehouse exchange directly.
Are your statements fact or conjecture? This is not a smart crack, just curious.
Totally conjecture, based on the experiences of the last two years (and vague impressions from the wings side). I have no inside info, I'm just a guy sitting here waiting for ships.Are your statements fact or conjecture? This is not a smart crack, just curious.
So say we all.I'm just a guy sitting here waiting for ships.
I am sure, in old Blighty, we can confidently expect to get any new models a month later than you lucky people in the US of A!
I am sure they will be worth waiting for though!
Last edited by Herkybird; 01-15-2015 at 07:23. Reason: correction!!
The communications with the distribution channel do seem to have been surprisingly confused, and I don't know why that would be.
I think that no matter what, these ships were/are going to be sold, and therefore lots of customers and distributors were/are going to have to suffer frustrating return-and-resend loops, at a large expense to someone in shipping. But I'm surprised Ares and a big retailer like CSI don't seem to be in effective communication or have optimized their strategy for dealing with it. If I were Ares, I would probably have seen no option but to sell the first printing, but I would have been very scared about alienating customers AND retailers, and so would have tried to make the issue as painless as possible. While I think Ares' heart has been in the right place, they really haven't met the "painless as possible" bar...
One issue is that channels are optimized for moving product, not nuanced information flow. My guess would be that Ares' communication was muted to begin with, and then what there was has been mangled/black-holed by the middlemen distributors. Heck Ares doesn't even seem to have been communicating adequately with Keith here. So yes, demerits for that.
I should add I do have a data point for this:Are your statements fact or conjecture? This is not a smart crack, just curious.
Right after the second printing of Wave 2 came in, I got a full 12 from the warehouse. I went back and looked, and 4 were in the new packaging: Orient, HMS Royal George, HMS Sybille and Carmagnole. So my hypothesis is that these 4 sold out on the first printing, at least in the warehouse (obviously some are probably still here and there in the channel). But of the other 8 SKUs, I'd imagine Ares is continuing to ship out first wave packaging until its all gone.
"In the end, we must all trust the good Lord to save us from our Italian friends."
[Heydrich, _Conspiracy_]
New update on Kickstarter for the the HMS Victory and USS Constitution. Looks like mid-February for the specials and much earlier for the Wave 1 reprints/repaints. Maybe the Wave 1 repaints got here earlier?
Could be Eric or Andy or Popsical might be the contest winners? Time will tell. . .
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...p-combat/posts
Last edited by Nightmoss; 01-27-2015 at 08:57. Reason: typo
Gimme my VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please...
on a side note, does anyone have a spare set of kickstarter captain cards or the ability to copy them?
in case you aren't aware, the actual, complete text of all the cards in included in this PDF:
http://www.aresgames.eu/11275
Just pre ordered my daughters HMS Victory from the anchorage store
Given it's taken *three* tries to get anywhere near the actual delivery date, and I told them the first two times "no way are they making any of those dates"....Could be Eric or Andy or Popsical might be the contest winners? Time will tell. . .
And then there's the 50% probability they will turn up broken....
Hopefully not with the redesigned packages... I've had enough of a hard time just getting *one* *lousy* Imperial intact, and I'm about to pick up the dice and toss 'em again if CSI ever gets back to me to acknowledge that I've okayed replacement from existing stock and lifted my "wait for second-run" request.
Frankly, I'm starting to wonder about them...
I, too, am awaiting replacements from CSI. It is a bit discouraging, I must say.
If these specials have mast problems, I will be leery ordering any new ships. I have been hesitant to recommend buying Wave 2 ships to some friends who have inquired about the game. I am hoping the specials instill some faith to me.
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato
I wouldn't mind the wait so much, if they would just COMMUNICATE better. Right now, I'm starting to consider moving a lot of my business back to Miniature Market... distasteful as I find that after how they once screwed Bill at 12-7.
Perhaps they've just gotten too big, too quickly? It certainly seems that moving product is taking priority over customer service? This is unfortunate.
Don't hold your breath. I received my replacements directly from Ares - in the new packaging. I ordered from CSI and got a broken Wave 2. They offered a refund, but I am considering just fixing it and moving on.
Mine's hung up in the exchange pipe. I'll give 'em another week or two, then I'll send another note with return-receipt and ask 'em to roll it into a store-credit refund.
Regarding the replacements directly received from Ares, from where did you purchase them?
I will contact CSI today to see what is happening. I'm at the point where I will cut my losses, though it is a chunk of change. I recently conducted a game trade on BGG, and no sooner did I send my games to my trading partner than all communication from him ceased. I fear another $100+ has sailed away. I must confess, it is a bit disheartening. One thing I can say, though, is that interacting with folks here and on the 'Drome stands in stark contrast to most any other site I have visited. It's the main reason I log on each day.
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato
How very unfortunate. I hope the trade on BGG works out, but it seems unlikely with the lack of communication suddenly occurring. He/She wasn't out east and got hit by the Juno storm by any chance?Regarding the replacements directly received from Ares, from where did you purchase them?
I will contact CSI today to see what is happening. I'm at the point where I will cut my losses, though it is a chunk of change. I recently conducted a game trade on BGG, and no sooner did I send my games to my trading partner than all communication from him ceased. I fear another $100+ has sailed away. I must confess, it is a bit disheartening. One thing I can say, though, is that interacting with folks here and on the 'Drome stands in stark contrast to most any other site I have visited. It's the main reason I log on each day.
Personally I would likely never feel comfortable trading on BGG. That would not be the case with either the Anchorage or the Aerodrome as both have become communities I feel very much at home visiting each day. There's a level of trust here and on the Drome that just isn't found elsewhere on the web.
No, the member has been on the site since. I am hoping the parcel is in transit, but who knows.
I recently engaged in several other trades, all to very good effect. Folks have been gracious, and we kibitz often via PMs.
In the end, if I get burnt, I get burnt. I will contact the administrators and leave appropriate feedback.
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato
It's a shame CSI (and MM?) and Ares haven't put this to bed. When I ordered last summer, both 12-7 and The Aerodrome just wrote off the damaged ones and shipped new ones. That is the way to do it, and Ares should eat the cost.
I thought that was the policy, but now the early strong response seems to have evaporated, resulting in these interminable return cycles. I don't begrudge Ares trying to sell the stock in hand, but if they are going to do so they need to make sure the replacement policy is clear, prompt and no-hassle. They seem to have dropped the ball on it...
The sooner the better. Good luck, Eric.
Fred, the problem with CSI and MM sounds like it's not Ares, but the distributor in between. Always count on the middle-man to screw everything up...
HOWEVER, when CSI ships my Imperial, I do have a direct return already arranged for it straight to the warehouse if needed. I'll have to pay for postage probably, but ending this pain in the ass situation will be well worth the few bucks.
I say March 14th, the dock worker strike has really slowed things down as seen with X-wing and the endless time it takes for things to get there from china on the boat.
Update from Ares:
"Shipping containers are stacking up at the Port of Los Angeles, which might need eight weeks to get back to normal once solutions are found." - Wall Street Journal
Sails of Glory Backers,
the title says it all. Yesterday, our freight forwarder notified us that the scheduled delivery of the container includiing HMS Victory and USS Constitution has been postponed.
The delay is due to the congestion on the West Coast port that the Wall Street Journal described a few days ago as a "massive cargo traffic jam".
Currently, the new scheduled delivery date of the container to our warehouse is Feburary, 18th. This date may be subject to change (for better or worse) as the situation develops.
It looks like the winds are not blowing in the right direction for this release. Please accept our apologies for this further strain on your patience.
Thanks for your support,
Roberto & The Ares Games Team
Last edited by Coog; 02-05-2015 at 03:14.
Hmm, my pick for March 2nd starting to look a little dodgy now
I might be too late to enter, having the advantage of knowing of all the delays, but I would say that I'd guess that you guys in USA may get them about feb 25, but us in Europe would have to wait another couple of weeks.
I was starting to think that I had been too cynical, but it looks like the pieces are all falling into place as anticipated
Ayup. I think the winner is going to be David with his October 1st prediction (that's assuming that Gunner has the winner being closest to the receipt date without going past the date?). I'm expecting it to be mid March as the earliest now.I was starting to think that I had been too cynical, but it looks like the pieces are all falling into place as anticipated
Sorry Jonas, the cut off date was Nov. 21st.I might be too late to enter, having the advantage of knowing of all the delays, but I would say that I'd guess that you guys in USA may get them about feb 25, but us in Europe would have to wait another couple of weeks.
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