Frosthaven Preorders (Q1 2023)

Production continues
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 03:52:31 AM

Hello! Still not a lot to report from the front this week. Production continues to move along, with all files now approved. We are still in the thick of working out all the logistics of fulfillment, but in the mean time, I've got two things to bring to your attention.

First, we’ll soon be sending out an email from BackerKit asking everyone to confirm their address. This does NOT mean Frosthaven is ready to ship, and it is NOT the last chance you’ll have to update your address. This is just so we have the most up-to-date information for each shipping region. You’ll still be able to update your address anytime before shipping starts by contacting [email protected]. Additionally we’ll also be sending out another email later this year when we are about to start shipping giving you one more opportunity!

Second, if you've been wondering how you're going to transport your giant copy of Frosthaven around once it arrives, we may have a solution. We have partnered with BoardGameTables.com to produce a Frosthaven-sized carrying bag, which just became available for pre-order this week. You can find it here. This is also coinciding with us opening up a new pre-order for Frosthaven to sell off excess copies from the first print run, which you can find here. And just to be clear, fulfillment for this pre-order will occur only once the Kickstarter orders have been fulfilled, so you'll still get your games first!

Oh! And feel free to visit us at Gen Con and check out Frosthaven! Our booth is #257. We'll also have a new cosplay from Monica Paprocki! Other than that, I hope everyone is doing well and continues to do well as we move into the final legs of this journey! Stay safe, and I'll catch you next time!

Moving along
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 03, 2022 at 01:56:44 AM

Hello! This is a "not much news" update. As printing is underway, we are finishing up the final digital proofing process with the factory and have been giving the go-ahead to start printing files as their proofs are approved. A couple of the files needed additional iterations, but we are almost fully through proofing everything.

We are also still working through freight and fulfillment schedules with our partners, and will let you know when we have more information to share there.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll catch you next time!

Starting Production
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 18, 2022 at 05:53:41 AM

Hello! I am here today to happily tell you that we are starting production! After our extensive reviews of the proof copies, we are moving forward with production on all the elements that weren't revised during the review. The components that were revised will begin once we get back digital proofs of all the files we changed so that we can verify that all the changes we implemented were actually implemented. That may sound weird, but there are a lot of files, and we have gone through a lot of iterations of each, and so we need to just go through one last fail-safe protocol to make absolutely sure all the right files are being used before we print 100,000+ copies of the game.

The review was extensive and thorough, and I'm feeling very confident in the overall integrity of the game now. Having been able to view everything together and see how it all connects together (or didn't connect, in some cases that have since been changed), I think we are delivering to you an outstanding product that is 100% complete. There were a lot of revisions, ranging from narrative inconsistencies I found, to using some cleaner language in some special rules, to lightening up some of the artwork just a tad to make it pop more, to revising some of the plastic tray layouts to make everything fit a little better. We tightened all the bolts, so to speak, and now this beast is fully ready for action!

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Also, in case you missed the announcement earlier this week, I just wanted to let you know that our next project, Miniatures of Gloomhaven, will be launching on BackerKit Crowdfunding, as opposed to Kickstarter. We'll be launching the project in early 2023, after this Frosthaven project has been fulfilled, and it will feature over 500 miniatures for all the monsters and summons in all Gloomhaven and Frosthaven products. We'll also be offering a second printing of Frosthaven, along with some other exciting stuff that has yet to be announced. You can follow this link to learn more and sign up for updates. We've been working on all the sculpts for these monsters for a long time now (there are a lot!), and I just wanted to share some teaser images for some Frosthaven monsters.

See you all next time!

Reviewing of Proofs
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 04, 2022 at 06:11:30 AM

Hello! It has been a busy couple of weeks over here as we scrutinize every last piece of the monumental Frosthaven box!

We had three copies sent to Price, Josh, and myself, which all arrived about 2 weeks ago, and after an initial review to fix any egregious production issues, we had six more copies sent out to other employees, developers, and partners to make sure we really had a high-level of scrutiny going into everything in the game. Those copies arrived this week (or will arrive early next week), and we'll be spending about one more week looking over things before we're comfortable hitting the big red print button.

We have already caught quite a few issues, so this process is definitely necessary to ensure that what arrives at your door will be the best possible game.

From there, we're looking at roughly 45 days before we'll be able to start loading the first finished games on containers, with production continuing to last several months beyond that. So freight shipping to our warehouses should start around the end of July, but will continue through the Summer and into the Fall. Please note these timelines do not yet reflect fulfillment warehousing timelines (Warehouse --> You), as those are still being defined based on our finalized production timeline and freight schedule and will vary by region. More information to come once production and assembly are more concretely underway!

It was certainly disappointing getting delayed by another month and a half due to the shutdown, but we're making the best of it and are still dedicated to delivering a truly impressive game to you as quickly as the quality and all these complications permit.

And I know I've opined on how awesome this game is many times before, but getting the full box in front of me and exploring it, well, you'll have to permit me to do a little more opining. The scale and detail of this game is simply unprecedented.

One of the first things I did when the box arrived was to read through the scenario book, section book, and event cards to do a full review of the narrative, making sure everything lined up logically and all the section numbers flowed as intended (and there weren't any production issues, of course). Just the depth of the lore and the arc of the story really blew me away. This was one of the main ways I wanted to improve with Frosthaven over Gloomhaven, and I am really happy with where we ended up.

There are just so many fun characters to fall in love with and powerful story beats and just so much cool stuff to discover as you play. This game is on a whole other level from Gloomhaven, it just going to blow people away.

Having already seen and labored over every piece of this game, I didn't think I could be surprised by how good it would feel to have everything come together in that box, but it really did. As the person most intimately familiar with everything already, that thing still impressed. I can't wait for all of you to get your hands on it and see your reactions!

And if you want to check out Frosthaven before then, you can always stop by our booth at Origins next week (booth 1423). We'll be demoing Frosthaven and displaying components from the box.

That's all I have for you this week. I am looking forward to coming back next time to tell you that production has officially started! Until then!

New arrivals
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 22, 2022 at 01:48:06 AM

Hello! I know we just had an update last week, but that was off-cycle, and it is time to resume our normal schedule. This is good, though, because we've got two big arrivals to let you in on!

First of all, one of our Frosthaven proofing copies finally arrived at Price's house yesterday! That's right, this game actually exists, is playable, and is quite impressive when beheld in full! And Price already pulled an all-nighter communicating first notes and findings to our printer. That said, it did just arrive, plus my and other copies are still en route, so there's some more waiting and a lot of work to be done before we can give you a full update on it. But for now, I just thought it would be nice to let you know that we are finally seeing progress again after the shutdown.

Here are some pictures for you!

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And while my metaphorical child Frosthaven is finally arriving, the second arrival was my literal child, who was born on May 9! He is doing great, but supporting him and my partner has taken quite a lot of time, which is why Price sent out the update last week. No pictures with this announcement, but I will tell you that his nicknames are Neigh-Neigh and Snarf, because those are the sounds he makes when he is hungry and feeding, respectively. Also he is 100% adorable, and I know all new parents say that, but we have confirmation from numerous independent sources.

So give us a little time to deal with all these new arrivals, and I'll be back in two weeks with more details about what is going on next. Have a great weekend and stay safe!