I can usually guess at mystery packages. I don’t know about other places, but here in the US you can sign up for both FedEx and UPS accounts that will alert you ahead of time when a package is in-bound and, in most cases, you can see the name of the company/person sending the package – often this then narrows it down to one of the many fulfillment partners. And from there I can usually snoop around KS updates looking for updates indicating imminent fulfillment in my area.
And, of course, Quartermaster Logistics is my favorite for here in the US because they tweet out when they are fulfilling each project.
I get almost everything through Alte Leipziger Wollkämmerei these days. Used to be most things shipped via UK but no more…
I need to check if maybe they have a website where they announce what is shipping.
Edit: I remember I checked before and their webpage is really basic. It is incredible how it is possible to do business like this. Sometimes I feel like this whole country is stuck in an earlier millennium when we were still calling the internet Datenautobahn.
the mystery turned out to be my late pledge of Flourish. I was confused by a message from starling games earlier that said it would take 4 to 6 weeks… when it arrives 3 days after the message.
I may have taken too close a look at the new Everdell Kickstarter. People are complaining about it being too cheap… because for anyone now going for the “Complete Collection” the price is probably half or less of what the “I have been backing this everytime from the start” people ended up with. I understand… but you have played the game all those years.
If they made another 3 expansions for SI, I would back every single one of them straight away and if at the end they make a big storage box and give people the option to have it filled with all the goodies for a fair price I’d be happy for them and happier for me because I got to play SI all those years.
Going all in at once on a game is definitely not the same experience as building up that game piece by piece being excited every time you get another expansion… I am so glad I am getting that with Spirit Island.
I am a bit miffed I passed over Everdell at SPIEL when they were there before their first KS because I thought the tree was a stupid gimmick and I don’t like gimmick games.
Looks like it. Good to see they’ve thought about recharging (the LED dice I have from a few years back need to be unscrewed and the battery replaced).
(Though if I felt I couldn’t trust someone’s die rolling in a game, I wouldn’t look for technical means to make sure the rolls were fair; I just wouldn’t play with them.)
In fairness, the tree is a stupid gimmick that interferes with playing the game. It was actually what first drew me to the game, but it’s bad and you are much better off with the flat equivalent they put in one of the first expansions.
And yeah…I actually have only played Everdell once and I’ve almost certainly paid more than the $200 someone buying into the complete version now would pay as I’ve backed the previous two expansion KSes. But I’m fine with that, because I didn’t pay that all at once and I would strongly bet they didn’t have this exact product lineup conceived from day one. I would bet that they’ve done this much content because the game’s been very successful for them. And if that hadn’t been true, and I’d missed some of the expansions along the way and could not now get them, I would be cranky.
(Okay, I really shouldn’t be buying expansions for games I’ve only played once, but, a) shh, and b) at the time Jagged Earth was funding I had only played Spirit Island…three times, getting major rules wrong every time, and wasn’t eager to play it again because of how impossible it seemed with the real rules. But everyone said it was great and the concept was very cool, so I went in on Jagged Earth and then when the pandemic hit we ended up playing like four or five more games of it on TTS and discovering its utter brilliance. And now I have all the stuff, IRL. So, whee.)
I just entered the BGG contest. It definitely falls into the category of “Oooh, I hope I win this contest!” but not to the point that “If I don’t win this contest, I’m going to jump in on the Kickstarter”.
Everdell consistently gets good coverage in the communities that I follow. I’m not sure it does anything new that the rest of my collection fails to do. In part, its charm is likely the cutesy animals and novel components.
Everdell was always so crazily expensive! The expansions were astonishingly obscenely ridiculously overpriced for what they contained. I’m glad they’re more reasonable this time.
I’m glad Everdell exists, but it’s never tempted me. It falls into that Wingspan bracket of welcoming game for newcomers but nothing much for established gamers. They will undoubtedly enter the hall of fame with carcossone, TTR, and Catan. Maybe that’s too dismissive? I would certainly try it if someone brought it to the table.
Everdell never managed to appeal much to me on the cute end (I don’t like Bosley’s work… I know, I’m the only one), and without being able to suss out the hook in the game, I’ve been simultaneously disinterested, and morbidly curious about its success.
Getting a straight answer about what makes it special has proven difficult, but at the end of the day it seems to be just a solid, fun game with meat on its bones, and an adorable theme that brings folks to the table. Fair enough! But without that appeal to the wallpaper, I’ve got zero desire to give it a go.
Plus, ugly allegations around the publisher.
[EDIT] Elzra is back with Catacombs and Castles 2E. I’m in for the “Black Box” expansion for Catacombs 3E but if I can pony up the scratch in time I’ll probably bump to the full Castles pledge too.
Fair points all. I’ve always assumed Everdell was “just a gimmick”. But it appears to be “a decent euro game with a gimmick.”
The publisher’s history was a caution of mine when I pledged for War of Whispers. But that campaign went so smoothly (and arrived on time) that I am hoping they have turned over a a new leafsorry. Well, what it actually suggests is that they were using Kickstarter as a pre-order service and nothing more (which is what all publishers are doing, Starling just puts up less of a show about engaging with the community blah blah blah)
It still is. New copies of the base-game go for 60€ and the expansions are barely cheaper. The price is one of the reasons I never jumped.
The all-in collector’s edition level pledge that does away with superfluous boxes and gives you a single rulebook is $200. Even with the additions of tax and postage it’ll be around 200€ in the end which is the price for base-game and 3 of the 5 expansions.
I admit that tableau building is something I have in several iterations. Sure… but this is a theme that will appeal to almost everyone not just the hobbyist gamers and so is more likely to hit the table than those black on black SF games. There’s a reason my copy of Race for the Galaxy has seen very little action. Yes, yes, you say Wingspan and I hear you. I guess I just couldn’t resist the pretty box, the promise of so much game in one box (I hope it’s not like that big Anachrony Box some of you have) and the stuff I heard about the solo-mode and the promise of a rather variable player count (although BGG says 3 is best).
Not arguing there. If someone was already on the fence about Everdell, this seems the prime opportunity to jump in.
In fact, if I were just slightly more interested in it than I am, I’d likely be right there with you.
I’m particularly interested in the new solo/co-op opponent in Mistwood. It looks like it could be a lot of fun (I tend to like when competitive games have co-op variants… especially when they are well-done)
I’m slightly intrigued by Super Brawl round 2. Might have to try it digitally out of curiosity. There are so many moba-likes now it seems like anyone can pick the exact weight they want!
I’ve seen comments that’s it’s about the same weight as Funkoverse, but with piles and piles of little rules and edge cases all over the place, making it a bear to play. I’ll be curious what you think if you try it.
I LOVE it, but it’s not got any secrets - the base game is just a very good worker placement / tableau builder. There’s some basic worker spots (for low resources) and some randomised better slots each game (for more efficient gathering), and you block others from whichever you choose. The separate tableau / engine also works great, especially as you’re competing for new cards and can see your opponent’s entire area all game.
I don’t know why I feel it punches way above its weight, maybe the theme and art bringing new people to the table, or the really excellent component quality.
But the base game is expensive and the expansions are so ridiculously expensive that I haven’t gone near them yet. I’m not paying £150+ for the Complete Box when I already have the base game, I’ll wait for individual expansions to come down in price and grab just the one or two that I want.
