Fulfillment Has Begun!
about 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 05, 2021 at 12:06:42 AM

The wait is nearly over! Today we received confirmation from Quartermaster Logistics that fulfillment is officially underway. All Canadian orders orders are packed and a large portion now show delivery tracking. The first 1100 US orders are in progress, and will go out soon, and more will keep coming every business day!

Starting tomorrow, you should keep an eye out for tracking e-mails. But don't be worried if you don't see them right away. Shipping will continue through the end of next week, and we'll provide another update when all units have been shipped to US backers. Additionally, we're told that Canadian tracking info won't update until those units hit the Canadian border. We'll update timelines on EU, AUS/NZ, and Asian fulfillment just as soon as we have firm news.

Going Solo

While you await your shipment, we have one more rules video for you: solo rules! For anyone who's stuck in quarantine without gaming buddies, you can still enjoy Overboss. There are two ways to play single player: a single-session High Score mode or the more complex Campaign mode. To get ready for solo play, check out our latest rules video!

For a closer look at the solo Campaign, you can download a printable version of it right here. While solo play lacks the competitive drafting we love in multiplayer, it's still a fun optimization puzzle and a great experience in its own right. Thanks to all of you for demanding it, and to Aaron and Kevin for doing such a nice job with the design!

(Virtual) Convention Season

Tabletop gaming is fundamentally a face-to-face hobby, which is why we love conventions. There's nothing better than showing off new games and meeting players at cons like GAMA, Origins, Gen Con, and PAX Unplugged. While that won't be possible for at least the first half of this year, we're still excited for some upcoming virtual conventions.

This weekend, the high-energy gamers at Tantrum House are hosting TantrumCon Digital (February 5-7). This might be the best approach we've seen to a virtual convention: a lineup of top-notch titles, some great "play along" audience participation games, and exclusive first looks at some all-new titles. On Saturday at 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST, TantrumCon will feature the world premiere of our next game, Night of the Ninja. Here's a super-quick sneak peek:

Night of the Ninja is optimized for larger player counts -- it supports up to 11 players -- so the past year has not been the right time to release it. But this game is too good to keep under wraps, so we wanted to show it off at TantrumCon. Designed by Justin Gary (Ascension, Shards of Inifinity) it's a really fresh take on the social deduction genre.

The last game played at TantrumCon this weekend will be Overboss! They have one of a few advance copies that we sent to reviewers and creators as part of our marketing campaign, and they've been waiting to show it off on a livestream. On Sunday at 4:15 EST / 1:15 PST, you can watch their Overboss showdown on the Tantrum House YouTube channel.   

Truly Fulfilling

We're delighted to see units heading out the door and making their way to you. While the unexpected name change and global shipping delays have thwarted our aggressive timeline, it's exciting to know that this game is almost in your hands. Thanks so much for your patience and support during this process. We can't wait to share this game with you and the world!

Fulfillment Update
about 3 years ago – Sat, Jan 30, 2021 at 12:45:50 AM

In our last update, we told you that shipping would begin during the week of the 25th and continue through the first two weeks of February. That seemed like a conservative estimate at the time, but today we learned that we're still waiting for the first units to leave the building.

We have been told by our partners at Quartermaster Logistics that fulfillment is imminent. The units are all waiting in QML's Orlando warehouse. Every step of the pre-shipping process is complete: boxes are ready, the pick plan is in place, and address lists are up to date. Unfortunately, we're stuck behind another large fulfillment project that will wrap up next week. Because of the "Shipageddon" that has affected the entire industry, fulfillment is backed up across the board.

Today Quartermaster told us that our project would most likely begin by the end of next week, and that they'd hustle to complete it within 7-10 days. Being 100% transparent with you, that's the best information we have right now.

Address Updates

At this point, unless you've changed your address within the past few weeks, there's nothing you need to do. But we have one major clarification on address updates:

•  If you live in the USA or Canada, you should have received an address confirmation e-mail last Friday. If your address has changed, please e-mail them back to update it.
•  If you live in the EU, Australia/NZ, or Asia, you aren't being directly fulfilled by Quartermaster and won't get that e-mail. If you have updated your mailing address since the end of 2020, use this form to tell us your updated e-mail address.

Speaking of international backers, product has arrived as some of the hubs, but is still inbound at others. For example, we expect the games to arrive at the EU/UK hubs sometime next week. As soon as we have confirmation, we'll let you know when fulfillment begins in those zones.

Retail Timing

We hate to disappoint retailers, but Kickstarter backers are our priority for shipping. While we've previously given a February 17 in-store date for Overboss and Vault of Villains, we will keep pushing that back until all US Kickstarter shipping is out the door. We'll be asking our distributors to let store owners know about this delay, and will provide an updated street date when we have one. (Of course, if you're a retailer who backed this campaign, your retailer pledge will be fulfilled at the same time as other backer orders.)

Getting Ready

In the seven months since the end of our campaign, we've shared plenty of gameplay updates and rules previews, so you'll be ready to play as soon as your package arrives. Now we've got a video that brings it all together. Following up on the Classic mode rules, here's a video detailing all the Advanced rules for Overboss.

We love that Aaron and Kevin designed the core game to be something that anyone can play. Even if you're stuck in quarantine with some non-gamers, Overboss is super approachable and easy to teach. But they also did a fantastic job layering in these advanced terrain tiles and gameplay options. It's like getting a game and a big-box expansion all at the same time!

Thank You

Thanks for your patience as we navigate our way through Shipageddon and complete the last step of this project. The wait is frustrating, and at times it seems like we've hit every possible bump in the road. Ultimately, though, we've made a ton of progress and we're almost there. Thank you for your support every step of the way!

Final Pre-Shipping Update
over 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 10:24:25 PM

Greetings, Overbosses! We're now two weeks into 2021, so it's time for some updates on our shipping status.  Every day brings us closer to getting this game into your hands!

This past Monday, the Kickstarter editions of Overboss reached our partners at Quartermaster Logistics. They've scheduled U.S. shipping to begin the week of January 25. We'll provide another update once shipping is underway, but our hope is that US copies will all be shipped by the second week of February.

International shipping is being handled by several fulfillment centers around the world. Territories that require extra sea-shipping will lag slightly, but the overall timeline should still get games into everyone's hands next month.

Currently, we've pushed the US release date for Overboss to February 17, but we may yet push back this date by another week or two. The container containing the retail edition is still stuck in port, and it's also our goal to make sure all US backers have copies before they hit retail.

An Overboss Overview

While you wait for your copy, why not learn the rules? Today we've posted the video instructions. In under 5 minutes, you can use this video to teach anyone how to play Overboss in Classic mode!

If this crash course leaves you with any questions, the full instructions are available on our Overboss Rules page. Before launch, we'll be posting the Advanced and Solo rules videos, too!

Opening the Vault

Boss Monster: Vault of Villains is shipping alongside Overboss, with the same in-store date. So far, we've shared just a couple of peeks at cards from the game (here and here), so here's another one!

Wariah is a scary new boss, the Danger Zone is a great way to train your Minibosses, the Evil Emporium rewards you for luring Thieves, and the Merc Market is the perfect place to frag some heroes. If you're a Boss Monster fan, you're going to have a lot of fun with Vault of Villains.

Stay Tuned

Thanks again for your patience, and keep an eye on your inbox during the next couple of weeks. If everything proceeds as planned, our next update will be to let you know that games are on their way!

New Year's Eve Update
over 3 years ago – Fri, Jan 01, 2021 at 12:25:35 AM

Happy early New Year to you, Overbosses!

Like you, I suspect, I won't be sad to see 2020 in the rearview, and this cursed year seems determined to get a few licks in before it finally goes. This time, I afraid the victim has been our delivery schedule. The ship with our two Overboss containers, which we'd hoped would arrive in port around 12/17, didn't get in until Christmas Day. General slowness and holiday breaks at the Port of L.A. meant that we didn't get access to the first of our containers until yesterday, and with the New Year's holiday, we just found out that our second container won't be available for pick up until Tuesday at the earliest (and that one has the market boards and Kickstarter goodies). So...we're likely not going to have the containers to Quartermaster until the end of next week at the earliest. We'll be expediting everything we can, and delaying the retail street day as long as we need to. I know that isn't what you wanted to hear, but we're moving as fast as fate allows at this point. To give you one bit of good cheer, here are pics of the games we do have on pallets here in L.A., just waiting to be wrapped and shipped.

One thing we did not realize, but should have: you will get an email from Quartermaster right before shipping asking you to double-check your shipping address one last time. If you did encounter a last minute move or address change, this will be your last chance to update. We will not be doing any updates through Backerkit at this point.

Brother One

Address Lockdown Tomorrow!
over 3 years ago – Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 01:16:13 AM

Hi folks,

This is it. We'll be locking down all addresses tomorrow (Sunday the 13th) around 18:00 hours PST. If you have moved, or will be moving before the first week of January, you should update your address in Backerkit. This can be done by logging into your account here.

This is also your first reminder that fulfillment is a long, involved process, and because of the differences in time to ship to the different zones, some backers will get their games before others; sometimes well before others. We promise you we're doing everything we can to expedite fulfillment to all zones.

When the game arrives, we hope you'll agree it was worth the wait. Here's another peek inside... it's looking pretty fantastic!

Thanks again for all your support and patience.

Brother One