Avertigos- A 3D Boardgame with Flying Sail-Ship Miniatures

Shipping Update Final
over 5 years ago – Mon, Nov 12, 2018 at 09:09:20 PM

Ho Avertigos!

The final batch of US Backers should receive the DHL notification about shipment soon. The games have been checked, packed and readied. 

Singapore-based Backers, your games are ready as well and you are welcome to come and pick them up from #08-06, 102F Pasir Panjang. Please drop us a mail at sean[at]playwarestudios[dot]com to let us know your preferred pick-up time. 

Indian backers your shipments will reach you post the Diwali peak traffic. 

A HUGE THANK YOU! to our friends at justsaying.ASIA for graciously providing us the space for processing and shipping Avertigos South China Skies. 

I also want to thank my wonderful family for putting their shoulders to the wheel to help me fulfil my dream. They've put many painstaking days and nights of effort to help me unpack, examine, replace, re-sort and repack the game. 

Its been an emotional journey for all of us.  

With your help and support, Avertigos has come far and there is so much more sky to explore...

As we sail on towards the next instalment of Avertigos, we take great pride in announcing a new project that we have had the opportunity to work on, with a renowned group of Singaporean creatives, One Animation. 

What started with backing Avertigos has resulted in a collaboration that has led to the creation of our new campaign. 

True to the Playware Hobbies design ideals, this game is modular, tactical and scalable. Based on the beloved Oddbods series, this is meant to be a gateway game for new 'board-gamer' families. 

You, the Avertigos backers, will always be our first friends. We cherish this community and we will keep updating you on our progress as we sail on to the next instalment of Avertigos.

Keep the conversation alive fellow Avertigos and as always, do look us up if you are in Singapore.

Love 

Sid 

Shipping Update 3
over 5 years ago – Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 04:08:48 PM

Ho Avertigos,

After about 3 years in the CityLink Warehouse in Pasir Panjang, Playware has moved its offices to Robinson Road.  Our new address is 112 Robinson Road, #13-02 Singapore 068903.

The shift was quick and smooth and the new offices are up and running. Our friends at Just Saying Asia have graciously provided us with space for the re-packing and shipping of Avertigos, which will continue in Pasir Panjang till its conclusion. 

The shipping to Europe, UK, Australia & New Zealand, Asia (excluding Singapore and India) and Canada has been accomplished. We have now started shipping to the US and expect to complete by early next week. 

Thank you once again for all your continued patience and support. 

We will be back with another update soon.  

Regards

Sid

Shipping Update 2
over 5 years ago – Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 12:58:41 AM

Important Advisory for EU, US & Canada Backers 

Dear Backers,

In a variation from our stated logistics plan, we decided to ship the game using an express courier service, DHL, to make up for lost time (with the intent to hopefully pleasantly surprise our backers).

To fulfil the promise of 'friendly' delivery, we shipped the packages DDP (Delivery Duty Paid) to the respective countries. We consulted DHL on the process, clearly working out what each step would require from us and faithfully followed the same

However we have to share some important information;

Some of our backers have received a Notice for Customs Inspection along with their Shipping Notification from DHL. A DHL Customs Agent subsequently contacted them to provide some form of Proof-of-Purchase for verification purposes. The release of the shipment for delivery was made contingent on the production of such proof. This caught our backers by surprise and made them feel understandably stressed and discomfited.

We have been in close contact with DHL Singapore, as well as, the DHL officers in the affected countries and all the scrutinised shipments have since been cleared and have been or are being delivered. 

We have been informed by DHL that these inspections are routine and conducted proactively by DHL 'on behalf of' and 'as required by' the Customs Department of the countries.

If you are in contacted by DHL in relation to your Avertigos shipment, here's what you need to know: 

• The Shipment is DDP (Deliver Duty Paid) and you will incur no charges in connection to it. 
• We declared the value correctly and there is no cause for alarm 
• The BackerKit receipt is adequate Proof-of-Purchase
• PM me and I will assist you with resolving the situation 
• You will not need to provide any personal or credit card details
• Everything can be resolved online and you won't need to physically be present.

We would like to reiterate that this is a just a routine and random inspection. In our experience so far it can be resolved fairly simply and quickly. 

For the time being we are suspending any further shipments while we work with DHL to understand the criteria for these inspections.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. 

Shipping Update 2

Since the last update, with the help of DHL, we have completed shipping to the following countries:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• France
• Italy 
• Lithuania 
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• Sweden 
• United Kingdom 

We hope to resume shipping early next week. 

Warmest Regards  

Siddharth Jain  

Lead Designer  

Playware Hobbies Pte Ltd

Shipping Update 1
over 5 years ago – Mon, Sep 24, 2018 at 08:02:06 PM

Ho Avertigos! 

This weekend Playware was alive with activity. All those months of hard work and we finally got to handle our game.  Everyone chipped in to get things organised. 

Look at the Art work ;)

We cleared out some offices to make space for storage. Workstations were relocated to make enough table space for inspection and repacking.

An impressive 3 out of every 5 boxes of Avertigos South China Sky, First Edition are going out as a custom packed games. As our very first tabletop game (and a big game by any yardstick) every box takes time and effort to reassemble.    

We have looked-at, agonised and argued over every small sink mark, weld line, warping, bubble or flash in the plastic components. If it has made it into the box its because we have put it there. 

Barring any [unlikely] damage from onward transit, we think these variations will make the first edition ships and modules have a distinctive lore and character.   

We have pasted an Unique Identity Number in each box and included a Certificate of Authenticity individually signed by us. 

The following countries in APAC will be getting the first wave of packages:

• Australia
  
• China
  
• French Polynesia
  
• Hong Kong
  
• Israel 
• Japan
  
• Malaysia 
  
• New Zealand
  
• Taiwan
• United Arab Emirates

We will be steadily working in the coming days to make sure everything gets shipped as ordered. Please bare with us for a little more time as we work our way through our lists.

Thank you once again for all your wonderful support and encouragement. 

Warmest Regards

Sid

P.S. If anyone has updates with their mailing addresses or other details please write to us urgently. 

P.P.S. While you wait, here are some glamour shots of each of the reward tiers: 

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Production Update X (Final)
over 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 06, 2018 at 12:17:07 AM

Ho Avertigos! 

We return from our China sojourn bearing sweet tidings. We flew to Shanghai after a port call at Hong Kong filled with anticipation at the idea of finally getting our hands on the physical realisation of months of meticulous labour. The folks from Lijia were graciously there at the Pudong Air Dock to receive us. 

This was the beginning of a fairly long but exciting overland trek. 

Our first stop was their Paper & Wood production facilities at Taixing, a small city of industry a couple of hundred kilometres North-West of Shanghai. This is where we inspected the production run for the cards, meeples, manuals, boards and other apparatus. 

We then travelled 450 kilometres South-East to their Plastics production factory in Ninghai, a city in the Ningbo, Zhejiang province, crossing over the Hangzhou Bay Bridge between Shanghai and Ningbo. Fun fact: Spanning 35.6 kilometres, it is one of the longest bridges in the world.

We have added the pictures from this trip to the production album on the Avertigos Facebook page.    

While we were there, we discussed some issues that cropped up during production. The image below captures some of these issues.

The two most pressing issues were with the decking of the Dynasty Destroyer and the Singasari Patrol Boat. The Destroyer deck had an extra nub (circle 1 above) and a gap at the bow. The nub was not part of our original design but rather an artefact of production. It prevented hull modules from sitting securely. Lijia has rectified it at our request.    

The gap is a confounding issue. The problem is that due to the tapering of the hull and the presence of the socket for the bow module, the forward section of the deck was too fragile and kept snapping off. Despite several production attempts they could not find a way to solve this issue without substantially changing the iconic silhouette of the ship. 

After weighing all the options, we have decided to accept this gap as it is covered when a bow module is put in place. 

On the other hand, something we could not compromise on was the Singasari Boat's deck. The issue was that the slot was too snug. The module had to be forced in and removal consistently pulled the deck up with it, causing the deck to warp. Lijia agreed to do an additional run to rectify this issue. 

We also got to see several other small issues with various production pieces that Lijia had proactively addressed. We are very happy with the final production set.   

Due to the aforementioned issues and their subsequent rectification, the shipment is leaving Lijia works on the 6th rather than the 3rd, and will be on a vessel to Singapore on the 8th. 

We are the last leg of this very fulfilling journey and I just want to thank all of you for helping make this dream come true.

Regards

Sid