As many of you will be aware, we’ve had some big issues with shipping. The reality is that global logistics has had the carpet pulled out from under its feet, then when it falls down it has been soundly beaten round the knees and ankles with a golf club (or other blunt instrument of your choice). We are seeing issues getting ships in and out of port, getting cargo loaded and unloaded and even getting stuff through customs. Between social distancing and lockdowns most ports are operating at a severely reduced capacity and some of them were already understaffed. Just about the only bit of the process that is smooth sailing (pun intended) are the actual sea crossings. 2020 being what it is I expect Kraken attacks to suddenly start being a thing.
The end result of this is that our shipping to the US has been something of a lottery. We have had stock stuck at port and stock unable to be loaded and other stock that couldn't get into port and so instead stayed on the ship whilst it went onto its next destination (the Europe shipment for the Chapter 1 cards ended up in Rotterdam TWICE before it got into the UK). We're getting around this by partly shifting to air freight for some items, but so is everybody else, so air freight prices and availability have been affected. There's less capacity and it is more expensive.
The upshot of all of this is that lead times are very hard to predict right now. Our aim has always been to be transparent and as accurate as we could be with shipping times - we prefer not to say anything until we know with reasonable certainty that we’re not going to be contradicted by events. That's really hard to do right now when those lead times are changing on a daily basis. We can confirm that the outstanding and forthcoming sets are en route to the US. We have airfreighted some backfill for the sets that have been delayed (Officers and Chieftains) and for the sets that should be out the end of this month and in December.
Our current plan for releases is as follows:
First week of December – Stormcloak Chieftains and Imperial Officers
End of December – Draugr Ancients, Draugr Guardians, Dragon and Secret Bonus Set.
End of January – Imperial Reinforcements and Stormcloak Skirmishers
End of February – Skeleton Horde
End of March – Dragon Priest and Word Wall
This may still be subject to change, and UK/EU will see webstore pre-orders and some retail boxes arriving in line with the previous release schedule, as we’d already started shipping some stock here.
The good news is that, starting with the Chieftains and Officers, we will be offering our local shipping from the US as an option for webstore purchases for all sets (once they arrive in the US, that is). This should provide some big savings on shipping for the US and Canada.
In other news, Chris and Gavin ran a Tabletop Simulator game of Call to Arms as part of ModCon last night. Check out our Twitch TV Stream (Around the 4.04 hour mark) from the show to see just how badly two grown men can roll. There may be a few secret reveals as well!