Panzer Strike: Western Front

Update #36
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Feb 17, 2021 at 03:25:44 PM

We are showing another completed batch of miniatures. This time we got them relatively quickly, and there was no scrap.

For the past few weeks, we have been fully committed to completing the production of Age of Dogfights game. We will soon continue working on this project. As soon as something is done, we will publish an update.

Update #35
almost 4 years ago – Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 10:20:58 PM

Workers in the company that produces miniatures, with our help, solved the problem of breaking gun barrels and other parts on the miniatures from the last batch. The problem was in the inadequate sandblasting process. They made replacement pieces that we have already collected.

We received information that samples of new models are ready and we intended to publish their photos in the update. However, we were unable to pick up those pieces before the holidays.

We are posting this update (before we took samples of the new models) at the request of several bakers, because in the meantime this project was referred to on the Age of Dogfights 1 project page. Specifically, the reason was our announcement of a new project - AoD2. Although we did not announce a specific start date for that campaign, some bakers rightly expressed their displeasure that we were announcing a new project without delivering the Panzer games beforehand.

We are aware that our reputation has been called into question due to delays in the production of Panzer games. We have honestly written many times about all the problems and our mistakes that were present from the very beginning. After the total blockade that was at one point, the AoD1 project brought us the much-needed money to be able to continue production. During the previous fall, a lot was done, but not as much as we wanted. Without intending to point out the corona epidemic as an excuse, the fact is that this factor has significantly slowed down the work in the companies we work with. Any pressure on the collaborators to speed up their work had a negative effect - we got scrap elements and thus an additional delay. In the past period, it also happened to us to make mistakes (in prepress) due to the hurry, so we had to throw away some already printed sheets (specifically in the AoD project).

In the past few weeks, we have been focusing on completing game production and expansions for the AoD1 project. The deadline for the start of deliveries is January 2021, and we managed to send the first packages at the end of December. If we were late with the delivery of awards from that project, our already largely shaken reputation would be completely destroyed.

We will soon continue working on the Panzer projects and we will show every progress in updates.

We have already announced some elements as compensation for being late with deliveries. Unfortunately, there is nothing material that can make up for lost time. For each of you individually, it is a poorly invested money (currently), but this delay creates much bigger problems for us, because the survival of the company and our existence is in question. We are truly grateful to all of you who have an understanding for our situation and for not putting additional pressure on us. We fully understand all the questions and dissatisfaction and these public updates are the place where all the problems in this project should be written about. That we have learned a lot from our mistakes is proven by the AoD1 project, which is being implemented according to plan (even in difficult circumstances).

Miniatures production issue
almost 4 years ago – Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 09:46:52 PM

The production of miniatures is going according to the following procedure: first, we send models to the company that 3D prints them in SLS technology to make a test series. We adjust the models according to the result if needed, and then we order the production batch. There are usually a few pieces that are scrap, but that is not a problem because we always order more than necessary. All the series that were done so far were alright, with minimal adjustments to the models after the trial series.

However, in the last series, there was about 30% scrap. Those models that could have been problematic due to their small size and thin guns - are all good, but Flak Pz IV and some similar ones had a high percentage of scrap (broken gun barrel). We are now in the process of determining the cause with the manufacturers and we assume that there was an issue in the sandblasting process.

It was strange to us that the gun barrels that are quite thick (large caliber) broke off. The reason could be that these are on massive bodies (turretless vehicles), so the pieces were damaged by hitting each other during sandblasting, although, this wasn't a problem in the previous series, even for miniatures with thinner guns barrels.

The miniature manufacturer works part-time because they have several more employees who are in isolation (it took them long even to respond to our emails). They announce that they will make those pieces that were scrap again during the next week, with much more manual work (and thus more expensive), and we believe that we will get good miniatures.

In the meantime, we have done a few more models, but they have not been sent for a test, because we are waiting for the previous series to be completely finished.

We are equally committed to all our projects, but due to some earlier mistakes we are now lagging behind in the production of Panzer Strike games. We will continue to work and keep you informed of further progress (with the rulebook and production of miniatures).

"Core" rulebook progress
about 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 03, 2020 at 02:26:26 PM

As we said in one of the last comments, we started the campaign for this project without a prototype, without a written rulebook and without a defined plan for the production of most elements. This was reflected in the fact that the interest of the backers was far less than our expectations. In order to improve the impression during the campaign, we hastily made some decisions. That is why we now have a lot of problems to finally finish production. Between two options: 1) to deliver anything to backers as soon as possible, or 2) to make and deliver a really good game with a delay - we chose this second option. Due to experience in some of our previous projects, we are now very careful in setting deadlines. Rest assured that most of all we want the deliveries to start as soon as possible, but also to make it a great product in the end.

In the past period, we have spent most of our time writing the final version of the rules. In this update, we publish a part of the Core rules - 4 out of 8 pages. The text may undergo some typing and language corrections.

The latest version of rulebook in PDF can be found here:

https://www.gamesforsage.com/ps-wf-rulebook

The last 4 pages of the core rules are in the work, and we will publish them as soon as everything is done. We had already published the Simplified rules during the campaign, but it will undergo some changes in line with some of the improved principles we came up with in the meantime.

The main components from the set are finished long ago (box, board and part of 3d buildings). The final appearance of some smaller components (rulers, protractors, markers ...) will be defined in accordance with the final version of the rules. Our production capacities have been significantly increased after the Age of Dogfights campaign, so that all the elements from the Panzer Strike kit can be done in a short period of time.

In this update, we show plastic pieces made on our 3D printers.

We are continuing work on the project and the next update will show further progress with the rulebook.

Update #32
about 4 years ago – Sat, Sep 19, 2020 at 03:53:03 AM

With a lot of problems and delays, the repairs on the second tool for molded tank pieces were finally completed. Immediately afterwards, all the pieces were cast in two colors. Since the pieces from the first tool were cast much earlier - now we have everything we need and we started making sets. These are the pieces that go in STANDARD boxes.

For the game Panzer Strike Western Front 1, the set was intended to contain 92 cast tank pieces, and the set for the game Panzer Strike Western Front 2 - 102 pieces (super heavy tank, heavy howitzers and recovery vehicle were added). Now we have decided that all sets from project 1 also contain 102 pieces. In addition, we will add over 50 more pieces to each box as compensation for the delay in delivery. In addition to the existing types of vehicles, this addition will also have some completely new ones: an anti-aircraft tank and a truck. Similar compensation will be provided for the PREMIUM version of this game.

As we said in the previous update, we are working on a new version of the rule that will contain all the improvements we came to while working on the Age of Dogfights game. Depending on that, some elements of the set will differ from the announced ones. When we have enough new to show, we will set a new update.

We thank the backers for their patience, I believe that after delivery, everyone will be satisfied with the game.