Hasslefree news and rumors

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**BrookM**

They did not attend, I don't think it would have gone over well if they did.

**Kid_Kyoto**

At this point they should just off store credit and put whatever they have on the store.

It'll be a hit to their credibility but better than a year of promising the pledge manager will be out next week.

**warboss**

Nah, this WILL be the summer of George. This time.

**BrookM**

If the next update will be more of the same, then you know they're in deep gak alright.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Is their store still working OK?

**KidCthulhu**

I don't know; I've been afraid to buy because my last order was like pulling teeth. They even have some new products and I want to give them money. But I don't want to be sending emails for months for something that's already a finished product and shows in-stock on their site.

**warboss**

KidCthulhu wrote:
I don't know; I've been afraid to buy because my last order was like pulling teeth. They even have some new products and I want to give them money. But I don't want to be sending emails for months for something that's already a finished product and shows in-stock on their site.

I've been waiting at this point for years to place my first order and the product that I wanted the most has been memory holed probably permanently and isn't even listed on their website (though my bookmark of the fig URL still works!) and the newer ones from the kickstarter and beyond mostly aren't available either in metal (I think one is available as a premium resin master). It's why I've kept up with the increasing and seemingly never ending drama over the years hoping to finally place an order.

**BrookM**

I got the offer to have my missing metal get upgraded to a resin master for free when I cancelled my order, but in the end I just didn't want to risk it.

**The_Minsk**

I just wondered if anyone had heard anything from Hasslefree recently?

It feels like there is a communication black hole, and it would be interesting to know if people have received an order from them in the last few months.

**Padre**

The_Minsk wrote:
I just wondered if anyone had heard anything from Hasslefree recently?

It feels like there is a communication black hole, and it would be interesting to know if people have received an order from them in the last few months.

Nope, nada. Haven't heard a thing from them in quite a while now.

I figured they'd folded.

**BrookM**

Arty is still around and kicking, he has been doing quite a few Blood Bowl streams on twitch.

**Kid_Kyoto**

BrookM wrote:
Arty is still around and kicking, he has been doing quite a few Blood Bowl streams on twitch.

It's good that he has some way to relive stress as he works hard on the pledge manager.

Sigh.

I do not begrudge anyone relaxing after working hard.

I do not begrudge anyone relaxing while fighting off an illness.

And I like Hasslefree, I do not want to badmouth them.

But...

**The_Minsk**

Is that his other business? Looks like the recordings are pretty bloody long. I guess everyone needs down time but this feels a little wrong to me.

**warboss**

Is that the owner with the health problems or one of the employees? Just to put that into perspective... it's approximately 45 hours worth of Blood Bowl streaming over the past 20 days or, in other words, over a full work week (or almost two full work days a week every week) devoted to BB streaming.

I don't see from a quick check any kickstarter updates nor has anyone posted any progress on the pledge manager during that same time period but admittedly I only casually follow this.

**Robert Facepalmer**

One of the employees, though IIRC Kev started working at GW to get health insurance for Sally.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

If things are running like we suspect they are running Hasslefree may not be making enough to pay full time wages so seeing folk associate with it doing other stuff isn't too surprising

**Jadenim**

Robert Facepalmer wrote:
One of the employees, though IIRC Kev started working at GW to get health insurance for Sally.

Can’t comment on anything else, but that’s not how healthcare in the UK works.

**insaniak**

Yeah, their statement at the time was just that Kev had wanted to sculpt for GW again, and so took the opportunity when it was offered. Although I suspect that the prospect of a stable income, if only on GW wages, was probably also appealing given how hard it things are for small businesses in the UK at the moment.

**Kid_Kyoto**

It may have been the need to cover expenses rather than health insurance per se.

In any case, I wish them the best but this is just destroying their reputation (already shaky) and good will in the community.

**NH Gunsmith**

warboss wrote:
Is that the owner with the health problems or one of the employees? Just to put that into perspective... it's approximately 45 hours worth of Blood Bowl streaming over the past 20 days or, in other words, over a full work week (or almost two full work days a week every week) devoted to BB streaming.

I don't see from a quick check any kickstarter updates nor has anyone posted any progress on the pledge manager during that same time period but admittedly I only casually follow this.

I am so glad I purchased everything from Hasslefree ages ago when I could still reasonably expect my stuff to ship... I would be a bit annoyed at that much time devoted to streaming Blood Bowl (as much as I love it) while the company is still ages behind on everything.

**Robert Facepalmer**

Jadenim wrote:
Robert Facepalmer wrote:
One of the employees, though IIRC Kev started working at GW to get health insurance for Sally.

Can’t comment on anything else, but that’s not how healthcare in the UK works.

Yes, for the most part, though I have been told that the NHS is great for Accident & Emergency but if you are needing regular care from a specialist, it can be lacking.

**Ian Sturrock**

I sent them an email a few weeks back in hopes of getting some kind of update on the KS. In theory it's Sal who looks at emails rather than Arty.

No response.

**Kid_Kyoto**

Such a shame. They really need to pull the plug. Hopefully the great models can find a new home.

**BrookM**

Holy gak, a newsletter..!

The Short Version

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure a lot of people are wondering what's going on here at HF Headquarters,

So the short version is up here, Dameon will write a long version down below.

We're not closed. That's probably the important part. We've been close, well, not to completely closing but to changing this version of HF due to Dameon's illness, we're hoping we have avoided that.

Dameon is back to work. We're posting 3 times a week and if you have an outstanding order, wait a couple of days to see if you get a despatch email as Dameon came back for a few days and pushed a bunch of those outstanding orders out last week.

The Kickstarter is back in production after stalling while Dameon was out of commission. We'll update there separately to this in the coming week.

We do have help again, so its not just the two of us with one of us in England.

Our apologies if this sounds terse, we figured a number of you would prefer to just quickly hear the facts. We'll start updating things like our FB again this coming week and you'll find someone mannning the FB DMs as well.

We'll have a more normal newsletter next week with more details about what happens next both in our main business and the KS.

The Long Version

Allo All,

Alright, this will be long and the majority of you should just skip
The important part for now is above anyway.

If anyone doesn't know I'm sick by now, well, I am.
Oddly, despite having been off work three times this year, and almost dying twice in the past year, I'm actually better than I was when I was living at the warehouse. It's been a very bad case of 'It'll get worse before it gets better.

My long illness tanked my immune system and my body went into a kind of cascade failure. Think of it like aging really fast. I've been unable to walk for a while, that's better. I was unable to use my right hand, that's sort of better, it just hurts a lot to use it now, just typing this part of the newsletter is painful. My vomiting is mostly under control but I am still on a waiting list for my next procedure. I can't sleep, and I can't take anything to help me sleep in case I choke to death. It's been super fun.

I've been sick for such a long time now that I have been close to calling Sal and quitting more than once. If I'd stayed sick for longer each time I would have, I am just up and down. When I'm up I want to come back and fix everything and try to move forward, and then I'm down again. It's been pretty miserable.

My apologies to everyone who has been affected by my illness, it's not something that should have happened. The KS is miserably late, I've been unable to resolve any issues in my uptime well enough to just hand it off to someone else. The release schedule has been non-existent, same reason.

It's been absolutely miserable having plans, and unreleased minis and product, and just being unable to do anything about them. I also cannot react in normal time to issues that arise, like a resin mould breaking or product being delayed. My cover can put out normal orders but is limited in what they can fix problem-wise.

No blame to the NHS for this next part, it's not their fault they have the same budget as an 11yr olds birthday party, I'm just on, and have been through, a 'lot' of waiting lists for procedures and tests.

If I can't stay well, we'll have to change how things are for HF. We'll obviously let everyone know if that is the case. That won't affect anything outstanding, whether a missing order or the KS. Everythign will be resolved.

And a quick note for those who think it's as easy as 'just hire someone else'. If I was well enough to train someone I'd be working myself, and if I did train someone, I'm pretty certain they'd want paying Our money is spoken for, we have the KS money, rent etc put aside. Which is why we aren't closed.

For those unaffected by all this, who read this anyway, what are you doing, go watch a movie or something!

Art.

**warboss**

Which one of the names (if any) mentioned above is the person who is doing all the Blood Bowl streaming out of curiosity? Also, for the folks here in the thread who backed the KS, are you hoping for them to hire another person to fulfill rewards for them or would you feel more inclined to hope that they just sell the whole line/project to another company more able to finish it instead? I don't know if that's a viable option (whether logisitically or personally for them to concede the necessity of it) but figured I'd ask.

**Robert Facepalmer**

Dameon is Artemis Black, the Twitch streamer. He used to talk about his Blood Bowl streams in past Hasslefree updates.

**Undead_Love-Machine**

I wonder how ill you need to be to be unable to answer emails, while still being able to stream yourself playing games on Twitch

**warboss**

Robert Facepalmer wrote:Dameon is Artemis Black, the Twitch streamer. He used to talk about his Blood Bowl streams in past Hasslefree updates.

Thanks as that does make the post alot clearer.

Undead_Love-Machine wrote:I wonder how ill you need to be to be unable to answer emails, while still being able to stream yourself playing games on Twitch

Exactly. I don't think anyone would be raising concerns if the company was fulfilling its obligations (both in the kickstarter as well as simple day to day operations like communicating in a reasonable timeframe with customers beyond just taking further payments) while one of the key people there was streaming a dozen hours a week. If anyone understands that folks occasionally need a fun diversion from real life from time to time to relax, it would be gamers after all. Literally the entire hobby is built around that premise.

**Kid_Kyoto**

At this point I'd have no problem with them cancelling and offering refunds/credit. Surely life-threatening illness is a good reason.

It's the stringing along that irks me.

**TheGenuineMetz**

Kid_Kyoto wrote:
At this point I'd have no problem with them cancelling and offering refunds/credit. Surely life-threatening illness is a good reason.

It's the stringing along that irks me.

I would have a problem with store credit since it seems like they can barely fill orders.