Dropfleet Commander News - Kickstarter orders being dispatched - Ongoing!

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**str00dles1**

So within the next 3 weeks, they are guaranteeing I am getting my stuff? As far as they have said (and stuck to thus far) no product will be sold to public before KS backers. And they will be selling 40 units of the starter set there.

Good news...I guess? provided I get my massive KS before the 8th. Otherwise I can see this going very bad for hawk

**Silent Puffin?**

daemonish wrote:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dropfleet-commander-pre-launch-event-wayland-games-essex-tickets-27673428971
very interesting.

That doesn't mean anything though given that Hawk's own 'launch' event was very premature.

Hawk has been extremely bad at communication during this phase of their KS, we are now 3 months past the original delivery date and all hawk have said is that they will be sending out pledges "soon" and that they are still waiting on nameless printed items with their last update being 2 weeks ago (which said nothing more than the update in August).

**Zaku212**

Silent Puffin? wrote:
daemonish wrote:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dropfleet-commander-pre-launch-event-wayland-games-essex-tickets-27673428971
very interesting.

That doesn't mean anything though given that Hawk's own 'launch' event was very premature.

Hawk has been extremely bad at communication during this phase of their KS, we are now 3 months past the original delivery date and all hawk have said is that they will be sending out pledges "soon" and that they are still waiting on nameless printed items with their last update being 2 weeks ago (which said nothing more than the update in August).

There was a teaser photo on the FB page today of the activation cards - Maybe that was the printed item?

**Mr Morden**

I am looking forward to seeing this game at retail - love space ship games and looking forward to mixing my new Dropzone ships with my BFG and Babylon 5 warships as I love many of the Hawk designs but equally really dislike others - same with ground forces.

Do we have a date for retails sales?- hoping Element games will have it as not a fan of Wayland.

**Silent Puffin?**

Zaku212 wrote:

There was a teaser photo on the FB page today of the activation cards - Maybe that was the printed item?

If they were then they could at least tell people rather than just post a picture of them...

Mr Morden wrote:

Do we have a date for retails sales?- hoping Element games will have it as not a fan of Wayland.

The end of October allegedly but any date at the moment is basically a guess. Quite a few places have it up for preorder, including Element

Someone at my local club researched sites that had it for preorder:

Spoiler:

**JOHIRA**

The lack of communication is really frustrating. All other factors being equal I'd probably be more excited about DFC than anything else because it's so unique, and if they were better about communication I saw myself springboarding into DZC and trying to start up a group for it. I can forgive delays, I just want to know what's going on and see that the company is involved with me given that I just dropped quite a lot of money on them.

Now I'm a bit gunshy about dropping any more money on a Hawk Wargame, and Operation: Red Veil has captured all my gaming attention.

**Silent Puffin?**

The DFC 'grand tournament' is on this weekend and attendees have apparently been told that everything has now been delivered and they are waiting to get everything packed before they start sending stuff out.

Shouldn't be long now (although I said that in July......)

**daemonish**

I have seen a video of Dave on the Facebook dropfleet group stating this, also some photos of the book in all its glory.

**Krinsath**

The communication has been a let-down, but the product that's been shown has been impressive. Kind of a wash there for me.

Has anyone heard if they're still sticking with the plan for all-courier shipping? I do like clicking refresh on a tracking status page...

**Iron_Captain**

Yeah the communication (or lack thereof) has been really bugging me too. I'd like it if they would keep us better up to date, even if there is no news. Surely if they are still waiting on a print delivery, that means they have time to write a short little message every now and then?

**Silent Puffin?**

Iron_Captain wrote:
Surely if they are still waiting on a print delivery, that means they have time to write a short little message every now and then?

Especially when they are still posting periodic stuff on their instagram account.

**JOHIRA**

Silent Puffin? wrote:

Especially when they are still posting periodic stuff on their instagram account.

I think this aspect of it annoys me more than anything else. I paid money for their Kickstarter, I shouldn't have to search them out in Facebook groups and Istagram just to find out what's going on with them. They have my contact information already, the onus is on them to keep me informed about why they aren't fulfilling their obligations.

**RoninXiC**

I agree. They need to use their kickstarter page to update us backers and not closed facebook groups or gak instagram....

**Silent Puffin?**

RoninXiC wrote:
I agree. They need to use their kickstarter page to update us backers and not closed facebook groups or gak instagram....

They aren't posting any information, just artwork and the like. Someone clearly has the time to do that though so they could easily take the couple of minutes that would be required to post a quick update.

**Compel**

Part of me is thinking that is something like coming from an industry / design background, they probably see wiring an update as an Official Report to Business Stakeholders and so are nervous about the idea of just writing a 'quick' update. Whereas Instagram and things feel more informal.

None the less, I have been playing DZC for a while now, chatted to the Hawk guys at events etc and I really would say I have complete faith in them and, to be honest, despite their small size I really do think they are amongst the most Professional (with a capital P) of miniature game companies out there.

**Davor**

Looks like someone is learning to be like GW of old. How sad we can say GW communicates more with their customers than Hawk War-games.

**Gasmasked Mook**

I definitely understand the desire to know as much as possible about a product you are really excited about but I also understand why they don't send update after update saying "still no news but hopefully soon?" I can imagine the average kickstarter backer would find more to complain about updates that contain two minutes worth of text and no new art or anything else. It makes a lot of sense to hold off on anouncements until you have something substantial to announce.

**UNCLEBADTOUCH**

But there is information, they have just chosen not to bother telling their backers. The communications for the tail end of this project have been exceptionally poor and unprofessional.

**overtyrant**

Meh, I'm not bothered. Quite happy and patient to get any information they chose to share as I know my pledge will arrive soon.

**str00dles1**

overtyrant wrote:
Meh, I'm not bothered. Quite happy and patient to get any information they chose to share as I know my pledge will arrive soon.

I don't doubt I wont get it soon, but people attitudes should be that its pretty crappy of a company to take time to post pics, but not even give a few sentence update. That's the only way people will help change the industry. I paid them quite a lot of money, so until the product comes, I am entitled to regular updates.

I backed rail raiders from Soda Pop, and they give a update usually every week or every other week and they hold by it. Because they do that, ill plan to back more of their KS in the future.

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

A social media count might well be something more people have access to post on within the company than their KS account

so somebody having time to throw a quick photo doesn't nessesarily mean the right person to use the KS account was free to do one

**Dr_Keenbean**

Hawk also had an employee who handled a lot of this stuff leave (amicably) very recently.

**Silent Puffin?**

OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

so somebody having time to throw a quick photo doesn't nessesarily mean the right person to use the KS account was free to do one

It takes literally minutes to post an update. Dave Lewis said on Saturday that everything had now been delivered and packing was underway yet there still hasn't been any form of update from Hawk anywhere.

Hawk's comms have been terrible over the last couple of months. Given that they have missed several 'soft' deadlines now this is exactly the time where they should be telling the world exactly what is happening.

Gasmasked Mook wrote:
I can imagine the average kickstarter backer would find more to complain about updates that contain two minutes worth of text and no new art or anything else.

Not when all those soft deadlines keep rolling by. June, no July, I meant the middle of August, no the end of August.....

Hawk have pushed out an update and apparently it will take 3 weeks for pledges to be delivered.

**nobody**

Kickstarter

52
Printed Material has Arrived!
Posted by Hawk Wargames (Creator)
Dear Fantastically patient backers!
We are able to confirm that we have just received our delivery of printed material. This means that we have begun to pack specific rewards, and will begin to dispatch very soon. In terms of timeframes, we will now do everything we can to get these out as quickly as possible, and can only thank you for your support and faith in us to get us to this point.
The Core Rulebook for Dropfleet Commander has arrived!
The Core Rulebook for Dropfleet Commander has arrived!
We are really happy with the quality of everything we will be sending out to the backers of this Kickstarter, whether that is the Dropfleet Commander Core Rulebook, and of course the rules themselves, through to the Tape Measure in the 2 Player Starter Set.
Matt Lamination and Spot UV on the cover (front, back and spine)
Matt Lamination and Spot UV on the cover (front, back and spine)
The dispatch process should take an estimated 3 weeks due to the quantity of shipments and collections, though we have organised extra vehicles in advance to ensure we get shipments out as quickly as possible, and with as high a quantity as possible. During this period we will endeavour to get back to you quickly about questions you might have, though we have planned to utilise some of our brilliant office team for extra shifts at our warehouse and dispatch centre.
224 Pages of image and text rich content in the Dropfleet Commander Core Rulebook
224 Pages of image and text rich content in the Dropfleet Commander Core Rulebook
We will be showing a full break down of every item that was a reward over the coming weeks, so that you know what will be coming your way, and we will be sharing more about key Dropfleet Commander events that we have planned for the retail launch and during the rest of this year!
Autumn Invasion 2016 was our largest Dropzone Commander Tournament to date!
Autumn Invasion 2016 was our largest Dropzone Commander Tournament to date!
Thank you to all of those who turned up to our Autumn Invasion 2016 two day tournament. It was a great success, and we really appreciated all those who visited us for the open weekend too. The attendance was the highest ever for a Dropzone Commander Tournament, and the representation for the tournament included the USA, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and of course, the UK! Dates for Invasion 2017 will be out soon, along with a date for our first (Invasion sized) Dropfleet Tournament in 2017 too!
Thank you to all of you who have supported us to get to this place. Not long now... back to packing!
Kind regards
The Hawk Wargames Team.

Some of the duplicates text is referring to pictures in the email.

**Compel**

Everyone happy now?

**JOHIRA**

Compel wrote:
Everyone happy now?

Happy? They're saying with packing will take 3 weeks. With international shipping it could be another 2 weeks before my product arrives. That means that means we're talking a Kickstarter that could deliver in the end, what, 4 months late for me? No, I'm not happy.

I'm at least satisfied that I'm not being completely scammed. Plus since Operation: Red Veil arrives in a week I'll probably be distracted enough to not complain anymore. But that doesn't make me happy with Hawk.

**Killionaire**

4 months delay is actually well within tolerances for this sort of thing. Given that it appears to be of top quality, I suggest you really consider how atrocious 90% of tabletop kickstarters are.

Most of them are YEARS delayed. And with substantially lower quality than promised. OR shithole rules. I'd also question the use of 'scammed', when gak like Robotech exists.

DFC by comparison is nearly perfectly executed in comparison.

**Iron_Captain**

Compel wrote:
Everyone happy now?

*pouty face* I won't be happy until I have my stuff.

**str00dles1**

Killionaire wrote:
4 months delay is actually well within tolerances for this sort of thing. Given that it appears to be of top quality, I suggest you really consider how atrocious 90% of tabletop kickstarters are.

Most of them are YEARS delayed. And with substantially lower quality than promised. OR shithole rules. I'd also question the use of 'scammed', when gak like Robotech exists.

DFC by comparison is nearly perfectly executed in comparison.

I will agree that there are many crap table top minis games (everything Mantic does, Robotech) Scammed is a bit to far, since I will be getting the product I paid for (hopefully they pack it all right)

BUT no, I'm not happy. The mindless worker ant thinking of just "accepting things how they are because...that's how its been" is crap. That thinking lets a company do it again...and again...and again because they know people will pay, they can be late, and they don't need to care about backlash. Its insane to read comment after comment about ANY kickstater of people going "well its late so its ok and I know ill love it!"

I love Dropzone Commander, and Simons a good person, (as I'm sure the others are as well) but its no excuse to be late. I don't care how good the models look, or how well written and balanced it is. If you give a date, you stick by it. I hope they never do a KS again, as its better just to wait until retail release. Everyone is going to be buying it same time us KS backers get it anyways (or before hand in some cases)

The delay also had nothing to do with the rules, or models. It was all on just getting the rulebook printed. So even more reason this is crap

**nobody**

Honestly I'm glad it's late. If it came out right around the timeframe that was initially quoted, it would have run headlong into Warmachine and Hordes MK3, which is pretty heavy in my area. I wouldn't have had a chance to demo any games with the starters.

A few months later and people have cooled a bit on WM/H which gives me some wiggle room.