BattleTech 'Mercenaries' Kickstarter - EU WRAPS UP, WAVE 4 NEWS (UPDATE #130)

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**Gimgamgoo**

Dysartes wrote:
Isn't it the case that their store is buggy when it comes to international shipping, with the general guidance being to contact CGL Customer Service so they can manually do something about it?

Not saying that's a good thing, but at least it is a known issue with a workaround.

I wanted the Alpha Strike rulebook when they actually had it in stock. £32, with postage being £118 to my UK address.
I contacted them, but never heard a thing back.

**Ghaz**

From the BattleTech Forums

Tuesday Newsday Episode 1 wrote:-Any update on European webstore? They hired a part-time salesperson who also works for PSI after Gencon, he's been working with international contacts to try and improve the situation, but it's slow.

Tuesday Newsday Episode 12 wrote:Talon talked about the International shipping issues.
-Everything ships from the US, so they had to find regional warehouseing and shipping partners. While that's not necessarily hard to do, it can be very hard to integrate their stock management with the webstore's one. Talon has been working with Shopify to try and resolve this, and in the middle of all this Shopify changed some back-end stuff and the CGL store is non-complaiant, so they need to fix that as well. Talon is in the process of designing a new compliant website. There are about 1400 SKUs between BattleTech and Shadowrun, and improving search and index for them is a priority for the new store, so hopefully with all this in place they'll be able to properly integrate everything and be able to do print runs specifically to go the the regional hubs when they go live.
-It took an excessive amount of time to find a partner who can do everything they need for the integrated store, they're working on small details and features now.
-They're using a third-party search feature which fell apart under the pressure of the store's size, apparently the Shopify theme they chose didn't have an integral search feature! The new Shopify compliant site will have integral search.
-Front end/back-end integration is one of the major hurdles to cross to getting international shipping sorted, once that's done they can start signing deals with warehouse/shipping partners.
-VAT is still an ongoing issue they're working on, but it's outside Talon's remit.
-Wholesale to stores is on the horizon, it's also waiting on the webstore upgrade. They tried with the current store and the shopify compliance issues wound up negating a lot of work Talon had done.

Tuesday Newsday Episode 20 wrote:-Any plans to fix international shipping from the Webstore? They're still working on it, ongoing issues with red tape, they're close to signing deals with distributors.

So yes, they are trying to make the store more friendly for both US and International shoppers.

**BrookM**

Would be nice, but it sounds like one of those "it'll get sorted eventually" things. BT stuff isn't as easy to get around here and paying close to €200 in shipping is not exactly great either.

**kodos**

never ordered directly and they are not the only company having problems with international shipping

that said, availability of BT stuff from German/Austrian shops is good in general, certain things sell out fast and takes a while for restock but not long enough to pay the extra shipping from CGL

**Ghaz**

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**Ghaz**

\From the BattleTech Forums:

Lorcan Nagle wrote:Episode 21.
July 23rd 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsj5jvAdXhk
Guest: Michael Ciaravella. Events coordinator, CDT Lead, Author.

News:
-Products intended to be on sale at Gencon:
Second Star League Assault Lance, Universe (regular version only), Force Manual: Davion, RecGuide IlClan Volume 2, Con-exclusive BattleTech and Shadowrun Dice trays and dice sets. Mercenaries Paint Set might be at GenCon

Upcoming retail/web releases:
August: RecGuide IlClan 2, The Corps reprint, A Skulk of Foxes (general release of the Kickstarter fiction)
September: BattleTech Universe, Force Manual Davion, Mercs paint set

Kickstarter update:
-Rem was on a call with QML earlier. A Backer update should hopefully be out later tonight
-VAT has been secured in the UK and EU, there is one more document to clear in the UK
-All hubs that have their stock are due to have in understock reports in by Monday. Once they have their shortage lists the remaining material will need to be shipped, this will take 2-4 weeks to complete depending on how much is missing.
-Domestic shipping is about 6,000 people in right now. Anyone who paid their shipping before May 17th is in the list to be shipped now.

Planned Gencon events

-The CGL footprint is different this year. They’re still in the convention centre but they have a Catalyst corner. There will be fewer tables but more events, they had a lot of empty tables at any given time in prior years. They’re still one of the biggest spaces at the con. The Shadowrun room is the same space as always.
-The VWE Pods will be at the CGL booth. Events may include a Masters and Minions pod game and an Urbie Derby
-BattleTech events:
-Bootcamp
-Alpha Strike Academy
-Grinder
-Open tournament
-Solaris Melee Challenge
-Championship Circuit
-Alpha Strike 350 Singles and Doubles
-Escalation
-Grand Melee
-Raise the Flag
-Missions
-Painting classes
-Trial of Bloodright, this year’s Bloodname is Kerensky
-Feature Event
-James Kirtley will be running some Encounters: BattleTech games
-Masters and Minions - they have added more Masters and will have a small number of tickets on-sale at the con. They might be first come, first serve or they might do a lottery, to be confirmed.
-Author signings in the booth on Friday and Saturday

Q&A:
-Will Mike be bringing his Gray Watch Lance to the con? Maybe, maybe not.
-How much extra space will CGL have at Adepticon next year? It will be a much larger space, negotiations are underway.
-When will we get “Wonderful Things, the Michael Ciaravella Podcast?” When he was time (This was an in-joke about Mike repeating the phrase a lot at Adepticon)
-Any word of Aces at Gencon? It’s still being worked on, Rem got to play it at Origins, it won’t be an event at Gencon though.
-Will there be live streaming at Gencon? No. The numbers weren’t worth it because a lot of the stream audience is at Gencon. Instead they’re going to record let’s plays, interviews and panels at the con and release them over time. Mike talked about wanting to show off the tournaments and other events happening at the con
-There have been worrying reports about Kickstarter products showing up on Amazon? There were issues with the street dates on Amazon, this has been updated and will be covered by the upcoming Kickstarter update.
-Will regional hubs begin shipping even while they’re short stock? That’s a QML/Regional partner decision.
-Will the longer delays for non-US shipping mean there won’t be two waves? Also a QML/regional partner decision
-What companies are handling regional distribution? GamesQuest has been mentioned for UK/EU, they’re hesitant to mention any others because all customer service is meant to be coming through QML
-Any news on Voidbreaker? It should be out Q1 2025
-When will the Twycross/Misery neoprenes be out? .Tentatively Q2/3 2025
-Any news on the Succession Wars board game? Stll being worked on.
-Will we see more events at Game Hole Con? Yes, this will be the first year they have a booth, there’ll be special guest games with RJ Thomas and Jason Hardy.

**Flinty**

“That’s a QML decision”

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaame. Talk about passing the buck.

**deleted20250424**

Anyone who paid their shipping before May 17th is in the list to be shipped now.

I'll believe it when I see it.

I doubt their definition of "now" is the same as mine.

**Altruizine**

Does anyone know if they sell their Challenge Coins at conventions/Gencon?

Mid-kickstarter I would have listed the coins in the "useless merch I'd gladly cut from my order" category, but after receiving the two I grudgingly selected I kind of like them as objective tokens. But ~5 would be a better count than 2 for me to actually use them for that.

Probably can't get the Mercenaries coins there even if they sell other coins, right? The sets of coins are exclusive to each KS?

**Ghaz**

I think the OP is broken, so I'll just post this here for now:

EDIT: 7/23/24: UPDATE #96

International and Domestic Fulfillment Update

Hey there backers,

We met with QML today, and here is where everything stands.

International Shipping
VAT has been secured for the UK and EU. We are waiting on one more document to clear for the UK.
Hubs are counting inventory and providing understock/shortage reports (due Monday)
Then, final shipments for any stock shortages will be sent to each hub. Shipments will take 2-4 weeks depending on location and size of shipment
Once that is complete, regional fulfillment begins

Domestic Shipping
Approximately 6,000 orders are completed. About 1/3 of the total orders that have been provided to QML as part of the first segment have shipped.

QML Assistance
QML is getting hundreds of emails asking about the status of individual orders. They are unable to provide shipping time estimates for specific orders
Before reaching out to QML, please make sure you’ve locked your order and you’ve paid for your order AND shipping within BackerKit.
You will receive an address verification email from QML prior to your order shipping AND you will receive a tracking email once it has shipped. (likely from shipping@qmlogistics.com)
If you paid for your order and shipping in Backerkit by July 2nd, QML has your order. If you paid after July 2nd, Catalyst will give QML your order once first segment fulfillment is closer to completion. This can be the reason that QML may report they cannot find your order.
Segment 1 fulfillment includes all orders fully locked and paid (including shipping) on or before May 17th. If you paid after May 17th, your order will be included in the second segment of fulfillment, which will begin shortly after completion of the first.

Cookbook
It was recently reported that a majority of the recipes in the soon-to-release BattleTech Cookbook were compiled from internet sources. This is correct. The contractor assembling the cookbook relied on relaxed copyright protection concerning internet-published recipes. Our own investigation into this turned up a lot of confusion and uncertain procedure, but at the very least our preference would have been to publish a credits/source listing as part of the copyright page.

While this has been corrected in our ebook version of the BattleTech Cookbook, it was missed on the print version. Still, we are frustrated by this oversight. As such, Catalyst Game Labs will donate all profits from this product among several charitable organizations.

We are grateful to the community for its understanding and ongoing support.

Audiobook Releases
Audiobooks will be released via the Catalyst Online Store in the coming days. All backers receiving them will be sent instructions on how to claim these in your email. We will let you all know about this process once it is finalized, so that backers can claim Close Quarters as well as the other Audiobooks to come.

Amazon
It was brought to our attention that one of the Mercenaries Forcepacks was temporarily available on Amazon last week. The street date was listed incorrectly, and has been fixed. It is now available for pre-order only. Our team is partnering with our distributors to make sure all other street dates are correct and will not be available through Amazon until after Kickstarter completion. According to our distributor, only 13 individual forcepacks were purchased before the problem was corrected.

Thank you all for your continued patience and support!

**Flinty**

Altruizine wrote:
Does anyone know if they sell their Challenge Coins at conventions/Gencon?

Mid-kickstarter I would have listed the coins in the "useless merch I'd gladly cut from my order" category, but after receiving the two I grudgingly selected I kind of like them as objective tokens. But ~5 would be a better count than 2 for me to actually use them for that.

Probably can't get the Mercenaries coins there even if they sell other coins, right? The sets of coins are exclusive to each KS?

Ive seen a lot of references to CGL selling off spare merch stock off at conventions, but I think it’s unlikely that they will be doing so for Mercs merch at anything in the near future due to so few backers having received their stuff yet. They have had to apologise already for early releases of a couple of things by their distribution chain. If they just start selling stuff before it gets to backers then there would be quite a bit of backlash.

Now I don’t know actually what impact such backlash would be given the absorption of eye watering shipping fees by the backers and the general lack of apparent caring by CGL, but they might moderate their behaviour a bit for things under their direct control.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
They might be selling Clan coins though, so if you are going anyway worth checking out. The Clans coins would be uncoloured though.

**Ghaz**

The Clan Invasion challenge coins are for sale on the Catalyst Game Labs web store. Note that these are not enameled, as the black enameled coins were exclusive to the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.

**Ghool**

So according to their own update, I should be in wave 1 shipment, as I cleared up my shipping by May 13.
I have yet to even get an address confirmation from QML. There have been others in my area that have already received their pledges.
So what gives?

**Alpharius Walks**

Ghaz wrote:
The Clan Invasion challenge coins are for sale on the Catalyst Game Labs web store. Note that these are not enameled, as the black enameled coins were exclusive to the Clan Invasion Kickstarter.

They still have a supply of the enamel ones that they sell at cons. I bought a couple at LVO from their booth in January.

**Flinty**

Ghool wrote:
So according to their own update, I should be in wave 1 shipment, as I cleared up my shipping by May 13.
I have yet to even get an address confirmation from QML. There have been others in my area that have already received their pledges.
So what gives?

Wave 1 consists of about 10k people, and they are only averaging a couple of thousand a week. Just need to wait. I find being snarky about CGL on the Kickstarter comments to help the time pass

**chaos0xomega**

Well they got through 6k so far, so if they are doing 2k/wk and there's 10k total then we can't be more than 2 wks out

**Wasteland**

Ghool wrote:
So according to their own update, I should be in wave 1 shipment, as I cleared up my shipping by May 13.
I have yet to even get an address confirmation from QML. There have been others in my area that have already received their pledges.
So what gives?

Domestic Shipping
Approximately 6,000 orders are completed. About 1/3 of the total orders that have been provided to QML as part of the first segment have shipped.

So I would guess that just means you're part of the 12,000 they're working on now.

**Kalamadea**

Paid/confirmed shipping back on may 1st. Got an email on july 2nd to confirm-confirm that "yes, this is indeed my address to ship to". Pledge didn't actually ship out until july 19th from Florida w/ tracking, got an email from QML with the tracking info and also a text notification from Fedex since I have an account. Fedex tracking shows it to be on the delivery truck for later today, should be waiting for me when I get home tonight.

Seen a lot of posts from people that have already received theirs, so I don't know how indicitive my own shipping will be for others in the US

**deleted20250424**

Flinty wrote:
Ghool wrote:
So according to their own update, I should be in wave 1 shipment, as I cleared up my shipping by May 13.
I have yet to even get an address confirmation from QML. There have been others in my area that have already received their pledges.
So what gives?

Wave 1 consists of about 10k people, and they are only averaging a couple of thousand a week. Just need to wait. I find being snarky about CGL on the Kickstarter comments to help the time pass

It's more than 10k.

They said they've shipped 6k, about 1/3rd, of Wave 1 which means it's closer to 18k.

**Platuan4th**

Altruizine wrote:
Does anyone know if they sell their Challenge Coins at conventions/Gencon?

They had them at LVO, so yes.

**Flinty**

TalonZahn wrote:
Flinty wrote:
Ghool wrote:
So according to their own update, I should be in wave 1 shipment, as I cleared up my shipping by May 13.
I have yet to even get an address confirmation from QML. There have been others in my area that have already received their pledges.
So what gives?

Wave 1 consists of about 10k people, and they are only averaging a couple of thousand a week. Just need to wait. I find being snarky about CGL on the Kickstarter comments to help the time pass

It's more than 10k.

They said they've shipped 6k, about 1/3rd, of Wave 1 which means it's closer to 18k.

18k is all of the US and Canada, based on the Kickstarter community stats. I’m willing to believe they have shipped 6k so far, but I guess I just don’t believe any of their other stats really. CGL just say stuff, and QML don’t really care. I may be feeling all rather cynical about the thing at the moment.

**Ghaz**

Flinty wrote:
18k is all of the US and Canada, based on the Kickstarter community stats.

That number does not cover any of the late backers who joined after the Kickstarter campaign was over.

**deleted20250424**

• Approximately 6,000 orders are completed. About 1/3 of the total orders that have been provided to QML as part of the first segment have shipped.
QML Assistance
• QML is getting hundreds of emails asking about the status of individual orders. They are unable to provide shipping time estimates for specific orders
• Before reaching out to QML, please make sure you’ve locked your order and you’ve paid for your order AND shipping within BackerKit.
• You will receive an address verification email from QML prior to your order shipping AND you will receive a tracking email once it has shipped. (likely from shipping@qmlogistics.com)
• If you paid for your order and shipping in Backerkit by July 2nd, QML has your order. If you paid after July 2nd, Catalyst will give QML your order once first segment fulfillment is closer to completion. This can be the reason that QML may report they cannot find your order.
• Segment 1 fulfillment includes all orders fully locked and paid (including shipping) on or before May 17th. If you paid after May 17th, your order will be included in the second segment of fulfillment, which will begin shortly after completion of the first.

It's literally in their update on KS.

**Flinty**

Yeah, I just don’t believe it very much. CGL haven’t got the foggiest idea of what is actually going on as they seem to have no real oversight of the process, and QML have no incentive to be particularly accurate/truthful.

I mean a few weeks ago all the books and models and merch were at the local hubs, oh except for the books that will turn up later, and actually now they are not sure if they have all the stuff at the hubs because they are only now clearing customs and need another few weeks to identify and rectify understocks.

**deleted20250424**

Hey, at least they updated the PDF Cookbook to credit sources and are going to donate all profits from *this* product among "several charitable organizations".

**Shadox**

Flinty wrote:
Yeah, I just don’t believe it very much. CGL haven’t got the foggiest idea of what is actually going on as they seem to have no real oversight of the process, and QML have no incentive to be particularly accurate/truthful.

I mean a few weeks ago all the books and models and merch were at the local hubs, oh except for the books that will turn up later, and actually now they are not sure if they have all the stuff at the hubs because they are only now clearing customs and need another few weeks to identify and rectify understocks.

Yeah, at this point I'm pretty pissed. Why didn't they do the inventory of the stuff that was at the hubs while waiting for the missing goodies?

**Ghaz**

Shadox wrote:
Yeah, at this point I'm pretty pissed. Why didn't they do the inventory of the stuff that was at the hubs while waiting for the missing goodies?

Here in the US, you don't get your shipment until any applicable duties and taxes have been calculated and paid. If they just 'secured VAT' (whatever that actually means) for the UK and EU then they most likely couldn't do an inventory any earlier.

**Shadox**

Ghaz wrote:
Shadox wrote:
Yeah, at this point I'm pretty pissed. Why didn't they do the inventory of the stuff that was at the hubs while waiting for the missing goodies?

Here in the US, you don't get your shipment until any applicable duties and taxes have been calculated and paid. If they just 'secured VAT' (whatever that actually means) for the UK and EU then they most likely couldn't do an inventory any earlier.

If I'm understanding what you are saying correctly (many similar sounding terms with slightly different meanings in both languages; having almost no direct contact with tariffs anymore thanks to the EU) this is true here in Germany for tariffs but not for VAT, which is payable after the sale if you are a residential company and they have a service partner in the EU and as they were only mentioning the VAT, I didn't assume tariffs were still a problem.
And if they are getting it piecemeal like they seem to, they would have to pay the tariffs per shipment anyway (people with insight in these kind of procedures should correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), so my point was just that they should have started with the stuff they already had.

My ire just comes from a lingering feeling of disregard for the international market, as it looks now wave 1 of the American deliveries will be finished before ours even gets started and the aussies even get a timetable for theirs... and I mean the stuff with the shipping in the online store is known for literally years now and we don't know if that has moved forward at all...

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

I'd imagine the shipping firm wouldn't have wanted to touch anything until everything had (at least theoretically) arrived,

as once containers are unpacked, pallets of stuff split open etc it starts taking up a lot more space and they'd want it out of their warehouse as fast as possible

**Ghaz**

Shadox wrote:
Ghaz wrote:
Shadox wrote:
Yeah, at this point I'm pretty pissed. Why didn't they do the inventory of the stuff that was at the hubs while waiting for the missing goodies?

Here in the US, you don't get your shipment until any applicable duties and taxes have been calculated and paid. If they just 'secured VAT' (whatever that actually means) for the UK and EU then they most likely couldn't do an inventory any earlier.

If I'm understanding what you are saying correctly (many similar sounding terms with slightly different meanings in both languages; having almost no direct contact with tariffs anymore thanks to the EU) this is true here in Germany for tariffs but not for VAT, which is payable after the sale if you are a residential company and they have a service partner in the EU and as they were only mentioning the VAT, I didn't assume tariffs were still a problem.
And if they are getting it piecemeal like they seem to, they would have to pay the tariffs per shipment anyway (people with insight in these kind of procedures should correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), so my point was just that they should have started with the stuff they already had.

My ire just comes from a lingering feeling of disregard for the international market, as it looks now wave 1 of the American deliveries will be finished before ours even gets started and the aussies even get a timetable for theirs... and I mean the stuff with the shipping in the online store is known for literally years now and we don't know if that has moved forward at all...

From what I can tell, the European Union does have tarriffs which would still be practically the same situation. (i.e., you don't get your shipment until any applicable duties and taxes have been calculated and paid.).