D.E.I. - Divide et Impera

Shipment Update #2
about 2 years ago – Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 07:47:41 AM

Hello, guys!

We are sorry for the delay for this update, we wanted to give you with certain news regarding the D.E.I. shipment and the confirmations we were waiting for have only arrived during the last two weeks.

As you know we were looking forward to an improvement on the insane shipping rates. Despite what was estimated by our logistic consultants, the post-Chinese New Year period did not bring significant improvements on the situation of sea transport from China and the prices of the containers have remained more or less the same, and as you can imagine the current world scenario, with the spike in oil costs, not too many reassurances for the near future.

Mass production has already been completed, but given the uncertain shipping situation, we didn't push the factory to carry out the final assembly of the boxes, simply to avoid to pay additional expenses for storage of ready goods.

From the latest assessments made, we have decided, despite the additional costs that this will entail, to proceed with the booking of ships destined for North America, Europe, and Australia.

The factory has already started the last phase of assembly and close boxes, which will take few days to complete.

Our goal is therefore to have the goods leave China by April, we just need the time necessary to find the availability of the ships and proceed with the loading. We are currently merging shipments of Dungeonology and D.E.I.  to increase our negotiating power and have more guarantees to block the containers we need.

For Asia, times will be shorter, given that VFI ASIA will pick up the goods directly from the factory and will proceed to fulfill at their first time window available.

As soon as we have the confirmations from our shipping partners, we will notify you of the names of the ships and the dates of departure.

We thank you again for your support and patience!

Shipment Update!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Dec 22, 2021 at 05:59:25 PM

Hello, Survivors!

It's finally time to start talking about Expeditions!

We apologize if we have delayed a bit for the publication of this update but to collect useful information to give you precise information required more time than expected.

First of all, a quick update on production. At the moment the factory is finishing the printing of the Rulebooks and we hope that everything will be completed soon.

Last week we released our WEB APP where you can read and download the rulebooks of the basic box and all the DEI expansions. At the moment there are only the languages ​​ITA, ENG, and the GER version of the core rulebook created by Pegasus Spiele, which will distribute the DEI retail version in Germany in 2022. Don't worry, we will soon load all the other languages!

So you can start reading all the DEI rules right now and be ready to play as soon as you receive your long-awaited game!

Speaking about shipments, as anticipated in the last updates, we are well aware that the situation of sea transport from China is experiencing the worst crisis in its history, and we are unfortunately facing the same difficulties that all publishers are facing at this moment.

In addition to the scarce availability of ships, once we have received the quotations with an incredible and senseless increase in container prices.

Since the production of DEI is not yet completely finished, we can share with you (in total transparency) the quotation we received for the shipment of the Dungeonology Wave 2, essentially the container that until 2020 had a cost of about 2,000 dollars, is now proposed for around $ 20,000.

This is the exact quote DHL received for Dungeonology wave 2 ten days ago:

Shenzen to USA 20 '+ 40' € 40000

Shenzen to EU 40 '+ 40' € 36000

Shenzen to ITA 40 '€ 18000

With these figures, the fulfillment of Dungeonology, also considering the increase in individual shipments managed by the various fulfillment centers, would generate a loss of over € 100,000 compared to the budget.

For DEI, despite having fewer backers than Dungeonology, we must expect a proportionate loss of equally significant impact.

We were and are aware of the change, and we are ready to accept a loss of margin to manage shipments anyway, but at the current level, the increase is so abnormal as to become unsustainable for us.

DHL, our sea freight partner, has informed us that this situation will remain similar at least until June 2022, but a slight improvement is expected immediately after the Chinese New Year (therefore from February) when the prices, while remaining extremely high, should fall and the loss becomes somewhat sustainable.

To give you an idea of ​​the "game" in progress, we attach here a report (source DHL), on the growth of the profits of the shipping companies:

For all these reasons, with enormous regret, we are forced to estimate that as for Dungeonology, also for DEI the departure of the containers for Europe and North America cannot be carried out before February 2022.

It goes without saying that this is not good news for us: not only are we forced to ask you to have more patience before receiving your beloved game,  furthermore, since we do not have the goods, we are also forced to delay the release on the Retail market, scheduled for the start of 2022.

This situation will not affect backers located in Asia. Being able in this case to bypass sea freight, VFI Asia will start direct fulfillment shortly, probably by January 2022. Also for Oceania, there is a good chance that sea freight will be carried out as early as January 2022, given that the situation pricing for transportation is more manageable. We will update you as soon as we have positive feedback from our partners.

That's it for now, the next 2 months will be crucial for DEI's delivery, what we can do is promise we will keep you updated.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We truly appreciate it.

We just have to wish you a Happy Christmas! Let's hold on, this is the last big obstacle for the arrival of DEI on your tables!

For the Awakening!

P.S. Below you can enjoy a little gallery with the production progress of various items

Production Update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 03, 2021 at 11:44:45 PM

Hello, Survivors!

We apologize if it has been longer than normal since the last update but the Spiel'21 has kept us busy for almost the whole month and we wanted to have substantial news on the state of production to be able to give you precise news!

First of all, we would like to give you a small report on Spiel'21 which saw our beloved DEI among our demo tables!

During the 4 days of the convention, we let dozens of players play DEI, many Backers but also many players who did not know the project but who remained intrigued by the scenic effect of the table which with its 3D Game Board and its components is actually very nice to see!

We have received a lot of positive feedback both for the refined game design and for the quality of all the material which has also impressed many European publishers who have shown a lot of interest in publishing the retail version of DEI (meeple version). We may soon have big news on this front, which will surely lead to an improvement in the quality of the translations of the downloadable manuals we have promised.

In addition to the demo we also showed the full range of Meeples and Miniatures which, as you know, we are extremely satisfied with!

After this little preamble, let's move on to what interests you most, namely the state of production.

At the moment all the material (tiles, miniatures/meeples, cards 3d elements, and punchboards) is in the final phase of mass production and, with a slight delay compared to what was announced in the last update, we hope that all the work will be finished by November.

Considering that normally within the mass production process, rulebooks are the last thing printed, we are taking advantage of this delay to have the English manuals undergo a final revision to further improve the final quality.

After a small preview on our Discord channel, where the guys from the community have provided us with valuable feedback, we can present you the practically definitive version of the Core Game Rulebook.

You can download it here, and we will be happy to receive your advice and criticism as well. We reserve a short period of feedback to make the latest changes before going to the print.

By mid-November, we plan to make the Expansion Rulebooks available to you, so that you can finally discover all the work done to expand the game in an almost infinite way!

Within two weeks we will have all the data from the factory that will allow us to proceed with the booking of the ships for transport in the 4 hubs from which the final phase of the fulfillment will start.

Given the times and the current problems for shipping by sea from China, it is realistic to think that the boxes will arrive in the hubs no earlier than January 2022.

We want to reassure you that in no case LMS will ask for additional shipping costs to the Backers of this project and that it is our intention to leave the goods ready as soon as possible, even if the shipping costs will be higher than originally expected.

That's all for today! We give you an appointment in about 2 weeks for a new update and new information on the status of the work.

For the Awakening!

Production Update!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 12:40:13 AM

Hello Survivors!

Welcome to a new update dedicated to the state of the production of our beloved DEI.

As we had announced to you in August Update, today we are able to give you more detailed information on timing, to give you more certain dates for the end of production and the start of fulfillment.

The production of miniatures and MEEPLE is proceeding, and as you can see from the images we have just received the definitive Miniature samples, finally even with the colors with which they will be printed and who will distinguish them during a game.

We are very satisfied with the final result, the miniatures make it very good on the playing field, and for those who want to have fun painting them, they will offer a great challenge thanks to the excellent performance rendering, despite the small size.

As you can see we have chosen to put all larger models (Drones, vehicles, etc.) on a transparent base, and now that we have seen them live we are very happy with this choice. On the field, the yield of these models is really fantastic and the transparent base, as well as being very elegant, allows you to enjoy the game board graphics.

We are sure that you will also appreciate this particular feature of our miniatures!

As for the paper materials, we started checking with the factory for the start of the printing of cards and punchboards. For the rulebooks of all the boxes (Core Box, Expansions, and SGS Box) we are completing the latest revisions for the Italian and English versions. We are using more time than expected to complete the latter phase but we want the printed material to have no translation problems and minimize the risk of graphic and typing errors.

After many postponements, we are finally to launch our Web App, which will do as a binder for all the downloadable rulebooks and all our games documents for Errata/FAQ. Soon you will find the ITA and ENG versions of the DEI rulebooks directly on the LMS App and use them both online and offline.

Always on our App, we will load the ESP, FRA, and GER versions for all DEI Rulebooks, which will be available online for when you will receive your pledge.

And we come to the information that probably interests you more: when you receive your pledge?

Technical times of factory production are requiring more time than expected, this is mainly due to the Miniature's small size that requires particular attention, and to other physical elements such as the engineering of 3D tiles forming the Old London map.

Making these premises from the factory gave us a new milestone for the end of production by the second half of October. Given the terrible situation of transport by sea from China we are already looking for solutions that allow us to carry out containers as soon as possible and at sustainable prices for LMS.

We receive many requests for information on possible new shipping costs to be paid for backers, but we want to reassure you that we will not ask for further fees to cover the increase in shipping costs.

We know that you are eager to receive as soon as possible, but we ask you to have another bit of patience, the finish line is not far away now.

As a small spoiler, we anticipate that during the Essen Spiel game convention, in our boot we will have a DEI table and so who of you will participate in the event will be able to try the game and take a look at the final materials!

For today it's all! See you with the next update directly from the Germanic land!

For the awakening!

Green Power!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Aug 29, 2021 at 12:15:13 PM

Hello Survivors!

While this hot summer is nearing its end, the pre-production of the Divide et Impera card material is almost over at last!

At the moment all the Rulebooks for the core box, Stretch goals, and expansions are written and paginated in Italian, and the English translation is in progress. Very soon we will be able to share all the rulebooks with you in order to collect your feedback, but we can tell you that we are very happy with the final result.

All 3d cards, punchboards, and tiles are ready for mass production, while the miniatures are already in print.

In this regard, today we want to show you the material inherent to the faction of the Fauns, both for their playable version and for the Automa version.

As you surely remember, the Fauns are in fact the faction that can be played as an additional bot-player, ideal for solo games, for games with less than 4 players, but also simply to add a little spice to normal games with 4 or more players!

In the following images (taken directly from the White Death box rulebook) you can see the list of materials for this faction, some are used in both modes, such as tokens (B, C, and D) and meeple (A and G).

The Automa is also provided with a special Board (in hard cardboard) to easily manage all its materials in a very similar way to the Pads used by human players. We have the space for Resources (H), the one for the Outposts (L), the Automa card deck (I), and the space where to place the Automa action cards as they are played (M). As you can see the Automa will play more and more cards as the turns advance, becoming more and more dangerous.

And here they are the Automa Action Cards! Each card will allow you to control which action the automaton will perform under a series of conditions. Starting from the top, if conditions are not met, you will have to choose the next action, up to the last action at the bottom, which is always executable.

But also the playable version of the Fauns has some different material than usual. For example, Lilith's Leader card will also occupy the space dedicated to Talents on the player's Pad. This is because Fauns use a different type of Talent, related to the Growth of the Gaea Idol. The Faun action cards are also exclusive!

To conclude this roundup we also show you some pics of both the Fauns models and the Meeple.

We are particularly pleased with the miniature of the Idol of Gaea, a really complex model to make on this scale, but that really left us speechless!

What do you think of this material?

Before saying goodbye some advisement ^ _ ^

A new Rebirth!

As many of you know these days we are engaged in the KS Campaign to finance the production of the new Core box of the Black Rose Wars saga: Rebirth.

This new Core Box continues the story for 25 years, and will see 4 Mages battle it out in the ruins of the Lodge to become its savior and thus be elected the new Great Magister!

Taking up the mechanics of the first BRW, Rebirth is completely compatible with the original game, so much so that you can mix all the materials of both games to increase replayability and variety in your games!

Don't miss your chance to get one of the best games out there and the mountain of extras and Stretch Goals we have prepared for this campaign!

You still have some time for the Pledge Early Bird which will get you the Avatar Jukas (yes that Jukas!)for free!

Take a look at the KS page, it will be worth it!

Black Rose Wars: Rebirth Kickstarter Page

With Divide et Impera we'll see you in a couple of weeks!

For the Awakening!