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Age of Dogfights: WW1

Created by Forsage Games

A realistic and dynamic simulation of combat between aircraft from WW1. ____________________________________________________ Shipping fee is calculated by the total weight of items (using customary units - oz). Shipping categories are: <52oz (~1,5kg) = EU: $17 , other: $20 <88oz (~2,5kg) = EU: $20 , other: $25 <123oz (~3,5kg) = EU: $25 , other: $30 <176oz (~5kg) = EU: $35 , other: $40 <282oz (~8kg) = EU: $40 , other: $45 <423oz (~12kg) = EU: $50 , other: $55 423+ = EU: $60 , other: $70

Latest Updates from Our Project:

All the rewards have been sent
almost 3 years ago – Sat, May 15, 2021 at 06:12:35 PM

We sent the last 15 packages today. There are only two large packages of several tens of kg left for retailers, which will be sent in a few days. We will report all tracking numbers in the next 2 days (the weekend).

- Two packages have been stuck on the way to the recipient for weeks (probably lost). We have already sent new packages at our own expense.

- One package was delivered to the wrong address and we sent a new package to the backer at our expense.

- One package arrived completely wet, so the recipient refused to accept it. We sent a new package, and we shared the costs with the backer. This is, for now, the only package that has had any major damage.

- One package came back to us. For now, we have no information as to why the backer did not receive it.

- A dozen bakers from Europe paid some import taxes. In update number 32, we offered compensation in the form of an expansion for this game or the next project. We have already sent packages to all those who have stated that they want us to send them an expansion from this project (of their choice).

- One element was missing in one package - a task zone marker. We sent the missing part in a private letter (weighing 8 grams).

This is only a partial summary, when all packages reach the destinations, we will be able to make a complete analysis.

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The shipping process was time consuming and laborious. We had to solve many problems on the fly. The reduced volume of traffic due to the global epidemic has caused packages to travel longer to their destinations. In some earlier updates, we reported that shipping costs are much higher than we anticipated and charged, mostly because we misjudged the package weights.


However, we are satisfied with the way we have organized ourselves and we are sure that this experience will help us to be more efficient in the next projects.

In the following project we will offer some new variants related to shipping:

1. The production process is such that the basic game is always produced first, and then the expansions. We accept the proposal of some bakers to offer sending packages in two waves - first the basic game, and then expansions and add-ons. So, the bakers will be able to choose whether they want to pay extra for such an option, or they will wait for us to send everything at once.

2. Backers will also be able to choose to pay extra for express delivery (using UPS).

We have received information from our customs that in the future, all packages that we send to Kickstarter backers will have to contain a statement on the basis of which the package is sent (saying that it is a reward for a donation, not a purchase). Such a statement should be a guarantee that the recipients will not pay any import taxes in their country.

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And finally, to remind the bakers that we will soon launch a new campaign - "Age of Dogfights: WWII".


The start may be in late May or early June. The pictures below show boxes of two mini expansions that will be available for free. "Advanced German Aircraft" will be the First Day Gift - everyone who supports our campaign in the first 36 hours will get this mini expansion. "Special German Aerial Weapons" will be a reward for all backers who have supported at least one of our Kickstarter projects so far. Both mini expansions will contain 50 aircraft (tokens) with appropriate control panels.

Expansions and add-ons available at our website
almost 3 years ago – Sat, May 01, 2021 at 09:09:47 AM

Many bakers asked when they would be able to buy expansions or add-ons that they did not order during the Kickstarter campaign or in the pledge manager. As promised, the retail of the game and all expansions starts on our website now.

GAMES AND EXPANSIONS

ADD-ONS


In addition, we offer a new item – plastic bases (stands/tokens) in various colors.

PACK OF 20

PACK OF 100

End of production
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 28, 2021 at 12:23:04 AM

We finally got all the printed sheets from our associates. The assembly is going very fast, since we are already well-coordinated.



Sending packages could continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow (Wednesday and Thursday). In Serbia, May 1 is a national holiday, and Orthodox Easter is on May 2. Therefore, the non-working days are from Friday, April 30, to Wednesday, May 5. We will not be able to send packages during this period.

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In general, we are satisfied with how we organized production in the previous period. Some things could have been better and faster, but we gained experience that will be useful in the next project. We also had many unexpected problems that we solved on the go.

The latest problem is related to our PayPal account and hasn't been solved since March 18. The VISA card through which our PayPal account is linked to our bank account expired in March and we received a new one. It is a routine procedure that we have done several times before. However, when we tried to connect this new VISA card to a PayPal account, we kept getting the answer that the new card was not active. I went to the bank several times, and I always got the answer that the card is active. Only a couple of days ago, the bank admitted the mistake and informed us how to activate the VISA card. We followed the procedure and only recently activated the VISA card, but we still cannot connect it to the PayPal account. Due to previous numerous attempts to connect an inactive card to the account, the automatic system blocked us. They asked us for all kinds of documents, but the problem still exists. All this time we are in trouble, because we cannot dispose of the money that is in our PayPal account. We can pay bills abroad, but not in Serbia (it is forbidden), so we are in a situation to owe many associates. We hope that this problem will be solved very soon, but it costs us a lot of time and nerves.

Status, compensation for taxes and the new project
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 03:34:21 AM

We have already announced in comments that on April 8, we sent the last order which doesn't contain the "1920s" expansion. We also said that there was a short-term break in production. Our associates: Lucky Graf (printing house) and Alfaplast (print finishing) are small companies with which we have been cooperating for years. They suddenly got one big well-paid job that needs to be done urgently. They asked us if they should accept it because we had already ordered and paid for sheets to be made for the "1920s" aircraft expansion. Due to the long-term cooperation during which they also made concessions to us many times, we agreed that they should finish the job first and then continue to work on our sheets. In these times of crisis, we have to show solidarity, and I hope that the backers will not resent us for the fact that deliveries will be delayed a bit. We should get those sheets in the next few days, and then in our workshop, we’ll manage the assembly and shipping in parallel.

The backers awaiting the 1920s expansion ordered all (or almost all) other expansions. Due to the circumstances, they will get their packages among the last, but we believe that they did not regret ordering a lot of expansions because they will have a large number of planes and scenarios for long-term enjoyment of the game.


These days, we have been reading comments about the AoD game on the Kickstarter page, BGG, YouTube, Facebook, etc. We are very proud because all the comments and impressions are full of praise for the gameplay and the quality of the components. This assures us that we are on the right path and gives us an incentive for further work. We will soon publish a special update on this topic.



Unfortunately, some EU bakers had to pay customs duties. From Belgrade to the border with Croatia, Hungary, Romania, or Bulgaria (all EU members) there are less than 200 kilometers, but that border creates big transit problems, especially for us who live in Serbia. Here is an example: Last year we produced a trial series of a board game Here be Dragons for customers from Sweden. These games were sent to reviewers around the world in preparation for their first Kickstarter project. In order to contribute to the success of the campaign (October 2020), we pledged one option of around 40 euros, but later, when we had to pay the shipping fee through a pledge manager, we realized that Serbia belongs to the category of "Other Countries" and that we need to pay over 80 euros, which is 3 to 5 times more expensive than for other countries in Europe. We apologized to the creators and agreed to get the game when we meet sometimes in future (at a fair in Essen or similar).

We gave this example as an illustration of the difficulties we have because Serbia is not yet a member of the EU.  Now, the good thing for our EU backers is that they paid a lower shipping fee than backers from other countries. Unfortunately, some have been charged a customs duty. We are sorry for that and we want to offer a compensation. The amount of paid taxes is between 20 and 30 €, which is approximately the price of our expansions (24 to 32 $). Our wish is to send one expansion (whichever they choose) for free to all the backers who paid the taxes. The backers should send us an email to [email protected] , with a receipt from customs (or an image with anything related to the taxes paid), and choose one of the three options:

1. If the backers want the expansion sent to them immediately – we will do it at our expense, but with one concession: we would pack the complete contents of the expansion without a box, in a large zip bag and then in a protective envelope.

Without the box, the package would be much lighter, and thus the shipping fee would be lower and acceptable for us.

2. Many backers are asking when they will be able to buy expansions that they did not order during the Kickstarter campaign. We have announced that it will be possible to order them at the end of April. So, if someone wants to order one or more expansions – the compensation for the previously paid tax would be added for free to that order.

3. The AoD WWII campaign will soon start on Kickstarter, and that game will also have several expansions. The backers who paid the taxes and who want to support that project as well will be able to choose one of the WWII expansions that they will receive for free. During the campaign, they should write in the message which expansion they choose, so that we can manually add it to the order list.

We hope that our offer is a fair one.



Age of Dogfights WWII

On January 4, in update 28, we announced a start of Age of Dogfights: WWII campaign game in near future. We saw that there was a lot of interest in that game, but there were also comments asking us to deliver the AoD WWI before starting a new campaign and we agreed with those suggestions. Since the shipping phase is nearing the end, we just want to remind the backers that the campaign will start soon and to invite you to follow our announcements.

We have already announced many novelties in the game, and since then, we have further improved the project. We will publish more details in one of the following updates. In short, we are going to introduce new physical components – Round counters (one general and six small ones). Also, instead of four, there will now be six board extensions in the set, which will come with their own sliders. With the help of these elements, it will be possible to monitor the combat radius (flight time) of several groups of aircraft. This will allow us to create much better and more realistic scenarios.

Earlier, we announced that the First Day Gift would be a mini-expansion "Advanced German Aircraft" with 8 to 10 types of aircraft. Now we have decided to expand this expansion to 16 types of planes with two pieces each. This expansion will be provided free of charge to anyone who backs in the first 36 hours of the campaign.


For all of you who have already supported us, we have an additional gift. It will be a mini expansion ''Special Aerial Weapons''. The expansion will include V-1 missiles, several different Mistel combinations, and Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship radio controlled glide bomb along with carrier aircraft.


We're looking forward to your opinions and expectations regarding the new project and we hope you’ll like it and to support it.

Shipping – import taxes
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 02:19:13 AM

We have to give a comprehensive answer to the questions related to taxes and "EU friendly" status, so we are posting an update about it.

Prior to our first Kickstarter project (2016), we requested information from customs related to taxes (in the EU and other countries). The answer was that Serbia, as a candidate for EU membership, has signed an agreement with the EU according to which no fees are charged if the goods are produced in Serbia. That is why we had wrote that the project has EU friendly status. At that time, we had only about 40 backers from the EU, but still we sent all the games in one shipment to a company in Germany, which then sent packages to individual backers. However, the German customs have charged the import tax then! To our question why, we received the answer that this agreement between Serbia and the EU is non-binding, and that some countries respect it while some not always.

For our next project (Tank Chess), we sent the packages directly from Serbia to the backers. We used regular Mail (for small packages up to 0.5 kg), DHL and Post Export service. Post Export uses an agreement between the State Posts of different countries, and we are told that for shipments sent that way no taxes are charged. At that time, we had over 1000 backers from the EU. We have information that only a small percentage of them paid a fee – if the package went by regular mail or via DHL.

In the announcement of this project, we wrote that the status of EU friendly has been secured. We had two options: to send packages through a fulfillment company from Slovenia, that respects the agreement between the EU and Serbia. The second option was, if there weren't enough backers from the EU to make fulfillment service profitable, to send packages via Post Export. There were enough backers, but we found out that the agreement between Serbia and the EU has not been applied since January (and some countries even earlier), and that taxes are always charged when goods are sent from one company to another! When a package is sent to an individual, each customs office decides for each package individually whether to collect customs tax or not. That is why we send all shipments to the EU via Post Export directly to backers. We still don't have complete information on the number of cases in which customs duties have been collected.

The corona epidemic is the reason why now almost all countries charge regular and some even additional taxes, because a way is being sought to fill the budgets. Our friends from Serbia, who had their successful campaigns recently, decided to produce the games in China. They knew immediately that the taxes would have to be paid when the goods entered the EU, so they collected all the taxes in advance. We did not charge anything in advance, because we believed that no one would pay the fees, because we produce games in our workshop (in Serbia). We even took it upon ourselves to subsidize shipping fees by about 30%. We did not count on the fact that the shipping prices will be increased by 5.5–8.7 USD from January 1. In addition, the packages are much heavier than the original estimate, which is why we pay a much higher price than expected. Fortunately, at least we did not have any large unplanned costs in production.

This situation is new for both us creators and the backers. We are sorry that fees are charged, but, according to the data we have collected so far, this rarely happens. For the next project, we will have to seriously consider how to solve this problem in advance. We will also try to find a way to somehow compensate the fees that our backers had to pay.