Final Update from Mars
9 months ago – Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 04:30:53 PM

Welcome back, explorers!

We're here today to give you the final Ares Expedition Expansion campaign update. As with any campaign, this has had its share of ups and downs, but we trust you're all enjoying the new content!

If you have had any unresolved issues with your shipments, please send an email to [email protected] (for Europe: [email protected]). As always, please include your Kickstarter email address & user name to help us respond quickly.

To help spread the word about these expansions, we always appreciate (but never expect) ratings, reviews, and comments left on BoardGameGeek!

Next Up for Stronghold Games: Gen Con!

We're excited to share some new releases, and get people playing great games together, all at North America's biggest game convention! 

To see which games we'll have available in the exhibitor hall, check out the Gen Con Preview on BoardGameGeek. And we're especially excited to have the FryxGames team present for some limited-access seminars, along with their presence at the Terraforming Mars Tournament Qualifiers!

Sign up for any and all Indie Game Studios events by following this link: https://www.gencon.com/event_finder?host=Indie+Game+Studios&c=indy2023

Thank you all again for your support, and happy exploring! We’ll see you on Mars!

IMPORTANT: Mission to BackerKit! Last chance to complete your pledge and get your rewards.
about 1 year ago – Fri, Apr 07, 2023 at 02:57:11 PM

A quick note for our Canadian Backers: After weeks being stuck in  limbo where neither you or us had an accurate picture of what was actually happening, packages destined for Canada are finally on the move again! We are expecting individual parcels to begin shipping on the week of April 17th. Thank you for your patience, we sincerely apologize that its taken so long and we haven't had good information to pass on to you; The wait is almost over!

US Fulfillment: We’re also happy to report that US fulfillment is officially complete! Some packages may still be in transit, and if you have any concerns about the status of yours, please see the information below for directions!

EU/UK Backers: Although most rewards are now fulfilled, a small percentage of packages are awaiting a shipment of critical items to complete the packing process.

For backers in the rest of the world, Ares Expedition expansion fulfillment has now begun shipping in the following regions: South Africa, Vietname, and the United Arab Emirates.  Please check https://vfi.asia/hubs/ for the latest hub arrival status.

VERY last chance for backers to close out open pledges

Hello again, backers! As we enter the last phase of fulfillment for the Ares Expedition expansion campaign, we wanted to thank all of you again for your pledge - but also for your patience as we navigate the hurdles of logistics.

We still have some outstanding orders! If you haven’t completed your pledge, we can’t send out your rewards.  Some of you still owe money for shipping or items you added to your basket but didn’t pay for.  Some didn’t provide a mailing address, and others simply needed to confirm their address.

If you are one of these backers, we sent you an email today to complete your survey.

**IMPORTANT** All pledges still open after April 14th, 2023, will be closed and considered donations to the project for Stronghold Games.  It's been a year since the pledge manager opened, and we are wrapping up this project.  If you haven’t completed yours yet, below you'll find the instructions to complete it ... even if you’ve lost yours!

Survey Retrieval

A personalized link was emailed to the address that you provided when making your pledge (email associated with your Kickstarter account). Be sure to check your spam folder.

If you have lost your survey email, you can submit the email address associated with your Kickstarter account using this retrieve tool: https://ares-expedition-discovery-foundations-crisis.backerkit.com/

If you think you have completed your survey but have not received a confirmation email from BackerKit, you need to revisit your survey! Your survey is complete only when you’ve received a confirmation email from BackerKit that says you have completed your survey. Not everyone’s orders are out yet, but if you haven’t received a shipping notification yet, it might be a good idea to double-check your survey status.

Missing and damaged Items

As always, here are some important things that you’ll need to know. While we have great confidence in our production and fulfillment partners, we know that not everything will be perfect. So if you receive your rewards and you need assistance with replacement parts or damages, please follow these steps;

Reminder: Missing/Damaged Items

We want to offer the best help to all backers who need assistance! For anyone wishing to report damaged items or require replacement parts, please note the following instructions:

•  For Europe, please email FryxGames at [email protected]
•  For all other regions, please send an email to [email protected]. 
• Include your Kickstarter email address & user name (this lets us know who you are)
• Include your current mailing address (this lets us know where to send replacements). It helps if you include your name as part of your address and use separate lines instead of commas.
• Tell us specifically what you are missing and/or damaged items. (This lets our team know what you are missing). Please check everything so we can send all replacements at one time. Please be specific - "I am missing everything" isn't specific.
• If applicable, attach pictures of damaged items and/or packaging. This is required if you want a replacement box - so please don't throw away damaged shipping boxes until you have taken pictures.

We will send a response email to you within seven days of the last email you send. Sending multiple emails will delay our response to you.

Thank you for your ongoing support of this campaign, and the continued development of life on Mars!

Mission Report: Reaching for the Stars!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 07, 2023 at 12:29:28 PM

Greetings, Interstellar Citizens!

We have returned to your home planet with the latest in fulfillment news, which is that shipment continues with a few minor delays from our last update:

Europe: The majority of pledges have now been shipped, with the remaining orders being more complex orders with significant number of add-ons. Backer rewards in Switzerland will be slightly delayed due to the special care required there to navigate customs.

Canada: Packages destined for Canada have been packed up, shipping labels (and Canadian postage) applied and are ready to be picked up and freight shipped to Canada.   We will send another update once those have arrived in Canada and enter the Canadian Postal system. 

US: The first batch of packages was picked up yesterday, and more will be sent out this week and next.

All Other Regions: Order packing is nearly complete, aside from some complicated orders wti significant add-ons, for which we are waiting on a shipment of delayed product.   We expect that updates will be made shortly at https://vfi.asia/hubs/ as these orders move out to their respective hubs in destination countries.

For information about missing or damaged items, please read the information in our previous shipping update.

Thank you for your patience and support as we continue to reach for the fulfillment stars!

Important Shipping Update for EU Backers
about 1 year ago – Mon, Feb 13, 2023 at 02:46:06 PM

This is an update specifically for European backers.  We are still progressing on getting rewards out to backers in other regions per our last update.

FryxGames is doing the fulfillment in the EU and UK for this project.  They have also been responsible for fulfillment for all the previous Terraforming Mars and Ares Expedition projects, sometimes handling the fulfillment directly and at other times working with fulfillment partners.   Since there have been some concerns about this fulfillment in regard to access points in Europe (not the UK, not anywhere else), we wanted to include the following information directly from the FryxGames team:

We have previously directly fulfilled the Turmoil Kickstarter in the EU and the Big Box in Scandinavia, and we have always used access points where they are applicable without issues. I fully agree that this should have been made clear. I can only apologize for the inconvenience. I guess I am culturally blinded, as in Sweden, we almost never get packages delivered to the door. Access points is the standard in Scandinavia and a growing standard in the EU as well, and for several reasons. One of them is that it is cheaper. Not only for UPS and not only for us but also for you. We pulled down the shipping cost of each pledge for this project in EU1 and EU2 by about $3-5, which I think was essential in a time where shipping costs are escalating like crazy.

 So, first off, I apologize for the lack of communication about this. There are reasons, but I don't think it makes any difference what they are, so I will just leave it with this apology. However, I think it should be known why we use access points, and why this is a growing standard:
 1) UPS and DHL are promoting this mode of delivery where they have a broad network of access points, which is basically in all EU.
 2) Access Points are faster, typically packages can be picked up 1 day faster than door-to-door deliveries.
 3) Access Points are cheaper and less dependent on the escalating fuel prices.
 4) Access Points are more environmentally friendly (making 1 trip with a truck delivering 100 packages is better than going to 100 different locations).
 5) Access Points are more traceable, letting us know where a problem might occur
 6) Access Points are safer, with less failed deliveries, less stolen or lost packages, less deliveries to the wrong person or address
 7) Access Points let you decide when to collect the package, at a time convenient for you, instead of trying to coordinate a delivery where both a busy you and a busy mailman can meet.

On an end note, we do not use access points for all addresses, for example addresses where access points are not in the vicinity. If you think that your access point is unreasonably far away, you can always e-mail us at [email protected] to see if we can do anything about it. The automatic system should exclude access points from shipping orders where the distance is more than 10 km, but we have seen some instances where this has failed, so we are happy to help anyone where this has become an issue.

Missing/Damaged Items

While we have great confidence in our production and fulfillment partners, we know that not everything will be perfect. So if you receive your rewards and you need assistance with replacement parts or damages, please follow these steps;

•  For Europe, please send an email to [email protected] 
•  For all other regions, please send an email to [email protected] 
• Include your Kickstarter email address & user name (this lets us know who you are)
• Include your current mailing address (this lets us know where to send replacements). It helps if you include your name as part of your address and use separate lines instead of commas.
• Tell us specifically what you are missing and/or damaged items. (This lets our team know what you are missing). Please check everything so we can send all replacements at one time. Please be specific - "I am missing everything" isn't specific.
• If applicable, attach pictures of damaged items and/or packaging. This is required if you want a replacement box - so please don't throw away damaged shipping boxes until you have taken pictures.

We will send a response email to you within seven days of the last email you send. Sending multiple emails will delay our response to you.

Shipping Update
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 03, 2023 at 12:16:22 PM

Greetings, Martians!

We have returned with the latest news regarding fulfillment:

• EU and UK FryxGames have received the games and are ready to start sending out rewards next week.
• For backers in the United States, shipping has started for backers that also backed the Astro Knights and/or Aeon's End Past & Future projects. Most of those combined orders will have been sent out by the end of next week, as there was a slight delay due to weather conditions in Dallas this week. The remaining US rewards will be packaged and sent in the following weeks and are expected to start arriving in early/mid-March.
• For backers in Canada, orders will start to ship in the next few weeks, packing items will be done in the US next week, and everything will be freighted on pallets into Canada and then placed in the Canadian Postal system as individual packages - Tracking on orders will start once the items enter Canadian Post. Your rewards are expected to start arriving in mid-March.
• For all other regions, VFI will start packing orders next week.  Once that’s complete orders will be sent to their regional hubs.  Check the VFI website for an updated status on each hub: https://vfi.asia/hubs/
   

We will circle back and ship orders for those that did not complete their project surveys in time after all we get through the initial shipping phase.  Expect that to happen in March.

Missing/Damaged Items

While we have great confidence in our production and fulfillment partners, we know that not everything will be perfect. So if you receive your rewards and you need assistance with replacement parts or damages, please follow these steps;

• For Europe, please fill out a ticket here: https://support-ibc.surfinmeeple.com/open.php.
• For all other regions, please send an email to [email protected]. 
• Include your Kickstarter email address & user name (this lets us know who you are)
• Include your current mailing address (this lets us know where to send replacements). It helps if you include your name as part of your address and use separate lines instead of commas.
• Tell us specifically what you are missing and/or damaged items. (This lets our team know what you are missing). Please check everything so we can send all replacements at one time. Please be specific - "I am missing everything" isn't specific.
• If applicable, attach pictures of damaged items and/or packaging. This is required if you want a replacement box - so please don't throw away damaged shipping boxes until you have taken pictures.
   

We will send a response email to you within seven days of the last email you send. Sending multiple emails will delay our response to you.

Have a great weekend!