The Final 5 teams! Port-O-Bowl is now COMPLETE! 40% sale on MMF too.
Hello Backers and Followers!
Now that I've finally gotten the update about shipping out of the way I can talk about what I've been up to besides all the printing and shippi...
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Giando Sigurani | Star Pharaoh Foundry
25 days ago
The shipping delays for physical orders explained (and what I'm doing about it)!
Hello backers and followers,
I have been meaning to write this post for several months, but until recently I didn’t have all the material I needed to show the depth of the ...
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Giando Sigurani | Star Pharaoh Foundry
3 months ago
Slight delay on shipping, 2 new teams (Elven Union and Bloodseekers), Accessory development
Hello backers and followers!
As I said in my last update, all the digital backers should have received their items, including items I hadn't yet made when the project ended. I...
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Giando Sigurani | Star Pharaoh Foundry
4 months ago
All digital backers orders complete, new Tomb Guardians team, updated Chaos Dwarves
Hello backers and followers!
With the recent team change I needed to add 2 more positionals to the Chaos Dwarves.
I have recently put the finishing touches and uploaded new ...
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Giando Sigurani | Star Pharaoh Foundry
4 months ago
First Physical orders shipped, Xtra Tall Tray complete, new Plaguebearers team
Hello backers and followers!
I am sorry for going dark in the last week. I was waiting for confirmation that the first orders had been shipped out. Now I know they have. Here a...
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Giando Sigurani | Star Pharaoh Foundry
5 months ago
Development Update: Xtra Tall Tray nearly complete, first 2 post-campaign teams (High Elves and Frogmen), magnetization guide coming soon!
Hello backers and followers!
While I wait on the production and delivery of the first few physical orders, I worked on developing some items I've not had a chance to work on d...
Now that I've finally gotten the update about shipping out of the way I can talk about what I've been up to besides all the printing and shipping for physical backers.
I've completed all Port-O-Bowl teams! All 30 teams are now available to play. Without further ado, here are the last 5 teams.
Ogres
Left to Right: Knoblar, Ogre1, Ogre2, Runt Punter
Bloodseekers
Left to Right: Bloodspawn, Bloodseeker, Kgor, Lineman
Imperial Nobility
Left to Right: Lineman, Thrower, Blitzer, Bodyguard, Ogre
Black Orcs
Left to Right: Black Orc 1, Black Orc 2, Goblin 1, Goblin 2, Troll
Old World Alliance
Left to Right: Human lineman, Human thrower, Human catcher, Human blitzer, Ogre, Treeman, Dwarf Lineman, Dwarf Runner, Dwarf Blitzer, Dwarf Trollslayer, Halfling
I've compiled the complete set with all 30 playable teams into a giant mega-collection on My Mini Factory.
It has all 30 teams! Not star players though, as new ones are added all the time, so they come in packs
The full set is normally $129, but there is currently a Black Friday sale going on for 40% of everything in the Star Pharaoh Foundry store, so that brings the price down to $77. Check out the Star Pharaoh Foundry store on My Mini Factory and specifically the Port-O-Bowl collection - there are only 2 days left until the sale ends!
Physical backers: I am currently going through physical backers orders as I stated in the last update. But I am also working on creating a portobowl.com website that will allow people to place physical orders for the new teams, and even full sets. That is going to take a lot more work, but I will keep people posted.
Until the next update, it's back to printing and shipping for me!
I have been meaning to write this post for several months, but until recently I didn’t have all the material I needed to show the depth of the problem. Let me summarize: Shipping physical orders is taking much longer than I anticipated. I employed a contractor to ship all product to backers in the United States, and he turned out to be so incredibly bad that it simply has to be documented to be believed. However, I am solving the problem myself by printing and sending the orders myself. I have already shipped several orders and I’m going to do all the rest until all physical orders are complete. I do not wish to point fingers or make excuses; I’m simply writing this post in the interest of transparency. If anyone is to blame here, it is myself for the choices I made.
That being said, let’s start at the beginning.
At the end of the campaign, I wanted AVS 3D printing to handle all the physical orders for the United States, which was most of them. He gave me a good price and the pictures of sample prints he sent were good. He told me he could do 3 at a time, so I paid him for 3.
An “order” consists of a pitch, 2 dugouts, 2 turn trackers, all markers (turn markers, skill markers, ball markers), and at least 2 teams. From experience I can say it takes about 2 days to completely print a small order.
Only 2 of the orders arrived. The last one didn’t make it because the contractor made a categorization error in customs so when it went to Canada, it required a $200 import fee for an already $500 order.
I solved that problem by shipping the order myself from within Canada. I drove to Canada and shipped it from a Canadian UPS store, bypassing all import fees. I happened to be in the area for a tournament, you see.
Those first 3 orders took 2 months to finally ship. When I finally got confirmation that they shipped, I placed 3 more orders. My thinking was that not having to print them myself was worth the money, and I trusted they would be quality, because the sample prints had been. Even if they were a little later than I wanted, it would still be fine. This was my mistake.
The first of the orders arrived and they looked like this:
Not only are the prints atrocious, he didn’t even send all the parts. He only sent 1 of the 2 required pitch halves. He also included a team from one of the other orders, and had to send a separate shipment of the missing team to the neglected customer.
After receiving these photos, I immediately purchased additional 3D printers, knowing this contractor had completely dropped the ball. I made these mistakes right by contacting the backers, printing the parts, and sending them replacements.
Then I started printing sets in numerical order after the second set of 3 orders and mailing them to customers myself. I have been doing that ever since.
Behold the Port-O-Bowl Print Palace:
2 upgraded Ender 3 v3 KEs and 2 Phrozen Sonic Mini 8Ks
Meanwhile the 2nd set of 3 orders were still pending. I told the contractor to send the parts directly to me instead of directly to customers. My thinking (once again) was that even if there were a lot of print errors, there would still be enough good prints in there that it would save me sufficient time.
The email exchanges were getting more and more tense. Basically, he kept delaying, making excuses, and even feigning illness. He pretended to be his son emailing me from his business account because he (the contractor) was in the hospital from a stroke. Strange, the son had exactly the same bad grammar, lack of capitalization, and run-on sentences as the contractor himself! What are the odds?
Anyway, finally, the 3 pending orders arrived. It will take far too long to document the breadth and depth of the problems, but here are some of the greatest hits:
A wood elf team where half of the players were missing limbs (and some limbless humans thrown in for good measure)…
A goblin team with an extra human lineman and Bomber Dribblesnot instead of the normal goblin bombardier…
3 sets of Star Players totally missing said Bomber Dribblesnot…
All Griffs in those 3 star player packs missing the griffon wings on their helmets (Gold griff at the end is my own for comparison)…
Players with huge supports still on them and cured…
Players badly washed and cured together…
All of the above issues were distributed across all teams.
All told I ended up tossing half of the prints into the garbage.
You might be forgiven for thinking that maybe the players broke during shipment, which is why they were limbless. But they didn’t. There were no limbs floating around in the bags into which he had separated the teams. He was going to ship them like that! Thank goodness I had him ship them directly to me.
All told, I paid this contractor for 6 orders. Only 1 of them arrived in a satisfactory condition. It took several months to get here. The time savings I thought I was paying for were not only nonexistent, they only added to my workload.
I am shipping all the orders myself now, as I am convinced that for now, I’m the only one capable of quality control.
I have shipped 8 orders personally, and none have arrived with a complaint. In fact if anyone has said anything, it’s to praise, not complain.
So that’s it. I apologize for those who are still waiting on their physical orders. I haven’t forgotten you! I am simply making absolutely sure that everyone is satisfied, and it is taking much longer than anticipated. Rest assured, the Port-O-Bowl Print Palace will be working nonstop until everyone who backed during the campaign has their product!
As I said in my last update, all the digital backers should have received their items, including items I hadn't yet made when the project ended. I also expected to be close to halfway done with shipping the physical backers' items by this point. Unfortunately that has been delayed by at least another week. I will have more details in my next update. I hope to have a more concrete timeline by then too. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please reach out to me on the Port-O-Bowl discord.
In the mean time, I've been working on new things for Port-O-Bowl, starting with two new teams!
Here is the last of the Elf teams, Elven Union:
' And with the last of the elf teams comes the last of the chaos teams, the Bloodseekers!
I had a lot of fun with that one, especially adding all the spikes! And I couldn't help but label at least one of the positionals "BLOOD."
For those keeping track, that's now 26 teams total. Only 4 more to go to have every team in the game! The 2 new teams will be at the My Mini Factory store ASAP, hopefully by the time this update goes out.
By request, I've made a few more accessories for quality of life improvements. Like this painting handle, which lets you slide Port-O-Bowl players right in so you don't have to grip your players by the peg like a barbarian when painting them.
It has space for adding 2 2mm x 2mm magnets, just like the players themselves. I am currently working on Version 2, which will have space for adding a steel plate, and possibly even a separate version that has a button you can press that clamps the player as you hold it. Someone has already printed it out and started using it for painting. They used Blue-Tack to keep the player adhered to the handle while painting, as the fit is pretty loose (a side-effect of the manufacturing process).
I am also developing a skill marker holder. Currently there's no separate way to store all the extremely tiny skill markers, so I have come up with this little switch-knife style holder.
I am still working out the kinks with this one. All these accessories, when finished, will be added to the My Mini Factory store and will probably be free to download.
Next update will have more details about shipping for physical backers. Stay tuned!
The new Tomb Guardians team came in just in time to use my new Port-O-Bowl thumbnail I got from my graphic designer, and it looks great!
With the completion and distribution of the Tomb Guardians, it is official that ALL DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION IS COMPLETE FOR DIGITAL BACKERS!
Except one. One backer never filled out their survey. If you are Midwestern and slightly magical, you know who you are- fill out that survey if you want your files! There was one more who didn't fill out their survey but they didn't complete payment so I figured it was a cancellation by another name.
Are you a digital backer? Do you have any issues with your files? Have you had issues retrieving them, or haven't received them at all? Contact me either by commenting on this post or joining the Port-O-Bowl discord and messaging me. Discord is the best way to reach me but I am open to any and all ways you can get in contact with me. Feel free to email the Star Pharaoh Foundry email as well. Apologies for the silliness of that email address; it's the first username I used with Cults3D so it's kind of stuck!
Physical order filling still continues. There were a few delays, but this time in two weeks, I hope to be close to halfway finished with them.
