Port-O-Battle takes a lot of the same form factor of Port-O-Bowl such as the cross pegs and magnetizable board and adds new features such collapsible terrain and much more dynamically-posed minis. PoBowl taught me a lot about what details still show up in small 15mm scale minis (which is a LOT), so I've committed to making small but still highly-detailed minis. This Imperial Trooper is knee-high to a Star Pharaoh but still looks great!
You can see the notches in his bullets and the bolts on his rifle!
I am very excited to add more material to the campaign before its launch in May. I plan on having at least 6 Strike Forces and 2 Combat Zones. Here is a quick preview of some of the things I have so far.
Hello! Just like the last update, let me start by posting these 3 beautiful columns representing Backerkit's backend for the 3 types of physical orders (2 team, 8 team, and complete set):
Printing and delivering has been quite the ordeal, and I have learned a lot. First of all, that everyone who backed this campaign is awesome, patient, and understanding - THANK YOU to all those who had to wait a lot longer than anticipated to receive their orders of Port-O-Bowl. The second thing I learned is that unlike book or comic book printing, there does not exist a robust or reliable network of print makers who can produce and deliver quality product with consistent lead times. The industry is still in its infancy stages, and there are a lot of hiccups that are being discovered on the way to great and fast 3D prints for everyone who wants them.
With one notable exception: JC Spark, who I mentioned at the very start of the campaign was responsible for handling EU orders. The last 2 shipments for Port-O-Bowl were in both the EU and UK, and she and her wife produced the orders I needed so quickly and with such professionalism it made my head spin. And she didn't even charge me until it shipped! Let that be a lesson to the rest of you contractors: You've got Luxurink Games to measure up to now.
JC Spark's new campaign launched today, and in an effort to show my appreciation, I think I should link it here. Please consider following or backing JC Spark's campaign for the 2nd book in her campaign, Space Time:
Hello backers and followers, let me start off by sharing screenshots of the backend of my fulfillment tracker on Backerkit.
Backerkit columns for 8 team sets
Backerkit columns for 2 team sets
As you can see, just about everything has been shipped. In the U.S., I only have 2 more orders to do. The U.K. and EU have just 1 order each, which I have placed and hope to hear back about soon.
While I have been doing that, I've been slowly making more Star Players for Port-O-Bowl, hoping to deliver a Star Player Pack 2.
It's slower going than expected, because I started working on the successor to Port-O-Bowl, and got excited by the new challenges. I will finish the pack, however, I promise it! Here are some of the new players you can expect in Star Player Pack 2!
Left to Right: Jordell, Helmut, Dribl, Drul, Estelle
As for the successor to Port-O-Bowl, what do I mean by that?
Well, I had a lot of fun coming up a with a travel-sized game system, and I think it would be a shame if it were relegated only to fantasy football. So I got thinking: If I were to implement my travel sized system for another game, what would I need? Well, for wargames, one is often dealing with terrain, multi-story buildings, walls, lines of sight, obstacles, and all the options and challenges these things bring. So naturally, I began with making terrain that slots into the cross peg system that allowed for such stability for Port-O-Bowl players.
Black Orc Blocker for scale/testing purposes
Strike Forces not included.... yet.
I designed the terrain first, which is why they're surrounded by Port-O-Bowl players :)
You may notice that even though the grid is, well, a grid, the terrain is at an odd angle. Well, I've spent many hours designing an innovative peg system that allows terrain to be slotted in at just about any angle. Also notice that it has a 2nd floor! Despite there being a 2 story building, it still collapses flat so it can be stowed away in a travel box.
But that's not all. I also slightly redesigned the grid to allow for thin walls that can actually go in between field agents, known as "In-Between Terrain."
Finally, it's time to introduce the players. For this successor project, I'm calling the teams Strike Forces and each individual a Field Agent. Well, just minutes ago, I just finished the first strike force. In true Port-O-Game fashion, I started with humans, as humans v. Orcs is the classic matchup.
Meet the Human Troopers.
I am using the same design rules I used for Port-O-Bowl, though this time I'm using armatures and animation tools to give field agents more dynamic poses. Such poses were a problem for Port-O-Bowl, a game where you could have a dozen players crammed into as many squares. But for its successor, where positioning isn't grid-based but measurement-based, and where you will never find more than 2 or 3 agents near each other, these field agents have a little more room to breathe.
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!
