Fair winds and following seas, Captains! 

Spring is here and we've got real news to share. Not all of it is the news we wanted to give you, but it's all important. 

The fulfillment survey went out mid-March and we're sitting at 85% complete. That's great!

Help us get Red Tides to you by filling out the pledge survey. Responses aren't just administrative housekeeping. They're how we tell the factory exactly how much of everything to make. And on a more basic level, if you haven't filled out your survey, we don't have anywhere to send your game! Every missing response is a number we're guessing on and an address we don't have. If you haven't completed yours yet, please do. We'll give you a high five in person the next time we see you.

Find your survey here: https://redtides.backerkit.com/

If you're running into trouble, reach out to [email protected] and we'll get you sorted. 

We're been working through the hardest components first and making real progress. We want to be honest with you about what's affecting our timeline though. Aside from a number of minor tweaks (I'm looking at you, medium range dice and your finicky perfect shade of gold), the international shipping situation has introduced genuine uncertainty that we can't fully control. Not that this is the most important part of what's going on by any means, but if things get sorted out, it will help the shipping.  If it doesn't change, we're planning around it. What that means practically is that we have more confidence in Q3 delivery than Q2. I know so many of you have been jonesing to roll some bones, so this really stinks. However, we're continuing to push at the factory (without sacrificing quality). When we know more, we'll let you know.

The wooden token upgrades were confirmed and locked in with manufacturing. Both the Foe Wooden Token Upgrade Pack (free for all backers!) and the 5 Faction Deluxe Wooden Upgrade Bundle are available now in the pledge manager and on the pre-order site. The response has been genuinely great. Thank you to everyone who pushed on this from the early conversations all the way through to final design. This one was a community effort. 

We've signed a contract with a US distribution partner. That's a real milestone and it means Red Tides will have a path to retail shelves after fulfillment. You'll already have your copy, of course, but it will mean we can keep growing Tortugas Games for more games, expansions, etc.  We're still figuring out what our footprint looks like outside North America and will share more as that picture gets clearer (pledge manager tells us where our backers are). 

We're working with our distributor on securing space at GenCon and/or PAX Unplugged (hopefully both). Having the game in hand is a requirement to make either one happen. Right now we have higher confidence in PAX Unplugged than GenCon given the timing, but we're pushing on both. More on this as manufacturing progresses.

We're in the home stretch for getting this thing made. We're already thinking about ways to expand Red Tides, if there's an appetite for it, but are most focused on delivering on our pledge to you first and foremost. Join us on Discord if you want to chat or help mold where we go from here.