Yaa’t’eeh,
Great news, the whole wire transfer ordeal has been cleared up (as much as it can be) and the board game manufacturer Longpack has received the final payment for the games and shipping! They’ve given me the estimated shipping timeframe for the games to depart from their manufacturing plant in China on October 22nd with an estimated arrival of November 22nd. The UK shipping estimate has not come through yet.
Of course this clear puts me way behind my initial schedule, but this was a circumstance that nothing could have prepared me for. I’ve read blogs about other issues that delay game manufacturing, but this appears to be quite out of the ordinary, I’ve also been hearing from other people with similar politically oriented projects that have been held up by banks.

Just a quick recap on the issue and how it was cleared up (please check my other updates for further info):

• The receiving bank issued 9 questions that were apparently prompted by the compliance department due to the memo which included “Burn the Fort.” They apparently flagged this as a potential “threat” relating to some organization in Syria. They gave the transferring bank a deadline to respond to these questions
• The transferring bank did not communicate with me that these questions existed or that there was a deadline. When the manufacturer communicated that the transfer did not go through after one week, I initiated an investigation for the transfer, but no one could tell me what the issue was until a week later (when they notified my of the questions).
• At that point the deadline had already apparently passed so the funds were remitted back to the transferring bank.
• The transferring bank did not communicate any of this to me and for weeks it was unclear as to where the funds actually were (even though I called constantly to follow up and spoke with multiple representatives).
• The transferring bank refused to take any responsibility and couldn’t tell me where my funds were and why they were being withheld for two weeks (even though I’ve asked for all communications regarding this issue in writing).
• I called the bank this past week for an update and they notified me that the funds were back in my account (though they never sent me any communication about this).
• I then contacted the manufacturer and had then talk with their bank to ensure there would be no issues with a second attempt to transfer.
• After receiving assurance (keep in mind the time zone delays), I immediately attempted the transfer again, but the transferring bank’s system restricted my ability to wire transfer! I called a rep (as it was still within business hours) and they said their system is up and operational but they couldn’t tell me why it wasn’t working for me (I kept receiving alerts saying there was an error, and of course I screen capped ‘em all with time stamps).
• It wasn’t until the next day that the transfer went through. So here we are, the games are readying to be shipped next weekend!

Providing there are no issues with customs when the games arrive we will start fulfillment right away. This also means we will activate the Gamefound pledge manager very soon.

I’ve been asked by a lot of folx what the retail timeframe is, but I didn’t feel confident establishing one until the games were en route. My priority is crowdfunding fulfillment as well as sending my patreon supporters their games as well. In the next week or so we will have another update for retail and wholesale.
Thank you so much for your patience and support through this unforeseen matter.
I’m looking forward to getting Burn the Fort to ya’ll as soon as possible!

Ahe’ hee’,
Klee