Production update for February
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Feb 09, 2018 at 07:02:56 PM

Howdy Partners,

It’s Mike again and I just wanted to give you a quick update on where we are in the production process and where you may be able to catch us in the next few months.  

Pre-Production  

I am excited to announce that we have received our pre-production copy of End of the Trail. Brent did a live unboxing on Friday and you can watch those unboxing videos on the End of the Trail Facebook Page:  

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EndoftheTrailGame/permalink/158066294848448/

We are still on schedule for our June 2018 fulfillment and we are still planning on having copies of End of the Trail available at Origins Game Fair.  

Backer Surveys  

Just a reminder, we will be closing the backer surveys and the pre-orders with Backerkit on February 28th. If you haven’t submitted your backer surveys, please do so as soon as you can.  

Where you can find us in the Spring  

Well, as we deal with the winter weather in the Midwest, we are looking forward to showing off End of the Trail and Atlantis Rising, our next game, at different conventions.  

Elf Creek Games plans to be at the following conventions in the Spring:
• March 30-April 1: Who’s Yer Con in Indianapolis, IN
• April 28-29: Gaming Hoopla in Gurnee, IL
• May 17-20: Geekway to the West in St. Louis, MO
• June 13-17: Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH  

There may be more opportunities to check out End of the Trail and our next game, Atlantis Rising, throughout the Spring so be on the lookout for those dates.  

Hope to see y’all there!  

Happy Gaming,  

Mike w/Elf Creek Games

Argonaut Art and update on production
almost 7 years ago – Fri, Jan 05, 2018 at 07:03:09 PM

Happy January, Backers!

It’s Mike once again and I just wanted to touch base with you all about where we are in the process. First off, I do want to thank those who have submitted their surveys. Having over 90% of them done is incredible. If you haven’t submitted your surveys, you still have time as they will close at the end of February.

Finalizing Art
We were able to get most of the art done before our Christmas break and I wanted to share some of it with you all. These 3 cards are the Argonauts for the solo variant and I really like how these turned out.

Production Timeline

We have received part of the pre-production copy from Panda GM and we should be receiving the full pre-production copy by the end of January. When we do receive that, we will be sharing more information. We are still in line for our June 2018 fulfillment to backers.

If you all have any questions or comments, please let us know. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions that you may have.

Happy Gaming,

Mike(from Elf Creek Games)

Surveys are sent
almost 7 years ago – Sat, Dec 02, 2017 at 09:27:19 PM

Happy holiday season!!!   

We did it! Thank you all!
about 7 years ago – Thu, Nov 02, 2017 at 01:31:07 PM

WE DID IT! We can't thank you all enough for your support of End of the Trail! We managed to unlock every stretch goal to make End of the Trail the game we dreamed it could be. Thank you all so much!

We came so close to unlocking the social achievements that, after discussing it with Mike, we decided to go ahead and include the moving wheel kit for the covered-wagon box sleeve of all deluxe edition backers. We hope you enjoy the extra bling. I know I will. :)

What comes next?

Now that we are post-campaign, we'll be doing monthly updates. This should keep you up to date with developments, without filling up your inboxes. You can always feel free to message me (Brent) or comment on the page and Mike or I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Pledge Errors

Kickstarter notified us that 29 folks have credit card errors. They have already emailed you about this. Please just be aware that if you don't address this soon, Kickstarter will drop you from our campaign.

Production

We'll be meeting with our representative at Panda Game Manufacturing on Friday. Peter and I are at work finalizing all of our assets. Much of the work is already completed, but there are a few new pieces to work on, including the outlaw cards, the player mat, and the Argonaut solo cards.

One of our backers, Chris, noticed a couple typos in the draft of the rules. Rest assured that we'll be looking those over carefully before submitting them to the publisher. If any of you feel so inclined, please feel free to take a look and offer any corrections or feedback you might have. And if you're interested in receiving additional updates that show the latest illustrations and assets, be sure to join our Facebook fan group for End of the Trail.

From here out, you can expect to see more updates written by Mike. Mike and I split publishing duties, and he works more closely with our production and distribution partners. But I'll still be around to answer questions too. :)

Backer Surveys

Mike has begun prepping our backer surveys and we will be sending them out soon. We'll post another update after that happens, so that you can know to look for them in your inbox.

Thank you again

Mike and I began this journey together to not only bring End of the Trail to Kickstarter, but to begin a board game publishing company. You have helped, quite literally, to fund that dream, and we really cannot thank you enough. Our words can't do it justice.

Best wishes, happy gaming, and a hearty yee-haw!

Team Elf Creek

Solo variant stretch goal, new Joker illustration, & the Outlaws
about 7 years ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 02:39:30 PM

Hi folks! I want to welcome everyone who has joined us in these last few days. We're thrilled to have you with us! We have a simple update today, with some stuff that I want to make sure to bring to your attention.

Solo variant

Mike has been hard at work this month designing a solo variant for End of the Trail. We sought out advise from seasoned designers (Keith Matejka and Matt Riddle) and got a lot of help playtesting and developing it (big shoutout to Brad Shankle of Doomsday Robots, as well as our friends Miles, James, and Ben).

Last night we added a draft of the rules to the campaign page and made it our last stretch goal at $25,000. We think it's a lot of fun and really hope to be able to add it to every copy of End of the Trail.

Social Achievements

We continue to make steady progress with our remaining social achievement goals, so take a look at those to help us reach our goal! It's been a lot of fun looking at all the different kinds of "gold" that folks have taken selfies with. Remember if you cross-post on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram we'll count that as separate selfies. And, if you post on Facebook, we may not see your selfie unless you mark it "public" (depending on your security settings). We also still need some folks to like our Facebook and BoardGameGeek pages. And just a couple more folks to serenade us with Oh My Darling Clementine. So grab a friend for a duet or head down to the pub and get a group. We'll count each performer separate. :)

New illustration

Peter has finished his illustration of the Card Shark Joker, and we wanted to share that with you for you to enjoy! We absolutely love it and hope you do too!

Outlaws for the Mini-Expansion

We'd also like to announce the winners of the Outlaw contest that we had on our Facebook End of the Trail fan group. If you haven't joined the group yet, it's where we share our work and solicit feedback, as well as make smaller announcements that normally wouldn't go in a campaign update.  Soon I'll be uploading some drafts of screen-printed prospectors and the playmats for your feedback. Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EndoftheTrailGame/

Here are the winners of our Gold Rush outlaw contest and a little of their stories:

Eleanor Dumont was a famed woman gambler who owned and operated one of the finest gambling parlors in California. Men visiting the establishment had to be well-dressed and speak like gentlemen in the presence of a lady. When she later became a rancher in Carson City, a conman swept her off her feet, only to steal her money. She hunted him down and shot dead him in cold blood. Late in her life, she became known as "Madam Mustache," a nickname owed not only to her eventual occupation but also the presence of a thin line of hair on her upper lip.

Once a 49er, Charles Earl Boles (aka "Black Bart") left his home of Decatur, IL and returned to California where he robbed nearly 30 stage coaches without ever firing a shot. In fact, legend says he never even loaded his shotgun. He became known as “Black Bart the Poet” when he left a poem behind the scene of his fourth robbery: "I've labored long and hard for bread, // For honor and for riches // But on my corns too long you've tread, // You fine-haired sons-of-b******. // Black Bart, the Po 8"

A likely real life inspiration for Zoro, some saw Joaquin Murrieta as a notorious bandit, while others regarded the “Robin Hood of El Dorado” as a folk hero and champion of Mexican rights.  Legend says, that he took up his cause after anglos 49ers drove him from his mining claims, killed his brother, savagely assaulted his wife (to put it mildly), and had him horse-whipped.

[No known picture] Outlaw of Spades: Jack Powers

Maybe the most notorious outlaw of the Gold Rush, Irish immigrant, Jack Powers was charming, intelligent and unrivaled in his skill as a cowboy. When news of the Gold Rush reached the east coast, he moved to San Francisco with a group of other Irish immigrants from Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Once there they terrorized the other immigrant communities until vigilantes road them out of town. Powers made his way to Santa Barbara, where he and his gang ran the town for several years until eventually being run off to Los Angeles and, eventually, Mexico, where various legends record his death.

We can't wait to see Peter bring these outlaws to life in the style of our End of the Trail card illustrations!

That's all for now

We'll update you again when the campaign is over.  Thank you all again for your support.  It means so much to us.  As always, we're available to answer your questions or comments.  Best wishes and happy gaming, Brent (& Mike)