Tank Chess (reprint)

Short update
9 months ago – Mon, Jun 09, 2025 at 01:13:31 PM

Update #32
11 months ago – Fri, May 02, 2025 at 12:09:26 PM

As we announced in the previous update, we are releasing a new update with more information. We were unable to respond to comments from the previous update, please understand. We want to thank everyone who has supported us, and we also understand all the criticism that has been directed at us.

As we said in the previous update, the topic of this is the financial situation. In particular, during the implementation of the Tank Chess (reprint) project, there was an increase in shipping prices, but this is tolerable and is not the cause of our problems. The main cause is the problems that arose during the realization of the Age of Dogfights: WWII project and they complicated our financial situation. You can read more about the causes of problems in the AoD:WWII project here:

Update #60 on AoD2

In short, there was more work required to design the game rulebook. We, the authors, did not estimate well at the beginning the scope of the work and the time we needed to complete it. Also, our work was less efficient due to stress of working under constant pressure, which all in all led to a big delay in the realization of that project, which resulted in a drastic increase in costs.

In the aforementioned update on the AoD2 project, we explained the financial situation in detail to the backers and suggested how they can help us solve the problem with additional payments (as several options). Many backers have supported us and we have already received a lot of payments, so from Monday the Age of Dogfights: WWII game packages will continue to be sent.

In the past period, some smaller projects that were created in the meantime we managed to fulfill in time or ahead of time (Carom Golf and Carom Mini Golf). But unfortunately, the problems that arose in the AoD:WWII project carried over to the 'Tank Chess reprint' project. We apologize to the backers that this situation has arisen.

For a long time, we believed that we would be able to make up for the lack of money on our own, so in Update #28 (from January 18) we announced accelerated sending of packages for the next period. Unfortunately, due to various circumstances (among other things, due to the political situation in Serbia - there is currently a semi-emergency situation due to student demonstrations against corruption, so economic activity is also limited) the jobs announced at the time have not yet been realized (they are still on stand-by), so we did not earn the money we expected. Unfortunately the Kickstarter project (Urban Battle) which we believed would significantly improve our financial situation was disappointing - only $12000 was collected.

Due to the above reasons, we have to temporarily stop the process of sending packages with Tank Chess games and accompanying expansions. After a short rest, which is necessary for us now, we will fully dedicate ourselves to finishing the entire production of all games and expansions from this project. Some versions have already been completed, and for everything else we have acquired all the material. It remains for us, the authors, to complete a few more files that will go to print right after that. Our colleagues will assemble all the elements into finished games and expansions in a relatively short time. We will inform you in a separate update when the production is finished. We won't give final estimates now, but production should be completed probably in 5-6 weeks.

After that, we need some time to prepare and publish an update in which we will give a fair proposal on how to solve the financial problem and continue the process of sending packages. Please be patient, we will do our best to complete this project. We believe that the backers will be satisfied with the proposed solution, but we ask you to give us some time so that our work will be without pressure, and therefore more efficient.

Update #31
11 months ago – Sun, Apr 20, 2025 at 02:55:24 AM

We intended to post this update 3-4 days ago, but both authors got a virus, we have a high temperature and we are taking antibiotics. In that update we were supposed to show the final design of all the info cards and the final rules for the Fun Set Plus and Airborne expansions. That design work is mostly done, but we don't want to publish pages that aren't finished.

This update has another topic in which we present only part of the problems (health) that have been following us, the authors, for several years. Soon (in a few days, at the moment we cannot say anything more precise) we will publish a second update in which we will present other problems (financial) with proposals for a solution.

The cause of the problems that accompany us is our desire to significantly expand the Age of Dogfights WWII game compared to the version that was presented during the Kickstarter campaign in 2021. The volume of work has increased more than 5 times, which has created huge obligations, stress and, as a result, health problems. You can read more about it in the update we just published on the Kickstarter project Age of Dogfights WWII.

Although it took us much, much longer than planned, we can be satisfied with the reactions of those backers who have already received and tried the basic game AoD:WWII, which can be seen on the BGG page.

Unfortunately, the prolonged work on writing rules under stressful conditions created many problems, primarily health and financial. These problems did not affect the realization of some of our smaller projects (Carom Mini Golf and Carom Golf), but, unfortunately, it did affect this one.

We will do our best to ensure that all backers from this project receive everything they ordered and paid for. We hope that you will support us to overcome the problems so that we can fulfill all our obligations to you by working at full capacity.

Shipping, production and announcement of a new project
12 months ago – Fri, Mar 14, 2025 at 04:42:47 PM

Forsage Games is still working rapidly on several "fronts". As we announced in the previous update, the production of all games from our latest project (Carom Golf) has been completed and in about ten days all packages will be sent.

Carom Golf update

Packages are also being sent to backers from our older projects:

Panzer Strike: Western Front 2 update

Age of Dogfights: WWII update

Regarding this project, we sent packages to the backers who ordered Tank Chess Portable and Basic game options. Now it's Tank Chess Expanded in turn. We did all the boards a long time ago, and now we've printed the boxes. In parallel with it, we also printed boxes for the Fun Set Plus expansion and the Airborne mini-expansion.

In the coming period, we will continue to work hard to fulfill our obligations to all backers and we will regularly inform you about the progress.

New project: Urban Battle

Thanks to the fact that we invested money in production capacities in a timely manner (see Update #54 on AoD2) we managed to survive as a company during a long period when we, the authors, were too busy working on an extremely demanding project such as the game Age of Dogfights: WWII. Producing board games for other authors and publishers brought us the necessary money, but due to our long-term plans, it is still necessary for us to occasionally launch new projects on Kickstarter.

The campaign for the game Urban Battle was planned for the period September–October 2024. It is a simple game that is very suitable for production because it has very few elements. The project was 90% ready in the summer of 2024, but we decided to postpone the campaign for two reasons:

1. First to focus on older projects in which there is a delay in delivering packages.

2. To start the campaign when we are 100% ready, so we don't end up in a situation where we are late with the realization of the project due to some unplanned circumstances.

In the meantime, many ideas have "settled", so we as authors are really satisfied with how we designed the whole project.

As said above, it is a simple game that by all criteria falls into the 'EasyPlay' category (which is indicated on the game box). The game was created by compiling the best solutions from several of our earlier tank games (Tank Chess, Panzer Strike and an early concept predating both of them). The emphasis is on simplicity, not on some realistic depiction of historical games. There will be several variants of the game, offered at very favorable prices considering the contents. Depending on the variant, the game contains 50 to 100 tank pieces, with which very diverse scenarios can be played. The time required to prepare the game is extremely short: only 1 to 3 minutes.

The rules are short and simple, with many illustrated examples. There are three game modes, with minor differences in the rules but the character of the game depends very much on the chosen mode:

1. BASIC MODE – relaxed, fluid game, with the influence of luck (with dice)
2. ABSOLUTE MODE – without the luck factor (no dice), more strategic gameplay (this mode is quite similar to the game Tank Chess)
3. REALISTIC MODE – more realistic firing angles, requires using a ruler

As always, we have prepared interesting gifts for early pledge, as well as for our repeating backers (from any of our earlier projects). The campaign should start in the next 7 to 15 days, if you are interested go to the link below and click 'Notify me on launch'.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732812836/urban-battle

We sent several trial edition copies of the game to various reviewers around the world. Here are some quotes from their posts:

"Beautiful components, packed with tons of goodies, easy to learn and play, fun games, family friendly." — Richard Martin (Armchair General)

"It's taking Tank Chess to the next logical step, to an actual battlefield", ... "I like the game. I think it's a nice streamlined fun game that you can sit down, play out in an evening without a whole lot of huge thought process behind it." — Nate Rogers (TheGimpyGamer)

(Trial edition mostly contains tank pieces in some camo colors, such as gray and olive green, but in the meantime we decided to make them red and blue in serial production, for several reasons.)

Just as we made the gameplay itself as simple as possible (EasyPlay), we also envisioned the game to be simple to produce. We created a detailed plan for the production of every single element of the game. On the Kickstarter page, that plan will be presented with all the details: a unified boards for all variants of the game, a choice of colors for tank figurines, a plan in case there are few (100-300) and in case there are many (> 1000) backers; places where we will acquire material and possibly new 3D printers... Having learned from the experiences of some previous projects, we believe that a detailed production plan is necessary for the successful and timely realization of the project.

Update #29
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 19, 2025 at 01:28:37 PM

As we announced in several previous updates, Forsage Games in this period is simultaneously fulfilling its obligations towards backers from several projects. In the meantime, the timeline for delivering packages from our last project (Carom Golf on the Kickstarter profile Forsage Light Games) has arrived. Since it is a game that is very easy to produce, and a small number of copies were ordered, we organized the production in a very short time. In a few days, shipping will start.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2078586680/carom-golf/posts/4318274

As for this project (Tank Chess - reprint), there was a slight slowdown in deliveries, because many backers earned the Loyalty Gift - the game Tankball. These days, that game is in production, so shipments will resume in a couple of days.

This game is quite different from most of our Kickstarter games so far, so feedback on it would be very valuable. We hope that the backers, after receiving their package and playing a few games of Tankball, will write some comments and impressions about it.

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The common practice among game creators is to produce their games in China, and they can much more easily give accurate estimates of delivery times. When games are produced by large factories, all games (after the preparation period) are produced quickly. After that, all copies are delivered to the backers in a very short time through fulfillment companies.

We, however, have decided from the start to invest the money earned through Kickstarter in our own production capacities. There are several reasons for this:
- immediate control of each produced element and the entire process
- flexibility in terms of production numbers
- the possibility to offer different expansions for the basic game without fear that some of them will not have enough orders to pay off the production
- all machines, tools and processes remain permanently in our ownership, so we can use them for our future projects and for service production

Beside the advantages, this approach to production has some disadvantages:
- the production process lasts longer
- impracticality of using fulfillment companies for deliveries, because they require that all goods be delivered to their warehouses at once
- estimates of delivery times are not precise

Considering all this and the fact that the project that preceded this campaign (Age of Dogfights WWII) had an unplanned delay that was transmitted to subsequent projects, we are not in a position to say precisely by what time all games will be delivered. We have inadvertently given wrong estimates on several occasions in the past, so we are very cautious going forward. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, all backers should receive their games in the next two, maximum three months.