Trench Crusade Backdrop Books

Dispatch update - basically done!
3 days ago – Fri, Jun 05, 2026 at 08:12:46 AM

Hello again!
So - dispatch update. This is for folks who filled out their surveys in time. If you're a bit late to that, we'll get to you next.

UK parcels are all sent
bar one backer - we got to the very last UK parcel, and realised the one book we needed to add to their parcel was damaged, so we reordered some. I'll be in touch with this backer shortly to explain. I'll send out their parcel today, and it'll be missing that one book, but we'll send it along as soon as we get a replacement. 

All US Parcels are sent
with just a small number which are packed and labelled, and will be collected Monday, but they're effectively all processed.

EU Parcels are all packed and en route to the freight forwarder who will ensure you don't pay import duty
They should start arriving with you towards the end next week. We're a little bit at the mercy of various EU nations changing the rules on importing goods from outside the EU this month. Bear with us. It shouldn't cause delays, but we'll see.

All "Rest of World" which is anywhere that doesn't fall into the above regions are sent, with a small number which will be collected Monday, but they're effectively all processed.
 

TRACKING

In terms of tracking info - we've concentrated on picking and packing but we will catch up with marking pledges dispatched and sending tracking info across next week.

Despite all UK rewards (bar the one mentioned above) having been sent out, we opted not to sell the Trench Crusade Backdrop Books at UK Games Expo last weekend. 

I just didn't feel it would be right, given that people further afield were still waiting. We could have made the case that any UK retailer who had backed us could have been selling them, so it'd be cool for us to do so? But I opted not to, simply out of respect for your support of this campaign. I know as a backer of campaigns I'd find that a bit frustrating, so we didn't do it.

I wouldn't have said anything but I've had a few rude messages, and I think I maybe need to communicate that we really do care about your happiness, and we've worked really hard to get your rewards out the door as fast as humanly possible. No one is tricking or conning anyone. It's just been a long process to complete as a small operation, with a few knock on delays from some unavoidable health issues, and then key projects all arriving at once. But I've clung on and not died, primarily to finish this kickstarter dispatch*, albeit a bit later than was ideal.

Now that everything is basically en route, we will take a stock of them to our local show Carronade, which happens just down the road from us here in Falkirk (and is one of my favourite games conventions) tomorrow! If you happen to be there, do pop by and say hello.

We'll also make the books available for order on our website next week. I don't want that to surprise anyone!

Thanks for all your amazing support and patience! Keep an eye on those mail boxes, and be sure to tag us in any photos you take. I usually look at the hashtag #jhbackdrops daily.

Jon


ok that last bit isn't why I didn't just go toward the light. I needed to live purely to annoy my enemies**.

** I don't have any enemies.

Shipping Progress update 70%+ done!
21 days ago – Mon, May 18, 2026 at 11:28:23 AM

Hello!

Hope this finds you well!

Shipping out your books continues apace!

All the UK rewards are picked, packed, and the last small bunch that haven’t been dispatched will head out tomorrow. 

We’ll also finish off packing the US and “Rest of World” tomorrow. 

The EU will be the last batch to go, just because we need to deal with duty on your behalf and it’s a tiny bit more complicated. 

So overall, we’re now sitting at just over 70% done at this point. 

Updating your individual Backerkit accounts to indicate if your rewards have shipped is happening sporadically - I figure it’s better to just get them sent than to delay shipping to handle that - it can be a little bit fiddly - but we’ll catch up as we go. 

A new campaign

You may have spotted we’re doing another campaign for some new (non-Trench) backdrop books. I wanted to reassure everyone that this is a bit of a quirk of timing, and that of course we haven’t forgotten your Trench Crusade backdrop books - we’ve been packing and shipping nonstop!

I had hoped we would have the Trench Crusade Backdrop Books parcels all done before the new campaign dropped, and we’ll be soooo close to that. So I do understand if it feels a bit frustrating for a new campaign to arrive before you’ve received your rewards from this one. It's bugging me too. We are a “trusted creator” on Kickstarter, so we’re allowed to have three campaigns on the go at once. (Being really strict about the rules, I think this one actually counts as done with over 50% of rewards dispatched... but that seems a bit like stretching it to me - it's done when they're all sent!) And by the end of this week we should be done entirely with this one.

I hope it makes sense that as a small creator, especially after the whole "brain might explode" health issue, we have to keep making new stuff to stay in the game, and that the overlap should only be a matter of days. We have to fit a lot into the calendar, and around convention time makes things especially tricky. 

I also totally get it if you don't feel ready to back a new campaign. That's ok! Everything will eventually be on our web store if you want to wait.

Late surveys

Thanks to everyone who has recently completed their survey!

We’ll be catching up all late surveys in one batch at the end. 

I’ll be in touch with anyone who is still having card issues towards the end of this week - I can see there's a handful of folks who aren't having any luck with that -  We can make alternative arrangements if the Backerkit card processing isn’t working out. 

That's it for now! I'll confirm when everything is dispatched, and I look forward to seeing what you get up to with your books!

Jon

Shipping has begun!
about 1 month ago – Fri, May 08, 2026 at 08:46:04 AM

It's all go here! - I wanted to give everyone a little update to let you know that dispatch has begun. The parcels above are a selection of the UK A4 pledges, which was the first set to get picked and packed. A handful have already hit the post just now.

We'll be working by territory, and they take about a day each. So next is US, and then we'll move on to the rather rudely named "Rest of World". EU parcels will be handled by our logistics partner to ensure they're sent duty paid so you don't pay anything when your parcel arrives.

So I'm hoping that by the end of next week we'll be close to done!

If you haven't done your survey at this point, we'll get to you in a big mop up operation at the end.

We're starting to promote our next campaign for the next round of Backdrop Books - but please don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you! Far from it - we're packing around the clock to get you your Backdrop Books as planned.

Have a great weekend!
Jon
 

Backerkit Pledge manager closing soon
about 1 month ago – Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 09:15:29 AM

Hello!
Thanks to everyone who has completed their survey. We're at 85% completed which is great, thank you so much.

A 7 Backer Issue

A single issue has arisen in Backerkit, wherein ages ago when setting up the original campaign here on KS, I accidentally connected the wrong reward to an Add On. We are aware of it, it involves only 7 backers, and I have messaged all of those involved. We will of course make sure you get the right things, and my apologies - literally a slip of the mouse between Sci-Fi A3 and Sci-fi Ruins A3 during the construction of the campaign. 

No one needs to take any action for this to be fixed. We'll handle it at this end, and we have a nice clear list of everyone affected.

Get 'em in

If you're one of the 15% who are yet to fill in the survey, please do so right away. We are expecting the printed books any day now, and we want to get sending out books as soon as possible. We also have a slot arranged with our logistics partners, and we don't want you to miss that.

With that in mind I will lock off the pledge manager in 48 hours time, and charge cards on the first of the month. 

We will of course be able to still send you books later if you haven't done your survey, and anyone from those 7 backers suffering from an incorrect add on will be given infinite grace, since it's my mistake. 

That's it for now!
Thanks again for all your support, and all the kind messages about my head emergency. I'm feeling much better than I was, and we're getting there on catching up!

Take care, and get them surveys done!
Jon

 

First invites to Backerkit Pledge manager have been sent
about 2 months ago – Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 07:26:07 AM

Hello!
Just a quick heads up - some of you will have received your invitations to the Pledge Manager.

This is the smoke test, which allows us to check if everything is working before the bulk of the invites go out. So don't worry if you hear of other backers getting an invite, and you don't yet have one. They go out at random.

I'll update when the rest of the invites go out, once we're confident we did mess anything up.

Thanks!
Jon