I track my wargame, boardgame, and tabletop roleplaying game preorders using two BGG GeekLists. In past years I was always excited to update my lists with new games added and others moved to my “acquisitions” GeekList once the game arrived. The lost COVID Years changed all that with the tremendous slowdown in game production and halts to shipping. The post-COVID era for my preorder GeekList has proven to be less than exciting. Whereas before there was a steady churn and turnover of product now there seemingly is near-stasis.
The most important preorder number from 2023 is not captured below. The number I failed to capture in 2023 was the number or preorders I cancelled. More than anything else that “missing” number is the real tally of 2023 and the true but silent expression of my displeasure with some wargame publishers.
Games on Preorder – 22
- From 2021 – 3
- From 2022 – 2
- From 2023 – 16
- From 2024 – 1
Oldest Preorder: Eastern Front: Operational Battles (Compass Games). Preordered Feb 2021 (23 months ongoing). Projected Delivery – “Late 2023” by 2022 Catalog Early 2025 by 2023 Holiday Catalog (deep sigh…).
Newest Preorder: Rommel’s War (Worthington Publishing). Kickstarter Early Delivery Special with shipment expected in February 2024.
Preorder by Gaming Hobby Segment
Wargame 17 / Boardgame 3 / TTRPG 2
Preorders by Source
Compass Games Pay Now – 1 / Dietz Foundation – 2 / Gamefound – 3 (Cadet Games 1 / Duck’s Games 1 / Lock n Load 1) / GMT Games P500 – 8 / Kickstarter – 6 (Chief Weasel Logistics 1 / Fort Circle `1 / The Grinning Frog 2 / Sergio Schiavi 1 / Worthington Publishing 1) / Modiphius -1 / RBM Studio (C3i Magazine) – 1
Compass Games. I pretty much stopped pre-orders this year since it seems to have no impact on the production schedule. Yes, there are a few games I am very anxious to see (Seapower & the State) but I can still get the same price if I wait for the Kickstarter campaign to launch just before final printing. Why commit now and suffer impatience for years? When they print they print; they don’t get my money before that.
The Dietz Foundation. If there is a publisher out there that has a chance of restoring my faith in wargame publishing it is Jim over at The Dietz Foundation. Great communications, transparency, and apparently well organized as both games I took in this year (Littoral Commander: Indo-Pacific and Sharks!) delivered pretty much as projected…or better (Sharks! in fact came in three months early).
Gamefound. Becoming something of a competitor to Kickstarter. Still more of a pre-order system than support-a-new-designer approach to game funding.
GMT Games. I keep telling myself that I am going to cut back on GMT Games P500 but it doesn’t always seem to work. Part of me wants to support P500 projects because without that magic 500 pre-orders a game will never see print. That said, I am (yet again for another year) increasingly unhappy with the P500 “preorder” system. In the past when a game passed 500 orders and “Made the Cut” the production seemed to progress in a somewhat reasonable timeframe. I understand that when a game is contracted it still needs the design to be finished and development complete before entering the art department. I certainly don’t want GMT Games dictating a timeline to designers/developers because that approach threatens the quality of the design. At the same time some P500 pledges have languished for YEARS. Next War: Taiwan, which is an updated reprint (not a wholly new design) is still taking ~2 YEARS to deliver! Not shown in the above numbers are the orders I cancelled this year because they just never seem to go anywhere or, just as often, my tastes have changed in the YEARS since the game idea was floated.
Kickstarter. Pretty much a pre-order system for taking your money in advance, sometimes for years at a time, before delivering a product. I’m trying to be a bit more discriminating and not using Kickstarter as a multi-year interest-free loan for game publishers.
Publisher Direct. Like other preorder programs I try not to get too far in advance of the production timelines.
2024 Incoming
All that said, there is (potentially) some good news as I try to whittle down this list. Some (loosely) projected arrivals in the first quarter of 2024 include:
- Panzer: North Africa (GMT Games) – To charge January 3 with shipping starting a week later.
- C3i Magazine Nr. 37 (RBM Studios) – To ship January.
- Rommel’s War (Worthington Publishing) – Early Delivery Special for shipping in February.
- StarShip Scavengers rules with Assignment: Station Thirty One (Grinning Frog) – Delivery February?
- Five Parsecs From Home Compendium – Bug Hunt (Modiphius) – Expected March.
- The Halls of Montezuma (Fort Circle Games) – “…delivery will not occur until Q1 2024.”
Feature image courtesy pexels
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Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
While I love many GMT games, I share the frustration with their ever-lengthening P500 pipeline. I actually wish they would raise their prices a bit in order to bring on more staff, artists, or otherwise invest in whatever is necessary to move things along more efficiently. Or don’t take on so many new games and reprints. Or both of the above.