BoardgameGeek thread reports that some additional legal issues (not related to Up Front, itself) have cropped up that are putting the project at risk.
The thread is here but the gist of the situation is that someone who loaned money to Valley Games has sued for repayment and has gotten a judge to agree to attach the assets of Radiant games claiming that VG transferred its assets to Radiant merely to avoid having to legitimately repay him.
Naturally, as a legal matter it's pretty messy and there's no way for me to judge either the merits of the respective arguments or the likely outcome. It's bad news because I had gone ahead and pledged the Kickstarter ... and it will be disappointing to lose the money if it ends up not happening. I guess my existing copies of Up Front may retain their collector's value a bit longer.
I had to say, I did have my doubts as to whether I should do the UF Kickstarter because the legal issues were floating around out there. I finally decided to take the plunge because the Rewards were so good -- but Kickstarter makes sure to emphasize that there are no guarantees.
I've backed three other KS projects. Two are with pretty well-established outfits -- Columbia Games and Steve Jackson Games and I'm not too worried about them coming through. The third is The Guns of Gettysburg which is from an outfit I have less familiarity with -- Mercury Games, but no storm clouds have been noted. In related news, Bowen Simmons health issues seem to have forced him to discontinue filling orders for Napoleon's Triumph, which is a pity. Hopefully he will get better soon. If I hadn't gotten laid off getting a second copy of NT was on my to-do list. Hopefully there will still be a chance to do that in the future.
I always hate it when people do stupid *bleep*. Why Valley Games would transfer assets to Radiant is beyond me. They had to have known they would get caught. … On the other hand, that is a document written by the Plaintiff, so we will have to wait and see what happens when the courts sort it out.
ReplyDeleteSo, what do you want two copies of Napoleon's Triumph for? I bought mine (new) on eBay, so I can't see what the designer's health has to do with buying one. There is a copy for $58 (shipping included) out there now.
I would LOVE a new Up Front... but I did not support the Kickstarter for the very reason that Valley Games, and Rik Falch were less than totally trustworthy. I still have a warped, stinking Titan set that took a couple of years to get. Not passing judgement on the legal issues, I am still waiting for Airborne in your Pocket and D-Day dice rewards that haven't turned up.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I debated with myself about backing Up Front because of the reported legal issues. Maybe a little greed kicked in -- I really did want to see Up Front come back. While I have my own copy, I think any game that's not "in print" faces a slow and steady decline because it can't really get exposed to new players. In any case, my desire to see Up Front cone out again overwhelmed the nagging voice of caution and I went ahead and pledged. In hindsight I can't say that I think I made the right call. If we end up getting the game after all then I'll boast about how smart I was. :)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind having a second copy of Napoleon's Triumph simply because I think so much of the game that I'd like to have a backup copy in case disaster hit my main playing copy. Just haven't had the free cash to devote to that kind of thing though.
Seth, the email address in your profile must be outdated as it keeps bouncing email. (Either that or you have a strong spam filter.)
Delete