On the eve of the party

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First off, we need to apologise for our last blog post. We relayed information that we had 'written in blood' that the UK pre-orders were 'in the system' last Friday, and that they would be "sorted". Because we're excitable little pups we read this as "posted out to people", but alas we've yet to get our heads around this business lingo.

So, the latest information, and sorry that it's so unclear, is that if you're in the UK* and you ordered your game before the 13/11/2006, then they should be arriving Friday at the latest. Once the backlog is clear we'll make a start on all orders post-13/11/2006 orders.

Hopefully Brian Haw might be up for a game. We're thinking of making him a laminated, all-weather protest setWe now know that there are a few boyfriends out their who don't believe they've got a present coming. It seems we've spoilt some birthdays and that sits heavy with us.

So sorry that the last mile is drawing out, but we really appreciate your patience.

The launch party plans are coming together. Our life-sized(ish) suicide bomber turned up yesterday and he looks great. The Terrorist Pinata is taking some kind of shape and we're tired of looking at bad facial hair after making 100 Terrorist Bingo cards.

As we're in London for the party we're taking the opportunity to launch our Petition to call on the Prime Minister to launch an independent inquiry into the legitimacy of the 'war on terror'. After Downing Street refused to accept our petition of two challenging Tony Blair to a game, we thought we'd try a different approach.

So we're going to be playing War on Terror, the boardgame in Parliament Square from 11.30 to 1pm tomorrow, Thursday 30th December. If you're passing, do drop by and say hello and sign the petition. We'll be the ones sitting around a table, rolling dice and wearing an EVIL Balaclava. Hopefully Brian Haw might be up for a game. We're thinking of making him a laminated, all-weather protest set.

But the real news of the day, some dude went to the effort to send in a new card for the game. Cheers Ian! Although we have spotted a flaw in your card mechanics....

Roll on the party!

* US & Canada... Running smooth. Europe and 'elsewhere' pre-orders have all been dispatched.

They're on their way...

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During the course of publishing War on Terror, the boardgame we've learnt a truth about business, and possibly even life, that we'd like to take this opportunity to share with you... NOTHING ACTUALLY HAPPENS UNTIL IT HAPPENS.

So although we have it written in blood that the UK games* should have already started to arrive at people's doorsteps, we're just not too sure until we start hearing about people getting into trouble with EVIL Balaclavas.

Andy S is on 'Terrorist Pinata' duty whilst Andy T is busy working on 'Terrorist Bingo' cardsHopefully as soon as all the 1,366 pre-orders have cleared the system things will settle down and we'll have a much clearer picture on delivery times to the various corners of the globe.

The Long War is just beginning, our launch party is next Thursday. Preparations are in full swing, Andy S is on 'Terrorist Pinata' duty whilst Andy T is busy working on 'Terrorist Bingo' cards. We've already run out of invites, so if you've not got yours, that's because you're not coming.

Retail news... The first shop to take on the game has already sold out, firebox.com have balls the size of Scotland and have taken quite a few copies off our hands. A few small independent games stores have been in touch, which is nice. Expect a full stockists list soon.

Of course, people are now playing the game and game reports are springing up, as well as reviews. We've had a first submission for the Gallery of EVIL but no challenge winners yet. So there's everything to play for...

* U.S. and Canadian citizens should already have their copies. We've been told that European deliveries and any orders for 'elsewhere' in the world should be arriving within 5 working days.

We got the games!

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So 1,500* boxes of War on Terror cleared customs on Friday and we drove down to Essex to pick a few up.

It was a little weird because for starters we were being followed by a small film crew (for a possible documentary). Then when we arrived at the warehouse, we were made to wait outside in the rain, while the games were driven out to us. It felt like a drugs drop. Only more dodgy.

So sorry if you were expecting dramatic photos of sky-high towers of WoT shipping cartons - the "sensitivity" of our game (it cries at chick flicks) meant that we weren't allowed to take pictures.

Here follows a brief exchange with some of the warehouse staff:

Bloke A: What's all this about then?"
Andy S: It's a board game, called 'War on Terror, the boardgame.
Bloke A: Bloody hell!
Bloke B: Whatever next!
Andy T: Yeh, and you get a free balaclava with each game.
(game gets pulled from the box)
Girl A: Wow! I want one.
Bloke B: Love the artwork.
Bloke A: I'm going home, tell me when this shit's cleared out of the warehouse.

We also got our first order from the Houses of Parliament... Apparently they're going to get one for the tea room. Bad luck, Bloke A.

Anyway, the games are being dispatched as we speak. If you advance-ordered yours, it should arrive any day. Please be patient though, since they have about 900 back-orders to get through.

In other news, our Stateside friends have also been receiving their games and they've wasted no time in playing it either. The first official session write-up has appeared on Board Game Geek and we were relieved to read they loved it. We also got our first order from the Houses of Parliament. Can't say who, though.

Oh, and if you haven't bought the game yet, what are you waiting for? Also, check out the new EVIL Gallery, send in your photos and you could win yourself an 'evil' balaclava.

* The other 3,000 arrived today on a separate ship.

Ex-MI6 boss Richard Dearlove: Will play WoT with son...

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A last minute tip-off and we hear that Sir Richard Dearlove, ex-head of MI6, is presenting a talk at a prestigious Cambridge University entitled the 'War on Terror'. It's too much to resist, and we take the opportunity to present him with a copy of the game.

Due to the fact that half of the TerrorBull team was swanning around London on a birthday related jolly, and that the tip-off was too late to get Cambridge press involved, Andy T has to find a last minute drunken photographer called Ben to come along and record the moment for blog history.

Sir Dearlove stated that all acts of terrorism are a means of communication, but when pushed on what the 'July 7th terrorists' were trying to communicate, he drew a blank.The pre-talk meeting in the pub goes well, bumping into two random Cambridge characters. One of which already knows about the game and wished us well, the other, by the end of the drink, determined to buy a set and use it to teach his students English.

Arriving at the talk a little late and a little drunk, Richard is already underway explaining the complexities of the 'War on Terror'. It seems to boil down to purely religious motivation that CANNOT BE NEGOTIATED WITH. Early on Sir Dearlove states that all acts of terrorism are a means of communication, but when pushed on what the 'July 7th terrorists' were trying to communicate, he drew a blank. Doesn't fill us with a lot of confidence that being in charge of of 'Secret Intelligence Service' means you know what's going on.

He went into depth about the risk of a biological attack, rather than nuclear or chemical; how new evidence shows that Al-Qaeda is more organised than we thought; how difficult it is for governments to relay evidence of the threat and not be seen as scaremongering...

But at the end of it all, he was more than happy to receive a free set of War on Terror, the boardgame, maybe slightly confused. Even though he confessed to not play games too often, he said he'd give it a shot with his son. He didn't even mind having his photo taken, "as long as it's not used for promotion". Luckily Ben was drunk enough to guarantee a piss-poor photo that could never be reproduced anywhere, ever.

We're hoping that he'll endorse the game as the most realistic modern world liberation game in existence. Who better to judge than an ex-MI6 boss - someone who's already written a fair few secret messages of his own.

Other news! The games have cleared customs and we're off to our UK warehouse tomorrow to inspect the shipment. Games are arriving at people's doorsteps in n.America right now, with UK games following shortly.

Delivery Update: WoT hits dry land!

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The last month has felt like a small eternity. But the waiting's over! It's here! The War on Terror cargo ship has docked!

Unless they get destroyed by customs (nothing would surprise us), the games should start getting delivered next week. And the games in the States are already at the warehouse - they should be going out tomorrow.

Exciting times. This website's going to be updated slightly too - for starters, we're going to have an 'evil gallery' for people to send in their balaclava shots.

There have been a couple of interesting developments here at TBG HQ. A possible documentary may be on the cards. And we're talking to people about proper distribution in North America. If either leads to anything, you'll certainly know about it.

But it's not all fun and games (is it ever?) - unfortunately both Borders and Fopp in Cambridge have backed out of stocking the game. In both cases, the Cambridge managers have been over-ridden by 'head office'. In Fopp's case, the instruction was not to stock any board games. However, in Borders' case, they received a direct order from head office not to stock War on Terror, the boardgame, since it might "upset customers". (Unlike any of the other products they stock). They've been added to the Coalition of the Unwilling.

Our hopes now lie with independent games shops. We'll hopefully have a list of stockists on the site in the next couple of weeks.

And in other news, we read in the Independent that young Muslims are being groomed as suicide bombers through the use of - amongst other things - board games. Well it wasn't us. It's not even out yet.