Regular production has resumed at Iron Wind Metals

[speck]

Regular production has resumed at Iron Wind Metals, see the annoucement for more details.



Original Post
See the annoucement for more details. I will post a update when I have one from Mike.

Webstore is still open for bussiness.

[speck]

See the annoucement for details, but the factory is closed. Due to the Ohio Governor ordering non essential business too close. Tomorrow Monday March 23rd, the factory staff will be working to ship as many orders that they can before the closure. The web store is still open, but fulfillment will taken extra time due to current situation.

Please stay tuned for updates.

NOTE: Updated to reflect web store still being open for sales.

[GRUD]

Due to the Ohio Governor ordering non essential business too close.

WHAT?!?!  :o

The Ohio Governor is an Idiot if he doesn't see IWM as an "Essential" Business!  How else are we supposed to get our Metal Crack?   :'(  Oh man.   I think I'm getting Jittery just thinking about them closing.


 :D

[jimdigris]

I can't emphasize how horrifying it was to see the IWM store go offline last night.  For a few hours there, hope was truly dead. :( xp

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

This would happen just as my local game store decided to open up a contract with Golden and potentially start getting Battletech minis in.

I kid- here in Oregon, shelter-in-place went online today so non-essential businesses are also shut down.

[Daryk]

Heh... Virginia has put liquor stores on the "essential" list...  ^-^

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Yes, it's not the only state to do so.

[Scotty]

You generally don't want people experiencing withdrawals while hospitals are stressed.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

And beyond that, it's a stress reliever.

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, I read somewhere the retail sales of alcohol is up b/c folks cannot get it from bars.

[carlisimo]

There are great YouTube channels to learn cocktail mixing from.  My favorite is the Educated Barfly.  His early episodes are less refined, but have more basic information that I found very useful.  e.g. add your ingredients in cheapest->most expensive order, add the ice last, shake for 8-10 seconds, not the 30 you often see cited, express those lemon or orange twists because they're not just for show, refrigerate your vermouth, etc.

If you're in a big city like San Francisco, you can have cocktails delivered.  Pricey, but it means those bars might survive this ordeal.

Anyway, regarding the IWM webstore... the notice about shipping delays is pretty easy to miss on a desktop browser screen.  I didn't think to look all the way up at the top for a while.  And it's got a couple of typos.  Are we talking about no shipping at all until Ohio's Shelter-in-Place order is lifted?  That could take a while...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

We should probably take discussions about things other than IWM to the COVID-19 thread in Off Topic.

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=68552.0

[Colt Ward]

After they close the door I expect we will not see anything shipped out for 3 weeks or possibly more.  On the upside, I am pretty sure the moddlers already work from home so its not going to interrupt the pipeline for the next few quarters.

When do they normally make the Con exclusive announcements?

[dgorsman]

A mild sunny spot to all this, is they should still have assurances customers will be back when they're back open.

[GRUD]

When do they normally make the Con exclusive announcements?

Seems like "Normally" in July, but I think they've mentioned some things the week OF Gen Con though.   :o

[jimdigris]

This assumes there is a Gencon this year. :-[

[Colt Ward]

I already figure there will not be . . . Origins is absolutely out I expect, IF GenCon happens it might be one of the smallest in years.

[GRUD]

As much money as Indie rakes in during GC though, and as much as it makes "Gen Con LLC", I'd imagine they're going to wait as long as possible before canceling.  Someone in a GC FB Group already posted all the other things scheduled for the ICC this year, until at least SEP.  If anything happens to GC, it WILL be a Cancellation, rather than a Postponement/Rescheduling.  There's apparently no other free weekends for it to be moved to.   :-\

Makes me wonder how long OffWorld Designs will put off before they start making the Con items.  Would be a bit Funny on one hand, to have a t-shirt, hoodie or shot glass for a Con that wasn't held.  ;D  On the other, they'll also lose a LOT of money, because you know they won't sell everything they make.  Same with Crystal Caste and the "Official Gen Con" dice, among other Companies.   :-\

[beachhead1985]

Forgive me if I have missed this, but from context, I derive that the update to the webstore is complete? Looks the same.

[Known Glitch]

The webstore is still open!  I placed my order last Friday and the delivery came yesterday.  Great customer service! :thumbsup:

[Colt Ward]

They were pushing out what they had from orders . . . if its the standard thing, we might see them back mid-April.

[beachhead1985]

The webstore is still open!  I placed my order last Friday and the delivery came yesterday.  Great customer service! :thumbsup:

But they had a thing where they were...migrating? I'm not crazy?

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Yeah, there was going to be some big announcement and everyone was going to have to make new accounts.  Does not seem to have happened.

[beachhead1985]

Yeah, there was going to be some big announcement and everyone was going to have to make new accounts.  Does not seem to have happened.

So is that on hold or what?

[JadeHellbringer]

Heh... Virginia has put liquor stores on the "essential" list...  ^-^

It's my only coping mechanism at this point.

[speck]

Yeah, there was going to be some big announcement and everyone was going to have to make new accounts.  Does not seem to have happened.

Still coming, my extra time has been taken up recently and then the factory closed so can’t do training on new system.

More to come.

[jimdigris]

Why was the change to a new store needed?

[Scotty]

Why was the change to a new store needed?

Probably because the "mid-2000s geocities" looking online store is repelling customers. :P

That's not a joke, by the way.  At least two new players I know were sufficiently put off by the storefront to just wait for the new kickstarter minis before diving into building a collection.

There's probably backend reasons for it, too, beyond that.

[GRUD]

Probably because the "mid-2000s geocities" looking online store is repelling customers. :P

That's not a joke, by the way.  At least two new players I know were sufficiently put off by the storefront to just wait for the new kickstarter minis before diving into building a collection.

Wow.  That's Unbelievably Petty.   :o

If someone offered me a Brand New Mercedes, PLUS they pay all licensing fees and taxes, I wouldn't refuse just because it was in a color I didn't care for.  Even if it was a truck, I'd accept it.  Then resell it.   ;D

[Scotty]

Ah, of course, I always forget that not using an off-putting internet storefront is exactly the same as refusing being given a free luxury car.  Silly me. ::)

The online store is serviceable if you know what you want already.  Just browsing it is  awful, especially if you don't know most of the names off the top of your head.

[Colt Ward]

Its also not enticing

Ever watch the restaurant saving shows?  They refresh the menu and the dining room, because eye appeal is important to bringing in new customers.  Its like the new era TROs, they are not made to appeal to you as a long term player but to get new playes involved.

[dgorsman]

Its also not enticing

Ever watch the restaurant saving shows?  They refresh the menu and the dining room, because eye appeal is important to bringing in new customers.  Its like the new era TROs, they are not made to appeal to you as a long term player but to get new playes involved.

Granted.  Then again, those of us who have been around a while have the experience of the internet NOT being always shiny and pretty.  We didn't grow up with everything more or less graphically perfect and always functional, and are willing to just make it work rather than complain about things that are less than perfect.  Some complaints are warranted but beyond that it tends to sound like entitlement.

[Scotty]

It's not about "shiny and pretty" it's about "it's not worth my time to figure out how to use this when I have other alternatives".  That's not entitlement, it's reasonable application of limited resources.

This is also, incidentally, a problem BattleTech as a game was guilty of until very recently.

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, it does have some functionality problems if I want to examine the photos to see how to build the mech.  Its better for business if you have something that looks more up to date than what they have right now- for one thing, you get a very clear visual disconnect between the main site and the webstore site.  Knowing the old (and not to be repeated here) arguments about metal vs plastic, its better for a store selling metal to not appear old, cluttered, & clunky.

[carlisimo]

I really struggled with the website at first.  Honestly it's more the fault of the way the game/universe is "organized", but the website doesn't help.

To find mechs right now, there are two places to go:
Battletech -> Mechs, or
Battletech -> Online Exclusives -> Mechs

It doesn't matter whether they're clan or Inner Sphere, 3025 or 3145, they're all thrown in there, in alphabetical order.  369 mechs to dig through in one place, 102 in the other.  I had no idea that you couldn't mix them all together.  Also, I was surprised to find photos that only expand to 300x300.

I realize Battletech doesn't make the following foolproof, but it'd be a huge help if the minis had filterable tech level, era and faction tags.  I'd give the Jenner the following: Inner Sphere, Battlemech, Draconis Combine, and I guess every era tag other than Reunification War and Star League (and whatever tech level the -D is... I don't know my tech levels yet).  I'd want to see a distinction between clan omnis and battlemechs, but I don't know how I'd handle later-era mixed-tech models.

The point of the faction tags wouldn't be to imply that no one else has them, but they'd be a clue to a new player that they do tend to belong more to one nation than another.  I know the forum often graciously says "play however you want," but we typically WANT to know what's lore-friendly, and we'll eventually get to it in our reading but omg there's a lot of reading to do to get there.

As long as I'm dreaming, I wish mechs like the Victor and Lu Wei Bing linked to one another.  I probably would've bought a Lu Wei Bing to convert into a Victor if I had known about it at the time.

[BairdEC]

I have no idea what a Lu Wei Bing is.  The search engine had an interesting take.

[Empyrus]

I have no idea what a Lu Wei Bing is.  The search engine had an interesting take.

lol

The MotW article might be of interest: https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,51504.0.html

[Colt Ward]

 . . . it linked a image off Sarna?  lol

[Dragon41673]

I really struggled with the website at first.  Honestly it's more the fault of the way the game/universe is "organized", but the website doesn't help.

To find mechs right now, there are two places to go:
Battletech -> Mechs, or
Battletech -> Online Exclusives -> Mechs

It doesn't matter whether they're clan or Inner Sphere, 3025 or 3145, they're all thrown in there, in alphabetical order.  369 mechs to dig through in one place, 102 in the other.  I had no idea that you couldn't mix them all together.  Also, I was surprised to find photos that only expand to 300x300.

I realize Battletech doesn't make the following foolproof, but it'd be a huge help if the minis had filterable tech level, era and faction tags.  I'd give the Jenner the following: Inner Sphere, Battlemech, Draconis Combine, and I guess every era tag other than Reunification War and Star League (and whatever tech level the -D is... I don't know my tech levels yet).  I'd want to see a distinction between clan omnis and battlemechs, but I don't know how I'd handle later-era mixed-tech models.

The point of the faction tags wouldn't be to imply that no one else has them, but they'd be a clue to a new player that they do tend to belong more to one nation than another.  I know the forum often graciously says "play however you want," but we typically WANT to know what's lore-friendly, and we'll eventually get to it in our reading but omg there's a lot of reading to do to get there.

As long as I'm dreaming, I wish mechs like the Victor and Lu Wei Bing linked to one another.  I probably would've bought a Lu Wei Bing to convert into a Victor if I had known about it at the time.

carlisimo...I have been considering doing this on my site, and I can say from a programming level, the amount of time needed to do something this intense and deep...is astounding. It's not something that is an easy undertaking, ESPECIALLY when there are roughly 2,000 listings to do it to. IWM or even myself (I maintain my site as Speck does IWM's)...would need to actually hire someone and dedicate their time to that kind of undertaking, and that's a cost I personally don't have the money for so it will be a "when I can get it done".

As far as IWM making the position available...that's completely up to them, but they would probably be better served placing that money elsewhere. Although I don't speak FOR them, it's just an observation from my years handling my own site. It could cost a small fortune to be honest.

[carlisimo]

I completely understand.  It's just how I felt when I went to their website for the first time.

I also think it could potentially pay for itself by making it easier to get into the game, but only in the long term.  And it's "only" <500 mechs; maybe the kind of players who shop for other unit types can be assumed not to need so much hand holding.

[Psycho]

That level of filtering was/is a big hurdle in getting the new CSO site up and running (plus all the data entry). Big bucks to have someone else do it, huge investment of time to do it yourself.

The other aspect that goes under the radar is that IWM is not responsible for BT as a game. They make the minis, and that's it. It's easy to assume that CGL and IWM are one in the same. They're separate entities. What makes perfect sense from a game perspective may not move the needle from a production standpoint.

[jimdigris]

I have no idea what a Lu Wei Bing is.  The search engine had an interesting take.

Apparently, that was the mech that he drove. :D

[speck]

Why was the change to a new store needed?

Move the store to a modern backend platform that offers more features for backend and front end, plus other reasons as well. Handling of product images is a huge upgrade over current site. Easily able to add multiple images per product.

 

I really struggled with the website at first.  Honestly it's more the fault of the way the game/universe is "organized", but the website doesn't help.

To find mechs right now, there are two places to go:
Battletech -> Mechs, or
Battletech -> Online Exclusives -> Mechs

It doesn't matter whether they're clan or Inner Sphere, 3025 or 3145, they're all thrown in there, in alphabetical order.  369 mechs to dig through in one place, 102 in the other.  I had no idea that you couldn't mix them all together.  Also, I was surprised to find photos that only expand to 300x300.

I realize Battletech doesn't make the following foolproof, but it'd be a huge help if the minis had filterable tech level, era and faction tags.  I'd give the Jenner the following: Inner Sphere, Battlemech, Draconis Combine, and I guess every era tag other than Reunification War and Star League (and whatever tech level the -D is... I don't know my tech levels yet).  I'd want to see a distinction between clan omnis and battlemechs, but I don't know how I'd handle later-era mixed-tech models.

The point of the faction tags wouldn't be to imply that no one else has them, but they'd be a clue to a new player that they do tend to belong more to one nation than another.  I know the forum often graciously says "play however you want," but we typically WANT to know what's lore-friendly, and we'll eventually get to it in our reading but omg there's a lot of reading to do to get there.

As long as I'm dreaming, I wish mechs like the Victor and Lu Wei Bing linked to one another.  I probably would've bought a Lu Wei Bing to convert into a Victor if I had known about it at the time.

The reason for the split is that not all BT codes are in distribution, which is why there is a split off Online Exclusive. I have changed category names on some and adjusted others for the new store. Plus I have added some extra info for each unit, an example Era and TRO.

Added faction info just goes beyond what can easily/ added in timely manor. I view the Master Unit List as the home for that level of data since it can change. While TRO normally does not.

The image size is a product of how the current platform can handle them. New store produces more options and size increase.

Probably because the "mid-2000s geocities" looking online store is repelling customers. :P

That's not a joke, by the way.  At least two new players I know were sufficiently put off by the storefront to just wait for the new kickstarter minis before diving into building a collection.

There's probably backend reasons for it, too, beyond that.

I Agree about the look, with new store it will have a modern templating system so it will bring it into what the web looks like now. I have not see any evidence of lost customers and maybe once or twice a year I hear someone complain about the store.

This coming change is for the better for IWM and also customers.

[Maingunnery]

Move the store to a modern backend platform that offers more features for backend and front end, plus other reasons as well. Handling of product images is a huge upgrade over current site. Easily able to add multiple images per product.

That would be a huge upgrade.

Will also be work done to reduce the number of categories, or to convert them to mere filters?

[Colt Ward]

I Agree about the look, with new store it will have a modern templating system so it will bring it into what the web looks like now. I have not see any evidence of lost customers and maybe once or twice a year I hear someone complain about the store.

This coming change is for the better for IWM and also customers.

To be fair, if someone looks at the site and goes 'Nope' then they are not likely to contact you guys.  But the wife does marketing, and I have a PR background, so a week does not go by we are not discussing a company or pols public image/presentation and the effects so its something I can easily see matching up with what Scotty says.  Not that the website bothers me, its functional and mostly intuitive in how its organized- but I am a customer and love IWM's customer support/service, making me a loyal customer.

If it cuts down on the workload for you guys and you see a uptick in web customers, that rocks!  Meanwhile my local store's distributor quit offering IWM's BT line so after requests they now order directly from you guys.  Or will when the factory is back open.

[speck]

That would be a huge upgrade.

Will also be work done to reduce the number of categories, or to convert them to mere filters?

I think I did cut down on categories and have set up some filters. I plan to do more with filters after the launch.

[carlisimo]

The reason for the split is that not all BT codes are in distribution, which is why there is a split off Online Exclusive. I have changed category names on some and adjusted others for the new store. Plus I have added some extra info for each unit, an example Era and TRO.

Added faction info just goes beyond what can easily/ added in timely manor. I view the Master Unit List as the home for that level of data since it can change. While TRO normally does not.

That's totally fair.  For what it's worth, I don't think the MUL is very helpful when you're new.  It's great after you start figuring things out, but it gives you way too much information, too many options, to be a good starting point.  People with experience in other tabletop games are going to make choices based on the miniatures first.  If there are filters to weed out minis not relevant to us, great.  (So I'll keep advocating for high-level filters like Clan/IS and maybe era/TRO date.)  Then we look at the rest, click on the ones we like the look of, and see if they fit what we're trying to do. 

I'd much rather find out that a mech was an online exclusive after clicking on it rather than going to a separate page with all of them there.  If it isn't practical, I understand, though I still think it's detrimental to keep them separated.  It feels like something that's only relevant on the back end. 

[speck]

That's totally fair.  For what it's worth, I don't think the MUL is very helpful when you're new.  It's great after you start figuring things out, but it gives you way too much information, too many options, to be a good starting point.  People with experience in other tabletop games are going to make choices based on the miniatures first.  If there are filters to weed out minis not relevant to us, great.  (So I'll keep advocating for high-level filters like Clan/IS and maybe era/TRO date.)  Then we look at the rest, click on the ones we like the look of, and see if they fit what we're trying to do. 

I'd much rather find out that a mech was an online exclusive after clicking on it rather than going to a separate page with all of them there.  If it isn't practical, I understand, though I still think it's detrimental to keep them separated.  It feels like something that's only relevant on the back end.

Due to how the new system associates products to categories there are way I can create a link to show all mechs with filter options. It’s on my post launch list.

I do have Clan and IS options.

[carlisimo]

Sweet!   :thumbsup:

[Daryk]

Sweet indeed!  The grognard community will at least be appreciative of no clan stuff pre-3049 when we select IS...  ^-^

[Colt Ward]

I know Speck had not responded yet . . . and I am awaiting official word to prod my FLGS, but Ohio is set to re-open some stuff in May 12th but the employees have to wear masks.  PLEASE tell me you intend to wear masks?!

[jwt708]

For what it's worth...13 days ago I placed an online order and I received it yesterday. I don't know what typical processing times for orders are, but it seemed to take longer, but I blame the COVID. The website warns about delays so no complaints here! I was happy it came at all, and a big thank you to whoever went in to ship my order. :rockon:

[Colt Ward]

Oooo?  I thought they were shutting down everything . . . now I will have to see if my FLGS will place the order.

[faithless]

Oooo?  I thought they were shutting down everything . . . now I will have to see if my FLGS will place the order.

Colt,

I checked right before everything went curbside only and they had not made an order. I doubt they have since. But maybe with things soft reopening they might.

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, I was going to wait until they open . . . I had a list and would pre-pay for them.  4 mechs, BA, vehicle and 5 protos . . . what I want is most of the way to free shipping with IWM, I would just rather buy through the local store to promote business.  I have no idea what it takes for them to make their order but I was wanting to pick some up.

[faithless]

I have an omega on the list for when they order again.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Just before my state went into lockdown, the owner of my FLGS announced that he could once again start ordering from IWM.

I'm waiting until they resume production- hope to get some of the new minis.

[speck]

For what it's worth...13 days ago I placed an online order and I received it yesterday. I don't know what typical processing times for orders are, but it seemed to take longer, but I blame the COVID. The website warns about delays so no complaints here! I was happy it came at all, and a big thank you to whoever went in to ship my order. :rockon:

Mike and 1 or 2 other people were in once or twice a week to pull and ship web orders.

When I have a update from Mike about IWM fully coming back online I will post it.

[jwt708]

Thanks Mike & others! Very happy with my miniatures and looking forward to more!

[I am Belch II]

Awesome I got a order ready to go. Just waiting for the Open sign!!

[sadlerbw]

Hey folks, first let me say that I am not affiliated with IWM in any way. However, I do live in the same city as the factory and I’ve been keeping abreast of the government orders for this area regarding business closures. Ohio is currently set to allow retail and general office type businesses to open May 15th, as long as they can meet certain safety requirements. In my opinion, the rules that have been published would legally allow IWM to open at least some of their operations on that day.

Of course, the decision of how much to open and whether to open back up at all has a lot of other factors that I wouldn’t know about.  IWM would know far better than I would if it makes any sense to try to re-open, but at least on the 15th they will have the option to try. Before that date, it isn’t even an option. I know plenty of businesses around here aren’t even going to try to open back up till June. I’m just passing along the state of things in Ohio for those who don’t live here and wouldn’t have any idea what our state and local government have been ordering.

[speck]

FYI

Regular production has resumed at Iron Wind Metals, see the annoucement for more details.

[worktroll]

Good news! Stay safe.

[Colt Ward]

wooo wooo, now to politely poke my local store . . .

[Kibutsu]

I put in an order last Thursday around 11pm. By 9am the next day the order had already shipped and it was delivered yesterday. Way to go IWM!

[jimdigris]

Now that Gencon has cancelled for this year, could we know what might have been the con exclusive?

[I am Belch II]

Getting a order together now. Glad your up back and running.

[Colt Ward]

Now that Gencon has cancelled for this year, could we know what might have been the con exclusive?

Will they be available mid-summer or do we wait until fall for them?

[RoundTop]

Will the con exclusive be nuke armed Urbie? For the ultimate in social distancing

[Daryk]

It certainly SHOULD be!  :D

[speck]

Will they be available mid-summer or do we wait until fall for them?

We will have something later in the year.