State of the Game: N&C 2025
Hey all, this is a long-awaited update from the Nations & Cannons team. Typically we do an annual update about our content schedule every 4th of July—sales, AMAs, a big marketing push, that sort of thing. This year, sadly, we had to suspend a lot of that outreach due to rising costs and ongoing delays. Let me recap our progress so far, and detail what’s still to come.
The Production Line
When we locked the final files for The American Crisis earlier this year and moved into a physical production schedule, we really hoped it would be cause for celebration. While it’s taken quite a bit longer to assemble this book than our original estimates on Kickstarter—due to a combination of extended research and revisions, and some health challenges among our core team—we remain incredibly proud of the work we put into the campaign. At a 352 page count, it’s almost a hundred pages longer than our original estimate and bursting to the brim with citations and primary source excerpts. Unfortunately, we sailed immediately into strong crosswinds due to this year’s disruptions to international trade.
We originally set out to do a split a split domestic and international production for different Nations & Cannons products. Ultimately, we made this decision to achieve the best quality in our price range; with a very small print batch, most US-based shops charge much higher rates for a full color, hardbound product line. It’s no secret that the ongoing tariff situation has disproportionately affected the tabletop industry (most dramatically resulting in the closure of studios like Greater Than Games). Proposed tariffs of 145% caused no end of stress for what should have been a triumphant PDF release of The American Crisis into the 250th anniversary of Lexington & Concord.
While less-dramatic rates for international imports were ultimately agreed-upon, the overage was still a five-figure sum that our budget was not prepared to absorb. It was extremely important that Flagbearer Games not only honor its commitments, but that we not pass on any increased costs to backers and preorders. We’ve been able to achieve that, thankfully, but this meant dipping into my personal bank account and scrimping and saving to carry the print run across the finish line.
The Waiting Game
After scrambling to lock down a new agreement with a production company against an uncertain backdrop, the biggest challenge was simply idling in a queue while international logistics continue to respond to disruptions on a month-by-month basis. Like any small business right now, we’re a little fish swimming in the currents of larger market trends. In May, that meant an unprecedented slowdown in freight shipping even as we booked space on an outbound vessel. A few weeks later, when a 90-day suspension was announced, it meant we were suddenly bumped from our berth when bigger fish started scrambling for that very same space.
Throughout all of this, the team never stopped advocating for the product and did everything possible to move things along. This kind of bureaucracy is (by its very nature) slow, intractable, and uncaring. It’s incredibly disheartening to draft a Kickstarter update that amounts to “I’ve sunk countless hours into production-line emails and have nothing appreciable to show for it yet.” A lot of sleepless nights. But finally, at long last, we received notice that our shipment is outbound with a delivery date locked in.
Next Steps
I’ll be sending a full Kickstarter update tomorrow morning with all the details for what this means for physical fulfillment in August. Coming on the heels of the big GenCon convention, that’s going to mean an enormous frenzy of activity—but if it means crossing the finish line, that’s what has to happen!
As soon as Kickstarter pledges and pre-orders are taken care of, we’ll be opening sales for physical copies of The American Crisis, the N&C GM screen, new cloth maps, and Poor Richard’s Almanack (as well as PDF copies of the Almanack). In addition, updated character sheets and other play aids will be available for free from the N&C website.
Once all our customers have their books in hand, we’ll be clearing the backlog in our educational outreach program and working to expand our presence in schools, libraries, and museums across the country. If you’re a teacher or living history interpreter and want to use The American Crisis in the classroom or to prepare for America 250, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
For conventions this year, we will be definitely attending GenCon in Indianapolis (Jul 31 - Aug 3) and Pax Unplugged in Philadelphia (Nov 21 - 23), as well as the NCSS educator’s conference in Washington DC (Dec 5 - Dec 7). With several other conventions like Dreamation (NJ), Gamehole (WI) and Fall In (PA) currently pending. At GenCon, we will be running dozens of events, many of which still have a few open slots for signups!
A New Campaign
Many of those GenCon adventures are being unveiled for the first time this year. As you might be aware, the campaign for The American Crisis: War in the North covers the events from Bunker Hill, 1775 to Valley Forge, 1778… which is half the story of the Revolutionary War. While we’ve been dealing with these production hurdles for TAC 1, pre-production and story development for TAC 2 have secretly gone ahead full-steam.
These new stories include intrigue and skullduggery in Spanish New Orleans, one frontier voyage to Boonesborough and another in the wake of the Clark Expedition, battlefield adventures during the sieges of Savannah and Charleston, a maritime mission to the Caribbean, and a climactic infiltration of the British stronghold at Yorktown.
We’ll be taking your feedback into account as we continue to workshop these adventures for publication. Another goal for this year is revamping our Patreon page (which has been functioning as a tip jar for a while now). With the new campaign in the pipeline, we’ll be posting these adventures in early access format on Patreon for you to run at home. We’re really excited about these stories, and unveiling them is going to be a blast.
Postscript
On a more personal note, some of the difficulties we’ve faced getting the new sets of books in print have been challenging for me. As I’ve mentioned in a few previous posts, the Nations & Cannons project has been a kind of laboratory for processing my own neurodivergent traits. On one hand, I think my autistic superpower (as the phrase goes) has been instrumental in getting something as audacious as “D&D, but AWI” off the ground. In the last two years, we’ve built a kick-ass team of writers and designers that really do incredible work.
But my kryptonite, to really torture the metaphor, has been dealing with the torpor of bureaucracy that comes with bringing your dream project to reality. Navigating the existential stress from some of the unavoidable setbacks we’ve faced—and effectively communicating while struggling with my own burnout—is something that I’m frankly not very good at. Even writing a post like this takes something of a physical toll.
To some extent, that's just the cost of doing business. Though we’ve faced some unique issues this year, similar hurdles are bound to happen with any large-scale project, and Flagbearer Games can be more proactive responding to them. Moving forward, I need to be more mindful of my own limitations, and to find places where I can delegate some of the responsibilities that I struggle with. I know we can do better.
Hold this truth to be evident: next year, when the semiquincentennial of the Declaration of Independence comes around, we’re going to take it by storm. To this, we pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Your Obedient Servant,
Pat Luke Mooney
Lead Designer, Nations & Cannons
