"I am an avid fan of the Board Game Geek website which supports many professional and amateur game designs. I specifically enjoy card games that are partially story telling or have strong themes. I recently found a gem of a game called Archer: Fast and Loose; based on the Archer adult television cartoon. The author of this game had made a 2x4 print at home sheets to allow people to print and play, and I knew after looking at the cards that I had to have a “better” copy.
I have been a customer of an overseas print on demand company which has completed an order before, of which I was not prepared for the significant time it took to print and deliver. I was also not happy with the shipping costing at least $30-$40, unless you ordered at the right time, with the correct coupon.
So I decided that I was going to try SuperiorPOD as a test with this game and then to see if they could also print counters. My first dilemma was the apparently daunting task of trying to make my own layout. I was able to pull the cartoon image cards and using the free program Scribus, I was able to make my own template following the multiple guides that SuperiorPOD provided. I particularly paid attention to the bleed instructions since I was not clear if the cards needed to fit in the template with the bleed or without.
The layout for the thirteen sets of eighteen cards was done in a day and I then simply sent the files off. I made a mistake with the order and double order and double paid. My second order was easily and cheerfully cancelled when I emailed, and then I had to just wait.
I made my order the days just before Thanksgiving weekend and I just had my package delivered on 16th December. The decks were packed in plastic wrap, which had come loose but there was no other damage in the bubble envelope package.
The card stock is good but not the super high quality woven texture that you may expect in very expensive card decks, or the texture that you find the AEG Doomtown cards. I am comparing the cards with the FFG Lord of the Rings and by touch and flex, I cannot tell the difference. I can barely feel the slightest texture of the ink on the cards where there is heavy black text. Since these cards are bound for sleeves, I see no issues there.
When I look at the decks from the side, you can see and feel the ‘banding’ where cards of the same sheet are stacked together. Once I shuffled the deck through, the cards all seem uniform in size, width and corner edging. I can tell that one sheet drifted since the borders are thin on one side and wider on the other. Not enough that I would request a reprint, but this was noticeable and I appreciate how many companies use full bleed background images to avoid any balance issues.
Overall, I am very happy that my 234 cards cost me $27 delivered in three weeks over a holiday. My other, overseas pricing would have been around $50 without shipping and six to eight weeks.
I would encourage any designer or print and play savant to overcome any reluctance to work with the requirement of the templates since these templates allow you greater flexibility in ‘building’ your deck design. If you are not comfortable working with templates, or layout, SuperiorPOD offers that service for a fixed $15 fee. For SuperiorPOD, I hope that you will develop more template designs for other development software on the market.
Thank you for a great product and I look forward to trying a full bleed design as well as your counters for future products."
