MiniWarGaming apologized to Ravaged Star backers at NOVA Open, but Update 82 still has no plan and no date for Wave Two.
Calling your own seminar “How I F$@&#% Up MiniWarGaming” is pretty direct, but at NOVA Open 2026, Dave Nordquist did just that. He got up in front of a room and took responsibility for their Ravaged Star crowdfunded game, which is more than two years late as thier company downsizes.
After all the “MiniWarGaming may be done” headlines from a couple of weeks ago, good on them for saying something to everyone.
But the apology still doesn’t put Ravaged Star boxes in backers’ hands, so we went through Dave’s Wargamer interview and Ravaged Star Update 82 to see where the campaign actually stands now.
Dave Didn’t Blame Anyone Else for Ravaged Star
- The take: Dave’s apology sounds sincere, but only boxes showing up on doorsteps fix Ravaged Star.
- The evidence: Update 82 brings container tracking and covered US tariffs, plus closed refunds and no plan for Wave Two.
- What changes if we’re right: the September 29 update may be more important than anything said at NOVA.
So, overall, Dave isn’t trying to pin this on somebody else in the Wargamer interview. He says the decisions made under his leadership are on him, and he’s pretty open about how badly MiniWarGaming underestimated the project. MiniWarGaming had made miniatures before, but it had never tried to assemble and deliver a full game at this scale.
And Ravaged Star involved much more than getting the minis made. They needed rules, lore, artwork, books, cards, packaging, manufacturing, freight, and shipping for backers all over the world. Dave says they underestimated nearly all of it. They were basically learning how to make the game while thousands of people were already waiting for it, so those original delivery dates were in trouble from the start.
The Veil-Touched campaign probably gave them some confidence too. That project ran late but eventually delivered, and afterward MiniWarGaming figured it could handle something much bigger. Anyone who has backed a crowdfunded miniatures game has probably seen this happen at least once: one project eventually gets delivered, confidence goes up, and the next one gets bigger than the team can actually handle.
Update 82 Finally Gives Backers Something to Track
MiniWarGaming promised updates every two weeks, and Update 82 at least gives backers something concrete to follow. The company says it has tracking numbers for the shipping containers carrying Wave One to North and South America. US backers also shouldn’t get stuck with another tariff or customs bill when their pledges arrive, because MiniWarGaming says it covered those costs.
Even though this is super late, not having to pay more for tariffs and such is welcome news for sure.
But even though you’re not paying more, no one is getting a refund at this point. Dave says the refund window is closed and the remaining campaign money has already been spent on production. So anyone who was still thinking about asking for one after the MWG liquidation news broke is out of luck.
There still isn’t a firm Wave One delivery date either. Having container tracking is useful, but crowdfunding projects have gone sideways plenty of times between a shipping update and a box landing on someone’s porch. What’s really worth watching is when these containers actually leave the port.
A Friendly NOVA Crowd Isn’t a Delivered Pledge
Dave says apologizing was the main reason he wanted to give the talk in the first place. He apologized for the delay, for not speaking up personally while it dragged on, and for leaving too much time between updates. He also mentioned that he assumed backers would eventually get their stuff while he concentrated on keeping the rest of the business running.
Going into NOVA, he said he expected some angry conversations. Instead, the people who came up to him were supportive, still excited about Ravaged Star, and happy to talk about hobbying.
Still, the people in that room aren’t the entire Ravaged Star backer list. The people who traveled to a 40k GT weekend and then went looking for Dave are just a small fraction of people who backed the project. That’s because thousands of orders are still unfulfilled, and tons of backers who weren’t at NOVA have spent years watching delivery dates come and go.
Dave says the seminar was free, nothing in it was secret, and the recording will be posted once the video is edited. We’d like to see that too, because right now there’s no full video, transcript, or outside recap available. Until it goes up, the interview he gave to Wargamer and Update 82 are basically all anyone outside that room has to go on (unless they want to give us an interview as well…)
Final Thoughts on the Ravaged Star Update
To be fair, Dave’s “I don’t know yet” answer about Wave Two may stick with backers more than anything else he said this month. In a way, it’s better than getting another date that may not hold, but Ravaged Star still doesn’t have a public timeline for finishing the entire campaign.
Dave says Wave Two won’t get his attention until Wave One is actually moving to doorsteps, so we’re still basically in the same place as before, now just with an apology in hand.
He also told backers to judge him by what he does next rather than another apology. The next update is due September 29, 2026. By then, we should know more about whether the containers are leaving port, stock is reaching fulfillment centers, and tracking numbers are going out. Plus, anything concrete on Wave Two would be a bonus at this point.
Overall, Dave has explained how Ravaged Star got into this mess, but MiniWarGaming still has to get the game into backers’ hands.
🔗 Related Reads:
- MiniWarGaming Says They May Not Be Able To Continue
- MiniWarGaming May Be Done, Necromunda 40k Pricing, Free Mini Axed Now
- Ravaged Star: Armies Of The Veil-Touched Last Day!
- MiniWarGaming’s Future & They Still Need Your Help
- Broken Anvil Miniatures Kickstarter Scandals
- NOVA Open Coverage, Highlights & Hobby Action
- Unbeatable NOVA Open 2026 Army Lists
What do you think of MiniWarGaming’s Ravaged Star update and Dave’s NOVA apology?
quite respectable of him. i backed the last battletech ks, was my first time and i guess none of them run smoothly as it seems but this always hiding behind empty updates is always annoying. bt mercs ran super tbh but it is definitely an experience to set your trust into a company
let this “personally standing up for your mistakes” be the new standard for crowdfunding campaigns! 🙂