Sad news about 4Ground going into Liquidation

[waywarddarkwolf 1219xp 0]

I got some very sad news today from none other than Big Ben himself.

It appears 4Ground have gone into voluntary liquidation.

Ben sent out a Kickstarter update today for Fabled Realms, in which he states “Regarding the game ‘Legends of Fabled Realms’ (LoFR) and the liquidation of 4Ground Ltd.”

I double checked in the Gazette (Official Public Record) and it would indeed confirm this:

“Notice is given that under Rule 6.23 of the Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (“the Rules”) the company was placed into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (insolvent liquidation) and David Gerard Kirk (IP No. 8830) of Kirks, 5 Barnfield Crescent, Exeter, EX1 1QT was appointed Liquidator by the creditors on 7 June 2019.” (source: https://origin-www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3301622)

A very very sad day indeed 🙁

[commanderkaiser 2552xp 0]

I’m gutted, such a shame. They had such good stuff and actually genuinely nice guys all round.

[torros 23816xp 1]

Hopefully they can re-emerge in another way. Website is down as well

[divineauthority 528xp 0]

I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. On Facebook they’ve just said they’re doing some tidying up under a parent company.

[seldon9 12954xp 0]

I’d hold your horses on declaring the last rites. I’m not so sure they’re gone yet.

[shart1979Member 218xp 0]

They already have – I believe this news circulated a week or so ago that they were doing some consolidation of the company which meant certain trading elements were being voluntarily liquidated to move under one trading entity.

In this case its moved to 4Ground Publishing – https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/

There was some updates & comments on their main facebook page to that effect – Not sure how it effects the kickstarter but 4Ground as a retail company etc still operates.

[redbenParticipant 9415xp 0]

Can a backer clarify exactly what the update says?

[guillotine 16041xp 0]

Full KS update:

Regarding the game ‘Legends of Fabled Realms’ (LoFR) and the liquidation of 4Ground Ltd.

The one has no bearing on the other, Tymeagain Ltd. has every intention to produce this game as they see fit, this will as always be, with the general consensus of those within the original gaming development circle and those who have opted to join this group via pledging on the Kickstarter.

For probably obvious reasons to all by now, we were unable to fulfil our recent offer of a credit note for the few people that requested to take us up on this offer (please note this was always to be issued as a 4Ground Ltd. credit note).  The reason being; when we decided to instruct our accountant to engage a liquidator for 4Ground Ltd. we did not consider the legal issue of credit notes (for us as individuals, people with passion, this project is very personal), regardless of any legal obligations, if any, we wanted and very much still want folks to be happy where we are going with this project.  LoFR is our passion and we will get it done as quickly as is possible for it to still remain the project we want it to be!  Is it primarily a commercial endeavour – no – does it need some form of commercial traction to be able to be developed to its full potential – yes.  Kickstarter has been and is an ideal platform for such projects, it is and should be an organic process if things do not pan out, they should be reconsidered. Otherwise, it is just some get-in-quick pre-order club?

Tomorrow Cad and I will be in a meeting with our Tymeagain Ltd. commercial solicitor and we will have a better idea of when we can say more and to what depth we can say more.  Please understand if we have at any time stopped communication or not responded, we have been advised to do just that.

[solariabsg39Participant 94xp 0]

Yeah, was wondering too as I couldn’t access their website, but then found a new one under their name.

[wolfch 6803xp 0]

I nearly shzte myself when I did read that. Thanks Dog it appears to be just some mombojombo changes.

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

Well I’m still not sure what’s going on about all this. Someone had caught the Gazette article and asked if this meant they were going out of business on the 4Ground Facebook page. 4Ground replied that it had to do with some restructuring and there was nothing to be concerned about (Note Ben and 4Ground were still up at the St Helens Show (Phalanx) trading last week, so that doesn’t sound like everything is being wound up).

There was the move to the new website and the change in title to 4Ground Publishing, and I’m not sure if 4Ground are moving away from the MDF business and moving toward doing rules as their primary focus (hence Fabled Realms and the new 10mm SYW stuff being talked about).

I think it’s probably best to await news from the owners themselves and not conjecture as to what “may” be happening.

As a Fabled Realms backer (I did go crazy and pledge for over £400) it’s concerning, but 4Ground have done everything over and above board in sending out everything they could over a year ago (ie the MDF terrain they had already produced, the new MDF terrain for the game etc etc). The only hold up (before other come in here ranting) was the production of the 3D printed minis (which the backers voted to do given the option of those or continuing with PVC minis). They did expect a delay due to this and had forecast initially they were looking at March of this year to get them printed (so at the moment we are 3 months past that date (despite a few that still claim it’s over a year late as they like to cause drama and use the original KS completion date using the PVC minis).

As far as I know, the rules had been sent off to be edited, but not sure if they and the cards had gone to the printers yet. The minis, well we’re not sure.

Either way I feel that this will be a cause of great pain to Ben (he’s also been seriously ill over the last few months), but this is the nature of Kick Starters. They can make a great impact on a company, but it’s a risk to the company and to the backers (sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t). But I suppose I’ve got about £300 of $Ground MDF (at retail prices) so far, so I’m not totally left in the lurch if nothing else comes forwards.

But I do hope Ben and Cad and the family (it is a family owned business) can get through all this (and it is indeed just a restructuring legal thingy), and the Ben and Cad can bring to light the game that’s close to their hearts and is a real “vanity” project for them 🙂

 

 

 

[4ground 250xp 15]

Hi,

We aren’t able to go into too much detail at the moment, as the kickstarter update stated Ben and I are visiting our companies solicitor tomorrow, but I will share what I can.

4Ground Ltds assets have been bought by Tymeagain Ltd. (4Ground’s parent company) and Tymeagain Ltd. is now operating the website 4groundpublishing.co.uk.

We would like to share more but we can not until at least Friday at the earliest.  We are still delivering the kickstarter to the backers and orders placed online will still be delivered (especially as the liquidation and change happened on the 7th of June).  If any one has any queries regarding this, or any concerns don’t hesitate to contact me [email protected] or Ben on [email protected].

Thank you to every one and we look forward to continuing to talk to you all and visiting the guys at On Table Top 🙂

Regards,
Cad

[vladvondrakParticipant 278xp 0]

1. It seems strange they haven’t notified companies house as yet. It should show up as in liquidation or words of that effect.

[vladvondrakParticipant 278xp 0]

their new website is here:  http://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk

Tymeagain ltd has been in major control for the past 6 months or so.

[vladvondrakParticipant 278xp 0]

I also noted that the directors of 4ground tymeagain and Wylie designs are exactly the same people. And have been for some considerable time.

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