It’s been one of those weeks.

It started last Sunday when not one of a dozen eggs I was given survived the journey home.

That set the tone for the week.

I’ve changed shift patterns at work and also one of my days off to cover people being off on holiday or training. Which has meant I’ve had to move a planned game of Tapestry twice as my stint on the new shift got extended after changing the initial date.

Then I nearly lost a work pda. Which if I had done would have been embarrassing and also just the icing on the cake.

But last night after work Diego made my week.

I’ve not moaned about it on here. But getting my pre-order copy of the latest Vampire the Masquerade Rivals expansion Shadows and Shrouds with the promo alt art cards has been an epic tale that is still on going.

Way back when Renegade opened the pre-orders for it I ordered two copies. One for me and the other for Diego.

The idea is that we get these cool promo alt art cards of a couple of the new vampires, plus the expansion itself a week it so before it hits the shops.

It didn’t happen that way for this expansion.

Retailers had their copies and were selling them two weeks before the Renegade UK Warehouse were rush sending out the UK pre-orders. The rush was on so that apparently UK players would have their copies before the first ever Prince of the City event in the UK.

Some didn’t. I was one of them.

But let me say this before continuing that this expansion should never have been legal for the UK Prince of the City event. It put those that had pre-ordered their copy from Renegade at a disadvantage to those that got theirs from a retailer.

After two weeks my pre-order still hadn’t shown up, and Renegade marketing head honcho Matt Holland got involved and started chasing things up on my behalf.

The UK Warehouse then “resent” my order. Although I suspect it was never sent in the first place. I’d had no shipping notice. And they never provided a shipping number to trace it.

However what arrived was only half of the pre-order. A single copy of the expansion and promo cards.

Really?

Naturally this had to go to Diego. It was the right thing to do.

Matt chased it up. They were meant to have sent the missing expansion. But the tracking number they gave was for the one that had already arrived!

This was followed by a wall of silence from the UK Warehouse. Who I honestly don’t know how they are still employed. Their incompetence, not answering emails, etc would see them going through disciplinary processes and seeking new employment in most other places.

The whole saga is about to go into its eighth week. Allegedly the UK Warehouse has sent/will be sending the missing half of the pre-order any day now. Nada on the shipping notice front.

I suspect the UK Warehouse is once again blowing smoke up Matt’s bum (to use a colourful expression).

However Diego surprised me yesterday by giving me a copy of the new expansion.

I was gobsmacked by his generosity and kindness. My eyes nearly leaked.

It really did make my day, and end a week where if it could go wrong it would, on a high.

What will I do with my pre-order copy when it eventually comes?

Obviously I don’t need two copies. So I’ll use it as extra prize support for our organised play.

In the meantime I have a deck to build!