All I saw on Consinworld is "Lawrence will come first (with Broken Axis) since it has laser-cut pieces (shorter lead time" where first means Lawrence will be published before Fall of Empires.
As there are no mention of Dawn and Ethiopia, I would not read in this that the order has changed. It's possible Mike intend to release both Dawn and Ethipia before the end of summer.
Was there any other indication of the Gold Club newsletter?