Yesterday while I was searching for something quite different than a wargame on Amazon.com, I came across Tides of Iron. Now even though I am new to this forum, I am far from new to the wargaming hobby. I got my start in the early 1970s playing the old AHGC games like Panzer Blitz and Panzer Leader (which are still my all time favorite platoon level WWII tactical games). I have been a playtester for AHGC (the old Squad Leader, not ASL, expansion sets), at one time owned 15,000+ GHQ and C-IN-C 1/285th WWII German and Russian miniatures, have played almost every game system there was up to about 1987, had over 300 board style wargames, and have played massive (layed out on a basketball court) Russian Front miniature games using 1/76th figures using an old set of rules called Tractics by TSR. In the 1990s I got away from the hobby altogether but got back into it in 2001, mainly with computer games. My all time favorite computer wargame is Battlefronts Combat Mission series.

After looking over all the info I've seen here about Tides of Iron and its expansions I may just have to get back into the fun of playing a beer-n-pretzel style game. The system definitely looks interesting and some of the comments I've read about future expansions are notable. Especially those about whether the next expansion should be a Eastern Front or Pacific Theater expansion. I for one think that it would be best to do the Eastern Front first. However, FFG should also think of doing some expansions covering the early years of the war from 1939 though 1941 and maybe an Italian Front expansion too. Something else FFG might want to consider is doing miniature expansions that can be introduced into the gaming system. I don't know enough about what is included in each game in the way of figures but I am sure things like towed ATGs and flak, self-propelled ATGs (especially the Germans and Russians), self-propelled AA (very effective vs. soft targets) would only serve to make what appears to be a great game even greater.

Well, enough of my ranting and raving. Hope I'll be able to talk my old wargamming friend into playing this game with me once I get a copy of it.

Take care all.

Welcome back to the hobby friend! ToI has a scenario book just recently released, one of the scenarios being by Don Greenwood and another by John Hill !

I'm an old AHGC fan myself, never did any playtesting for them, but was a longtime fan and subscriber to The General, and owned a boatload of their games (primarily WWII) as well as a few other companies games. Not too much SPI though.

One thing you'll notice about FFG games and ToI in particular that will remind you of TAHGC is their emphasis on quality components along with top notch game designs. I happen to believe that ToI will not really hit it's full stride untill it's expansions reach out and cover the last two main theaters so far uncovered in WWII. There are a lot of wargamers out there that get zero'd in on a particular area or part of WWII that draws their interest, and until a game ventures into that realm, they may not take much notice of it. I'm certain that the Eastern front will draw in a lot of interest from wargamers, and as soon as that and the Pacific are addressed, I think there is a good chance that this game is going to begin to take on a prominent spot in the world of wargaming.

The last expansion introduced a connected series of campaign scenarios, and a nice move toward "destructable" buildings. There is a lot of potential for this game to cover a lot of subjects and facets on the war, while staying playable for old grognards and newbies alike. That makes for a great teaching tool as well. I think this game has that potential.

Anyway, I saw your post here and just wanted to say "Hi" and "Welcome Aboard"; or maybe "Welcome Back" would be the thing to say.

-Old Grognard hailing from Columbus, OH.

Hello and welcome back to the hobby!

I too played PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader and Squad Leader back in the 80's. I was out of the hobby until a friend of mine introduced me to Flames of War about 3 years ago (I think). FoW is a miniatures game and was a lot of fun but got expensive way to quick for me. So I started searching around for other war games and found ToI. I downloaded and read the rules and I knew this was the game for me and haven't looked back. The thing I love about ToI the most is that you can play it solo. I still enjoy just the base set and try to adapt scenarios from other board games (like SL) and play them with ToI. Sometimes successful other times not.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with the purchase of Tide of Iron.

Enjoy.

Thass

SoCal.

Hello, New to this site. I see you live in Columbus. I'm from Ada about 1.5 hours from ya. Do you and your friends play at any hobby stores around there? If you do please let me know, times and dates and location. I have Tides of Iron but haven't played it yet. Can't find anyone to play with. Love playing Wings of War. Have most the planes. Can't wait for the next set. As a wedding gift from ya Gal, shes getting me all the games for WofW and some of the new planes. Talk at ya soon, and sorry for bending your ears or eyes .

Im from Charlotte area, Where are you from?