I spoke to the owner of the LGS in my area and he said that FF was developing an Eastern Front expansion called "Fury of the Bear" (I think) ,and it was slated to come out in December. Anyways he said that FF pulled the plug and canned all future products for Tide of Iron thus ending any future support for the game. He said FF is focusing more on its Games Workshop properties and Tide of Iron was not bringing in the cash they expected. Needless to say if this is indeed true this is pretty crappy news.

Dude, i hope that guy told you a great big LIE.

Art Vandelay said:

Sounds pretty plausible to me...Fury of the Bear was supposed to be at GenCon last year but it got pulled, and there's no mention of ToI in the latest FFG catalog that fell out of my Sea of Blood box.

I'm not sure why ToI hasn't been as successful as it could have been - the basic system is pretty solid. Perhaps the lack of balanced scenarios in the original game is to blame, or the fact that they put out something dumb like Map Pack 1 which gave fans nothing that they didn't already have and thus didn't purchase in the numbers FFG expected.

Art Vandelay said:

omg, that sounds horrible. toi is one of my favorite games. to be honest, i bought the game in 2007 in hope for an eastern front expansion. i hoped to battle in and around stalingrad while moving troops and tanks on snow-covered terrain.

one of the normandy booklets contains something like "...future campaign expansions cover different military units and...". i feel disheartened when i read this booklet nowadays...

it seems to me that toi suffered the same fate like wow:tbg. a basic game with great possibilities to build upon vanishes before releasing its full potential. that is really really sad. greetz from germany!!!

Cipheron said:

Let's not quit on ToI yet. The basic system is sound, and there are enough of us here to create playable home-brewed add-ons. If no Pacific expansion is coming out this year, I intend to make some home-brewed strategy decks for that theater and some operations cards for the Japanese Imperial Army. Add to that rules for jungle terrain and some minis, and off you go!

Art Vandelay said:

Whoa, that ain't good news to read. I've been waiting for the Eastern Front Expansion the whole time. I was looking for a game system that was going to receive continued support and have expansions that were going to cover not only the Eastern Front, but the Pacific as well.

The lack of news or new products certainly has had my attention for the past few months, and to read things like the above fits.

If TOI is not going to expand into the Eastern Front & Pacific, it will not last long on my game shelves.

I won't believe it until FFG makes it official. Which basically means i won't believe it for the rest of my life since FFG never tells you what's going on.
Same with Scion of Darkness WoW:TbG, silence silence and even more silence...

I would like to report the dissentors in this thread to the appropriate authorities. Their sermons against the future of ToI must no be tolerated.

It's fine not to believe the naysayers. It's fine to continue playing and enjoying TOI. But for many of us (myself included), I've moved on from TOI, occasionally coming back to it, but no longer expecting anything new from FFG on this front (pun intended).

FFG will never officially announce the end to TOI. There's no reason. To do that would kill any potential future sales from gamers who may just now be finding TOI. They'll remain silent and let TOI die a slow death.

Personally, I've found that Conquest of Heroes is scratching the itch. The expansions are coming, the rules are clean and the game plays quickly. It's not the same as TOI. The chrome isn't there like it is with TOI, but it's like chomping on Doritos instead of Potato Chips.

I appreciate FFG for bringing out TOI and giving me something to have fun with. The two expansions, the base game. It was fun.

You swine dogs will be punished.

BAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They won't be punished, they'll be the first guys to by into the Eastern front expansion. Well...I'LL be first, but they'll be the second.

Keep the faith.....If you wish it....It will come.

If you're looking for alternative games that scratch a similar itch, I can recommend:

Conflict of Heroes : Nice, light and intuitive system - with a wider variety of troops and vehicles than ToI - although I have found ToI has produced more "last move of the last round decides the game" results so far for me.

Combat Commander: Already well supported with Germans, US and Russians in the base game, an expansion that adds Commonwealth, Italian and Allied Minors (France, Poland, Greece etc) to the mix, a Pacific Theatre version of the base game and tons of scenarios. Strictly infantry only but the card driven system and "Choas of War" effect the cards create means you don't miss vehciles at all.

Lock N Load: Only a little more complicated than Tide of Iron to grasp, but much more detail and unit breadth (for example, the Band of Heroes base game includes regular Wehrmacht, SS and Fallschirmjager (paratroop) soldiers on the German side + vehicles/equipment etc). Number of expansions including Russian Front, UK etc + A second base game called Heroes of the Blitzkrieg that is set in the 1940 invasion of France and no doubt more on the way.

Memoir 44: I really only pull this out when playing with beginners/non-gamers but it's the only game on the list featuring plastic troops ala Tide of Iron and its card-driven play is quite engaging and I usually have more fun than I was expecting when playing.

Hope that helps!

MrBadass said:

well uh... don`t hit me too hard sir :-) i`m still hoping for a stalingrad/eastern front expansion with nice t-34 and katyusha minis hehe :-)

there is still so much ground to cover.

Well, I hope all the doom and gloom is wrong. Seems to be the same with every game system through. I am new to ToI and glad to see some familiar names here from other game foyums.

Even if we do not see a new expansion in the near future there is plenty to keep me busy. I do hope something is coming as I see alot of potential.

If the information is correct I only wish some of the WoTC games I support had half the support that a game like ToI does.

Stay tuned.

cP
FFG

Like a fly to SH**. Thanks for the encouraging word.!

The Spaniard said:

Great response! Two simple words, "Stay tuned" is all most of us here need to hear.

I mean that seriously too, I'm not being sarcastic. That little tidbit of info is huge for me!

My hat's off to you for giving customers of FFG an acknowledgement that they are valued!

The Spaniard said:

ok sir i am "tuned":-)

great news! greetz from germany

staying tuned and hoping the small box title to be revealed will be the long awaited ToI third module. Thanks for the word on continuing support and expansions.

very great news i am hoping for something new as well toi is my favorite ffg game i would love an eastern front expansion or even a battle of the buldge expansion would be cool to see also.

I too am eagerly awaiting additional expansions for the all the theaters of WW2. I have all the expansions thus far. Hope something is in the works! Rod

I've been tuned for a while now. How about an update on this matter? A little something to chew on? Any news is appreciated.

I think you get more answers if you contact ffg directly through their email, I don't believe they keep a very close eye on the ToI threads.

UPDATE Here is the response I got back from FFG regarding any new info about ToI

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mitch:

As is our policy, we do not announce or solicit new products until they are at the printers so we have a reasonable idea as to when they will be on store shelves.
However, I can tell you that there certainly is something new for TOI that you will hear about and see quite soon.

Jeremy Stomberg
Operations Associate
Fantasy Flight Games

MrBadass said:

Thanks for the update. Can't wait to hear whats next for ToI.