Have been looking at this game over some other WWII games. Would like to hear what you guys and gals think of pros and cons of any aspect of game

mattcalaho said:

It is very flexible, interactive, offers lots of tactical choices, plays reasonably fast, has almost no player downtime and lends itself to creating your own scenarios due to many modular compaonents. And it's fun...

...and Memoir '44 has slowly been evolving into this game.

im not a board game expert like the guys on this forum. in fact, tide of iron is really the only board game that ive played (and risk) but i think its great. theres a lot you can do because its pretty in depth and its really cool how it has a book of scenarios so you can have pretty much a new board every time ouy play. im sure thats nothing new in the boardgame world, but to me thats really cool and it adds a lot to the replay value. its also pretty cool because you can make your own scenarios with it and then buy the expansions and map extensions and have a TON of different options and ways to play. i say get it. its a great, basic, combative game that is worth its price.

mattcalaho said:

i agree with the pro`s in the other comments. one contra: bad balanced scenarios. nearly all of them. especially normandy expansion. i got used to it and so the game still is fun.

I am just getting into TOI and i'm finding the mechanics are simple to play and the combat system has a high degree of uncertainty which is both "realistic" and a leveller for people of different abilities playing.

Comparing to other squad based games i am familiar with (Squad Leader, Ambush, Raid on St Nazaire), it is much quicker/easier to get into with much less need to be re-reading rules during play.

7times7is49 said:

I couldn't agree with you more. The differences between ToI & M44 are becoming fewer and fewer.

I'm not specially interested in WWII, I'm just especially interested in minitarue games, and tide of iron is one of the simpler I have seen, which at the same time gives units which behaves realistic. For example an MG squad is something nasty which the attacker cannot ignore, and there exist several ways of dealing with it. (killing it, suppressing it, placing smoke, manuevering around it etc.) Ant its the combination which interest me. Rules that feel nice for the setting, and jet is simple.

The con is by far the number of unbalanced scenarios, espcially in the opening booklet. If you play the unbalanced scenarios the game is outright horrible in my opinion. However, if you read a review of the scenarios before playing them, you can find some nice fun scenarios. Playing the good scenarios gives a much better game. Also, with some experience, you can have a preaty good geuss wether the scenario is balanced or not simply by reading it.

Pros:

- Immersive without too much complexity while managing to avoid being too simplified or abstract.

- Very high quality components

- Inspired by and inspires interest in historical events etc .... without demanding strict adherence to or in depth knowledge in order to play and enjoy it.

- Has moments of rolling fist fulls of dice in front of an apprehensive opponent ...giving one a gleefull moment of "heh heh take this....." which can of course result in "What the.....?" moments when said dice do not behave.

- Allows grown men to play with plastic soldiers again without looking too silly (disclaimer: while not necessarily silly...grown men playing with plastic soldiers, even in an historical context, will be viewed as being unequivocally "geeky" by the average passerby, and I accept no responsibility for any such labelling bestowed upon you for choosing to indulge in this game)

- It comes in a BIG box!

Cons:

- Lots of fiddly plastic soldiers...can be a little time consuming to set up/pack up.

- For inexperienced players (i.e little or no wargaming experience) a little bit of a learning curve to come to terms with

- While little player downtime exists....is not immune to "analysis paralysis" by some players...you know who you are

- Is not the cheapest game to purchase

- Relies on dice rolls which some people disapprove of (I am looking at you (some) Eurogamers......note: I myself am a Eurogamer...but a dice friendly one)

- It comes in a BIG box! (looks impressive...feels impressive...but dang it takes up some room....and not overly transport friendly...particularly if one is taking the game to a fellow gamers house using public transport...this leads to looks from average passersby that leads to the issue raised in point 5 in "Pros" above)

- Can be addictive and create tension between ones game time and work/family/community service/jury duty etc time

I play casually and really love the game. Once you get used to setting up the game (while drinking beer) it gets fun.

I play casually and really love the game. Once you get used to setting up the game (while drinking beer) it gets fun.

Most definetly second this comment.

However i really do like this game, excellent gameplay, good quality product, no having to paint 100's of figures or buy and paint ots on scenery. Quite simply get some beer in the fridge, unpack the box and play whilst reducing the amount of beer in the fridge.

Woody said:

Amen to that brother! First rate wargame, hits on all the right points, and plays great.

The only drawback would be the ToI original scenarios, some of them are not balanced to the point that they won't make a good game for evenly skilled players. That can be kinda frustrating for new players. However, scenarios are just that: scenarios. A few unbalanced scenarios don't reflect the overall nature or value of what you get with the ToI game system. There are good scenarios available with all the expansions, and there is a great piece of wargame history / memorabilia with the scenario book available for ToI. If you're an old grognard like me, that scenario book is a great piece of wargame history. And unbalanced scenarios are always subject to player modification, so you can administer whatever "fix" you deem necessary.

Aside from that, ToI is top notch all the way.

PRO:

-get to play with miniatures instead of cardboard bits

-land tiles increase the replay value

-the cards don't overshadow the importance of tactical placement and gameplay.

-many scenarios produced by wargame experts and fans.

-gets better with every supplemental releases

-can create your own scenarios and share it with the scenario builder

CON:

-looooong setup.

-not enough figures in the base set to create big battles

-some card sets I wish I had duplicate sets of.

-prevalence of unbalanced scenarios (although they are getting better with each release)

Overall, I really enjoy this game. I like how you can give a unit special abilities/skills by marking the unit with a special counter (such as labelling a unit as a medic or an engineer without the need for new figures). I like the campaign rule where you can bring your units from a previous scenario to your current one and thereby having a mechanism in place for the units to gain xp (Normandy expansion). I like the relationship between Command points and the use of cards.

Tide of Iron is a good combination of miniatures with a very nice system of combat and excellent graphics, reference sheets, and quality boards. There are additional boards with even more detailed buildings and more colors, which come as an expansion set, plus the figures and tanks are quite nice in detail and you get a fair quantity for a reasonable price. It is an easier and less expensive way to play minatures and the scale is small enough to fit your average size desk top. You can even get into painting and adding extra types of infantry, AT guns, flak AA guns, artillery pieces, jeeps, paratroopers, panzergrenadiers, sniper, and armored cars. ITS FANTASTIC! plus the rules are just detailed enough to add some realism without sacrificing playablility.

This game is easy to learn because you don't have to learn it all at once. The scenarios start out simple (just a few types of units and cards) and gradually progress until you have learned most of the rules by the last.

When I first saw the number of game pieces, it seemed overwhelming. But once I realized that they are not all used a once, and they also allow you to add realism as desired, it's fun.

I have played many other board games. At the tactical/squad level this is the best game I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend it.

I played the much loved Battle Lore, and felt the game was too simple.

Maybe b/c the scenarios were too simple and victory was just to rack kills.

Also didnt feel much strategy when it came to combat. Once the armies were lined up face to face, felt like the strategy stopped and the players took turns hitting each other, or in much cases missing.

I guess i would like to have more choices in a strategy game, and once combat starts or engaged i still can out manuever the enemy. Does this game have that?

Grove12345 said:

I believe it does.

It is also not card-dependent for activation. Cards are bonusses, not basics.

Indeed it does. The game mechanics dictate that during the turn, each player is assigned actions with which to activate 3 (usually 3...sometimes less, sometimes more...depends on the scenario) of your units (where a unit is a squad, vehicle, anti-tank weapon etc) and/or strategy cards. Your opponent will then do the same before you then activate another 3 of yours, they do another 3.....and so on until everything on the board has done something.

The strategy, and "outmanuevering" can come from what actions you decide to use (move, shoot, move and shoot, assault, go into "op fire" etc) and in what order. You have to anticipate what your opponent might do and consider who has priority and will therefore go first. You might want to shoot to kill a certain enemy unit, but knowing they have priority you might feel compelled to use supressive fire (does not kill) instead to pin and essentially deactivate that enemy unit to prevent them shooting first (as long as there is no officer in the hex). Maybe your opponent is expecting one of your nearby squads to fire on him, but at the last moment you may declare an assault which enables you to charge into close quarter combat and force them back. If you do this you might consider whether or not there are enough friendly squads nearby to move in closer before the assault to offer support....but if you do this they may simply be making themselves targets to be shot at by short range enemy fire (more likely to take casualties), possibly before the assaulting squad even gets to activate. Sometimes moving your own units further back into less desirable ranges can be good if it conceals them from multiple enemy units due to certain terrain etc. I could go on and on and on.....but yes, there are all types of "out manauvre" type strategies to employ.

Rarely is this a game where you just line up against each other and start rolling dice to see who gets the most "good rolls".

Plus there's a ton of different scenarios & map set-ups on line to download & print!