TIDE OF IRON delayed until May?!

Well, the news has come down that TIDE OF IRON, the latest aircraft-carrier sized box of AT wonder and joy from Fantasy Flight Games has been delayed until May. It had been delayed until April. And before that to March. You get the picture.

The reason stated by FFG appears to be that there were "concerns" about warping boards, which of course you would have seen if you'd read any of the early bird reports as posted online. After the public outrage over everything from the warping boards of RAILROAD TYCOON, the bent rulebooks of SHOGUN, and the infamous unremovable box lid of MISSION RED PLANET I have to say that Mr. Petersen and company have made the right decision- I'd hate to see yet another flagship title in the FFG stable get waylaid by crybaby complaints levelled by anal retentitve gamers apparently incapable of dealing with minor manufacturing difficulties. Warped boards means bad buzz and bad reviews, as we've seen time and time again.

Now granted, when a game is seriously screwed up in production there's definitely a call for something to be done and it might very well be the case that the boards didn't pass quality control...but I can't help but think that this is one of those situations where fear of the Almighty Internet Opinion may have had a huge influence on the decision- which is really a shame if it's as minor a problem as the reviews I've seen have noted (some didn't even mention it at all, others noted that it was easily corrected). I'd hate to be in Mr. Petersen's shoes, looking at releasing a game that a lot of money has already been invested in that you know is going to get nitpicked to death by armchair critics unaware of the cost and effort of reprinting major components of the game. And given all the internet flak FFG has unfairly recieved for releasing supposedly "unfinished" or "beta" games, I'd probably hold it back myself.

God knows how many games I've purchased over the years that have a bent board or some other wonky component...and god knows how many times I've managed to somehow get by without ever posting to the world my sheer and utter disgust with a company for making such inferior products and how I will "vote with my dollar" by never buying their crap again.

So since ToI is delayed, it might be a good idea to look at some other ways the game might better please the online boardgaming community, what with their high standards and all. I'd like to propose the following changes that should be easily completed by May:

1) Make sure I can remove the box lid in under .5 seconds.

2) Make sure that the game will fit EXACTLY into the box yet somehow magically have enough room for all the expansions. Without there being too much air in the box.

3) There should be a plastic tray specifically designed to hold each and every single piece in the game.

4) Please use the highest grade cardstock known to mankind with white edges and stainless steel card protectors included in the box.

5) Please remove all luck elements from the game. Combat can be effectively modeled through card drafting and auctions rather than dice.

6) I expect there to be a detailed order of battle included in the game along with designer notes detailing every single mechanic and how it accurately models real world situations, physics, and historical realities.

7) No swastikas. Please use the MEMOIR '44 model of "not talking about the war", so to speak.

8) I would advise another 5 years of playtesting to ensure that every possible eventuality is covered and addressed in the rulebook (which should remain under 10 pages).

9) $79.95 retail is ludicrous for a game that does not have wooden pieces. Even though BATTLELORE was $70 it promises to be more value for the money sometime in the future.

10) I expect a complete and full apology included in the box from Christian Petersen addressing the ISC problem. I would like to see this in every future FFG production.

With these suggestions in place, I believe that ToI will truly be ready for primetime and completley impervious to attack from the harsh opinions of the online boardgaming world.