Ever since Fantasy Flight Games acquired the BattleLore line from Days of Wonder, we’ve been a little uncertain about the game’s future.

The first few expansions—Heroes, Dragons, and Creatures—seemed to take the game in an RPG-like or adventure-game direction (admittedly, those were inherited from DoW). More recent expansions appear to be returning the game to its tactical roots and have included army boxes of goblins (Horrific Horde), dwarves (Bearded Brave, announced), and humans (Code of Chivalry, announced).

Even more confusing is the fact that the core game has been unavailable for months. Yes, Christian Petersen explained that manufacturing costs were making it extremely difficult to produce a game at a reasonable price. But still, the base set has remained out-of-print while FFG has continued to release multiple expansions. Huh?

Additionally, there’s the matter of Battles of Westeros, labeled “A BattleLore Game,” despite being incompatible with the original.

Now, 8 months later, Fantasy Flight has announced that it will be repackaging French versions of the core game with English rules and cards and selling them in the United States. But these are previously manufactured sets, and so are only a temporary solution.

What’s next for BattleLore? Fantasy Flight is clearly making an effort, however, it’s difficult to imagine the game being successful with new expansions but no base set available. Also, with confusion surrounding the original game, I wonder whether branding Westeros might not be a negative in the eyes of gamers.