Is the Cthulhu Wars Eldritch Gate Pack Still Available?
No. The Eldritch Gate Pack is sold out on the Petersen Games site right now, with no restock date listed. If you're shopping for an in-stock way to grow your Cthulhu Wars collection today, Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99) is the best in-stock pick: five neutral Great Old Ones any faction can recruit, ready to ship.
Searching "eldritch gate" and landing on a sold-out product page is annoying. This covers what the pack actually was, why it sold out, and what's worth buying in stock right now that still moves your collection forward.
What Was the Eldritch Gate Pack, Exactly?
A components upgrade, not a new game piece type. The Eldritch Gate Pack ($49.99 when stocked) shipped 22 Summoning Gate markers: a set in neutral gray plus one colored set matched to each Cthulhu Wars faction, with three exceptions on the product listing, the Ancients, Bubastis, and Daemon Sultan.
Gates are the components factions use to summon monsters onto the board over the course of a match. The stock gates that ship in the O4 core box do the job fine. What the Eldritch Gate Pack added was color-matched, faction-branded versions of that same piece, the kind of upgrade collectors buy for table presence rather than for a new rule or a new mechanic. It never added a faction, a Great Old One, or a Terror to the game. It's bling, and Petersen Games' own product copy calls it exactly that.
Why Did It Sell Out, and Will It Restock?
Petersen Games doesn't publish restock dates on individual accessory packs, and there's no announced timeline for the Eldritch Gate Pack specifically. Small-run bling packs like this one sell through and sit out of stock for stretches while the studio focuses production on faction expansions and core boxes. Guessing at a return date would be dishonest, so this post won't. Check the Eldritch Gate Pack product page directly for the current status before you plan around it.
What that means practically: if your priority is a cosmetic gate upgrade specifically, you'll need to wait and watch the page. If your priority is actually expanding what your Cthulhu Wars table can do, a better use of that budget sits in stock today.
What Are the Best In-Stock Alternatives to the Eldritch Gate Pack?
Three packs, all confirmed in stock as of this writing, each adding real content rather than a components reskin.
Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99, in stock) is the strongest pick. It adds five neutral Great Old Ones, Abhoth, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Mother Hydra, and Yig, each a colossal miniature with its own spellbook. Any faction at the table can recruit any of them during a game. None belongs permanently to a single side, so the pack pays off no matter which factions you already own.
Great Old One Pack 2 ($34.99, in stock) works the same way with a different roster: Atlach-Nacha, Bokrug, Father Dagon, and Ghatanothoa. Pack 1 and Pack 2 don't overlap, so collectors chasing the full neutral roster typically pick up both over time.
Cosmic Terrors ($29.99, in stock) is a different content class again. It holds the Great Race of Yith, the massive Dhole, and Quachil Uttaus, three Terrors rather than Great Old Ones, a separate unit type that plays by its own rules. Worth owning, but don't confuse it with a Great Old One pack when you're planning a purchase.
All three beat the Eldritch Gate Pack on one measure that matters to most buyers: they're purchasable right now, and every dollar buys new gameplay content rather than a repaint of a piece you already own.
Are Great Old Ones the Same Thing as Factions in Cthulhu Wars?
No, and this is the mix-up that trips up a lot of shoppers browsing expansion names. Cthulhu Wars sorts its content into distinct classes, and Great Old Ones, factions, Elder Gods, and Terrors are not interchangeable.
Factions are the playable sides. The O4 core box ships with four: Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos (Nyarlathotep), Black Goat of the Woods (Shub-Niggurath), and Yellow Sign (Hastur, the King in Yellow). Yellow Sign is part of the base game, not a separate expansion. Petersen Games also sells standalone faction expansions, each adding a full new player slot with its own cult and unit line.
Great Old Ones are neutral. They live in the Great Old One Packs, arrive as colossal miniatures with dedicated spellbooks, and can be recruited mid-match by any faction on the board, core or expansion. Yig, for example, has no cult and no unit stack of his own; he's a neutral Great Old One in Pack 1, not a fifth faction. Terrors are a third category still, unit types like Quachil Uttaus that function differently from both factions and Great Old Ones. Getting these three straight before you shop saves you from buying the wrong pack for what you actually want at the table.
Do You Need the Core Game to Use These Expansions?
Yes. Every pack above is an add-on, not a standalone game. You need Cthulhu Wars (O4 Edition) to field the factions that recruit these Great Old Ones and Terrors during play. Worth flagging honestly: the O4 core box itself is also showing sold out on the Petersen Games site as of this writing. If you don't already own the core game, treat these expansion packs as a purchase to line up now and use once the core set is back, not a same-day complete-game buy.
If you already have the core box and a faction or two on your shelf, Great Old One Pack 1 is a fast, in-stock way to add real strategic variety without waiting on anything. Sandy Petersen's design track record, stretching back to Call of Cthulhu in 1981, is a big part of why collectors trust these packs enough to preorder blind; see his full design background on Wikipedia for the longer history. And if you want a third-party read on how the core game plays before you commit further, Meeple Mountain's Cthulhu Wars review is a solid outside take. The cosmic horror source material both Great Old Ones and Terrors draw on traces back to H.P. Lovecraft's original mythos writing; Lovecraft's Wikipedia entry covers where that shared universe started.
In-stock orders process within 48 hours. US orders ship via USPS Ground Advantage, typically 2 to 5 business days in transit. Canadian orders ship via DHL Ground, typically 3 to 7 business days in transit. Rates are calculated at checkout based on destination, weight, and size.
Ready to buy something that's actually in stock. Get Great Old One Pack 1 for $39.99 and add five recruitable Great Old Ones to your next game, or browse the full Cthulhu Wars collection to see everything else currently available.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Eldritch Gate Pack and Its Alternatives
Is the Eldritch Gate Pack sold out?
Yes. The Eldritch Gate Pack is showing sold out on the Petersen Games site, with no restock date published. Check the product page directly for current status before planning a purchase around it.
What was included in the Eldritch Gate Pack?
Per the Petersen Games product listing, it included 22 Summoning Gate markers: a gray set plus one color-matched set per faction, with the Ancients, Bubastis, and Daemon Sultan excluded from the color options. It's a components upgrade, not a new faction or Great Old One.
What's the best in-stock alternative to the Eldritch Gate Pack?
Great Old One Pack 1 ($39.99, in stock) is the top pick. It adds five neutral Great Old Ones, Abhoth, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Mother Hydra, and Yig, each recruitable by any faction, with a spellbook of its own.
Is a Great Old One the same as a faction in Cthulhu Wars?
No. Factions are the game's playable sides (four in the core box: Great Cthulhu, Crawling Chaos, Black Goat of the Woods, and Yellow Sign). Great Old Ones are neutral entities that any faction can recruit mid-match. They don't add a new player slot the way a faction expansion does.
Do I need the Cthulhu Wars core game to use Great Old One Pack 1?
Yes. Great Old One Pack 1 is an expansion, not a standalone game. You need Cthulhu Wars (O4 Edition) to field factions that can recruit its Great Old Ones. The O4 core box is also currently showing sold out on the Petersen Games site, so check availability there first.
0 comments