Privateer Press – Lock and Load Company Preview

to the core rulebook.  

The implication thus far is that Kings, Gods, and Nations will be decidedly larger than the previously-released Urban Adventures book, focusing on the locales of the different kingdoms of the setting and the opportunities that characters might find in them, including new nation-specific careers like the Paladin of the Order of the Wall, Stormsmith, Assault Kommando, or the Maritime Order of the Trident Arcanist (see above).

Ed and Will talked at length about how this book is not only supposed to discuss life in the individual kingdoms, but that it will also have a lot of full-color art showing exactly what previously undepicted locales like Sul or Imer really look like.

Next came discussion of the Level 7 property and the new boardgame, Level 7 [Omega Protocol]. Where Level 7 [Escape] was largely a survival-centric game where players found themselves trapped and unprepared for the horrors of Subterra Bravo, Omega Protocol, changes the focus to a more offensive emphasis where players take on the roles of elite special forces sent in to clean house. 

Consequently, instead of fear being the mechanical spectrum that players work with, adrenaline takes over as a risk/reward resource.  

Level 7 [Omega Protocol] will feature a class-based system for several options of play. Above you see a preview for the Rifleman with its various abilities and equipment.

Otherwise, [Omega Protocol] seems like an exciting board game for people looking for a fun experience without all the lengthy commitments of a miniatures game.

Next came some more teasers of the new deck building game set in the Iron Kingdoms, High Command, a faction-based, customizable experience using the nations and leaders that you’ve become familiar with in Warmachine and Hordes. From the looks of things, High Command will ship in two separate boxes, one containing Warmachine factions, the other Hordes. The deck building genre has gathered a lot of steam over the last couple years since Dominion made such a huge splash, so it doesn’t surprise me to see that Warmachine and Hordes are engaging in putting their stamp on it.

To get an idea of the overall flavor of the game, Ed, Will, and Matt provided some nice photos.

The presentation rounded out with previews for the next Warmachine anthology book, Vengeance and some other Warmachine-related content.  

We’ve already seen some releases from Vengeance, specifically the Tempest Blazers, Greylord Outriders, Ironfang Kovnik, the Stormblade Captain, and concept art previews for Eiryss 3 and Stryker 3, but now we’re finally getting to see some finished art along with some bigger reveals.  

While certainly not the most exciting preview, Ed started things by showing the CAD art for the Ghordson Earthbreaker, the long-desired Rhulic Colossal. Obviously incorporating some of the design elements of the large-based Ghordson Driller, it certainly seems to belong aesthetically in a dwarvish army.  

Next came a pair of previews for the Retribution of Scyrah, specifically Issyr Issyria, the new warcaster and Imperatus, their character myrmidon.

Despite her zen-like, floating appearance, Issyr is actually listed in the Retribution faction book as being one of the leaders of the Dawnguard, one of the most militaristic martial houses of Ios.   Issyria is the Retribution’s next warcaster, a surprise to many who were expecting Rahn 2.

Imperatus looks to use the Shyeel chassis and a pair of Thermal Blades.  Standard conjecture would give it a pair of P+S 17 melee attacks with Reach, making it a pretty solid beatstick for the Retribution, especially if it boasts a higher MAT value than the typical Retribution myrmidon, often standard for character models. It was also commented on that Imperatus would actually have to “be killed more than once”.  I’m not entirely sure what that means, but as a Retribution player, I’m certainly curious.

Where Gargantuans introduced the first warlock/battle engine with Lylyth 3, Vengeance delivers a warcaster/battle engine in the form of Servath Reznik in his first epic incarnation, seen above riding a fiery horse-drawn chariot.  

Matt Wilson has been blogging quite a bit about the development and art for Stryker 3 on his personal site, but now we get to see his final art. We already knew that Stryker was mounted, but what this art tells us that we didn’t know before is one of his spells: Iron Aggression, which is spelled out in Cygnaran runes around his sword.   

The last preview from Vengeance, is the third incarnation of Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov, accompanied by a pair of argus, seen above in a re-imagining of the original cover of Prime.  This marks the first proper warcaster unit for Warmachine.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Warmachine, and to commemorate this, Privateer Press will be making the new version of the Butcher and his two argus available with a scenic base, a limited, numbered print of the above art, a fetching wooden box, and a letter of authenticity signed by Matt Wilson. This will apparently be available at GenCon later this summer.

Finally, Privateer Press ended their presentation with the first in what they hope will be a series of “top-shelf” models called Masterworks.  The first such model is an 8″, fully-painted rendition of Victoria Haley, shown above.  At $125, it does seem pretty pricey, but it certainly is good-looking from this preview.  If sales are good enough, there was a strong indication that we’ll be seeing more characters rendered in this fashion.

To finish off, here are the some other screen captures I was able to grab, including art for the new Bane Cavalry Unit, some kind of new Thrall Solo, and a Trollkin.

UPDATE – Ed Bourelle has clarified that the new Retribution warcaster’s name is spelled Issyria.