Privateer Press: 2022 Preview

Privateer Press geben einen Ausblick auf 2022…

A LOOK AHEAD TO 2022…

by Matt Wilson

With just a couple of weeks to go before the ball drops on 2021, we’re all looking toward the New Year and all the wonderful things it promises: in-person gaming, conventions*, barbarian invaders, a two-headed puppy…These are just a few of the things I’m excited for, and by the time you finish reading this, I hope you’ll be excited as well.

*Before we get into the good stuff, I want to let you know that Lock & Load will remain on hiatus for 2022. We’re researching dates and venues for 2023 and hopefully by next summer will have a solid plan. In the meantime, we’re excited to see you at LVO, AdeptiCon, Gen Con, and Warfaire Weekend next year!

WARMACHINE & HORDES

Just when the people of the Iron Kingdoms are getting back on their feet in the wake of the Claiming, we’re throwing another invasion at them. This time, it’s their old foes, the Orgoth, who once held the nations of western Immoren under their oppressive thumb for centuries before being driven out by humanity’s first warcasters and their colossal war machines.

We’ve been working on the rules and sculpts for this exciting new army for many months, and we’re getting close to an unveiling…but are going to take a little bit more time. For the past week, we’ve been working out the Orgoth paint scheme with the incredible Erik Swinson, whose gorgeous brush work you’ve seen on many of our recent Monsterpocalypse models, the Slaughterhouse, and more. He’ll be painting the army up over the next couple of months in preparation for its grand reveal early next year, and no matter which nation of the Iron Kingdoms you may have supported in the past, we expect there are going to be some turncoats ready to take up the Orgoth banner in their renewed goal to conquer Immoren.

The Orgoth army is one of the most diverse forces we’ve ever created in terms of technology, creatures, and intelligent races. In their four-hundred-year absence, the Orgoth have developed their own form of mechanika, including terrifying warjacks. But they have also subjugated other races in their travels across Caen, and we’ll be establishing a whole new race to the setting that makes up the Orgoth army’s heavy infantry. As sea raiders instead of traditional cavalry soldiers, the Orgoth also make use of flocks of massive, draconic vultures that launch from their ships as the vanguard of their invasion force. We’re also introducing the first ever 80mm “extra-large-based” model to WARMACHINE with what we’re currently referring to as the “assault beast” (working title). It’s an Orgoth gunner riding atop what can only be described as a wooly-titan—some distant relative of the eastern Immoren titans that the Orgoth have pressed into service. If you’ve got images of Dire Troll Blitzers dancing through your head, you’re not far off. Only this thing is twice as angry…

Playtesting for the Orgoth has been an exciting time for us, and Development Manager Erik Reiersen will be following up with an Insider next week that sheds some light on how they perform on the tabletop.

As we await the harrowing return of the Iron Kingdoms’ most legendary enemies, we’ve got some reading material planned for you with the long-awaited conclusion to the Henge Hold Scroll. Penned by the amazing AJ Beamu, the Scroll will resume its daily drop of micro-fiction installments via Twitter next Monday. This final installment will tell the story of the last days of the Claiming and reveals the fates of many of the heroes and villains involved in the epic battle over the souls of humanity.  Make sure you’re following at twitter.com/HengeholdScroll so you don’t miss a single tweet!

We have much more in store for WARMACHINE and HORDES next year, but we’re going to let the Orgoth have their day before we reveal anything else. And believe me, we’re as excited to pull back that curtain as you are.

IRON KINGDOMS (5e)

This past year saw the return of the Iron Kingdoms RPG using the 5e rules set. What a year it has been! After a harrowing shipping delay, we’re finally in the middle of sending out the Iron Kingdoms: Requiem rewards to the thousands of incredible backers who made the project possible. Meanwhile, it’s been full-speed ahead on development for the RPG, and before we had even sent the next round of Borderlands and Beyond books to the printer, we were planning the next stop in our in-depth exploration of the Iron Kingdoms: the Nightmare Empire, aka Cryx.

The Nightmare Empire books will reveal what a day in the life (and undeath) of Cryx is like and features multiple new playable races, including the much-in-demand Satyxis, Black Ogrun, and both corporeal and incorporeal undead characters (so you can play that Pistol Wraith you’ve always dreamed about). Naturally, any deep dive into the Scharde Isles is going to thoroughly cover piracy, and we’ll be introducing rules for naval combat, Iron Kingdoms style, so your party of scallywags can raid and pillage those stuffed-shirt Mercarian League traders all up and down the Broken Coast.

Included in the trio of Nightmare Empire books will be an adventure anthology that explores the Dragonfather’s domain through a series of adventures aimed at parties of all levels. So, no matter if you’re brand new to adventuring in the IK or have had vacationing in Blackwater on your bucket list for years, there’s going to be something waiting for you in Cryx. (Most likely death, of course.)

Watch for more previews on the Nightmare Empire as we get closer to summer.

RIOT QUEST

The only thing better than getting a new puppy is getting a new two-headed argus puppy. And you’ll be able to get that and more in the upcoming expansion Riot Quest: PE(s)TS!

Part of our next Kickstarter project, Riot Quest: PE(s)TS introduces six new pets ready to join your crew as a new form of Riot Gear. Just like real-world pets, when they’re yours, they’re the cutest, most lovable things in the world. But when they’re someone else’s, all you want to do is swat them off your leg with a rolled-up newspaper. In the game, each pet grants a Hero Class ability to its owner while having its own special ability to antagonize competing crews. From disrupting attacks to picking pockets, each pet turns up the dial on the wacky antics of Riot Quest.

We’ll have more exciting announcements about Riot Quest early next year when we preview the next project coming to Kickstarter.

WARCASTER

The fantastic Aeryn Rudel has just completed a series of short stories we have affectionately dubbed, The Thousand Worlds Gone Wild. Each installment focuses on a Wild Card character from Warcaster and their exploits across the Hyperuranion. You’ll find out what why you never challenge Baron Mooregrave to a duel, what makes The Quartermaster smile, and how Master Tulcan has been protecting humanity longer than anyone can remember. You’ll also get an in-the-trenches view of Axel for Hire, whose post-war trauma gives us our first look at the upcoming Lost Legion army as well as clues to a second new army that will be unveiled for Warcaster in late 2022.

But for the fiction, you won’t have to wait that long! The seven-part Thousand Worlds Gone Wildseries will roll out over the month of January, so you’ll have something to dig into while we’re shipping the Thousand Worlds Kickstarter rewards.

MONSTERPOCALYPSE

Even the pandemic couldn’t keep Monsterpocalypse down, and 2021 was a big year for the biggest little models on the tabletop, culminating in a blockbuster Kickstarter for the big-boxed edition of the game run by our friends over at Mythic Games. If you happened to be off-planet at the time and missed the Kickstarter campaign, Mythic has just opened the pledge manager, so you can still get in on this incredible board game version, which is 100% compatible with all of the Monsterpocalypse hobby models you might already have in your collection. Check it out here:

https://gamefound.com/projects/mythic-games/monsterpocalypse-board-game

Monsterpocalypse will continue its tabletop rampage through next year with the introduction of two new armies: The First Guardians and their arch-rivals, The Ancient Ones. With new drops every month, we’ll also be expanding the forces of the Necroscourge, Vegetyrants, The Waste, and Green Fury. Then, late next summer, we’ll see the return of the Megaton Mashup with the King of the Khans, featuring the Apex versions of two of your favorite fighting lizards, Terra Khan and Cyber Khan. And closer to the end of the year, we’ll bring you Lost in Mutation, a card-deck expansion that delivers a whole new way to play Monsterpocalypse as you battle to evolve your monster into the ultimate kaiju.

Even with everything described above, this Insider is only scratching the surface of what we have in store for 2022. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you won’t miss a single exciting announcement about all the new developments from Privateer Press.

And until next time, happy holidays and all the best to you in the New Year.

Quelle: Privateer Press