Lock & Load GameFest 2013 is a little less than two weeks away, and Privateer Press is bustling with activity as we prepare for what will unquestionably be the biggest and most awesome Lock & Load yet!

While there are tons of amazing things in store for attendees this year, one of the events I’m most excited about is the third annual Iron Painter Showdown, which I will once again be hosting.

For those who aren’t familiar, Iron Painter pits three Lock & Load attendees against one of our Formula P3 Studio Painters in a speed-painting fight to the finish. Not only do contestants have to work with a restricted color palette and a very limited amount of time, they must face several uproarious challenges as well. In the past this has included everything from painting with the off hand to painting while standing on one leg. In other words, our contestants have to be ready for anything.

While the last two years of Iron Painter have been a fantastic and fun spectacle, this year we’re cranking it up even further and getting the whole audience involved. Lock & Load attendees will have the chance to walk away with fantastic prizes while having a direct impact on the fate of our challengers.

This year, three random audience members have a chance to draw one of our intrepid Iron Painting challengers as their own Iron Painting Champion. If their champion takes the Iron Painter crown, they’ll win an amazing Convergence of Cyriss prize pack loaded with Convergence goodies. To help their champion win the day, each audience member will be given a special exemption card they can play to protect their champion from one of the myriad challenges, hopefully giving the champion an edge to sway the judges’ opinions of their final work.

But that’s not all! Throughout the competition we’ll be posing Privateer Press Trivia questions to randomly selected audience members. Answer correctly and you’ll get a chance to choose a “Treasure Box of Reward and Woe.” Each box contains a fantastic prize for the audience member and a new challenge for our painters. Choose wisely and you could walk away with a Convergence of Cyriss Battlegroup, an assortment of Privateer Press swag, or something of truly colossal proportions . . .

Best of all, the entire Iron Painter event will be streamed live across the globe on the Privateer Press Live Stream page or on Privateer Press’ Twitch page. So even if you can’t make it to Seattle to watch the action in person, you can still enjoy all the fun, excitement, and hilarity of this fan favorite event.

The 2013 Iron Painter extravaganza takes place Friday, May 31st at 9:30 p.m. PST. Whether you’ll be there live or watching from across the globe, trust me when I say you don’t want to miss this!