Looking Ahead to 2021

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There’s nothing I can write about 2020 that hasn’t been penned already. Needless to say, like about everyone else in the world, we’re looking forward to putting this year in the rearview mirror. And we’ve got a lot to be excited about next year, so we can’t wait to share it with you! Here’s a look ahead at what’s in store from Privateer Press in 2021.

LOCK & LOAD

I want to get the bad news out of the way upfront: along with many of our favorite conventions and events that we look forward to every year, Lock & Load will again be postponed in 2021. While we’re optimistic that the New Year will return some normalcy to our lives and let us get back to the kinds of events we thrive on, there’s too much uncertainty for us to be able to plan an event on the scale of Lock & Load. Even if life in general is back on track by the middle of next year, the notion of hundreds of people in close indoors proximity to one another for hours on end seems like a scenario unlikely to meet with whatever standards will be in place for public gatherings by then. We’re disappointed, to say the least. We miss the opportunity to play and hang out with everyone who attends, and we’ve already had to scrub one anniversary celebration—and this coming year will mark the second. But we’ll still be planning our annual keynote address around that time, and we’ll be looking forward to the following year when we can confidently plan to get back to our most favorite event in the world.

The rest is all good news—guaranteed!

WARMACHINE & HORDES                        

Over the next twelve months, we’ve got something coming for just about everyone. Here are just some of the highlights:

As it happens, 2021 is the 15-year anniversary of HORDES! To commemorate this milestone, we’re planning a block of zero-version lesser Warlocks of some of our most popular existing characters that will give you some insight to their origins—before they were the powerful personalities you know today. Among those I’m looking the most forward to is Thagrosh Hellborne, who has appeared in fiction and even artwork but never before as a model for the tabletop! Look for these models to arrive next summer.

 

If you’ve been following the CID, you know warcasters and warlocks previously only found in the third-edition starters received some new attention recently and will be available for the first time in the early half of the year as individual models with new poses and updated rules.

Also coming for WARMACHINE are several new releases for the Crucible Guard!

And after an extra-long COVID-induced hiatus, Black Anchor Heavy Industries will be firing back up with a couple of new huge-based models that further punctuate next year’s celebration of HORDES, including an Infernal Colossal—the Guardian of Souls—and a Grymkin Gargantuan the likes of which you have never seen before: the Slaughterhouse!

But 2021 isn’t just about new models. We’ll also be seeing the return and conclusion of the portentous Henge Hold Scroll, which will once-and-for-all detail the conclusion of the Oblivion story arc and set the stage for the next epic chapter in the ongoing saga of the Iron Kingdoms…

IRON KINGDOMS: REQUIEM

We announced earlier this year that the Iron Kingdoms RPG would be getting a new treatment in the form of a translation to the wildly popular 5e rules. One of our first big events in 2021 will be a Kickstarter campaign to bring this new RPG series to life. But it’s not just a simple rules conversion; Iron Kingdoms: Requiem will be set in the years following the Infernal Claiming as the nations of western Immoren attempt to rebuild from the ashes of a sundered continent.

In addition to an updated core setting book, the Kickstarter campaign will also include a new Monsternomicon, featuring several monsters never before seen in the IKRPG setting as well as an all-new adventure campaign that returns the Iron Kingdoms to its roots: Legend of the Witchfire.

An extensive schedule of stretch goals will add exciting upgrades and features to the books as well as unlock Iron Kingdoms-specific accessories like map tiles and a deck of Warjack & Mechanika reference cards. If you love exploring and adventuring in the Iron Kingdoms, don’t miss out on all of the fantastic rewards and exclusive content in the upcoming Kickstarter campaign—dates to be announced soon!

RIOT QUEST

While some have chosen to rebuild in the aftermath of the Claiming, others have seen it as a playground ripe for plundering! The early months of next year will bring the second half of the Wintertime Wasteland season for Riot Quest and with it, a host of zany new characters and raucous expansions.

A new Boss Fight expansion starring the unholy union of Karchev the Terrible and the infamous Deathjack will take center stage, giving Riot Questers a chance to team up against a most uncommon enemy in order to earn their loot. We’ll also introduce a new twist on Riot Quest with the Heist expansion, which will test your crews against a variety of automated security measures as they battle for booty amongst the ruins of the Iron Kingdoms.

MONSTERPOCALYPSE

The war for the fate of our planet continues to rage in Monsterpocalypse! Next spring, we’ll be releasing two new starters featuring the Elemental Champions and the Savage Swarm.

But first out of the gate in the new year will be two new Factions: the Legion of Mutates with their genetically engineered human-animal hybrid defenders and the Masters of the 8th Dimension, a race of transplanar beings intent on reconstructing our reality to suit their own twisted design.

And that’s just the tip of the spear for Monsterpocalypse in 2021, which will see even more new Factions as well as variant elite models for some of the most popular units in the game.

Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika

Elsewhere, across the universe, a new war storms across the Thousand Worlds of the Hyperuranion. The third Kickstarter campaign for Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika will kick off mid-year with expansions for all four of Warcaster’s Factions, introducing new Cadres into the game for the first time. Each Cadre will consist of an assortment of elite models as well as a special centerpiece to expand the armies of Warcaster with new powers and abilities.

Additionally, the next block of Warcaster will feature a detailed setting book with in-depth exploration of the Factions and worlds of the Hyperuranion and a campaign system for waging a galaxy-spanning war. Expansion sets for each Faction will introduce unique campaign-specific models, Cypher expansions, and other accessories to enhance your episodic narrative experience as you fight to carve out your territory among the Thousand Worlds.

 

And kicking off early in January, look for a series of extensive articles delving into the philosophy and ethos of each Faction along with a detailed strategy and tactics review that will reveal the shrouded histories of the Warcaster Factions as well as the secrets to winning with them on the tabletop.

Believe it or not, there’s even more planned for next year! So, barring a hostile alien invasion (27.3% likely) or a zombie apocalypse (34.5% likely), we’ll have even more previews once summer rolls around.

For now, we wish you and yours safe and happy holidays and a healthy and prosperous New Year filled with family, friends, fun, and loads of gaming!

  • Matt Wilson
  • Chief Creative Officer
  • Privateer Press
Community, Company, HORDES, Insider, Iron Kingdoms, Lock & Load, Monsterpocalypse, News, Riot Quest, Warcaster: Neo-Mechanika, WARMACHINE
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