The Privateer Press Invitational is an annual event held in the hallowed halls of our offices. The idea is we invite our volunteers to come and spend a weekend playing the games they work so hard to promote. As a way to celebrate the huge success of Mk II and the Shattered Grounds league, we put together a special Invitational Shattered Grounds league just for the weekend. This special league came with a special stamp for players’ Battle Journals that had the commendation and stratagem tree for the weekend league.

Continuing the Farrow theme from my last blog, I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at one of the newest additions to the list of HORDES warlocks: Lord Carver, BMMD (Bringer of Most Massive Destruction), Esquire, the Third.  As the first fully-fledged Warlock for the Farrow (sorry Rorsh), there was a need to create a character with a lot of presence and charisma. From the earliest stages of developing Lord Carver there was a clear idea of the type of model we wanted out of him.  

When I first started at Privateer I decided to start a new army and jump
feet first into a fresh miniatures project. After some deep soul searching I decided that the Skorne would be my grand new army.
The Skorne possessed a rich visual and cultural aesthetic that defined
their race and character that really stood out to me. The massive warbeasts, legions of exotic troops, and the vile hearted warlocks looked like nothing else I had seen before, and it wasn’t long until I had amassed a literal legion of Skorne miniatures.

In my last blog, I wrote about the Iron Arena format and the “Staff Challenges” that could give players additional tickets for Iron Arena prizes. Without further ado, I’d like to present the first Iron Arena Staff Challenge: 

Show a fully painted WARMACHINE or HORDES model/unit based on one of the Shattered Grounds season models to the volunteer running the Iron Arena table. This challenge can be completed once per person. 

Today, I’d like to write a bit about those season models and how they came to be a part of Shattered Grounds. Go go, segue power! 

With the Privateer Press invitational event coming up next weekend, I thought it would be a good time to get my Protectorate forces in shape. I always get more painting done before events and tournaments. The looming deadline of the event serves as an excellent motivator to finish the odd model or start painting that unit I keep putting off.

Today, I’d like to give a bit of information on the Iron Arena aspect of the Privateer Press presence at Gen Con. I figured a good place to start would be a look back before we look forward.

Last Gen Con, I spent most of my time in the Monsterpocalypse hall running tournaments as well as our All You Can Eat event. This format is based around a ticket system much like those found at amusement parks, carnivals, or boardwalks. During the course of their games, players earn tickets that can be redeemed for various prizes: the greater the quantity of tickets, the greater the prize.

Recently on our forums someone did a tally of the warcasters and warlocks we have released for all the factions and realized we are approaching the 100 mark. That surprised me more than it probably should have. It is pretty crazy how many distinct and significant characters we have created over the years, particularly if one throws in character solos, character units, and other important characters that do not exist as models in the miniature games.

It’s been over a month since I became editor-in-chief of No Quarter, which has proven ample time for me to make some changes to the magazine in a number of areas. Besides feverishly working to get NQ 30 out the door, here's what I've been up to.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to get to attend Kingdom-Con, a new independent gaming convention in sunny San Diego, CA.  Spanning three days, Kingdom-Con hosted all manner of table-top, board, and video game rooms, but without a doubt the busiest room was the WARMACHINE and HORDES play room.  Eternal War provided non-stop action from open to close as players fought to accumulate tickets to trade in for awesome prizes including signed prints from Privateer Press Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson and Privateer Staff signed Force books.  In addition, the hall was home to several qualifying tournaments which narrowed the field to four for Sunday's Championship Final.