Big news came from Privateer Press recently as they’ve announced an all new edition of both Warmachine and Hordes – the hit steam-powered and monstrous miniatures game known across the world. The new edition will be available on June 29th, though players will be able to download the new rules for the game starting June 12th for free. In fact, players will get their first chance to actually play the new edition at Lock & Load Gamefest in Bellvue, WA, which is held during June 10th-12th.
The current edition of the game, known as Mark II (MkII) has been around for six years now. Six years is quite a long time for an ever-evolving miniatures game to go without some sort of rules update. Personally, I really enjoy the game as it stands aside from, well, just about any special action ever imaginable – especially throws and tramples. Speaking to the development team’s reasoning for updating the game, Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson had this to say:
“The current editions of the games are now six years old. During that time we’ve accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience from observing, listening to, and interacting with our worldwide community of players and retailers about how to continue to improve their experience with our games. After years of intensive work, we’re finally ready to share the outcome of that process and give our community what they’ve been asking for in our games.”
A new rulebook for both Warmachine and Hordes will launch on June 29th, as will some other new products. Players can expect twelve new faction decks full of new stat cards – one for each playable faction in the game currently. The faction decks will contain cards for each one previously released for that faction, allowing a player to fully update their collection. What’s more is that brand new starter boxes will also be releasing for the new edition of the game.
Each new start box will include a new warcaster/warlock for the faction, along with the models needed to run a battle group. Nine of these new boxes will launch alongside the new rulebooks, and each one will contain the following:
- warcaster/warlock and battle group
- Rules Digest
- a Basic Training guide
- four dice
- stat cards
- a Battle Map
- an obstacle card
- tokens
- a flexible 18″ ruler
- a 22-page introductory guide to the game, including painting tips, army building tips, and new fiction for the warlocks/warcasters
Here’s the kicker about the starter boxes: they will retail at just $39.99 MSRP. If that doesn’t hurt your gut a little bit, you must either not be a current player or a brand new one. Current starter boxes contain the models for the battle group, stat cards, some quick-start rules, and an intro booklet. That’s it, and they retail for $49.99 MSRP.
As a current player (and I’ve been in the game for 3+ years) I don’t really know what to feel about the announcement. On one hand I can see where an update is sorely needed to the game, but I can’t help but feel a bit cheated by the announcement of the new starter boxes. No matter what, though, I know I’ll end up with one or two of the new battle groups, and I plan on releasing a review of them as soon as I get them in-hand. There will be launch promotions for the new edition that will differ based on region, and you can learn more about them by checking out the official press release. I will admit I’m looking forward to seeing the new warcasters and warlocks. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see what Privateer Press has up their sleeves up until the release date.