Steamforged Games: Warmachine Manifesto – Future Plans For The Iron Kingdoms
Steamforged Games released part one of their plans on how they plan to be the custodians of the Iron Kingdoms. Warmachine is in good hands.
In case you missed the news, Steamforged Games has acquired the rights to the Iron Kingdoms from Privateer Press. That means, Warmachine/Hordes, Formula P3 Paints, and a whole lot more of those IP are now held by Steamforged Games.
If you’re not familiar with Steamforged Games you might not know how good of a fit this really is for the Iron Kingdoms. First off, they make those Epic Encounters I’m always raving about. Secondly, you might of heard of them from Guild Ball. They also have a host of awesome board games like Bardsung, and many licensed video game IPs they also made miniature-based board games for. The point is, they’ve been around the block and make good stuff. Not to mention their miniature sculpts are awesome, too. Anyhow, they also dropped a “manifesto” for what they want to do with Warmachine and the Iron Kingdoms moving forward. You can check the whole thing out right here.
It’s written by the Co-founder and CCO of Steamforged Games Mat Hart. It’s worth the read and hopefully by the end of it any concerns you had about the future of Warmachine are squashed — or at least put at ease a bit. He also touches on many of the other ranges as well. But what I really want to focus on is this entire section about Warmachine and then a second section. But first, here’s what I’m referring to:
Basically, Steamforged Games isn’t looking to completely reinvent the wheel. They are looking to help get Warmachine products out and work with the current edition — so don’t expect a massive edition update. For now, it’s about getting the products out (see: Strengthening the Supply Chain) and engaging with players and hobbyists at all levels again. There’s another section where Mat Hart talks a bit more about that vision, too.
The other aspects of the Iron Kingdoms aren’t going to be forgotten about either. There’s just a LOT of work to do. Focusing Warmachine, Formula P3 Paints, and the upcoming Iron Kingdoms RPG are their main priorities right now. But it does seem like Steamforged Games wants to get into all the other great games from the Iron Kingdoms — eventually. They aren’t a massive company with infinite money so allocating resources wisely and making sure the foundations are good before expanding even more is a good idea.
The Future of Warmachine …Looks Bright
Anyhow, let’s talk about some of the goals from the “manifesto” part of the post. In part one, it’s really just an introduction and a here’s what we have planned.
Moving on from there, Mat also shared some exciting info about future releases, too. For starters how about a new 2-Player Starter?
“In the announcement, we shared a tease of some brand new models for Cygnar Storm Legion and Khador Winter Korps. These models will feature in a new 2-player Command Starter Set planned for release later this year!”
And in case you were wondering the 2-player starter will be in hard plastic (or HIPS if you’re into the industry lingo). The contents will include two Warcasters, two Character Warjacks, two Character Solos, two Character Units, and terrain. Which checks out as it’s for two players and it’s built to get two people into the game quickly!
Steamforged Games also mentioned their plans for getting the website back up and running to enable sales. Keep an eye out for that early next week — it’s a big task and they are checking all those boxes to ensure a smooth experience for their customers. Expect updates on that front, too. Additionally, if you are a retailer or distributor, there’s an FAQ doc for you to check out.
I think the key point here are that Steamforged Games isn’t scrapping the current Warmachine rules. For now, they are looking to start to regrow the game and get their manufacturing pipeline back up and running to get product into the players hands once again. Ultimately, I think this is a good thing and I’m looking forward to see how this goes.
Additionally, there’s an FAQ at the bottom of their post, too. If you’ve got more questions I highly recommend you check that out.
Steamforged Games has plans for the Iron Kingdoms. And it’s sounding pretty good to me!
