If you’ve looked over the Lock & Load GameFest 2017 schedule, you might’ve noticed there is a mysterious hangout with my name attached to it.

I’ve been waiting impatiently to announce the project tied to that hangout, and today is finally the day to do so. The game is called Company of Iron, and it is a new way to play with your WARMACHINE and HORDES models.

If you think the name sounds familiar, that’s because Company of Iron was a league that ran early in 2016. We decided to use the name again because this game is a natural evolution of that league. The new Company of Iron also focuses the action on units and solos, but it adds light warjacks and warbeasts. Also like that league, it allows you to play out small engagements but develops that idea further from the core rules of WARMACHINE and HORDES. Due to the smaller size and focus, it’s a fantastic entry point for new players as well as a great way for current players to dabble in another Faction or two that they might have had their eye on.

The biggest change is in how models activate. Each model in Company of Iron acts independently, and players alternate activating one model each during a round. This makes for exciting games of give-and-take, where plans have to change as the state of the battle evolves.

The game also adds two kinds of cards. Each player chooses a model to be his or her company’s commander, and that commander gains a card representing a specialty. Some commanders excel at focusing on a mission’s objective while others push their force to annihilate the enemy. The other deck of cards represents battle plans and assets your force has access to. Battle plans are powerful effects that each player can use once each round. Among other things, assets allow for rolls to be boosted or rerolled, and there is no limit to the number of assets that can be used in a round.

Company of Iron is launching this fall with a boxed set containing everything two people need to play the game. The rules are based on existing WARMACHINE and HORDES rules but have been edited to reflect the specifics of Company of Iron. In addition to the cards, rules, and tokens, the game also includes miniatures for two 20-point forces along with two brand-new character solos that have never been seen in WARMACHINE or HORDES before: Lieutenant Gwen Keller, a valiant leader of Cygnar’s Stormblades who, in addition to her storm glaive, is armed with electrified grenades, and the Farrow Brigand leader Agata, Queen of Carnage, who some of you are now meeting for the first time in the just-shipped Widower’s Wood Iron Kingdoms Adventure Board Game. Lt. Keller and Agata will both be playable in WARMACHINE & HORDES as well, so be on the lookout for their stat cards to appear in War Room and in our Online Card Database once Company of Iron hits the shelves in October. And don’t miss the expanding Company of Iron content that will be available in every issue of the soon-to-be-revamped No Quarter!

We’ll be talking about Company of Iron in upcoming Primecasts and No Quarter issues as well as showing off the models at Origins next week, but your first chance to actually play the game will be with me at Lock & Load GameFest 2017. If you haven’t registered yet, what are you waiting for?