The doors open, and the crowd rushes in. Bags are hastily unpacked, and models quickly dominate over 200 tables in the Iron Arena. As the first dice are rolled, the clamor rises—and Lock & Load truly begins.

Every year brings nearly 1,000 players from all over the globe to assemble in Bellevue, Washington, to take part in three straight days of gaming, hobbying, eating, and breathing Privateer Press games. 2016 was a record year with the release of the new edition; 2017 features a new Faction, the first to be run through Community Integrated Development (CID), alongside a whole host of updates and tweaks guaranteeing this show will be one to remember!

As Lock & Load is the climax of one year and the beginning of the next, we want to start things off with a bang. As soon as the doors open Friday morning, we will be kicking off the show with our keynote. This year’s keynote will be a mix of videos and presentations spotlighting what’s in store for 2017 and beyond with plenty of new reveals! Directly following the keynote, we will debut another new shift in how things are done.

One of our goals this year is to minimize the amount of time you spend standing in line and to maximize your time at the tabletop. So, from July 7th to July 11th, we will make all the Lock & Load new releases available for pre-order to Lock & Load attendees through our online store. From Grymkin to our new version of everyone’s favorite gobber (more info on her soon), everything will be available to order ahead of time and then pick up at the event. At the conclusion of the keynote, we will announce a number of pickup stations across the first floor, and your order number will determine which station you report to where our teams will have your entire order boxed up and ready for you. For anyone not wishing to place a preorder or if there’s something you want to pick up later, we will, of course, have the store open all three days as well.

Previewed at SmogCon, Grymkin: The Wicked Harvest will debut at Lock & Load this year and includes some of the most twisted and darkly beautiful models we’ve ever released. From the dead-eyed Hollowmen swelling their ranks with deserters from each nation’s armies to the Cage Rager swinging its massive cages about in blind fury, this Faction promises to be unlike anything else in the Iron Kingdoms. This will be the first Faction released after going through our Community Integrated Development process, so you’ll get to see how it has evolved over the months leading up to Lock & Load. Grymkin: The Wicked Harvest will be available both separately and in an all-in-one box, making it easy to reap what the sinners of Immoren have sown.

The Iron Painter competition will be back in full force. 2016 saw some shenanigans from Studio Painter Abraca-Dallas Kemp (or was it Studio Director Ron Kruzie? Hard to tell them apart) as he tried to cheat our champion Shoshie Bauer out of her prize! Throughout the day, anyone can enter our qualifier, a speed-painting competition conducted in the P3 Hobby Lounge. The top three entrants earn the chance to take on our studio painter, Dallas Kemp, that night. This live-streamed event sees some of the most inventive obstacles for our painters, from 3D glasses that must be worn to not being able to use a paintbrush. Our host, Executive Director Will Shick, not only asks the burning questions of our painters (“Why are you putting paint in your beard?” “How can you make blue paint from yellow?” “Where did Dallas go?”), but he will also pose trivia questions to the audience with prizes for correct answers.

Lock & Load is our favorite time of the year, as everyone here at Privateer Press gets to share an amazing weekend playing games and sharing in excitement with you. It is three days of non-stop gaming fun that can’t be had anywhere else. From the Iron Arena to the P3 Hobby Lounge, Lock & Load is designed to celebrate the WARMACHINE and HORDES community. Among many other new changes, 2017 also offers the excitement of a new Faction, a new Iron Gauntlet Champion, and new reveals in our keynote. There are a limited number of hotels with rooms left in our hotel block, so make sure to grab your ticket and your room before both vanish. And now only one question remains: are you Locked & Loaded?