Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Miniature wargaming |
Founded | 2000 |
Founder |
|
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | |
Products | |
Owner | Matt Wilson [1] |
Website | privateerpress |
Privateer Press is a role-playing game, miniature wargame, acrylic paint, board game and card game production and publishing studio. Privateer Press is based in Bellevue, Washington, United States, where they have their headquarters and American factory/distribution center. They have also licensed a factory in the United Kingdom to increase production capacity for worldwide markets.
The company's signature products are Warmachine and Hordes, tabletop miniatures-based war games with a steampunk/magical aesthetic. Noted webcomic creators and game critics Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade are fans of Warmachine. [2] Privateer Press used to publish a house magazine called No Quarter. [3]
In 2000, Matt Wilson and his friend Brian Snoddy formed Privateer Press with writer Matt Staroscik to publish their own d20 supplements. [1] [4] : 392 Mike McVey joined the partnership early on as Miniatures Director.[ citation needed ] Wilson and Snoddy produced the covers and interior art for Privateer's first Iron Kingdoms adventures published in 2001. [4] : 392 The company is currently owned by Wilson due to the departure of Snoddy and McVey.[ citation needed ]
Privateer next published Warmachine: Prime (2003), a miniatures wargame taking place in the same Iron Kingdoms setting as the company's first five role-playing game supplements it had already published. [4] : 392 In 2009 Privateer partnered with WhiteMoon Dreams to create an adaptation of Warmachine for video game consoles. [4] : 393
On October 20, 2017, Privateer Press created Black Anchor Heavy Industries, an in-house production team to create huge based models while limiting production costs. [5]
In September 2018 after 12 years of publication Privateer Press announced it would be ending publication of their bi-monthly magazine, "No Quarter".
The company's products are distinguished by the quality of their art, production values, and game play. [6] They have received many game industry awards, including six Origins Awards [7] [8] and numerous ENnies. [9] [10]
The company has been a longtime supporter of Child's Play, a charity which gives toys and games to sick kids in children's hospitals around the world. In 2009, Privateer Press bid on and won an item at the annual Child's Play Holiday auction, donated by Harmonix, which brought them the rights to commission a downloadable song track for the Rock Band game. The resulting song "Warmachine," written by Jerry Holkins, premiered at Pax 2010 and was made available for download that fall. All proceeds from the track are also donated to Child's Play. [11] [12] [13]
Penny Arcade is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website loonygames.com. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic strip each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The comics are accompanied by regular updates on the site's blog.
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which military units are represented by miniature physical models on a model battlefield. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out.
Jerry Holkins is an American writer. He is the co-creator and writer of the webcomic Penny Arcade along with its artist Mike Krahulik. Holkins sometimes uses the pseudonym "Tycho Brahe", which is also the name of a Penny Arcade character based on Holkins.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2003. For video games, see 2003 in video gaming.
Michael Krahulik is an American artist for the webcomic Penny Arcade and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker "Jonathan Gabriel" or "Gabe". Krahulik does not physically resemble his comic strip counterpart, as the character was not originally meant to represent him.
Warmachine is a tabletop steampunk wargame produced by Privateer Press.
Child's Play is a charitable organization that donates toys and games to children's hospitals worldwide. It was founded in 2003 by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, authors of the popular video games-related webcomic Penny Arcade. The charity is seen as a way to refute mainstream media's perception of gamers as violent and antisocial. As of 2022, Child's Play had processed over $55,147,529.24 in donations since its inception.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2000. For video games, see 2000 in video gaming.
This page lists board and card games, wargames, miniatures games, and tabletop role-playing games published in 2005. For video games, see 2005 in video gaming.
A gaming convention is a gathering centered on role-playing games, collectible card games, miniatures wargames, board games, video games, or other types of games. These conventions are typically two or three business days long, and often held at either a university or in a convention center hotel.
Frank Chadwick is an American game designer and New York Times best selling author. He has designed hundreds of games, his most notable being the role-playing games En Garde!, Space: 1889 and Twilight 2000, and the wargame series Europa and The Third World War, as well as creating Traveller with Marc Miller. He has won multiple awards for his work.
Hordes is the name of a 30mm tabletop miniature wargame produced by Privateer Press, announced at Gen Con 2005 and released on April 22, 2006. Although a completely standalone game in its own right, Hordes was designed as a companion to Warmachine, Privateer Press' flagship miniatures game. The games are 100% compatible, and share much of the same rules set, although the most important mechanic - fury for Hordes and focus for Warmachine - remains unique to each. Hordes forces and Warmachine forces often face off against each other both on the tabletop and in the background fiction. The games share the same setting, the Iron Kingdoms, with much of the Hordes storyline taking place in the wild areas away from the 'civilized' areas where Warmachine's major action takes place.
Iron Kingdoms is a fantasy role-playing game, originally published by Privateer Press on July 1, 2004, for the d20 System, with several supplemental books released in following years. In 2012, Iron Kingdoms was newly released under a unique d6 rules system closely based on the rules for the miniature war games Warmachine and Hordes from which the Iron Kingdoms RPG is derived. The setting combines high fantasy and steampunk genres into what Privateer Press describes as "Full Metal Fantasy". Recently Privateer Press successfully kickstarted a new version based on Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Micro armour refers to scale models made of lead, pewter, die cast metal or plastic, usually used for wargaming purposes. Variations of the name include: mini armour, microscale, mini tanks, miniature armour, miniature tanks, micro tanks, minitanks, minifigs, armour figurines, tank figurines, etc. are also used. Micro armour is a sub-category of model military vehicle miniature figures used for military simulation, miniature wargaming, scale models, dioramas and collecting.
Brian Snoddy is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games.
Matthew D. "Matt" Wilson is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. He is one of the founders, the owner, and the CEO of Privateer Press.