Privateer Press has been hard at work updating the tournament rules for Warmachine & Hordes and the documents are finally ready and up for you to review.

There are 2 big changes within the Steamroller document this year. The first and most noticeable is that they are down from 12 scenarios to 8. The Masters and Iron Gauntlet scenarios are no longer a selection of six taken from the Steamroller options but are instead simply the exact same eight scenarios. This means that no matter which Steamroller event you’re playing in, you can be practicing for higher levels of competitive play if those formats interest you.The second big change is in the new objective system. Now there are six different Steamroller objectives, each with a unique set of bonuses to offer your army. The objectives are no cost and you can choose the same objective to use with any or all of your armies.

The Hardcore format probably has the least changes- really just minor tweaks to bring things up to date. So for anyone that likes Hardcore for it's killiness (if that's a word) will be pleased that it's been left largely alone and remains brutal.

For Iron Gauntlet, the main change at this time is to allow it to live within the rules outlined by Steamroller- so the objective system will now apply here as well. Keep in mind that Iron Gauntlet receives updates twice a year- now with the Steamroller and then again following the World Championship finals.

Privateer Press went for broke with the Masters format by doing something that hasn't been done in years- changing the format all together! Masters is now a two-list format in order to truly demonstrate faction mastery. The next big change is the introduction of  the Active Duty Roster. The Active Duty Roster is a rotating cast of four warcasters or warlocks for each faction. Players are not required to use these specific models if they do not wish to, but if both of a player’s army lists are led by a warcaster/warlock from the Roster, that player receives a benefit called Vanguard. A player with Vanguard can add up to 20 points of specialists to each of his or her army lists. This was added for Masters to promote and gives an incentive for creative list building using as much of a faction’s roster as possible.

So the good news is, if you like what you've had going up to this point- keep on going! But if you're looking for something else, or to mix it up a little, try some of these changes in the format!

Will you be trying one of these changes in the new Steamroller?