Privateer Press is making another modification to its on-going promotional efforts for Warmachine and Hordes, bringing to an end its long-running Press Gang program.  The current program will continue to be supported until April 30.

The company said it no longer had the resources to handle the volunteer program.  "The Press Gang has had an amazing and positive impact on the Warmachine & Hordes community during its run," Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson said, "but over the years, it has grown to a point that we do not feel we can continue to offer both the Press Gangers and our retail customers the individualized attention we were once able to."

The Press Gang was a network of registered event organizers who provided support for Privateer Press promotions and in-store events.  With the program ending, Privateer is asking stores that want to host events in-store to select their own event organizers.  Event organizers will no longer report to Privateer, instead being answerable only to the retailers who selected them.

Privateer will continue to make event kits available to participating retailers.  In the future, these kits will include exclusive event-related promotional items intended as rewards for the event organizers.  These items will be "collectible" to attract fans to volunteer as event organizers.

Privateer will be providing guidelines for running Warmachine and Hordes events through their organized play website.

This is the second major volunteer event organizer program that’s been shut down by a game company in the last few months.  In December, Wizards of the Coast eliminated its Dungeons & Dragon volunteers (see "WotC Eliminates Its 'D&D' Organized Play Volunteers").  Although there may be other reasons for these moves, they’re made against the backdrop of a lawsuit by judges for Magic:  The Gathering, alleging that they’re treated as employees and entitled to compensation (see "Are 'Magic' Judges Employees?").

Privateer recently announced plans to shift more game support to its online Community Integrated Development Forums as it discontinues printed stat cards for its games (see "'Warmachine,' 'Hordes' Eliminate Print Stat Cards").