Hey all, welcome to the inaugural issue of Hand Cannon, the first and so far only IK-WARMACHINE E-Fanzine. We hope to be able to fill at least a few pages of somewhat useful content every other month, which shouldn’t be too hard to do with a little help from the awesome wargaming / roleplaying community associated with IK-WARMACHINE and the Iron Kingdoms D20 campaign setting.
- Corbin “forsakenZen“ Cook, May 2003

“Hand Cannon” is a name that’s been associated with Warmachine for nearly as long as the game’s existed. The magazine was first released in May of 2003, right alongside the original Prime, crafted by a Privateer Press community small enough to fit in the current one’s pocket. Contributors over its nine-issue run included names we now associate almost fundamentally with the community: Dan “YoungWolf7″ Smith, David “Dacarnix” Carl (you know him as PPS_DC), and the late, lamented and legendary Tony “Greedo1379″ Gallagher. They were kind enough to let me sully their pages with the occasional degenerate, burbling, illegible stick-figures that I call “comics,” and even act as editor for an issue or two. The magazine’s goal was to shine a spotlight on the community’s best and brightest talents, and to provide regular injections of shiny new baubles to keep the game interesting.

After the release of No Quarter, Handcannon went through an existential crisis of sorts as the irregular crew of the magazine tried to determine just what it was about anymore. After a few more issues, the magazine went into a hibernation that it’s never come out from. The world went on, as did the Privateer Press online community, finding new ways to showcase the talents of the player base.

Since the magazine’s inception, the online world has grown up a good deal. Whole generations of content delivery have been birthed, grown mighty and fallen in the seven years since it was first put together, and the concept of an “issue,” rooted in the world of print as it is, seems absolutely quaint these days. That nebulous thing called the ‘blogosphere’, a far more fluid and informal means of delivering and generating content, has continued to rise and rise, and it seems only appropriate for Handcannon to move into such a domain. The goal remains the same; it’s never changed. Hand Cannon actively recruits the cream of the Iron Kingdoms’ fanbase and gives them a space in which to share their work, their thoughts, their unadulterated mania for Full Metal Fantasy in all its forms, and then it turns their inspiration into conversation without losing the signal to noise.

In the same way, Warmachine and Hordes have grown and changed into a far different beast than when they were birthed. With Warmachine & Hordes Mk II well out of the gate, it seems like Handcannon itself deserves a Mk II all its own. It’ll always be nice to dust off the old books now and then, but the future promises a truly wild number of things. I’m looking forward to it.

So, welcome to Handcannon Online, everyone. Enjoy!

-Lexington, EIC Retired