A Visit With LNL Publishing – The Overview

frontier wars 728x90 KS

Jim Zabek, 11 October 2014

J-Z spent a few days hanging out with the LNL crew in Colorado.  There’s plenty more to come, but here’s a little wet your whistle.

Several months ago I chatted with Mark Walker, founder of Lock ‘n Load Publishing (since renamed to LNL Publishing – lnlpublishing.com) about the resent sale of Lock ‘n Load. In the interview Mark made it clear that he would still be the creative juggernaut behind his game series such as World at War, Nations at War, and of course the series which started it all, Lock ‘n Load.

 Click images to enlarge.  Really enlarge…

LNL's new lobby

LNL’s new lobby

This week I have had the chance to visit the LNL Publishing offices and meet with the staff and some of the game developers. There has been a change of ownership and David Heath, whom some readers may know founded Matrix Games, is now at the helm of LNL.

Mark is an exceptional game designer, but as the company grew his ability to keep up with all the orders, perform quality control, ship them, and continue to design new games and expansions became more limited. Inevitably gamers began to see delays in production. Mark just had too much to do.

A War Party game, paused for a munchie break!

A War Party game, paused for a munchie break!

David Heath then stepped in brought the same management style that helped Matrix Games grow over the years. One of the first things he did was to take control over as much of the production process as possible. Since purchasing the company, LNL has bought equipment to print maps, rule books and Line of Fire magazine, and the boxes. They also have equipment to bind the books and print and mount maps as necessary.

The brand new printer. Don't ask about the cost!

The brand new printer. Don’t ask about the cost!

With all of the additional value-added work going on in the US, LNL could legitimately place a proud “Made in USA” on the back of their games. However, not content to rest until 100% of the process is in America, they refrain from doing so. Gamers should know that outside of the counter sheets, the rest of the components being assembled and produced by LNL are made in the US.

Many of the counter sheets

Many of the counter sheets of upcoming or revamped games

In a coming series of articles I will be meeting with game designers and developers to discuss some products which haven’t yet been announced. Gamers should expect the games to start flowing from LNL soon – this fall and winter, and when they do, both product quality and the process of quality control should be noticeably improved.

Falling Stars - a new upcoming minis game from LNL.

Falling Stars – a new upcoming minis game from LNL.


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2 Responses to A Visit With LNL Publishing – The Overview

  1. Hilary Hartman says:

    Nice article!

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