Chieftain is one of the many new careers available in Iron Kingdoms Unleashed. Available to all the different races and cultures that inhabit the wilderness, the Chieftain is a flexible and versatile uncivilized answer to the Military Officer career in Iron Kingdoms Full Metal Fantasy.

Chieftains need to be able to inspire their tribes and kriels and hold their own against any who seeks to usurp their position, so the Chieftain career has a huge selection of military skills to draw from. In addition to this capacity for martial prowess, chieftains can pick up a diverse range of occupational skills. The career was intentionally designed to be flexible, as the many wilderness races of western Immoren vary greatly in culture and disposition. The human chieftain of an Olgar tribe leads quite differently than a Tharn chieftain, for instance.

One thing all chieftains in Iron Kingdoms Unleashed do exceedingly well is lead their warriors in battle. Like the Military Officer career, the Chieftain career possesses a long list of Battle Plan abilities. A battle plan reflects the chieftain instructing or inspiring his warriors on the battlefield, granting each ally in range a special effect like the ability to fire into melee without penalty (perfect for races without access to the Battlefield Coordination archetype ability) or to immediately perform another attack.

Through the choice of archetype and second career, one chieftain can have stark differences from another despite having the same career. Some chieftains skew toward cunning manipulators or fine orators. Many lead through sheer strength of arms, meeting all challengers in duels to the death for control of a tribe, tuath, or kriel.

In the Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Adventure Kit, the pygmy troll chieftain Gullin definitely prefers the latter approach. As a Mighty character with the Warrior career, Gullin leads from the front and hits hard with his oversized axe. His starting battle plan ideally allows him to get his companions into cover or concealment the moment a battle begins, likely while the pyg rushes forward flinging throwing axes before finishing the job with a swing of his own great weapon.

The Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Adventure Kit releases next week, March 18th. Look for it at your local game store or at store.privateerpress.com! And for more savage adventure download the exciting short story “Blood in the Water” from Skull Island eXpeditions, featuring the playable characters Longchops and Lurk from the Iron Kingdoms Unleashed Adventure Kit!