Timothy W. Brooks, President of Shrapnel Games, said, "We goofed. Come counters were left our of the original demo and one rule error was found. We have released a new version and it is available for download from our website. The new demo went up yesterday at 12:00 noon EDST. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused fans of Lock 'N Load."

In addition, Mr. Brooks added, "While we have your ear, we wanted everyone to know that we are running a contest to give away a copy of Mark H. Walker's Lock 'N Load. Go to the contest section of our website for details. The contest runs through October 17, 2002."

Born of thirty years of gaming experience and an equal amount of frustration with dry-as-dust rules, Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load is all about fun, all about the experience. Touted as a game with "more game, less guff," its rules are concise, yet complete.

Check the features below:

• Dare we say THE BEST board game graphics ever? We do dare. The two artists working on the game, Ron Shirtz and Richard Canavan, are simply amazing. Better still, it's an art you can see without a magnifying glass. The map hexes are 1", squads and leader counters are 5/8", weapon teams are 3/4", and vehicles a whopping 7/8" square! That's what we call beauty!
• The game's impulse system keeps both players actively involved in every minute of play.
• The game is squad based; units represent each nationalities' squads, half-squads, weapon teams, and vehicles.
• The single man counters include leaders, medics, heroes, chaplains, and snipers. Each significantly affects play. And each leader and hero gets a randomly selected Skill Card before the scenario begins. These cards bestow benefits such as stealth bonuses, ambush experts, and many others.
• The game's random events add a twist to each scenario. Your objective may be to capture the town, but suddenly a Huey goes into the brush 500 feet downstream. You know that you have to rescue that pilot, but so do the Viet Cong! Playing Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load feels like reading a good military adventure. All this in fewer than 10 pages of rules!
• Desperate assaults, unexpected ambushes, and stand up firefights are all part of this fantastic piece of work. Included in the final game is a complete set of Mark H. Walker's Lock 'n Load rules, twelve scenarios, Skill Cards, four gorgeous, geomorphic maps, 280+ counters, and player's charts. You can't go wrong.
• But Vietnam isn't the end, it is only the beginning! We have modules in the works for Desert Storm, The '82 Falkland War, Operation Anaconda, World War II's Pacific and Western Fronts, and even a module based on Mark's upcoming Sci-Fi novel. All this and you get the same great graphics, the same low intensity rules.
• And much much more...

Currently in beta, Lock 'N Load is expected to ship in November, 2002.
The retail price will be $44.95, but those that pre-order the game before October 25th will save $5.00 off the retail price. To pre-order visit Shrapnel Games' online store, the Gamers Front.