Are you a published author or aspiring to become one? Are you interested in lending your creative talents to the Dystopian Age and having your short story printed in our upcoming Armoured Clash anthology?

If the answer to any of these questions is a resounding YES, then please read on.

What is Armoured Clash?

Armoured Clash is a game of massed armoured conflict, set in an alternate 19th century in which alien superscience, otherworldly manipulation, and all-too-human hubris have brought the world to the brink of annihilation. 

If you are unfamiliar with the world of the Dystopian Age, then we recommend you visit to www.armouredclash.com and browse some of our existing publications. They are all free!

What we are looking for

Whether you are an old hand with many novels to your name or are just starting out, we encourage everyone to enter will assess all of the open submissions in the same way. To judge every submission fairly (and to make things easier on ourselves!), we are looking for entries that include one scene using the guidelines below.

  • A land battle.

  • 1000 words in length.

  • Must contain at least two of our Factions.

  • Must feature at least one of our whackier unit types (see the Faction ORBATs at www.armouredclash.com/factions/factions for more information) from the following list:

    • Krot Armoured Borer (Commonwealth) 

    • Horse Guard Cavalry (Crown) 

    • Mars Battle Tripod (Enlightened) 

    • UR-45E Arc Mech (Union)

  • A one-paragraph synopsis of the larger story that this scene is a part of. Imagine you are selling your story to a complete stranger. The purpose of this is to show that you can not only write but also understand what makes a compelling story. 

  • Written by you and not by AI (we will be checking)

What you choose to do within these restrictions, and how the above unit(s) interact with your scene, is entirely up to you! Do not feel obliged to blow us away with your experimental prose or to re-invent any wheels. The purpose of this submission is to show us that A) you can write a bit, and B) that you can write within the Dystopian Age (of which Armoured Clash is a vital part) 

Stick to the word count and rules above and your entry will be admitted.  Anyone going over the word count might have their entry rejected.

Housekeeping

Please send your submissions as a single Word document / Google doc to freelance@warcradle.com by 28th August 2026. Be sure to include your name and contact details within the manuscript, as in the example below. 

All submissions received before 28th August will be read by our editors. If we like your submission, we will contact you to discuss writing a full story for our Armoured Clash anthology. This will be paid at a professional rate to be negotiated on acceptance of submission, depending on experience. We regret that we cannot provide feedback in all cases, but we will endeavour to contact every writer, whether your submission was successful or not.

Best of luck!