When the Nova labs were destroyed they were done so by a mysterious fire, the cause of which wasn't explained. Perhaps an opposing group against WAR decided to destroy the place and took the Nova plans for themselves before destroying it, all while the 2097 tournament took place. The group of which who did and for what purpose they stole the plans, god only knows. Iron Fist? A WAR splinter group? Someone else?
Rough sketch of the Warlord Robot.
This one looks a lot like the 'Force' from Battlegrounds. Probably because the Warlord from BG looked like BattleTech's Atlas.