diff --git a/ansible/playbook.yml b/ansible/playbook.yml
index a4bf947..574072d 100644
--- a/ansible/playbook.yml
+++ b/ansible/playbook.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
   gather_facts: false
   vars_files:
     - metacluster.yml
+    - workloadcluster.yml
   become: true
   roles:
     - os
diff --git a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/main.yml
index 3d4f040..81d2a4c 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/main.yml
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 - name: Pre-stage K3s components
   import_tasks: k3s.yml
 
-- name: Pre-stage meta components
+- name: Pre-stage meta-cluster components
   import_tasks: components.yml
 
 - name: Pre-stage IaC repositories
   import_tasks: config.yml
 
+- name: Pre-stage workload-cluster components
+  import_tasks: staging.yml
+
 - name: Cleanup
   import_tasks: cleanup.yml
diff --git a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/staging.yml b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/staging.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c32463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/staging.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+- name: Create folder structure(s)
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: "{{ item }}"
+    state: directory
+  loop:
+    - /opt/workloadcluster/node-templates
+
+- name: Download images
+  ansible.builtin.uri:
+    url: "{{ item.url }}"
+    dest: /opt/workloadcluster/node-templates/{{ item.name }}
+  loop: "{{ downstream.node_templates }}"
+  loop_control:
+    label: "{{ item.name }}"
diff --git a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
index 10d933b..8ef1a6f 100644
--- a/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
+++ b/ansible/vars/metacluster.yml
@@ -132,6 +132,9 @@ dependencies:
   static_binaries:
     - filename: tea
       url: https://dl.gitea.io/tea/0.8.0/tea-0.8.0-linux-amd64
+    - filename: govc
+      url: https://github.com/vmware/govmomi/releases/download/v0.29.0/govc_Linux_x86_64.tar.gz
+      archive: compressed
     - filename: helm
       url: https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.9.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz
       archive: compressed
diff --git a/ansible/vars/workloadcluster.yml b/ansible/vars/workloadcluster.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..879b594
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ansible/vars/workloadcluster.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+downstream:
+
+  node_templates:
+    - url: https://stable.release.flatcar-linux.net/amd64-usr/3227.2.0/flatcar_production_vmware_ova.ova
+      name: flatcar.ova