Troublemakers prototype. It's been a busy summer and I've been jumping from project to project based on time, weather, and availability. I was working on a bunch of Broken Contract scenery projects and the custom boards for a few of the Kickstarter Backers but it just got too hot in the attic to work up there, so I moved on to the painted models for those same backers, and took up temporary painting residence in our living room. We've also had a lot of visitors and a few short trips of our own to go on. My partner, Lisa, and I, went out to Cincinnati, Ohio to visit our friend Jami. Jami requested we bring Broken Contract and Troublemakers with us because she wanted to try both of them. Troublemakers was a project that had been sitting for a while untouched so it was a little thrilling to crack it out and play it with fresh eyes. Our Harlow, illustrated by Blutt.  The Genesis of Troublemakers I lived in Chicago from 2006-2014. During my time there I would see...

AdeptiCon 2016 Broken Contract Background and Rulebooks. For AdeptiCon 2016 I produced a very short run of Broken Contract Rule and Background books. I don't want anyone who didn't attend feeling left out on the contents so I've collected the files and uploaded them to Dropbox, along with a PDF file handy for printing out your own Character Dashboards and chits so you can get up and playing with the models and cards in your possession. I did deliberately omit the covers of both books for home printing. If you would like to see the covers added, let me know and I will do so. Broken Contract Background Book Broken Contract Playtest Rules 3-31-16 Broken Contract Character Dashboard and Chits NEW! Broken Contract Character and Crew Creation Rules NEW 5/28/16! Broken Contract Act: Escape Route What is in the Broken Contract Background Book? The Broken Contract Background Book is an overview of the FerrumSky setting. In a way, much of it is a collection of ess...

Playtesting at Brainstorm in Chicago. Photo Matt Wirth I have to admit I've been neglecting the blog. It isn't that Broken Contract has taken a backseat. Indeed, it's actually been the primary focus of my "free time." Here is a breakdown of what has been going on: The Rulebook Over the summer I made the decision to extract all of the background information from the rulebook to keep it concise and useful to those who use rule sets for their own purposes. This gives us the flexibility that as the rules evolve, the background and scenarios can still maintain their relevance. It also means that I can put the compact rule set anywhere I want, making them more accessible to people. Broken Contract Rule Book PDF 9/3/15 FerrumSky Episode I This means that all of that background and the scenarios need to go somewhere. For now the new home is in the FerrumSky book which presents all of the background information composed regarding the iron mining and...

The alarm has been sounded! 'It's Time!' is the scenario that comes in the Beta Rules and will also appear in the final rule book. It sets the scene for a break attempt as the miners have been pushed too hard for too long under abysmal work conditions. It is also meant to set up a small introductory skirmish, allowing you to play with up to 8 models on a tiny, 8"x20" play area. Today I'm going to talk about the construction of that play area. Months ago I constructed this piece from foamcore, Plastruct girders, a piece of textured cardstock, and some pink foam. The light on top of the box that you can barely make out was shaved of a GW Cities of Death piece. I finally glued it in place on an 8"x10" piece of 1/8" masonite board. At the "mouth" of the entrance I glued down a 4" rectangular piece of Plastruct tread plate. The shape of these board sections is supposed to be more jagged and weird, like they are still cur...

Almost done. Let's see how we got there. Today we're going to make a passage with an adjustable height door. I didn't quite finish it yet, but I got far enough that you can see how its going to look when its done. Continuing on from where I left off in Making Mine Scenery Part VI , I shaped the pink foam in the exact same way I did in Making Mine Scenery Part II . Once I had a suitably rocky texture, I moved onto designing a door to drop into the grooves at either end. For some extra detailing I decided to cut some plasticard tread plate. I cut the treadplate 5" x 1/2". Once cut, I used CA glue the treadplate strips down where the doors would drop. To begin a door I started by cutting a 5" x 2 1/4" piece of thick plasticard. This will serve as the basis for the door. Next I cut two 4" x 2 1/4" pieces of cardstock. Then I drew 1/4" borders all the way around each, and another one down the center. Then...

The chasm taking shape. Today we're going to focus a bit more on the chasm board section. Last week I posted the above picture showing the pieces I was going to use for the incline. I actually opted to split the small connector piece in half and shape the "chasm end" some. The middle piece was split in two so they could be spread apart. The other half is sitting all the way to the left of the picture, on top of the black cardstock. The other weird offcut was to be used as well. Cardstock spread across the pink foam to create the incline. I spread the 3 pieces of foam out to create a more gradual transition, and then I glued down a piece of black cardstock across the 3 pieces. This created a nice shallow smooth incline. I had some offcut foam suitable for making some larger rocks so I shaped and glued those down as well. Finally, I laid down the two pieces of I-beam/girder, traced them with a pencil in the spot I wanted them, and then I cut insets into th...

Abandoned iron mine pic I stole off of Google Images. Today I jumped around between 3 different projects relating to the iron mine scenery I'm working on. The afternoon began with some quick shaping of the other half of the chasm I was working on in Making Mine Scenery Part II . Since I already discuss the shaping process in detail, I'll just show you two quick shots, one of the pieces after shaping and then another of pieces being left to glue. Pretty dramatic stuff (actually its really not). Thanks to Edgar Allen Poe for the assist. More shaped pink foam waiting for glue. Luckily for my project Edgar Allan Poe was a prolific writer. I'm not sure where my bricks are. Which begs the question.. "How do you lose a brick?" So with the chasm section left to dry it was time to work on something else, so I dragged out the three original board sections from Making Mine Scenery Part I for some rough detailing. In the photo I started the article with yo...