Oil Rig Build Log

As I had previously mentioned, Pete and I are in the process of building a miniature scale oil-rig for use in tabletop wargaming.

Many years ago, I ran a Cyberpunk game session that took place primarily on an off-shore oil rig. Pete and I thought it would be fun to build a scale model of that oil-rig. We took that a step further and thought it should be playable terrain.

Our first step was to cut cardboard blanks (currently 24" x 24") to get a feel for the scale:

(Okay, this wasn't the FIRST attempt, but, alas, I lost those images in a phone shuffle...)

Actually, our first step was to try out a few sci-fi tabletop miniature games. We looked into:

• AT-43 - Although I have a slew of AT-43 miniatures, we never got around to playing as we did not want to purchase the rulebook for a "test" game and the rule summary I found was useless as it expected you to have the book. (Also, it looks like they are now discontinued...)
• Infinity - The rules are simple in theory and provide a nice defense/response mechanic, but once you start adding in all the weapon and special ability rules it becomes daunting.
• Rezolution - Nice simple rules. Possibly TOO simple.

We ultimately decided to go with Infinity due to its defense/response mechanic.

Shortly after, we were invited to participate in an Infinity game by a fellow we met at Fair Game. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and, in discussion with the host and other players, discovered some interesting notes:

• Infinity requires a LOT of terrain. It's pretty deadly otherwise.
• Usually, a field of play is 4' x 4', however... 2' x 2' x 2' is doable.

Based on our experience, we decided to go ahead and upgrade from "get a feeling for the scale" to a playable cardboard mock-up. Hopefully we can get it done by the next Infinity game and ask the gents to try it out so we can get even more feedback.

Here's where we got so far:

Quite exciting!

I have also gone ahead and ordered two remote control(!) cranes from Hobbytron. The scale is a bit on the big side, but they are awesome and may just add that extra oomph!