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Just for the hell of it, I made a miniatures prototype of Unbreakable using WizKids MechWarrior figures.  I don't know why, but some board games are just more fun on a larger scale.   Another benefit of the miniatures version is I can vary the landscape each time we play.  And it's a great way to attract opponents at a conventions or game stores.  People are drawn toward something with trees and hills much more than to a flat map.   So if you'd like to make a miniatures version of Unbreakable for yourself, this page contains a description of the one I made and a few files you can download.  Of course, there are millions of ways to make such a thing, so use what you like and ignore the rest.  And if you come up with something cool, send me a photo.  Thanks!  --- Greg

Index Unbreakable Home... Description Units Hex Mat Craters and Lava Hills Industry Lakes and Rough Volcanoes Woods Mushroom Clouds

Units For units, I used figures from WizKids MechWarrior.  These are ideal because there are 3 types; infantry for squads, 'mechs for walkers, and vehicals for crawlers. I puchased 1/2 inch stick-on, vinyl letters and numbers and placed them on the top and bottom of the base of each unit.  Decals on the bottom help out when you want to flip a figure over to show a change in its status or configuration. To indicate that a squad is hovering, I stack it on a cylyndircal, clear plastic jewlery container.  These fit perfectly to the base of the squads, as you can see in the photo on the left.

Hex Mat   For the hex mat, I bought 2 yards of mottled green fabric.  It came on a 48 inch bolt, so I ended up with a 4 foot by 6 foot mat.  (Now I wish I'd bought an extra foot.  I could have indicated a crawler's dug-in configuration by drapping a bit of material over the figure.)   Next I made a 4 inch hex template out of comic back board.  Then I traced the template over and over onto the fabric with a black Sharpie.  Its not perfect, but only 1 person so far has even noticed that the mat wasn't professionally made.   Finally, to keep the edges from fraying I sewed 1/2 inch, single fold bias tape along the top and bottom edges of the mat.  The end result is light weight and folds neatly into a small area.   File   Hex Template

Craters and Lava I couldn't come up with anything clever for these, so I just printed larger versions of the crater and lava art from the regular board game.  However, instead of hex shapped I made them irregular. Print 3 copies of the crater file and 2 copies of the lava file on white card stock or full sheet labels using a color printer.  Then cut them out and mount on chip board or EVA foam. Files Craters Lava

Hills   I made hills out of 1 inch thick styrofoam, which you can find at most craft and garden supply stores.  For each hill, I cut out a roughly 3.5 inch circle and shaved down the sides to give it a bit of a slope.  However, I left the top large and flat so there is plenty of room for figures.   After shaping the styrofoam, I painted them with several colors of acrylic.

Industry There must be some cool, futuristic building miniatures out there.  But all I could come up with were these tin shells from votive candles.

Lakes and Rough   These were the easiest to make.  For lakes, I just cut an irregualr shape out of blue EVA foam.  And for rough, I cut an irregular shape out of coarse grain sandpaper.  (You might not want to use your favorite scissors to cut the sand paper.)

Volcanoes I purchased 3 x 6 inch styrofoam cones from a local hobby store and whittled them down with a steak knife.  Then I painted them with several colors of acrylic.

Woods   Woods terrain is indicated by a single tree in a hex.  But don't place every tree in the center of its hex; that makes it look like an orchard.   I purchased a bag of 50, 2.5 inch tall pine trees from a model railroad store.  Unfortnately, these were meant to be built into model terrain and had did not have bases.  So I used 1 inch metal washers and wood putty to create my own bases.  Finally I painted the bases with acrylic so everything blended nicely.

Mushroom Clouds Rather than create models of mushroom clouds, I used photos from 1950's and 60's nuclear tests.  I lamintated the photos and pasted them to both sides of some cardboard and put them in stands.  You can see a couple of these in the Lake and Lava photos above. Unfortunately, the two-sided mushroom clouds proved to be a bit unstable.  So I created the triangular stand ups you see in the photo on the left.  You can use the file below to make whichever type you prefer. File Mushroom Clouds

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