Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines...

I have carved out a week - by which, I mean a weekend, a full week and then another weekend - in which I expect to get everything finished for me to send the manuscript for test printing. This fits in with cover artist, David Sondered's, deadline as well, so I'm confident of being able to send the test printing with David's art in it.

Speaking of which, here's a preview of the cover art:

As you can see, David has used his excellent artistic judgement to interpret my briefing sketch. I rather like the pale finish on the mech, which I think will make it really leap out of the page (which will, as ever, be predominantly black in context).

Speaking of art, I did put a shout out a while back for anyone who fancied seeing their own minis in print. I've only had one submission with some really nice pieces (thanks, ItalianMoose), who will be receiving a signed, printed copy of the finished rulebook in return. But it's not too late, if you have some painted 6mm or 10mm minis you'd like to see featured, with named credit and a free, signed rulebook for everyone whose photos are used.

The only important thing is to say please don't use Citadel/Games Workshop minis in your photos if you send them in. I'm prepared to run a little fast and loose from my position at the bottom of the barrel of our industry, but the Lenton Gorilla is notoriously litigious and I really don't have the energy if they choose to complain.

You can send your submissions, as ever, to precinctomega@gmail.com.

In hobby related news, I've been having fun with terrain, recently. Do follow me on Instagram  (@precinctomega) for more pictures of stuff.

But speaking of the simple task of editing the manuscript, it is an occasionally frustrating process. I'll spend 45 minutes writing some fiction to fill a gap only to later adjust a font size and have the fiction be, like seven words too long to fill the gap any more. And because it's been a while since I did this, there's always a process of re-learning (usually through a mix of trial and error and a lot of frantic Googling) how to do stuff that I know is possible but, for the life of me, I can't work out.

And there are a lot of editorial decisions I make a bit on the fly (such as realizing that I really needed the section break pages to all be on the right-hand page), which just throws up more challenges.

However, one thing I have recently come across for which I could do with your help is with a new utility upgrade.

It isn't essential, but it would be helpful to have just one more. Here's what I've got already:

So I'm looking for an upgrade that could apply to any element of any type, that isn't a weapon, armour or leadership feature.

Suggestions, either in concept or in detail, are very welcome. Please stick them in the comments. Named credit will be given along and - at my discretion, if the suggestion is very detailed and requires minimal playtesting - possible a free signed rulebook as well.

Anyway, all of this means that we should have the finalised rulebook done more or less at the end of November - so a couple of months later than hoped, but still not bad considering it's in parallel with a full-time job. I hope to then take most of January to create some HTP videos and other promotional material to support the game and give the whole thing a fighting chance to persuade my family that I really don't have to go back to work again...