Of Oil and Iron

What is Of Oil and Iron

Of Oil and Iron is “a dieselpunk mech skirmish game focused on cinematic combat, deep customisation, and a relentless push-your-luck heat system.” It’s made by Scott Hadley of Scoutsifer Studio, and it’s built to be printed at home.

The setting is the Smoglands. Unchecked industry choked the skies until an event called the Smogfall wiped out whole nations, and now corporations rule from behind walls of filtered air. Their weapons are Rigs: walking war machines that started life as oil-rig lifters and mining frames, each one piloted by an Ironclad.

Five factions fight over what’s left: The Krim Corporation, Nox Industries, Triton Engineering, Arcus Technologies, and the Freegear Coalition. You can also run Nomads, mercenary pilots for hire, or build a ragtag crew of your own.

Version 1 of the rules came out in July 2026, after an alpha, a string of betas, and a Kickstarter.

How it plays

Build your Rigs. Pick a chassis (Light, Medium, Heavy, or Colossal), then kit it out with engines, weapons, equipment, and a pilot.
Rig Control Terminals. Each Rig is run from its own terminal card, with separate weapon and equipment cards. You roll D12s and D6s.
Heat is the whole game. Every action generates heat. Push an engine too hard and it can malfunction, shut down, or blow up. The trick is knowing when to hold back.
Hit where it hurts. Damage is directional (front, side, rear) and lands on components: Hull, Arms, Legs, and Engine. You can flank a Rig and take it apart piece by piece.
Alternating activations. The Preparation mechanic lets a Rig lie in wait and react on your opponent’s turn, so you get ambushes and counter-fire.
Small or big. Play as few as 2 Rigs a side, or 8 or more for a bigger fight. It’s designed for small tables.
Campaigns. Between games your squadron gains resources, salvages parts, and repairs damage, and your Ironclads level up.

How to start

Get the rulebook. The V1 Rulebook PDF, Cards and Tokens is $22.99 on MyMiniFactory. You get the 118-page full-colour rules plus a printer-friendly version, 24 Rig Control Terminals, 144 weapon cards, 36 equipment cards, 4 pilot cards, token STLs, the campaign tracker, and a map of the Smoglands.
Print some Rigs. The official scale is 15mm, and every Rig STL also comes in 32mm and pre-supported. If you play at 32mm, just double every distance in the book. Single Rigs are $22.99 each on the Scoutsifer store, and each faction has a four-Rig Squadron Bundle for $75.99.
Or go big. The Core Set bundle is 32 files for $326.99.
Grab the free Rig. Sign up to the newsletter on ofoilandiron.com and Scott sends you the Hijack light Rig as a free sample.

Everything is digital for now. Scott has said a physical print run of the rulebook is coming by crowdfund, and the site links a Gamefound campaign called Fractured Frontiers. Resin Rigs from the official shop are listed as coming soon.