ShimmeringSword

Nightsky 3D Sculpt

Phew, sorry for the delay. Had a lot of social engagements and general "away from computer" time the last few weeks. Now introvert me is getting re-hermitted to my computer so here's a new set of renders :)

Nightsky model is of course all done and sent off for production. All the mechs going into the retailer mercenaries force packs were a mad dash of production to fit them into release schedules while also not delaying kickstarter production too badly.

This one was pretty tricky ...

Prototype Lance One

Almost finished with this lance. Just cockpit and weapon jeweling, then basing to go. I guess I could also make my first attempt at attaching antennas. 

Does anyone recall which source book A.C.E.S. mercenaries are mentioned in? One of the Succession Wars books? If it were my way this is how they'd paint their mechs, but I've no idea if they were specifically killed off in their short passage, or just lost in obscurity.

Shogun Concept Sketch

Here's one of those funky ones that I know a lot of people have been wanting to see. The Shogun.

A few of the crew wanted to take a shot at this one, but I decided to work on it myself to give it a little more thorough job. Either way I knew I'd have to get hands on and go through revisions with the bosses.

The biggest goal for improvement was to find shapes to break up the smooth torso, as the fundamental shape is fairly important to the design, but plain and goofy on its own. 2022-06-29 02:35:47 +0000 UTC View Post

New Prototype Washes

While I always intended to paint this batch grey, the primer coverage wasn't quite comprehensive enough on all the minis so I gave them a quick light coat of paint.
I then gave them all a wash, though I experimented with giving half of them a flesh tone wash, while the other half got my usual soft tone. I think the flesh tone does well to look more like dirt, while the soft tone leans more towards oil/grime. Both look good but the flesh tone might be nice for the warmth and grit.

New Prototype Print Closeups

Here are front and back shots of the 8 prototypes I had printed. Wanted to pick a decent tonnage spread, fighting the urge to spam assaults and heavies haha. It was also tough to not go for a bunch of vehicles, but I can only paint so many at a time.

The Scorpion shows that you can very precariously base it without the clear peg we'll be delivering with it. The 5 toe tips making contact seem to be pretty solid (assuming you don't drop it).

New Prototype Prints

I had some prints made of our new mechs to paint up for fun and occasionally drop into the local games with, so here are some photos.

Just primer applied at this point, not perfect coverage but they already look great.
Of course disclaimer that these wont represent the final mini quality as plastic softens them up a little.

These two images are free to share. I'll make a separate post with patreon only images.

Penetrator 3D Sculpt

Posting the Sagittaire and Penetrator 3D renders feels like ages after I posted their sketches (well, it has been 4 months) but it's been such a flurry of work and extra content this year that the spread between sketches and renders isn't only due to my laziness anymore :D
I hope my pace of posting has been more satisfactory the last two months.

Anyway, here's the 3D sculpt of the Penetrator, done by Alan Blackwell.
This one took several rounds of pushing around proportions to get...

Schrek Concept Sketch

Back to the vehicle category: "Strictly for blowing things up". The Schrek PPC Carrier.

While there are a few options, I bet many of us think of this tank when looking for a long range direct fire assault vehicle. Simple and deadly.

Can't wait to see them populating game tables and giving mechs a serious headache.

Sagittaire 3D Sculpt

Time for another sculpt from the now mountainous wait list. The Sagittaire.

Glad this one is getting a sculpt, no doubt a favorite cover art design for many of us from decades past.

Sculpt came out really well. Though we almost forgot to give it the butt lasers. Entirely impossible to properly account for a rear mounted head laser on a mech with this body layout haha.

Enjoy. The mood render is public.

IS Standard Battle Armor

Who's been waiting for this one? More Battle Armor! Inner Sphere Standard this time to face off against the Elementals.

It's not the sexiest piece of armor, but it is in wide spread use and early tech so that all IS players can plausibly use them.

Even the most competent previous artwork for this BA by Matt Plog is 22 years old. Time really flies. With that I decided it was important that the suit look cool and functional before any hamstringing happens out of faithfulness to the ...

Upcoming Variant Mechs

A few have asked, so here's a big render of all the upcoming mechs we've given variants or reposes. Haven't included the Dragoons box though.

This all comes from the announced Alpha Strike starter box and Mercenary Force Packs.
The Atlas, Banshee, Highlander, and Wolfhound are just re-poses, but can you ID the rest of them? Some are pretty tough.

Any of them stand out as variants you've wanted to run with new plastic? Or one you're glad to have a repose on to add variety to you...

Warrior VTOL Concept Sketch

Bishops design rampage continues. The Warrior VTOL.

New flavor... flying thingy. Personally I never see anyone use VTOL or Aerospace on the table, but I know some of you do. The Warrior makes a nice first dip into that realm with a unit that will work well as a scout/spotter, light harassment, opfor fodder, or yet another piece of military base garnish on the battle map.

Who's ready for ultra chunky thicc plastic rotors? :D

Hermes II 3D Sculpt

And here's the 3D sculpt for the Hermes II, done by Eliza Gibbs.

Similar to the Gargoyle, the nose section will leave players the option to not paint it glass if they like having the "eyes" look on their mechs, while the main intention will be a full glass visor. I know this one will end up needing the Bishop "where is the glass" guide treatment haha.

And yes people, a Whitworth exists :)

Hermes II Concept Sketch

Here's one that was soft revealed at Kerensky Con as a prototype print. Time to show you all better shots of the Hermes II. Starting with the design sketch.

Design done by Harri Kallio, then a fair bit of meddling by me on the head and lower legs.
This is one I've always considered such an unappealing mech with a boring body and a goofy head. With this redesign I still wouldn't say it's winning beauty pageants, but it certainly looks a lot better, especially in the final sculpt.

Mobile HQ Concept Sketch

Here's a redesign from Alan Blackwell. The Mobile HQ

I think the first one I've shown fully in the "objective/narrative" category. Few of you are gonna be bringing this one to the field for it's defensive laser. Should work great for a piece in defend/attack base missions, and convoy escorts.

Bring on the strategic party bus.

Hoplite 3D Sculpt

This one I feel came out super awesome, another "Bishop Blowup" success.
The shapes work well to convey a mech that is built to carry around weapons and do little else.

Sculpted by Alan Blackwell. Are you guys noticing how much work Alan has put in on this kickstarter? He's been working full time along side me since the last one ended to bring us here (not to mention all his work on the last KS).

Meanwhile I think I've managed to delegate away over half of the redesign sketch t...

Green Lance

Here's my first cohesive lance painted up. The Banshee and Raven joining the Archer and Hunchback I finished previously.

Wanted to go with a simple scheme that pops, that wont be a pain to add more mechs to in the future if I want. Though I may go for a new scheme for my next lance. I've still got two clans mechs in another scheme that could use 3 more buddies to form a star.

Skulker Concept Sketch

Here's another vehicle from Bishop, the Skulker wheeled scout.

Falls pretty soundly into the objective/token category for the kickstarter. These will make great objective/narrative pieces, or even just dressing for a military base. Though I'm sure some of you will gladly scoot this medium laser on wheels around.

As the prototype for this one has already been shown off at Kerensky Con and around the internet, I'll make this an immediately public post.

Enjoy!

Vedette Concept Sketch

Time for another flavor. A vehicle you may deploy yourself, but definitely a vehicle your OpFor is gonna have. Mid weight vehicle spam!

Under sketch by Dale Eadeh, finished off by me. I like the fast, some what aerodynamic look on this one, along with the high ground clearance.

Highlander IIC Concept Sketch

Here's a surprise post. Somewhere I've apparently shown someone this image and was notified by Harri that it's been leaked out online. Sooo I'm dropping it here through an official channel for everyone to see.

Highlander IIC is a pretty iconic mech, some of you guessed it was coming.
For this one we had the new Highlander as a major reference source, so it wouldn't be the usual focus on just the old art. I also saw an opportunity here to include some of the MW4 Highlander's torso sha...

Demolisher Concept Sketch

Here's another of Bishops many vehicle redesigns for the upcoming Kickstarter.
By the way, go check out his patreon page here: patreon.com/BishopSteiner

Round three, flavor 3D, the vanilla. Combat Vehicles. Of course many of you have seen the prototype picture leaks floating around by now.
Can't go without a few juicy assault tanks, and the Demolisher is probably the first that comes to mind in that variety.
I meddled a fair bit on the greeble details, but otherwise Bishop nail...

Pouncer 3D Sculpt

Here's the Pouncer renders I promised. Next up are more vehicle sketches.

I feel this one came out looking really cool, compared to the start of the journey with the original art.

It really is just the Adder and Linebacker having a baby.
The side torso flat plates should be good receptacles for any future variants.

Sculpt by Alan Blackwell.
Once again feel free to share the one mood render online.

500 Patrons!

Welcome aboard everyone! I hope your stay is going well.
Hitting 500 patrons is a pretty huge milestone for me, so it was amazing to see everyone rush in over the last 2 weeks. Things were hovering around that meme 420 mark for a few months.

Also big thanks to the long time patrons that have been sticking it out through the good and bad months. I also see yee who have returned after a break, I hope your current stay will be as good as the last.

Last year I was able to live free...

Wraith 3D Sculpt

So many sketches to post, but also so many 3D renders in line too.

Here's the Wraith sculpted by Alan Blackwell. This shows off the new antenna design it received, which must be thick enough for plastic casting. Those that like em thin should be able to easily cut them down and insert some wire whips.
For those who missed the details, this will be available in the upcoming Alpha Strike Boxed Set.

I'm also betting this is gonna be another mech where people aren't sure where to p...

Maxim Hover Concept Sketch

Round two, flavor two.
Utility and objective based vehicles will make a strong appearance in this first run. Many of you are itching to get into combat with vee rules, but some may find themselves either disinterested or overwhelmed by the prospect of even more rules after just learning the 1 million data tables a mech needs.
At a minimum, players will be able to make good use of utility vehicles as objective tokens to spice up their campaign/scenario play. I fall into this camp too, fu...

Galleon Tank Concept Sketch

Lets start things off with a classic, the Galleon.
As I reveal more of the starting vehicle selection you're going to find it a little of an oddball mix, but as much as I'd also prefer an opening purely of popular and common combat vees, we've got a few avenues to explore.

The Galleon falls into one avenue of "unseen vees", so while this isn't a hot lethal ride, there are the nostalgic in command that believe their fellow nostalgic fans would like this cute little tank in their moder...

Vehicle Redesigns

So. You peeps want to see some vehicle redesigns from the upcoming Battletech kickstarter, don't ya?

SLDF Mechwarrior

Hey some color! I tell you time flies, I was going to mention "not too long ago" showing some mechwarrior designs I worked on, but that was THREE YEARS AGO! That was not too long after I re-geared my page to show off all this Battletech production stuff, so that's 3 years many of you have been along for the ride. I'm glad we've been able to offer such a peek inside what the IP is up to.

Anyway. I was asked if I'd like to tackle some more character art and I jumped at it. I was assigned ...

Gunslinger Concept Sketch

Sorry for the quiet end to last month. Almost done crunching out some special items.
Here's one some of you will have seen before in the wild.
The call came in for a Gunslinger redesign and I'd seen a few fan pieces floating around. I got in contact with Jayden Morris about using his as a starting point, then worked him through a few edits.

I think this does a good job of taking the old goofy mech and keeping it very recognizable while also making it look cool. Only goofy element ...

Regent 3D Sculpt + Art

Now that I've gotten around to doing some nice 3D renders of it, here's a post with all my Regent stuff, from years old concept to new sculpt and lineart.

Was very fun to work through this one and get my own design canonized.
The original sketch now goes back 9 years. Time has really flown since all the redesigning started and it's a repeat routine task, so I often a feel a bit frozen in time and tend to shock myself when I look back at stuff I've made to see how old it all is now. I...