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STORMING
TABLETOP BATTLEFIELDS
The Mercenaries Kickstarter launches on March 23, 2023,
live from AdeptiCon!
This Kickstarter will bring a slew of much-demanded units to our plastics ForcePack line.
More than three dozen ’Mechs will be included, alongside numerous vehicles for crafting
combined-arms games.
We found during the Clan Invasion Kickstarter that the community loved behind-
the-scenes looks at how we re-imagined fan-favorite
BattleMechs into fresh, modern miniatures. And we
want to offer that again. This time, we’re offering a
look at the new miniatures well before the Mercenaries
Kickstarter launches, as we are so much further along
on the project!
Each of the PDFs in this series walks you
through that re-imagining process. It starts,
of course, with Duane Loose’s amazing original
illustrations. We’ll show you our early, re-imagined
sketches, followed by the 3D renders of each unit, the final plastic
samples, and lastly the miniature, gloriously painted by the Camo
Specs team.
We hope you love this journey as much as we have, and we look
forward to joining you on launch day!
Team Catalyst
[Link]
The Flea will appear in
the Mercenaries box set,
while the Ontos will be
found in the Battlefield
Support: Recon & Hunter
Lances ForcePack.
The Flea first appeared
in Stardate Volume 3,
Number 1, a science
fiction magazine issue
published in 1987.
BattleTech was exploding
and magazines like
Stardate were quick to
provide content. It would
not appear in an FASA
pubication until the Wolf’s
Dragoons sourcebook
(seen here) in 1989,
where Dana Knutson
brought it to life.
The Ontos is a Duane Loose original, first
appearing in Technical Readout: 3026.
David White—a long time BattleTech artist—was art directing an
expansion for the MechWarrior 4 computer game, when he came up
with a re-imagined Flea. As we started this process, we used that
image as the basis, which then necessitated very few changes. The
first sketch was approved with nary a further tweak.
The Ontos has always
been a favorite, as it
retained a tank vibe at
the same time those
eight medium lasers
incorporated a great
science fiction vibe.
The first sketches
nailed it; the team
went the extra mile by
showing a separate
turret so it was clear
how it would look and
be built.
The render of the Flea remained
exceptionally faithful to the original
sketch; that doesn’t always happen.
Design by Anthony Scroggins & David White
Sculpt by Sergey Kolesnik
The render of the Ontos was a first
glimpse of what the re-imagined vehicles
would look like on the table...spectacular.
Design by Harri Kallio
Sculpt by Alan Blackwell
Another great benefit of the
digitally-painted renders are that
they allow us to showcase combat
commands that don’t often get
the limelight in illustrations.
Confederation Reserve Cavalry
The Krushers
Digital painting by Mark Hayden
Illustration by Alan Blackwell
The line art is so glorious…you can almost hear the
high-pitched whine of the turbo-charged engine,
and the rumble of the tracks crunching snow.
Illustration by Harri Kallio
After a long, long series of discussions,
we made the decision to signficantly
increase the size of vehicles from
previous iterations. This makes large
tanks, like the Ontos, have a fabulous
presence on the battlefield. And yes,
the turret works!
Painted by Ross “Savage Coyote” Hines
If you haven’t seen
the fabulous work of
the CamoSpecs team,
found at Camospecs.
com and showcased
here, you absolutely
should check it out!
Painted by Scott “PapaChicken” Stinger
The first in a new series of mercenary short stories
publishes on January 13, alongside Preview 03!
The Wolf’s Dragoons
Assault Star
was released earlier
this year.
In the meantime, click here to enjoy
the latest Wolf’s Dragoons fiction!
