Welcome BattleMech fans to this newest peak behind the curtain at the creative process here on BattleTech.

As you know by now it all starts with an idea… or in this case three ideas from three people who didn’t agree on anything. So like any good game company we challenged each other to Batchalls, destroyed each other, and in the end the one left standing got to write up what he wanted.

The concept here was to make a two-cover image so that the two books (First and Second Succession Wars) could be put side by side to make one epic battle-scene. We’ve done these before and though cool, it is never easy. The trick here was to show the scene in two halves, with the left half showing the way the invasion on a certain planet played out during the First Succession War, and the right half showing the battle-scene from the same planet during the Second Succession War.

The planet chosen was the Planet Poulsbo, whose House Steiner’s Twenty-second Arcturan Guards defenders repelled the Marik invasion during the First Succession Wars, but were defeated by Marik’s First Free Guards (supported by significant air support and orbital bombardment) in the Second Succession War. As if that wasn’t enough, the background (for anyone able to tear their focus from the awesome BattleMechs in the foreground) was to show “Fullers Floating City”, a tropical destination paradise which survived the First Succession War but was devastated during the Second.

Leading the charge on this was is hot new BattleTech artist Marco Mizzoni–who has wowed us with his work over the last six months, and was tapped to craft the double cover scene. In short order Marco worked up a functional thumbnail sketch in order to lay out the composition.

This thumbnail is a perfect example of an artist giving you exactly what you asked for, and having it not work at all. This is actually quite common–especially with complicated compositions. It’s a good image, don’t get me wrong, but it ultimately fails to bring the battle out toward the viewer or to present images which stand well on their own separately.

To correct this we chose to turn the BattleMechs so that they were all charging out at an angle that feels like it’s coming toward the viewer. Other fine-tuning adjustments here and there (like the look of the architecture in the floating city) led to Marco’s second sketch.

This iteration worked great and quickly got the green light to finish.

…11 days later I received the near-final proof, and it’s at this step where I offer last minute fine tuning tweaks and adjustments.

There are usually subtle tweaks and in this case I’ll share with you the specific elements which I pointed out for adjustment. First though I like to point out which elements are working extremely well (so that the artist doesn’t go messing them up while making other changes.) In this case there were several elements that really catch the eye with “wow” factor. The depth on the PPC muzzles, the internal lighting and reflections on the cockpits, the overall lighting and colors, the space battles and DropShips in the background–all do a great job of laying the foundation for the special effects to bring to life.

As for the final edits, here are the elements that still needed just a little more work (notes sent directly as is to the artist):

Griffin legs/pose: right now the pose of the legs makes it look like the Griffin is walking slowly–maybe even a little bit of a prance–but definitely not running (which is what we should be going for here). You’ll note on my edit file I reposed the legs so they were in more of a run angle. Whether you redraw the legs or just repose what you’ve got, please make this BattleMech look like it is running.



legs/pose: right now the pose of the legs makes it look like the is walking slowly–maybe even a little bit of a prance–but definitely not running (which is what we should be going for here). You’ll note on my edit file I reposed the legs so they were in more of a run angle. Whether you redraw the legs or just repose what you’ve got, please make this BattleMech look like it is running. Griffin pilot: while the cockpit shot looks awesome, in truth that MechWarrior would sit lower & further back in cockpit; don’t change it too much because it looks awesome (but at this angle he would be standing on his command chair to be that high in the cockpit.)



pilot: while the cockpit shot looks awesome, in truth that MechWarrior would sit lower & further back in cockpit; don’t change it too much because it looks awesome (but at this angle he would be standing on his command chair to be that high in the cockpit.) More contrast on the dark weapon elements so we define the shapes beyond just being dark areas.



Zeus pilot in cockpit should be a LOT smaller than you’ve blocked in. The Zeus is one of the few BattleMechs with a double cockpit (one seat behind the other.) Even if that helmet we are seeing is in the backseat, that helmet would be bigger than Dark Helmet’s from Space Balls . Don’t be fooled by the scale set by the Griffin pilot, that Zeus is probably 75 meters further into the scene than the Griffin so he would be a lot smaller in the cockpit. FYI.



pilot in cockpit should be a LOT smaller than you’ve blocked in. The is one of the few BattleMechs with a double cockpit (one seat behind the other.) Even if that helmet we are seeing is in the backseat, that helmet would be bigger than Dark Helmet’s from . Don’t be fooled by the scale set by the pilot, that is probably 75 meters further into the scene than the so he would be a lot smaller in the cockpit. FYI. Laser hitting both Zeus legs: right now we’ve blocked in a shot from the Orion on the SW2 cover striking the Zeus in both legs, and that angle is impossible. The laser would have to bend in order to hit both like that. Let’s just remove the impact SFX on the Left Leg (our right) because the detail on the other one is much cooler.

Marco agreed with all of these edits and made the changes while finishing off the overall image.

Which brings us to the final image. Marco did an excellent job of bringing this to life, making it look exciting, and in essence making an image look so cool that fanboy-&-girls will stop in the aisles to check it out.

I love this image, and hope you do to. Mad props to Marco who is currently hard at work bringing the other half of this image to life for the upcoming Second Succession Wars. Until then, strap in, activate engines, and disengage weapons locks: because BattleMech-grade warfare is coming your way.

‘Mech on!

Brent (Catalyst Art Director)