Battletech - Patchwork Mercenary Guild - The Elite Unseen

The Mercenary group, the Patchwork Guild and their elites, the Unseen, were mentioned in two previous posts, here and here, when I had only painted a few. They are a made up Battletech group and not part of Battletech cannon. They are mostly from the Great Houses in the Inner Sphere, Periphery groups, Mercenary companies, and Clan warriors who had become disillusioned with their factions. They take contracts that do not target innocents and and fight with honour. Even though the are picky about their contracts the Patchwork Guild never seems to lack spare parts. When in public they wear patchwork jumpsuits and black full head masks with mirrored frounts, as some are wanted by their original factions. This mirrored visors are mimicked for on their mechs plus the Unseen have entirely black cockpits.

The elite Unseen will be made up of mechs where, in the real world history of Battletech's original maker FASA, went through legal troubles. Before Battletech was printed, FASA paid money to a company that claimed it had exclusive rights to the mech images outside of Japan on behalf of the original Japanese anime the mechs came from. In the mid-90's FASA was sued by Harmony Gold, who owned the Macross Saga rights in the USA, because of the use of several mech images that Harmony Gold owned the rights to. FASA lost the legal battle initially and all the mech images used from any Japanese Anime were severely altered going forward. The originals of these mechs were called "The Unseen" because of this. After several decades Topps, the current holders of the Battletech license, won the rights to use the original images. Since I played Battletech when the original images were used, I wanted to make a mercenary company as a nod to these original mechs. A good article on SarnaNet goes into more detail.

Until the Battletech Mercenaries kickstarter is delivered, I have for "The Unseen" mechs: four light (Valkyrie, Wasp, Stinger, and Locust), 4 medium (Wolverine, Shadowhawk, Griffin, and Phoenix Hawk), six heavy (Thunderbolt, Warhammer, Marauder, Crusader, Rifleman, and Archer), and three assault (Longbow, Marauder 2, and Battlemaster).

The four lights.

Four mediums.

Three of the heavies.

The other three heavies.

Three assault.

Primed black and heavily drybrushed either Khador Red Base, Khador red Highlight, Cygnar Yellow, Iosian Green, Cygnar Blue Highlight, Murderous Magenta, or Beaten Purple. They were then drybrushed a mix of the primary colour and Menoth White Highlight or TTCombat Ivory. Patches of the other primary colours were then applied in patches over the mech. Cold Steel was applied on metal parts. Model washed with GW Nuln Oil. Sulfur Yellow for missiles, Khador Red Base for lasers, and Thamar Black for projectile weapon barrels. PPCs painted Meridis Blue and TTCombat White.  For jump jets, the same previous colours were used except Arcane Blue was used asa middle colour. Thamar Black applied to head area with Cryx Bane Base drybrushed on, then Cryx Bane Highlight lightly drybrushed on, and Army Painter Gloss used on cockpit window. Base painted cheap black then GW Technical Armageddon Dunes used on base. Lichen was then glued to the base. Army Painter Matt White applied on frount and back base arcs, and finally paint pen was used to write the name of the mech.