Ambush!

A short-form experimental animation, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of BattleTech and the imagination that resides between the abstraction. An enormous thank you to everyone at Topps, Catalyst Game Labs, Microsoft, Harebrained Schemes, Piranha Games, and of course the incredibly talented and dedicated fan community.

This is a unofficial fan animation project and in no way endorsed by the respective copyright holders. All rights reserved.


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FAQ
1 ) What is the scenario's background?
The animation was intended as an adaption of a small scale CBT campaign, set towards the beginning of the Clan invasion, that focused on DCMS guerrilla actions against Clan Smoke Jaguar. This engagement saw the DCMS primarily attempting a delaying action by attacking a CSJ convoy, carrying raw materials and bondsman, while en route to a starport through a narrow pass.

DCMS forces consisted predominately of infantry (with field gun emplacements) and vehicles. A Wolverine and half of a Panther, used as a turret, made up the DCMS mech forces. Additionally, the area was prepped with explosives and vibrabombs. One team focused on the CSJ escorts while a smaller team attempted to hijack or extract the convoy's contents.

Contrary to the Wolverine's appearance in the animation, per the scenario, it was somewhat of a Frankenstein's monster of salvaged parts and field repairs. Unfortunately, due to my limitations I chose to focus on a representation of the Wolverine that could be more easily reused in the future rather than building an asset that would likely be a one-off. Missing bits of armor across most locations and limited ammo with only a single salvo of SRMs (packing 1 Smoke and 5 Inferno).

[...]

There was a large degree of home brewing involved and it definitely emulated the style of a campy 80's action movie. Although, the end result isn't at all reflective of this extra context, the bones of the scenario still run beneath it.

2 ) Who wins: Wolverine or Timber Wolf?
As much as I prefer the viewer to come to their own conclusions regarding preference and the whims of dice rolls: the Timber Wolf.

RIP WVR

3 ) More?
Absolutely! At least until we get some kind of official animated series. That said, these projects are time consuming, I am actively learning as I go, and I cannot work on them as often as I would like. Progress will be slow but hopefully the end result is worth the wait.


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AAR
The intent was to create a stylized animation that carried forward some of the energetic and toyetic qualities of my previous animations. This was intended originally as part of a larger animated scenario but had to be severely truncated due to inability to continue work. There were numerous technical and knowledge challenges, resulting in a split focus, that allowed many fundamentals to be neglected. This primarily stemmed from a pipeline and tool issue that, coupled with time pressures, resulted in significantly lower quality shots and animation than I would have liked. Additionally, my experience and software inadequacies with regards to audio engineering prevented me from achieving specifics that I was hoping for. Although the end result of this project is a substantial failure in my eyes, the lessons learned have proven to be extremely valuable.


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Feedback:
Additional improvements to cockpit details: to include seat belts / shoulder harnesses. (Safety first)
Reevaluate checks for layout process - SH013 timing and pacing concerns

#battletech #mechwarrior #animation #blender