From Covers To Cards: Classic BattleTech Art And The Collectors Who Hunt Them

Warhammer by Doug Shuler

I recently saw Eye of the Beholder, a documentary on Amazon that looks at the art of Dungeons & Dragons. While it was fascinating looking at how D&D’s art has evolved over the years, one of the more interesting facets of the documentary was the existence of a massive market for D&D art collectors. Original pieces were selling for thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars, with collectors adorning their walls with the paintings that became the covers of D&D’s classic sourcebooks.

I never would have thought that BattleTech had a similar secondary market until I received an email from Michael Todd (whom you might remember from various impressive projects including a fan-made TRO that I remain quite fond of). Michael reached out to inform me of an incredible find: six original BattleTech paintings that were originally created in the ’80s for NOVA Games’ BattleTech Science Fiction Combat Book. 

Locust by Doug Shuler

This is a pretty obscure piece of BattleTech nostalgia, so I’ll provide a brief refresher. NOVA Games had a series of books that were essentially duels between MechWarriors. Each player would have pilot/’Mech stat card and a book that corresponded with various actions. The players’ choices would determine where they’d flip the book to, which would present the players with more choices and more possible outcomes. All those outcomes would be recorded on the stat cards until one ‘Mech emerged victorious. 

The advent of modern computer games essentially put these books out of business, but we can thank their brief existence for producing some of BattleTech‘s earliest full-color art. NOVA Games commissioned Doug Shuler to produce the covers and interior art for the six books, each of which corresponded with an Unseen ‘Mech: the Shadow Hawk, Wasp, Rifleman, Warhammer, Griffin, and Locust. 

Rifleman by Doug Shuler

You can see the covers on Sarna of course, but digitized images don’t really do them justice. These pieces are gorgeous, as Michael found out personally. 

The story of their discovery is quite the tale. Michael is a collector (as many BattleTech fans are) who merely wanted to find the remaining four NOVA BattleTech Combat Books he didn’t already possess. And as any good collector would, Michael figured the best way to enhance his complete collection was to get each book signed by the original artist. So he reached out to Doug Shuler and after some initial correspondence, he agreed to sign the books and mail them back. 

But then Michael made another discovery. He noted that each image was copyrighted to Shuler personally and not NOVA Games. This led him to inquire if Shuler also still possessed the original paintings that became the books’ covers. Shuler did, and this sparked a months-long negotiation for Michael to purchase all six paintings. 

Michael didn’t provide me with a final sale price, but he did say he had to take out a loan on his credit card. On top of that, Michael sent the money via an unsecured cell phone (not necessarily the safest thing in our current cyberpunk dystopia), but thankfully, Shuler received the cash without issue. A few months later, Michael had six truly unique pieces of art—something he described in reverent tones.

Michael holding Doug Shuler’s Griffin and Shadow Hawk

“At this point, all I’ve seen are the published NOVA covers and a set of low-resolution mobile phone pictures of the originals. To say I’m nervous is an understatement,” wrote Michael in our email correspondence. “I’m literally trembling as I open the box. I don’t consider myself a religious man, but when I first beheld Shuler’s original works, it was like a religious experience. It’s the difference between seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and seeing a poster of it on your wall. They are two completely different works; two completely different experiences. And there is no going back. Once you’ve beheld an original work, all the mass-produced stuff just becomes pale reflections. I’ve been the mountaintop and am now forever changed.”

How To Get To The Top Of The Mountain

Let’s be clear about one thing right off the bat: collecting art isn’t cheap. Michael paid thousands for a series of six paintings, and from the prices I’ve seen, that’s not out of the ordinary for larger pieces—especially for art used on things like sourcebooks or novels. Buying a BattleTech painting isn’t exactly like buying a Rembrandt, but it’s difficult to start an art collection on a budget.

We’ll start with Heritage Auctions to give you a good idea. Here’s the cover of Mercenary’s Star by Boris Vallejo featuring Grayson Carlyle and his future wife, Lori Kalmar. This painting was originally sold back in 2007 and since then has received several offers, the largest of which was $4,000. 

Akuma by Dave Seely

For something under four figures, we head to Comic Art Shop.com for this original oil painting of an Akuma by Dave Seely. This was originally done for the BattleTech CCG back in the ’90s, but as far as I’m aware, was never used for an actual card. This piece is entirely unique, but it’s smaller than the Mercenary’s Star cover and it didn’t get the chance to be associated with an official product. Seeley is selling this piece for $650. 

Ebay is another great resource, but what you find there can be hit-or-miss. For example, here’s a collection of five pen-and-ink drawings for BattleTech and Call of Cthulu by Earl Geier for $200. There’s also a collection of Dana Knutson sketches of various AeroSpace and ground assets for $30 each. 

As you can see, what you find ranges from novel covers to trading card art to original sketches that may never have been published. And while these official channels might be pricey, I’ve heard from several people that the best way to get a deal is by going straight to the source. 

Batu by Dana Knutson

Michael’s story isn’t unique. A lot of artists still have the original paintings, and BattleTech is a franchise that has produced a lot of art. Some of that art is just sitting in the artist’s archive, either because the artist simply doesn’t have the time to put their older pieces up for auction or because they don’t know what their work is worth. 

I spoke to Greg, a collector with a wall of BattleTech art he estimates to be valued between $15,000 and $20,000 (after adjusting for inflation). Collecting for over five years, Greg told me that most of his 36 pieces came from direct negotiations with the artist. However, that can come with its own set of headaches.

“Getting it from the artist directly is almost always the best price,” he explained. “Highlander Gambit probably has the best story. After sitting in the artist’s studio for a couple of decades I bought it through their agent. They dropped it off at a third-party shipping store that gave it to the wrong delivery service. The artist backtracked through all possible options and eventually found it in the ‘lost’ packages section at the wrong company’s local distribution center.”

Greg’s wall of BattleTech art

Besides potential mailing mistakes, other obstacles could be that the original artist simply didn’t keep their original works or has already sold them to someone else. Also, negotiating with an artist can sometimes be a lengthy experience. Michael told me that it took him roughly six months before he and Doug Shuler finally arrived at a sale.

“Most artists—most creatives really—just aren’t like the rest of us. They operate on their own time, have their own priorities, and most of them are much more interested in creating more art, rather than spending time corresponding with people they, frankly, don’t know. So, you’ve got to be patient, keep things simple, and, above all else, don’t overflow their inbox with a flood of messages,” he explained. “In short, respect their time.”

Greg’s TRO 3026 Cover

Another issue is competition. The reason why these auctions feature prices pushing into the thousands is because there’s demand for original art. “I believe that as with everything else around the IP, there is more interest now than there was when I started,” Greg told me, although he admits it’s still nothing like what you see in the Magic: The Gathering or Japanese mecha art communities. 

One way to limit your expenditure is to limit the scope of your collection. “I think the way in which pieces have been sold over the years leads to more shall we say focused collections where the person has some things of interest but may not be actively expanding,” related Greg. “Two examples that come to mind: in the Clan Invasion Kickstarter’s Khan & Kerensky-tier Discord, someone there showed off their collection of all of the WarShip art from TRO: 2750 which they snagged when Noble Knight Games first listed it.

Greg’s Puma by Jim Pavelec

“I also had someone reach out to me over Facebook to show some photos of some TRO art they had in their possession. A friend of theirs had managed to get the TRO art for the Black Knight and Highlander at a GenCon in BattleTech‘s infancy. Again both of these would generate significant community interest if they came back on the market but I do not believe this person was trying to pursue any additional works.” In other words, they got their favorite ‘Mechs and got out before prices skyrocketed. 

Of course, there’s always just throwing money at the problem. Michael put me in touch with another collector named Steven who has only recently started collecting BattleTech art. He estimates his collection of five works would fetch between $7,000 and $8,000 at auction, but that’s just a mere fraction of his total fantasy/sci-fi art collection, which he guesses to be worth over $700,000.

“I’d say much of the competition for most choice BattleTech art already took place before I arrived on the scene,” he told me. “Fortunately, there aren’t so many collectors that everything has been scooped up! It’s just a matter of persevering.”

Steve’s Warriors of Kerensky by Christopher Moeller

His first piece was Christopher Moeller’s Dropship Captain Archetype from the MechWarrior Companion sourcebook. That came from an Ebay auction, but it was quickly followed up by reaching out directly to Moeller (through his representative) for any potential pieces he had left. That led to Steven purchasing what is now his pride and joy, the painting that served as the cover to The Clans:  Warriors of Kerensky. 

“My jaw almost dropped when I was told he still had the original art for it—a Timber Wolf / Mad Cat original cover is pretty much a grail in this hobby,” Steve said. “Alas, the Field Manual: Draconis Combine cover is long gone. I’ve always been a Drac at heart.”

Although clearly capable of throwing some big money to close a deal, Steve didn’t amass over half a million in sci-fi art just by spending big at auctions. Like both George and Michael, he recommends reaching out to artists and their representatives to see if you can snag a bargain. You never know when you might find an exclusive piece.

Preserving Art For The Future

There is one other big player in the BattleTech art collecting scene and that’s Catalyst Game Labs. You’d think that the makers of BattleTech would already have a repository of BattleTech art, but the guardians of the BattleTech IP haven’t always been careful about preserving their creative property. Anyone familiar with BattleTech‘s tumultuous legal history might already have an idea of how things got lost over time.

“Slap Chop” by Eldon Cowgur

I spoke to art director Brent Evans at Catalyst Game Labs who told me the whole sordid story. For much of FASA‘s history, the BattleTech Art Archive was just a storeroom full of paintings, sketches, and other physical media. Later in the ’90s that media was digitized and put onto floppy disks, and then later still, it was all stored in a shipping container in a long-term storage facility. Unfortunately, shipping containers are not the best way to preserve either art or digital files. Throw in some misadventures when FanPro dissolved, and by the early 2010s, there was almost nothing of BattleTech‘s original art left. 

That’s why Brent and the Catalyst team agreed to create a far more comprehensive archiving plan, with multiple backups should the worst ever happen—and it has happened on several occasions. According to Brent, Randall Bills has lost several workstations, and one time, his quad backup lost two hard drives thanks to an errant Windows update. 

“Operation Bulldog Ambush” by Florian Mellies

Catalyst now has the hardware to ensure the BattleTech Art Archive can keep images for future generations and is now on the hunt to restore what was lost. That’s why Michael didn’t have to carry that credit card loan for long, and why we may yet see Doug Shuler’s art return in future BattleTech products. 

If you’ve got some old BattleTech art that you’d like to see preserved, you can reach out to Brent at Catalyst Game Labs or fill out the contact form on the company website. Note that the BattleTech Art Archive is for preservation purposes only and is not open to view by the public.

As for Michael, I’m told he’s already on the hunt for more BattleTech art. I suspect he’ll be chasing that high for quite a while.

And as always, MechWarriors: Stay Syrupy.