Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
I finished painting my ATGM a few weeks ago, but am just now getting around to posting the pictures to the site. A reader of my Broken Egg Games Tournament Tray review on HCO asked for larger pictures of the ATGM, which has spurred me to actually get this post up. I haven’t seen the original sculpt up close, but these new ATGM sculpts are very nice. A lot of detail packed in, though painting both sides of their faces can prove difficult with those high collars.
For these guys I altered my painting technique. Instead of using a base, two highlights and two shading colors and blending each into the others, I use a base, one highlight and one shade and did not blend them. This resulted in a much faster paint job that still looks great on the table, but when you get the camera up close it really suffers. If you are thinking of trying this technique to speed up your unit painting make sure to get some really deep shadows and some bright edge highlights to really get the models to pop. Over all I give these guys an “Average Tabletop Quality”.
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages with Officer
Rear View
Right away you can see I did not follow the standard PP paint scheme. This deviation is unusual for me, as I like to stick with the standard schemes. Unfortunately the default ATGM scheme is just a whole lot of what I assume is denim. The entire models are just a wash of grey/blue, my eyes slide right off them for lack of interest.
As I’ve gone along I’ve tied in a small thematic color set into my Cygnar models. I’ve found little ways to tie in the Jack Bone/Menoth White Highlight that I first stumbled into with the plastic Stryker model Needing a color primary color for the ATGM’s jackets I saw a prime opportunity to really make a splash of my Cygnar cream color. Then I did the trim in standard Cygnar blues along with the tri-corner hats. Cygnus yellow comes through in the trip of their loin cloths and the ribbons on their hats. I did still keep some of the denim on their pants and shirts.
ATGM Officer
Officer's Coat
My other thematic Cygnar color is Menoth White Highlight for denoting ranking officers. For the officer attachment I gave him a Menoth White Highlight hat, color and the shoulder drape of his coat. The hat and drape are accented with gold, while his color is trimmed with Cygnus Yellow.
ATGM Leader's White/Yellow Collar
The White/Yellow denoting leadership was also pulled into the collar of the ATGM leader, since all the models are so similar. I also gave the leader a gold-trimmed hat to make picking him out on the battlefield easier.
First Three Grunts
This pictures shows the female ATGM model on the left, and two of the same posed models. For the woman I gave her red hair and a paler skin tone to help her stand out a bit. I tried differentiation the other two from one other by going with blond and brown hair.
Last Two Grunts
It wasn’t until I was part way through painting the models that I realized the guy on the left was probably supposed to be the leader. I assume this because, aside from the woman, he is the only unique sculpt in the unit. Oh well! I ended up using the matching model from the right-hand model as the leader. I went with black hair for the grunt on the left and a lighter coal-black/grey for the guy on the right. I also washed the skin of the right model to give him a darker skin tone.