From Zero to Hero VI: The Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team - Cygnar Character Unit

Hey guys,

this time, I will cover painting the three minis from the Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team. The build of these guys - or their captain to be exact, as the others are both one-piece casts - is very fiddly. Probably the most delicate figure I put together yet. Especially the gun wielding arm was a nightmare. Only with a bit of green stuff did I get the right hold.

The figures themselves have a lot of detail which is both a good and a bad thing. Each figure is fun to paint, but the details do stack up over time. To avoid the dreaded painters burn-out, I always did one of them, then another project, then another of these guys.


I painted them all with a very basic scheme, to give the unit a cohesive look.

First, I primed them with Vallejos Polyurethane Acrylic Grey Primer. Then I layed down an ivory basecoat on the coats of the mini, as most of my army has a Ivory theme going on on the cloth parts.

For shading the ivory cloth, I used a special airbrush color, "graphite", which is a translucent grey ideal for shading. I applied this with my airbrush into all the folds and creases of the coats and then lightened it with a thinned down and lightly applied second layer of ivory if necessary.

basecoated

shaded

toned down with a light coat of ivory

translucent airbrush color

Then I painted the varying basecoats:

Brassy Brass on all ornamental metal parts, Hawk Turquoise on gloves and clothing other than the longcoat, a 1:1 mix of black and dark grey for the pants, which was wet-blended into a lighter grey on the raised areas. The leather parts where basecoated with Snakebite Leather.

When all this was done, I washed these parts with Soft Body Black Wash and highlighted the parts appropriately - Bright Bronze and Glorious Gold for the ornamental metal parts, 1:1 mix of Skull White and Hawk Turquoise for the cloth parts and pure Skull White for a hard edge highlight on the coats of the models.

Basecoated

washed

and finished

When all this was done, I started on some of the details on the figs. I painted the faces. Starting with a basecoat of Tallarn Flesh and a Ogryn Flesh wash I gradually lightened the raised areas of the face. On some figs more than others, so they wouldn't look too similar.

The metal areas of the goggles where painted with Gunmetal Metal, the lenses basecoated with Bloody Red. Then I highlighted the lower parts of the lenses with Orange Fire and even more with Sunburst Yellow. On the opposite part of the lenses, I dotted them with Skull White to simulate a light reflection.

The face finished

The goggles finished

The hat is hard edge highlighted, which was toned down with 3-4 Badab Black washes

For the bases I took the same steps as with my other minis. For a bit of flair I rusted up some cogs and gears and glued them onto the bases - as if they walked over an old field of battle.

The Black 13th

Lynch

Ryan

Watts

I hope you liked my small tutorial, I hope it inspires some of you.

As always, enjoy and have fun,


IK-Painter