First Games!

Dark and Light Warriors gather

Okay, finally got some games in (hey, it only took slightly over thirteen months!), and so wanted to post some thoughts.

Thanks to my main gaming buddy Rob (of Four Color Super Minis - here) for taking a few shots.

We played 3 games during the day. The first was 100 Levels; the second 200 Levels; and the third, you guessed it, 300 Levels.

Each game after the first introduced something extra, so was probably a wise choice to build up our feel for the game-play.


Game 1 - 100 Levels (Dark vs. Light)
Azriel and Kingsley Warlock vs. Lorenzo Cortes and Drake.

Basic introduction. We got to grips with: characters Actions; Attack mechanics; Innate Abilities; Action Point regeneration; Dodge; Charge; Control Zones; Gnosis; Advantage cards; and movement.

Models move very fast it seems in Anima Tactics compared to some other skirmishes. Therefore even a 4' by 4' board can be crossed quite quickly. It is important to plan use of actions to stock up Action Points when they are most needed.

Victory to me based on having the last model standing. Azriel was  the star unit.

Wissenschaft's Last Stand

Game 2 - 200 Levels (Organization Parties; Church vs. Wissenschaft)
Church: Azriel; Lostaroth Marchosias; Grey; Drake.
Wissenschaft: Lorenzo Cortes; Hiro; Wissenschaft Agent (35 Levels); Dereck Shezzard.

We introduced Organization Parties, although I forgot about my Organization Advantage completely! I have a few ideas to act as a reminder in that regard!

Again victory for me, with Azriel star unit once more.

Wrath of Nature Unleashed

Game 3 - 300 Levels (Organization Parties; Church vs. Wissenschaft)
Church: Azriel; Lostaroth Marchosias (as Optional Leader); Grey; Sarah Reindhold; Elhaym, Maiden of Light (Level 50 Summon); Dereck Shezzard.
Wissenschaft: Lorenzo Cortes; Hiro; Valis Ul Del Vilfain (as Optional Leader); Wrath of Nature; (Level 50 Summon); Wissenschaft Agent (35 Levels); Drake.

We added in Leaders this time, which meant a lot more rules to track, and which makes me think Level 200 games may be better until we have quite a few games under our belts.

We also added in Summons (1 per Party), but ended up making Stability rolls a Round too soon, so we should be okay to remember that properly next time. Wrath of Nature in particular was pretty brutal.

Again I was a bit rubbish at remembering to use my Organizational Advantage.

Rob won this game; he maneuvered his faster units better and played more tactically, so a just result, and one that would have resulted even if I remembered to use my re-rolls.

Summary
We both enjoyed playing the game. It probably played faster than I anticipated, even with explaining the rules to Rob, as well as briefly describing the context for thew various miniatures backgrounds.

Seeing Lorenzo knock models flying and follow up with his Dual Buster Action probably was the epitome of the kind of thing we enjoyed.

I enjoyed the games enough to want to play more soon, and of course to want to get more painted.

Valis Ul Del Vilfain

Okay, another one down! And this time around another Optional Leader, meaning that my Organization Party opportunities rare starting to become more rounded. With a Summon and a Wanderer I can make a 300 Level Wissenschaft Party.

I have again carried over the usual black purple colour motif that I use for Wissenschaft onto Valis Ul Del Vilfain, and with this I enjoyed how the scales on her coat came out, even if the photographs do not show them off that well.

With plans to paint up some Gears soon (Theurgia arrived today!), I accept that the big robot-suit things will have a different scheme to the Crows and Arias of Wissenschaft, so ultimately there may be two primary schemes for the Organization.

Valis Ul Del Vilfain is a Sylvain princess employed by Wissenschaft, and is both a capable fighter as well as being a very effective Summoner; her Summons are brought into play for no Action Point cost if engaged with an enemy model. That will typically leave a couple of Action Points to use for something else like movement, Dodges or even an Attack.

We got our first games in today. All were pitched battle type games, and Valis Ul Del Vilfain only featured in the final game (as we stepped up through Levels for each game); and I have to say she was pretty devastating, dropping her Summon into the battle-zone while adding her own formidable attacks.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 102 (added: Morrigan; Jiang Pao; Lin Pao; Nero; Feng Yi; Damien; Theurgia; and (female) Empire Agent)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 16
Painted Minis Percentage: 15.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted; this has dropped but i am happy because my next mini is almost finished, just needing some tidying up over the weekend)

Styx

This was a quick paint-job, and nice to complete - a lot of times quick outcomes are useful for me to renew my motivation; seeing stuff finished helps me finish more stuff more easily if that makes sense  and given my history of painting slumps over the past few years, anything that helps fight or avoid that is a 'good thing'.

Therefore, painting Styx was not towards the end of gaming with it any time soon (that won't happen but I'll explain why later in the post), but simply I felt motivated, and it was quick to paint which is a winning combo for me. Looking at the pics, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out (although a couple of extra fine highlights were added after photographing it).

The swirl design I decided to do as a green glow-y thing; I chose green as all my Black Sun will have green as a colour motif, which is also reflected in his collar (and which is in keeping with the colours of Clover). I do need to touch up the left eye a bit but that should be reasonably quick an easy.

So onto why I won't be gaming with Styx any time soon. Well rules-wise Styx is an Undead dog; being Undead means that he can become Uncontrollable. He purposefully has an automatic chance of that occurring if Promethea (also from the same Black Sun Starter Box as Styx, along with a Type-005) is not in play; so obviously intended to play in a Party with Promethea then? Not quite. The Type-020: Verrier has an option to be upgraded to Type-021: Queen, and if I read the rules right that excludes Styx from his Uncontrollable rule while the Type-021: Queen is still on the table. He is still self-evidently better with Promethea in play (he essentially acts as her bodyguard and some of his rules only trigger from that), but I have two minis I can paint up, that either of which will allow Styx to be fielded without going wild. That said, the only advantages that Styx has over a typical Type-005 is better mobility, Hidden and a nice Attack that can only be used from Hidden; whereas the Type-005 will have better Damage, Armor and LP.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 94
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 15
Painted Minis Percentage: 15.96% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Azriel

Painting slowed down a little this month, but I am hoping that picks up in the next four days, however in the mean-time Azriel was finished today. The shininess from the washed areas should be fixed when varnished.

Azriel is an Inquisitor, so is part of the same branch of the Church as Lostaroth Marchosias. What I plan to do with my Church minis is use red as the unifying theme, with Inquisition models having black as the primary additional colour, and the Saints and similar having white as their additional colour. Grey as a former agent of the Inquisition sits neatly with his grey colour theme between the two. Almost like I planned it (or a happy accident...)!

This is not my favourite Anima Tactics mini by any stretch, although I generally like it; it is just that the sword is unnecessarily thick and therefore 'chunky', especially when compared to the finer-style sculpting of Juan Navarro Perez. Things like this remind of the early 90's and GW-style sculpting  but things have moved on. And so the sword, which should be one the focal things given the size of it, is actually a detraction.

Anyway Azriel is another Warrior, and his arrival means that I can now do a Level 200 or 300 Church Organization Party (with the help of a Wanderer, and a Summon for the Level 300 Party).

Comparing hims to a unit like Drake makes me think he looks fairly competitive, with a relatively cheap (AP-wise) reactive Attack - hurt him close-up and he hurts you back if he is still standing. I am thinking that Equipment cards that could go well with Azriel are things like Nephiros (eliminate a character and recover 1 Action Point); Blood Omen (recover 1 LP per Attack that causes damage); and the weapon standbys of Primal, Elemental Weapon or Supernatural Weapon.

Time for the running total, and as I type these words I have not yet worked out the percentage, but have to acknowledge I have recently had another sizable intake of minis, so a little worried...


Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 94 (added: Konosuke; Takanosuke; Daniella Meris; Janus Faith and Rayne)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 14
Painted Minis Percentage: 14.9% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Whew! Slight increase. If I can finish another couple this week then that should drift up a couple of percentage points. Stay tuned!

Small Additions (Pages) And Thanks

Just to let you know that I have been doing a little bit of house-cleaning and re-organizing of the blog, so now there are 'page' tabs at the top, below the blog title.

Those pages link through to brief descriptions of Organizations and Teams and their characters, or Wanderers and Summons on their own pages.

In the mean-time, I notice there are now 16 Followers signed up, so thank you to everyone who has taken time to check out the blog.

In return I promise that  I will continue to add content and post minis as they are painted. So thank you to everyone who has been checking out the Anima Tactician.

Wrath of Nature

My first Summon!

Not that I have painted up a worthwhile Summoner yet (I do not see Sarah Reindhold as a useful Summoner at this stage of my understanding of the game), but hey, it is a start...

The blurb for Wrath of Nature describes them as 'an incarnation of the unleashed power of Gaia'.

Summons are non-unique, meaning a Party can include more than one of each type subject to the Levels limit. Summons do not start in play, but are brought to the battle-field by the Summoner they are attached to. Summoning has an Action Point cost according to the Summon's rules. In addition, most Summons have a choice of Level cost which they can be bought for, with a lesser and more powerful version available. That difference may be in characteristics, or Innate Abilities or Special Actions. The Level cost of Summons is accordingly lower than perhaps an equivalent model with the same abilities (if there was such a thing), and this is reflected in their Atman rating, which is their relative worth. In addition they can be used within an Organization Party without taking up the Wanderer slot.

The Wrath of Nature is a bit of a lumbering beast with a lot of Life Points and Armor, but not too mobile. The fact that it is huge should be evident from the third photograph alongside Sarah Reindhold.

I would like to get at least one more Summon and a decent Summoner painted up before my planned games later this month.

In the mean time the painting queue changes randomly as ever, and Yuki had some work done today: not even a Summoner! So whether I get done what I want is anyone's guess...


Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 89 (added a lot since the last update: Kerberos; Veronica; Deadmoon; Jerome; Justine; Cordelia Rosalind; Damaris; and Momiji)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 12
Painted Minis Percentage: 14.6% (yep, it has gone down! That splurge has dented my progress, so time to get splashing those hairy sticks onto minis!)

Anima Tactics Demo Video

There are a few Anima Tactics demo videos out there, and recently I came across this one from 2008 by Larkin Vain who I know from a few internet fora.

Larkin Vain agreed for this to be posted so I thought it would be useful to give a brief insight into the game mechanics for interested parties.