Kira

Another minis finished. In all, March 2014 has been a pretty productive month for me, with five Anima Tactics minis painted (the others being a Type-020: Verrier; a second Type-004: Hellhound/Hellhound; Arkham; and Ahriman, Lord of Darkness) and two minis for other ranges. Like Arkham, this one had been part-painted for months, so it is very pleasing to have cleared it from the painting queue. Even if looking closely at the pictures it looks like I have a bit of tidying to do around the back of the left ankle!

With Kira completed (with the caveat above!), my Wissenschaft force has grown to the point where I have a few options for 300 Level games. This year, I would really like to crack into the Gears. That will be dependent on settling on how I want to paint them in a consistent and pleasing way.

In game terms, Kira overlaps a little with Alessa Raincross, so I can see them being played together to double up capabilities. They are far from identical however. Following the 2013 Update, Alessa Raincross had her cost adjusted to 40 Levels, the same as Kira. Kira edges capabilities with higher Attack (5 vs. 4) and Life Points (13 vs. 10). However, Alessa has a longer range Special Attack (24 inches). Both have a multi-attack Special Action, with Alessa's throwing out more actual Attacks against a slightly better range for Kira. Alessa has Stealth, which Kira does not, but that is limited in context of her two Special Attacks, so in all, I think Kira wins out for me. That said, they look pretty 'shooty' for 80 Levels together, and I can see both getting a run out in a Party.

The obvious Advantage Cards are probably things like Piercing Weapon and/or Elemental Weapon, and also Gnose to reduce the threat of enemy Ranged Attacks against Kira.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 155 (added: nothing, but I have something on order...)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 48 (46 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 30.97% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 30.7%

Ahriman, Lord Of Darkness

My fourth Anima Tactics mini finished in March, and this was done from base colours to finish in a few hours, and completed in one day - something my haphazard painting process normally forgoes!

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do for this mini for a while, but never made a start. Then I changed my mind, picked up the mini, and wanted to try a couple of new-ish paints in my collection from Reaper. The final scheme then formulated pretty quickly and I quite enjoyed doing a 'quick and done' paint-job. Nothing fantastic about the painting here, but done quickly to a satisfying standard, and yet another mini finished, and a step closer to number 50.

I am particularly chuffed to get another Dark Summon finished as that then frees up more balanced options for games.

Ahriman, Lord of Darkness is a unit that has benefited from the points costs revisions in the 2013 Saga III & IV Update. Costs have dropped to 35 and 45 Levels for the two differing forms. But in all honestly I can see no good reason to use the lesser form as the greater form has 1 extra point of Attack, but more importantly has an extra Bind Point, meaning it can stay in the game longer. Mitigating that Bind Point difference requires for more  than the equivalent cost in my humble opinion, so a no-brainer. And there is more; the higher level version benefits from Intangibility, meaning only enemy units with Magic or Ki Attacks or Effects, or of a Level higher than Ahriman, Lord of Darkness' Atman of 60 (so characters of Level 65 and above), can actually harm this particular Summon - pretty nasty then.

In the background, the Lords of Darkness appear to be the elemental opposites of the Maidens of Light. Since I am planning to eventually paint a second Elhaym, Maiden of Light, it would make sense to paint a second Ahriman, Lord of Darkness. Another purchase to make then!

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 155 (added: nothing, but thinking of ordering a second Arhiman, Lord of Darkness...)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 47 (45 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 30.3% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 30.0%

Arkham

Another Anima Tactics mini finished and some momentum is gathering it seems.

Arkham is described via the Anima Tactics Oracle as an ex-member of Order of the Magus, who became unhealthily fascinated with immortality and undeath, and who is now one of the main researchers participating in Black Sun's necromantic weapons testing. Surrounded by a legion of spectral ravens and drawing upon dark magic, this dark wizard will stop at nothing to achieve his goal of becoming the ultimate form of undead.

Yet another Black Sun you may say, after the Type-020: Verrier and Type-004: Hellhound, and you would be right! A week ago this was in the same state it had been for months - a couple of basic colours and then nothing else. Suddenly this week I felt the motivation rising to finish it, and one thing I have learned is to go along when I get some painting mojo going! Bit by bit over three evenings and an hour in a morning at the weekend, this has gone from two basic colours to finished, much more quickly than I anticipated.

Finishing Arkham helps round out the Black Sun unit options so I hope I can concentrate a little more on the other organizations before returning, but you never know. Or at least I don't! It alos drags me closer to the next 'Next 10' than I thought I would be a couple of weeks ago, so I may be able to make it to that target by the end of April with a little luck.

In game terms Arkham is a bit light-weight, although he does have a potential threat range of 32 inches thanks to his Raven Flight plus Beam Actions. He also has an Action called Soul Scavenger, which can cause every attack against a single target to inflict Critical Hits for a Turn; to me that sounds ideal against tricky high Defense targets, and maybe against targets with large LP totals, but I will have to see the Action used to weigh it up. He also offers 2 Guidance Points, which are of course useful when managining the rank and file Undead. The Advantage Card that seem most likely would be Control Bound to maximise the impact of Soul Scavenger, or Ring of Erebus which increases range for magical ranged attacks and would add to utility as a back line 'sniper' of sorts.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 155 (added: still no new recent additions!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 46 (44 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 29.7% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 29.3%

Black Sun Party (Update I)

Well, with 3 more Black Sun units than the last post had, I thought it time for an update.

If I was making a Party out of this group, I would take all except Styx. The list would be:

• Clover - Level 70
• Kingsley Warlock - Level 45
• Type-020: Verrier (Queen) - Level 40
• Type-009 (Type-010: Commander) - Level 35
• Type-005 (Type-005A: Assault) - Level 25
• Type-005 (Type-005A: Assault) - Level 25
• Type-005 (Type-005A: Assault) - Level 25
• Type-004: Hellhound - Level 25

That makes 290 Levels of units, so not an 'efficient' list. Elite Squadron would be a must have Advantage Card, along with Power Source, and most likely Supernatural Weapon (Clover) and Piercing Weapon (Kingsley Warlock). 

More likely I think I need to rethink and replace units, maybe dropping one of the Type-005's or the Type-004: Hellhound, perhaps swapping one of them for Arkham or a Level 35 Type-020: Verrier. Or perhaps dropping Kingsley Warlock and taking a Level 55 Raziel Archetypum. I suspect that I really need more choices to make the best use of the cheap grunts.

Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound (II)

This is my second Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound (the first can be seen here - click for link); and painted slightly more in keeping with my Black Sun forces this time, and alongside the Type-020: Verrier I posted a few days ago. Hopefully the upcoming picture of my Black Sun units together will bear that out.

I picked this model out to paint last week almost as soon as it arrived in the post, as I wanted something I could finish quickly and easily and because as much as I don't really enjoy painting that much (I am a gamer first, painter second I think; I want my gaming pieces to be painted though), I did quite enjoy the first one as something quick and easy to do, and this was no different thankfully.

I hope that I can overcome the lull I have been in and get a move on through some more Anima Tactics units sooner than later, I'd like to get to 50 painted models for the game before the end of May, preferably even sooner (although I wonder if the end of April is a goal too far!).

I have a fair number that have yet to be used in games I have played, including the Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound. Looking at this unit's rules again, especially as a Black Sun unit rather than as as Summon, it looks like a fairly cheap but potentially decent unit to harry and harass weaker support type enemy models. As a Dark Summon it is incredibly inexpensive at a mere 15  Levels.

I have a number of other Anima Tactics minis part-painted as well as dozens undercoated but not yet started. If I was a more disciplined painter I would start cranking through the partly done units I have, however I can be a bit of a gadfly when it comes to getting minis finished so that remains a forlorn hope I reckon. Maybe I ought to shame myself publicly by posting a pic of all the minis that have had some paint splashed on them? Or, then again, maybe not... :)

Anyway, this is my 45th Anima Tactics mini painted, which is pretty good going for a game that typically can be played with around 4-8 units at a time. Still, I really do want to paint at least one of every mini for this game, so that goal remains intact. Please stay with me and with the blog over the next couple of years to see how I get on with that ambition!

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 155 (added: nothing in the past few days!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 45 (43 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 29.0% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 28.7%

Type-020: Verrier

It has been a long lay-off from painting for me (due to working on the recent Pulp City Kickstarter), at least relative to my productivity in 2013. Therefore I am pretty pleased to have painted a few minis over the past few days.

I have managed to paint some Anima Tactics and non-Anima Tactics stuff that I hope will ignite some overall painting momentum, with a view to getting back on track.

This weekend I finished three minis including this one, and in the past few days I have prepped several other Anima Tactics minis: Luther Delacroix; another Al-Djinn; and Freya. While I already had a lot of stuff prepped, I am hoping completing 'some things' right now helps spur me on to getting some serious painting done in the next few weeks and months - time will tell of course, as ever!

This model has been in my pile of blisters for a few months, but having some time off work this week freed up a bit of painting time, so I had a small surge of motivation and assembled and painted this quite quickly by my standards; it effectively 'jumped the painting queue', but having not finished any painting for several weeks I am okay with that. While not my best work, I am happy with the results especially for a quick turnaround.

In game terms, one Type-020: Verrier can be taken per every 150 Levels of a Party. As an Undead unit you cannot attach Advantage Cards to them, so the key choice regarding the Type-020: Verrier is which upgrade to use. I suspect my primary choice will be the Queen until I get to grips with Guidance Points and Controllers; the Queen option allows lower-Level Undead to ignore the Uncontrollable rule. The options allow this unit to be fielded at Levels between 30 and 40. I have another Type-020: Verrier waiting in the wings (pardon the pun!), although not yet assembled, but with this unit finished and the next (to be shown in a few days), my Black Sun force is really growing; I expect to show a new Party picture very soon, and hope to get them on the table in the next few months.

I am also closing in on having a complete collection of the minis. There have been a couple of recent releases which I have yet to pick up (Gear Mk. Trithemius and October), so by my count I need five more minis for the complete set. Getting closer, although the paint total still falls short!

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 155 (added: Luther Delacroix; Mijhail Mashen’ka; a second Type-020: Verrier; and a second Type-004: Hellhound/ Hellhound)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 44 (43 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 28.4% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 28.7% (this includes the two new releases)