Luther Delacroix

Scion of the Delacroix family and now its head, Luther is also the vice-president of Black Sun.
  I prepped Luther Delacroix a while back, and only started painting him a few days ago when I realised I could save time working on him simultaneously with Deimon. Doing so helped me sustain some recent painting momentum I have had, which was great from a personal perspective. Like the Azur Agent I painted last week, Luther Delacroix took around a week to complete from base colours to finishing, side-stepping the copious time many of my minis spend in the dread 'painting queue'!
  Finishing Luther also takes me so much closer to Anima Tactics unit number 70, which I feel is pretty good going for two years worth of painting. I still think I am looking at around three years to paint all the Anima Tactics minis I have remaining, and that objective remains intact.
  On the mini itself - while I really like the overall look, and especially the pose and concept, I really think the clothing folds are over-done and over-emphasized. A small quibble, and something that could have made a very good model great IMHO. Despite that, overall I do like the mini a lot.
 Luther will be much more about managing Undead units in his Party than Clover, so offers a different type of Leader. In turn, I can imagine each of these Leaders may favour a different kind of Party selection. Luther especially may benefit from a plethora of Type-005's.

  In terms of Advantage Cards I think Orb of Power would make sense since it give Luther a free Power point immediately in the game, which he can then add to by using his Magic Skills. Alternatively maybe something like Protective Shield which allows free Dodges and therefore would allow Luther to reserve precious AP. I would like to get some Anima Tactics games in soon to try out the burgeoning Black Sun line up that I have.
  With Luther and Deimon now done,  I think it really is time for me to try and fill out the ranks of other Organizations, especially Empire and Church to give me more options for both. But then again, whatever I plan, I seem to do something else! Nonetheless, I would love to get a least a couple more Anima Tactics minis finished before the end of the year since I have fallen quite far short of the goal I set for the range.

Running Totals

Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)

Anima Tactics Units Painted: 69 (65 different units)

Painted Units Percentage: 42.1% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)

Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete units (including 2 LE minis; including September as he still is due for presumably 'imminent' release, and has been for a long time)

Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 42.8%

Year to Date Target: 28 of 33 units (3 per month target; 85%)

Deimon

Deimon is described as the head butler and guardian of the Steiner family, a man of inflexible will and indomitable skill.
  I started this mini ages ago, long before really getting stuck into it properly in the past few days. After a productive first few weeks in November, I was determined to see if I could finish another couple of models, so I decided to crack on with Deimon and Luther Delacroix since they would use a lot of the same colours. I really wanted to try and get 4 Anima Tactics units finished for the month since I have dropped quiet a way behind my target of 3 per month. While I have had some motivation going on, it has been really nice to 'get stuff done', especially that I have painted 14 minis across a number of games and ranges in the past two months.
  Deimon has some interesting special rules, and they epitomise the synergies that Black Sun seems to have between the various unique units. In game terms, he has an interesting risk-reward trade-off that allows him to be accurate and hard hitting. The downside is that maximising that opportunity is not without risk (in his case acquiring Negative States), which for me makes for a very interesting game management mechanic.
  In terms of Advantage Cards, Fate Clock offers great synergies with his Negative State-enhanced Fate Clock runs the risk of inducing Doom on its user, and Deimon is just the unit to do that with since he can potentially transfer all Negative States to his target. I love his rules, and while I don't think he will be 'easy' to use in-game, I think he will definitely be a lot of fun!

Attacks and his need for AP.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 68 (64 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 41.4% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete units (including 2 LE minis; including September as he still is due for presumably 'imminent' release, and has been for a long time)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 42.1%
Year to Date Target: 27 of 33 units (3 per month target; 82%)

Azur Agent (male)

After turning around Akio Kageshima within a week, this mini has been finished in a slightly quicker period of time. I was painting something for a different game when it occurred to me that the other model had a very similar colour palette to what I would use for an Azur Agent, so while waiting for parts of that much bigger mini to dry, I started in on this. The Azur Agent was under-coated black, which means it has been waiting painting for quite some time, and of course I decided to use my regular Azur colour scheme, with the added accents of the white cuffs. It has surprised me just how many Azur units I have painted this year, especially as I have not finished at least one I thought would be done by now!

In the game background, the Azur Alliance is a rival power to the Empire of Abel, and the Azur Agents are the private army of the Supreme Archon.

In game terms an Azur Agent can be fielded multiple times depending on game size, and are customisable. Agents cannot really be min-maxed to match equivalent named units, but they can have a role in a Party. Of course they can simply be used as Al-Djinn Ash Slaves, but used in an Azur force something to consider is fielding them in the same Party as Kerberos who gives them a bonus to their Attack value. Even then though, there are simply more efficient options available since most Azur Prowlers are in the 35-45 Levels range, and the Azur Agents simply cannot match their capabilities, so I am not too sure I really see the game 'value' in them right now. Even worse, they kind of compete against Shinobi in terms of how they can be built, and comparing typical builds for both working off Stealth-based Attacks, the Shinobi will have a cheaper AP Action and be harder hitting, but the Azur would probably be built to be faster. So right now in the game it is hard to see that they can be used to their fullest potential. Hopefully that may change in the future.

On the Anima Tactics painting project front, I have several minis that could be finished quite quickly If I can muster the focus, so hopefully the last few weeks of this year will prove fruitful.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: another Grimorium; still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 67 (63 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 40.9% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete units (including 2 LE minis; including September as he still is due for presumably 'imminent' release, and has been for a long time)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 41.4%
Year to Date Target: 26 of 33 units (3 per month target; 79%)

Akio Kageshima

Akio Kageshima is described as a powerful wizard from Lannet, who is seeking to expand his mystical skill.

He is also one of the older models in the range as far as I can tell, and so is one of the few not sculpted by Juan Navarro Perez. It is also a mini that I have been putting off painting for quite some time until biting the bullet while still gripped by recent painting momentum. In the end the colour scheme is one I am happy with and something I hope that contrasts nicely with my Organization colour combos. I am also hoping this is the start of a small surge in AT painting for me until the end of the year. I am way behind where I wanted to be, but getting more done each week, even if there are not necessarily the finished models to show for it yet.

Akio is a Wanderer, and a pretty inexpensive one at that at 35 Levels. He offers a couple of Ranged Attack options, as well as a Special Dodge. It is one of his Attack options that really interests me most. Soul Storm has Range 16 inches, and is  6 Attack, 10 Damage. It uses all of Akio's AP to unleash the Attack, meaning that you need to position him in advance. It is a big threat and Akio is pretty weak otherwise with 8 Defense and 10 LP with low 2 AP recovery; so getting the best out of the shot is key. Now, I wouldn't build a list around such a fragile although potentially hard-hitting character, but there are some options that come to mind to help get the best out of him.

Nullum Lusec is a useful Advantage Card option. At 35 Levels Akio could be targeted against a higher cost character quite freely; Nullum Lusec is a one-shot +2 Attack boost, so improves likelihood of success and fits the idea of using him in a 'cheap sniper' capacity. Characters that also offer Attack buffs include: Juliette Kaim, Sophia Ilmore and Saint Evangeline are all useful options. Finally, a unit such as Luzbell can be used to transport Akio to the perfect vantage point to make his Soul Storm Attack.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing, but I *still* have two minis on pre-order <sigh>)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 66 (62 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 40.5% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 152 units (including 2 LE minis; including September as he still is due for presumably imminent release, and has been for a long time)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 40.8%
Year to Date Target: 25 of 33 units (3 per month target; 76%)