Adolf Brunner

Another Anima Tactics unit finished, this one after a break of three and half months. In my last post I explained why momentum had dropped off this project; well since then there really is no update: Ninja Division/Soda Pop are still waiting for additional stock from the other side of Ninja Division, namely Cipher Studios. Which means fans of the range are still waiting for those last few releases. I will be pleased if they ever appear, but each month I have increased doubts.

Despite all of that, I managed to get to some renewed motivation for painting Anima Tactics and wanted to start and finish a mini quite quickly, and suddenly Adolf Brunner seemed the right option. I thought if I kept going over a few sessions he could be manageable.

Painting-wise, I decided on the sandy blond hair to evoke the idea of German WWII fictional villains from pulps etc.

The painting was actually quite straight-forward due to the simplified colour scheme I opted for, and it is nice to have another mini done, although I am way behind my target for the year.

In all I am pretty happy with how the mini has turned out, especially as my momentum for this range had ground to a halt prior to completing this one. Hopefully it won't be another three and half months before I finish my next Anima Tactics mini.

In the Anima background Adolf is described as a nasty piece of work, a cruel supernatural scientist who has risen in power and influence.

In game terms Adolf Brunner is my 10th Azur unit, which isn't bad considering I have yet to play them as an Organization!

Adolf Brunner specialises in Magic Effects and can return to the board even if taken out. He is also part of the Team The Puppet Master (the boss of it basically) along with Frey and Freya. Like many Azur he has a relatively low Levels cost which was reduced after the cost adjustment in 2013.

Maybe one day I will give my Azur a proper game.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units Units Painted/Owned: 73/165 (44.2%)
Anima Tactics Discrete Units Painted/Range: 69/159 different units (42.8 %)
Year to Date Target: 3 of 18 units (3 per month target; 17%)

Church Agent (male)

Unit number 70 - done!

These Agents are the special forces available to the Church's highest circles of power. Many are trained from childhood to hunt down and destroy supernatural threats to humanity, while others use their divine gifts to further the work of the Church.

I started this mini along with another Church Agent and a couple of non-Anima Tactics minis at the same time, to take advantage of the fact that all were using red as a predominant colour. What that meant was that in a few days I managed to paint 3 minis, and so I have inched further forward with my Anima Tactics painting total. This mini was started once previously, and stripped of paint when I was unhappy with my progress. There is some pitting at the back of the mini I am unhappy with, but that will stay as it is, as I just do not want to strip and repaint it again. More importantly, it is my first Church unit completed (since Alis Testarossa) in almost 6 months!

As mentioned in a recent post (click for link), it looks like Agents may get a change to their rules, so I am very interested to see what will happen with Church Agents. once all the Agents cards have been revealed, I will probably get a set printed via Artscow until such time official cards are printed.

As the year draws to a close, I don't think there is any hope of achieving my target of 36 Anima Tactics units this year. However, I may get a couple more painted possibly, and if I can match the same total next year and the year after, the project will remain steadily on course. That may need me to paint 'smarter', doing what I have done with Deimon and Luther Delacroix and painting a couple of units in tandem for speed,

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 70 (66 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 42.7% (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 presumed release)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 43.4%
Year to Date Target: 29 of 36 units (3 per month target; 81%)

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%)

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%)

Samael Agent (male)

Forming a shadowy network of operatives, Samael Agents are tasked to unleash chaos and confusion across all of Gaia in the name of the Fallen Angels of Samael.

With this mini, I have been painting it bit by bit through the week, desperately clinging on to my often fleeting motivation! I wanted a quite muted palette, to create a sort of 'fantasy ranger' look to him; green, grey and brown as the main colour blocks all fit that kind of vision I think, with some contrasting brightness from the stave and magical effect. When I finished Dagger, this Samael Agent was only under-coated, so it has quickly leap frogged a number of part-done minis, which is okay - at least something has been finished! It may be a bit rough in places, but I can live with it. The most important thing for me is getting another mini done, and it has also been a useful exercise in  working with the green colour I used here and which I am using for another non-Anima Tactics project.

Until I get a more substantial Samael force together, I think this Agent is most likely to  be used in games as created by an Al-Djinn as an Ash Slave. Samael Agents belong to either Light, Dark or Neutral Faction depending on the abilities. This can have slight impact of things like choosing Advantage cards, as well as how a few units do or do not get bonuses against specific Factions.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing, but I *still* have two minis on pre-order <sigh>)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 65 (61 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 39.9% (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: 40.1%
Year to Date Target: 24 of 30 units (3 per month target; 80%)

Arias Vayu

Another Summon, I wanted to finish this as a counterpoint to painting my first Al-Djinn and the second. I had actually started Arias Vayu before both the Al-Djinns, completing the Elemental Crystals first, then started tackling the bulk painting on the main mini at a later date. Of course things didn't work out as planned, and the Al-Djinn's have been finished for a while. Suffice to say, I found parts of this unit very tricky, fiddly and frustrating to paint, and I also struggled the skin, which I tried to do with a different colour to my usual choice to create a sense of difference. All of which means that while I may double up on many or most Summons, I have absolutely no plans to paint another Arias Vayu. Ever. And yes, that is despite the fact that I do think it is a lovely model!

The five minis (Arias Vayu and the Elemental Crystals) are treated as a single unit for rules, although the Elemental Crystals are treated as distinct and separate models. Obviously I have not yet tried out Arias Vayu, but I suspect there will be a little bit of understanding required of best strategy needed to get the most out of this particular unit. At 55 Levels, the indication is that Arias Vayu is one of the more potent Summons, yet there is an inherent unpredictability at the same time.

Arias Vayu is able to (randomly) call upon one of five abilities of the Elemental Crystals each Turn, so positioning is key to minimize the impact of pure luck; Gnosis is pretty much a must-use with Arias Vayu, I think, to help try and achieve favourable results, and a unit like High Saint Eleinai (Church Leader) can really help here with her ability to use Gnosis after a die roll is made.

I need to get more Summoners painted up to make the most of the growing array of Summons I am painting, but i have been saying that for several months now. Covel and Belith seem increasingly much-needed! Embarrassingly, both have been part done for months.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing new but I have two minis on pre-order)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 62 (58 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 38.0% (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)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 38.2%
Year to Date Target: 21 of 27 units (3 per month target; 75%)

Reindhold

Fast on the heels of the Gear Mk. Trithemius comes Reindhold, my 60th Anima Tactics unit! Alfred Reinhold Webber is a descendant of one of the oldest and most influential noble houses of Togarini (a land of Gaia), and a captain of Les Jaeger. Reinhold wields powerful psychic powers, and is able to move mountains with the power of his mind.

In game terms, Reindhold is a little unusual. Most of his Actions are Effect based, meaning they cannot be Dodged, although Resistance applies. That said, his Damaging Effect is restricted to 6 Life Points Damage, so he has his limits. He also has a Paralysis causing Action, as well as another that can move enemy models, useful with models who have yet to Activate or are in tricky positions to reach. He can also move scenery, but I never like those kinds of Actions in games, since scenery sizes vary so much by gamer’s collections, and also because a beautifully crafted board with fixed scenery renders the Action useless. A minor criticism though.

Reindhold is a member of Team Les Jaeger, and the second member of the Team I have painted after Kyler; I still have to complete Kirsten (part-painted) and The Colonel to finish the group. Azur will take a bit of working out in terms of effective game-play I think, so I may hold off playing them until I have Team Les Jaeger and an Arbiter at the very least. So quite a way off then! When I do finally get around to using Reindhold, Advantage Cards that make sense are Clock of Cronos or Fate Clock for the extra AP; Control Bound to boost the Reindhold’s Effect values (making Resistance rolls harder against his Actions); or maybe Presence (extending Reindhold’s Control Zone, therefore his range with abilities). He is also one of the units that benefited from a cost reduction with the 2013 Update.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing new....yet!)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 60 (56 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 36.8% (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)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 36.8%
Year to Date Target: 19 of 24 units (3 per month target; 79%)

Gear Mk. Trithemius

This is my first Gear, and a tester of sorts. I have a couple of these now and will use them to work out my painting approach to the bigger Gears like Goethia, Theurgia and Grimorium. Legacy of Solomon may be different but I am not sure yet, and the Golem Gears such as Hecatondies Sigma Zero will be certainly be approached differently.

Gears come in two flavours so far, and the more common type is considered Technomagical Powered Armour, and that is the class that the Trithemius seems to fall into. Gears are mostly developed from examples of rediscovered technology known as Lost Loggia in the Anima Tactics background. Most of them have Damage Resistance, cannot take Advantage Cards, and many are Immune to Poison.

The Gear Mk. Trithemius is a sort-of Agent type of Gear; it is not an Agent as such, but counts against the limit of Agents, and like Agents has a small menu of options to customise its abilities. Unfortunately, the creators appear to have printed the game card for the unit with an error in its AP recovery rate (the card has it as way too fast for its Level value), although this has not been officially addressed in an Errata or update that I can find. I hope that is rectified fairly soon.

Since I mainly play against Wissenschaft when I play Rob, I hope we get a game in with one or more Gears fairly soon, although countering the decent Armor values prevalent among Gears will take some working out.

I enjoyed painting this and turned it around quite quickly, so the second one may be done before too long. Possibly.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: Gear Mk Trithemius x2; October)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 59 (55 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 36.2% (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)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 36.2%
Year to Date Target: 18 of 24 units (3 per month target; 75%)

Al-Djinn (II)

Another Al-Djinn, started at the same time as the first one, but finished separately due to the differences in some key colours. And finishing this one took a little longer than hoped as I have been focused on some writing recently which inevitably ate into painting time.

Given that the Al-Djinn are quite atypical, even among Summons, and are not straightforward attacker or tank type units, and that their support is not through simple buffs/de-buffs or Healing, then I suspect I won't be playing them too often, but you never know. Still, yet another reason for me to get more Dark Summoners painted!

Thinking about the fact that I am not likely to play these units too often, that makes me really wish Anima Tactics had better distribution and support into the UK. I think it is one of the better small-model count skirmishes that UK-based gamers just don't know about, but that is biased by my admittedly very strong liking of the minis and the game as a whole.

There is a strong background for the Anima range, nice rules, crossover into other gaming platforms, and real depth to the minis line (over 150 minis currently with more to come), yet on a few fora I have read comments about lack of awareness of the minis. There has to be enough of an audience to make future new releases sustainable, yet for some reason Anima Tactics seems very much to occupy a niche, within the low model count niche of skirmish games, within the larger niche of war-gaming; or 'a niche, within a niche, within a niche' as a friend once described another game I really enjoy immensely. The kind of game that has a dedicated enough audience for its own needs possibly?

I hope that does not sound negative, I'm just airing some thoughts. I love the game and its minis, and will stick with it. :)

I remain committed to my plan to paint at least one of every mini for the Anima Tactics range (and perhaps should be committed for it...). So please stay tuned to the blog to see how my progress goes! Hopefully another one or two units may appear before the end of this month.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 160 (added: nothing - but still waiting on 2 minis)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 57 (54 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 35.6% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 151 units (including 2 LE minis; added September as he still is due for imminent release)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 35.8%
Year to Date Target: 16 of 21 units (3 per month target; 76%)

Al-Djinn

A little more Anima Tactics painting in the past few days, I started this and another Al-Djinn at the same time, getting the basics on each done to cut down on painting time (although this one was finished first as they don't have identical paint schemes).

"You called, my master?" Al-Djinn are described as spirits whom dared to defy the gods, imprisoned and isolated as punishment for their foolishness. Constrained by the bonds imposed by their imprisonment, they can still use their great powers to alter the destiny of the world.

In game terms they are one of the trickier Summons to use I suspect. That is largely due to their Action that allows them to copy the abilities of another unit. They had a rules adjustment with the 2013 Saga III & IV Update, reducing the maximum Level of a unit they can copy, as well as a Level cost increase for the Al-Djinn themselves, which reinforces that they were probably overdue for rules re-balancing.

The other tactic to use with an Al-Djinn is to create Ash Slaves: Level 20 or 25 Agents (their Level is dependent on whether your take the lesser of greater Al-Djinn option). Each Al-Djinn can create and maintain up to 3 concurrent Ash Slaves. This can allow the Al-Djinn player to exploit the opportunity for extra units to block Charge lanes, protect other units with Intercepts, add a little extra Attack capacity, or protect objectives.

I want to get more out of Summons in games, which means there are a few units I want to get painted before too long (Covel, Belith and Saint Hazael come to mind as Summoners, and I need to get to work on my Alius, Holy Soldiers too; I have started work on Arias Vayu).

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 160 (added: nothing - but still waiting on 2 minis)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 56 (54 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 35.0% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 151 units (including 2 LE minis; added September as he still is due for imminent release)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 35.7%
Year to Date Target: 15 of 18 units (3 per month target; 83%)

Lilian Virgil

Woo-hoo, another one done! I am not thinking my slump is completely broken, but getting a few minis painted in the past few weeks (across a couple of game lines) is a step in the right direction. In around a week's time I should be able to crack into painting a couple more I hope.

Lilian Virgil adds to my Empire ranks which is good, pulling me towards having a third Organization with more than 300 Levels of units available (with Church not too far off either - one more model would do the trick there). She is also one-half of Team Weapons of Azrael, with the other being Macbeth (who is in the painting queue). Although not the most powerful of Warriors, also being a Mystic allows Lilian Virgil to take the Control Bound Advantage Card which increases the Effect value of her primary Attack (a bad thing for enemies, as they roll against Effect using their Resistance). In essence Lilian is a kind of utility fighter, with a State-inflicting Attack called Sacred Seal; this inflicts Seal naturally), a Healing ability and an Action that reduces the cost of Charges for Party members within her Control Zone. She is not the most powerful of units, but certainly offers a few options, and she gets a lot better if working as part of her Team.

She is described as a talented fighter talent who combines sacred powers with martial skill to serve the Empress.

I hope to get Macbeth finished soon (which will likely mean that I actually paint something completely different instead!), and if I can get one or two Church units painted soon too, that would be ideal. I still have a number of units in advanced stages of painting that I just cannot seem to get myself to finish. I also hope to get some more games in later this month.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 158 (added: nothing, but I still have 4 minis on back order....)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 54 (52 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 34.2% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 151 units (including 2 LE minis; added September as he is due for imminent release)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 34.4%
Year to Date Target: 13 of 18 units (3 per month target; 72%)

Janiel

My fiftieth painted Anima Tactics mini, and really not the one I expected to get finished to achieve that milestone. I picked he up while waiting for some paint to dry on another mini and quickly got to work, doing more than I planned to in short order.

Janiel Ul Del Valiem is a formidable spell-caster and fighter. Her mystical abilities allow her to invoke a guardian spirit named Enjeil, who takes the form of an enormous eagle made of energy, through which she manifests her powers.

My Samael units don't have an identifiable colour scheme, and so will have more in common with my Wanderers than the other Organizations; I am guessing they will quite a colourful bunch by the time they are done. It is going to be quite some time before I have enough units to filed a substantively Samael-filled Party (although I could probably do it already with Wanderers and Summons, three Samael units would not feel 'enough' for me), but this is another one done which is the main thing.

Looking at Janiel in game terms, she looks like quite a bit of a utility character; she looks like a mixed fighter and support character, not excelling in either category, but providing some options in both aspects. Her actions are a mix of close combat Attack, Ranged Attack, Healing, attack buff (to ranged attacks against a single target) and Seeking (used against Hidden for characters with Stealth). When I eventually get a Samael Party together and try and get to grips with them, I think that utility of varied Actions will be useful to cover some short-comings. Of course utility characters generally don't excel with Actions, so may not be as good or effective as a unit with a narrower focus. Pluses and minuses.

For Advantage Card I am thinking Control Bound to maximise the efficacy of her Action that buffs ranged Attacks against a single target, however that would be contingent on having a few Ranged Attacks in the Party.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 156 (added: nothing)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 50 (48 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 32.1% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 units (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 32.0%

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%

Genma

And another Anima Tactics mini is completed! More importantly, this is one of the nine minis I included in my first batch of prepped minis (click for link). That was twenty months or so ago, and of those I have only painted five so far, so I am clearly not the most disciplined of painters!

So at last Genma is finished. As much as I like the mini, I have struggled for motivation to get this finished, obviously, and I don't know if I can put my finger on why. I like the mini; I like the Anima Tactics range; I like Samael characters; I like Summons and Genma is a master Summoner. Yet still it stayed stuck in the queue.

So onto the mini. Well colour-wise I plan to eschew any uniformity for Samael. This risk is they may end up as a mish-mash, and are not differentiated from my Wanderers, but I am okay with that. Genma's primary focus is in bringing Summons to the table; she has a token ranged Attack, but I am never going to be taking her because of that! She is able to Summon Light, Dark and Void, so pretty much anything, and considering there are no Void Summons yet, I am very curious to see what they would be like! Definitely an area I want to see more of for the game. I would really like to do a Summoner duo (pick two of Genma, Belith or Covel) with a horde of otherworldly creatures flung onto the battlefield, meaning I really do need to paint some more minis to do that with!

In terms of Advantage Cards Familiar is an obvious choice. Assuming the Samael Organizational Advantage allowing an automatic extra Bind Point on each Summon, then Familiar could be redundant, similarly Seal of Bones. Thus, something like Container looks interesting, allowing Genma to Summon as many as four units. Or something like Protective Shield; it is expensive (but the Summons won't be using any individual Advantage Cards of course), but could add to her survivability with free Dodges.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 147 (added: nothing, but awaiting an order)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 39
Painted Minis Percentage: 26.5% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 148 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 25.7%

Kagemaru

Woo-hoo; another one down, and with the last couple of painted minis I am past 25% of the entire available range for Anima Tactics (technically I think that was the last mini, I miscounted and thought there were 150 when I posted Ignis, Fire Demon, but looking again, it looks like there are currently 148 discrete minis). I am also drifting ever-closer to my fourth 'Next 10' post which is cool. So in the past 12 months I have made a bit of a dent into my Anima Tactics collection, and much more so than I thought I would in November 2012.

So on to Kagemaru. In keeping with my random approach to painting this range (except that recent Black Sun run!), here is a unit out of left field. I decided to go for a dark palette livened up with some dark red, dark blue and purple; that way he should hopefully stand out a little against Azur units who I plan to go mostly 'black' for, with a white accent on their neck frills.

Kagemaru is the legendary master of the Asakura ninja clan. So a super-ninja, with mystical powers and a bit of Summoning to boot! As an Optional Leader, he excels in spamming Shinobi into a Party list (with a cost break and raises the number limit), and allows for some unusual builds that still count as Organization Parties, even if lacking many actual Organization units.

Kagemaru has a lot of Actions built around his Stealth; in the games we have played so far Stealth has yet to feature at all, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. On the looks of things though, he looks like he could be devastating with options of a 11/8 Attack from Hidden/Stealth, or a 16 inch range Charge that is 13/4 for which he does not have to be Hidden. Ouch! Essentially even without buffing Kagemaru, target models are going to have to consider Dodging or take a big hit.

On the Advantage Card side of things, Primal seems ideal for adding to deadliness of his first attack (his first Charge as 13/7 then stacked by a support unit to become more decisive), but I think I would more likely take Clock of Cronos (to ensure he has enough Action Points), or Familiar if he takes a Summon.

In addition, if rumours prove to be true, Kagemaru will form half of Team Twin Shadow with Zenobius which will allow a very ninja-heavy Party if a player chooses!

As for what next in my Anima Tactics painting? I am giving up making any kind of promise or prediction for a while, so let's just see what comes up!

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 147 (added: nothing, but a couple are on order)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 38
Painted Minis Percentage: 25.9% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 148 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 25.0%

Damaris

I am glad this one is finally done; it has been 'hanging around' the painting queue part-done for quite some time, and so needed completing (even if there are some bits I think could be better, it will do). I have quite a few others in the 'mostly done' phase (which is all too common for me!), so I need to finish some more sooner than later.

Damaris is (yet another!) Church Mystic, but to add variety a male - yep it is a dude! He is also a Summoner (Light and Dark, but not Void), so immediately I am thinking the only unit he is competing with in a Church Party is Sarah Reindhold. Damaris is 5 levels more, but can take Dark Summons which Sarah cannot; he is also *slightly* more durable (12 LP vs. 10 LP); he can also buff and respond to the destruction of Friendly units with a few differing options. Basically he looks to be a more aggressive option than Sarah, and could be the means I have been looking for to get the most out of Lostaroth Marchosias who always seems to die pretty swiftly.

In terms of Advantage Cards, the Container card he comes with buffs his Summoner Level, but I may be more tempted to use Familiar to keep his Summon around longer - I guess it depends on the Summons I would want to use; if say a Hellhound, then Damaris with Container and 2 Hellhounds only costs 65 Levels which sounds okay since they are intentionally pretty disposable. If something like Hamadria, Wrath of Nature or Elhaym, Maiden of Light, then Familiar is the choice I would make.

The pack comes with the spirit 'thing' included. There is no obvious use for it from the Damaris character card or the Advantage Card he comes with, so I have wondered if there may be some new Team coming up in the future, but who knows. I painted the spirit thing ages ago, and I am not counting it against my painting totals.

Anyway, it is another mini done, and I am closing in on my third 'Next 10' post, so that is positive, even if the rate of Anima Tactics painting has dropped over the last couple of months.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 142 (added: Raziel Nk-X)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 29
Painted Minis Percentage: 20.3% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Saint Astraega

Click to enlarge-icate

It seems like ages since I finished an Anima Tactics mini so I am glad to rectify that right now. This month has not felt too productive, although I have now painted in just two months (13 models) what I painted in each of three months (January to March; April to June) across all ranges I am working on, so not too bad I guess!

I have turned out 4 Pulp City minis this month so far, which has impacted on my productivity with Anima Tactics. So as I stated up front, I am pleased to have finished another.

Saint Astraega is one half of Team Saint Council with Saint Evangeline, and very much a support unit. As the number of Church units I have completed grows, so to do my options. I am now at a stage where 3 models (Grey; Luzbell; and Saint Astraega) would likely be vying for 2 'slots' in a level 300 Party, and looking at Astraega's capabilities, I think she is edging out Grey, since she may be the model to keep Lostaroth Marchosias in play since I have struggled to keep him alive against Rob in the games we have played; he has definitely been a high priority target!

Since the two key Actions I imagine using require 4 Action Points apiece (Astraega's limit), I think a likely Advantage Card will be Clock of Chronos, although once I can field the Team Saint Council, more options will become viable, since Astraega will be able to replenish Action Points through that card.

This one was started a while back painting wise, but kind of got left behind as I was inspired to finish sundry others. I even made a mistake by starting to paint the stems of her flowers magenta before I actually realised they were not flames!

I have started work on a couple of other Church models (Damaris and Saint Evangeline), so as soon as the next one is done, I will do an updated Church Party picture. In the mean-time I hope I can sustain some momentum as I do love this range of minis.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 137 (added: Medeus; and Alis Testarossa; more on order)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 27
Painted Minis Percentage: 19.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Hamadria

You may have spotted Hamadria in the battle report preview images I posted and she was finished quite quickly for that game.

Although very quickly painted, and certainly not my best work, I am reasonably happy with the end result, how this Summon has turned out.

A Hamadria appears to be some kind of nature spirit, but far less destructive than the Wrath of Nature. Using here the other day has changed my mind about Sarah Reindhold; the two worked well together as effectively a 55 Level pair of units, with overlapping healing Actions. When I used Sarah Reindhold with Elhaym, Maiden of Light as her Summon I thought it was an expensive combination, but this combination worked well with their stacking healing actions synergising very well. add to that that Hadria has a cheap basic ranged Attack to throw into the mix, and she is a very effective, if fragile, unit.

As a Summon Hamadria cannot have Advantage Cards attached to her, so no specific strategy there.

After posting about the upcoming battle report I thought it could be a while before I finish any more Anima Tactics, but I finished one mini today and almost finished another, so I am on a bit of a roll.

I really, really need to paint up some Dark Summons soon, but honestly I do think that painting what I feel like seems the best way to go for now instead of frustrating myself and losing all interest from trying to do a specific mini.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 129 (added: Hamadria!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 23
Painted Minis Percentage: 17.8% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Luzbell

Click to make enlargified

Another unit completed and my fifth Church model. I am starting to get near to a point to have more flexible options when thinking about Party-building

Luzbell is a slight change to most of the line in my humble opinion, especially the Navarro Perez sculpts, since she lacks the finer detailing of many other models, having simpler areas to paint etc. Still a  nice change and she fits well with the range. Sticking with my Church palette, since she is clearly intended to protect her Party, I feel she is a shield-maiden type even though she is a Mystic; so I decided that she needed some black to tie into the Church Warrior units.

Luzbell possesses a very good Dodge Action; Holy Reflection which is a useful Action to reflect Ranged Attacks onto other models; a basic Ranged Attack; and an option to re-position a friendly model - this latter Action should be especially useful to help manage any Friendly units that struggle to manage their Action Points, as well as those that do not rely on Charge (I am thinking Azriel for one in that regard). Functionally I think she is a good alternative to Grey, but only if there enough other hard-hitters in the same Party. I still need another Level 50 Church Unit I think.

In terms of Advantage Cards I would be thinking of one of the following: Afterimage (a Power that makes her harder to hit at range preserving her Dodge response); Talisman of Eriol (re-roll one die); Bell of Fortune (discard to add +1 to a roll made by the character; the understanding from the Forum is that this may be after the roll is made - useful for her Holy Reflection and Dodge Actions).

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 128 (added: Limited Edition Celia)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 22
Painted Minis Percentage: 17.2% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

I have a number of part-painted minis, and one very close to finishing. Of the part-painted and undercoated/assembled minis there are 46 minis ready to be completed! July is set for doing some minis for Freebooter's Fate, so I may be able to manage 1 or 2 Anima Tactics minis next month. I have another project lined up for August, so I suspect my next big run will be in September, with any painted between now and then as 'bonuses'.