Nimrod

Nimrod has been painted over the past couple of weeks, and marks my 75th painted Anima Tactics unit. It also marks another lull has occurred, at almost five months since I painted Sharsha. This year I have set a goal of 12 painted Anima Tactics units which is achievable, but only if I can gather sufficient motivation.

Once I started the painting I was briefly side-tracked finishing a few minis for another game, but managed the bulk of the mini over two sessions, with little bits here and there to finish off. In all it felt fairly straightforward, although I am not totally happy with the face, but I consider it finished, especially given how few Anima Tactics minis I have painted in the past year.

Nimrod is a Level 40 Prowler for the Church. At that Level, of the painted units I have so far, he would substitute for either Grey, Luzbell or Saint Astraega, and like all of them he offers something unique for a Party. What Nimrod has is threat to Hidden and Intangible models; suddenly Stealth is not the great protection it ordinarily is. His Actions are likely to leave Nimrod stranded, so timing his Attack or Charge will be crucial.

In terms of Advantage cards, Covert Operation to give Advanced Deployment looks good; Clock of Cronos or Fate Clock at least leaves the option of a defensive Action Point (for Dodge); or Gnose to get Nimrod into position.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units Units Painted/Owned: 75/169 (44.4%; added - nothing)
Anima Tactics Discrete Units Painted/Range: 71/163 different units (43.6 %)
Year to Date Target: 1 of 12 units (1 per month target; 8%)

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%)

Kirsten

Another mini done, and hopefully I am now regaining some lost  painting momentum for the project, after finishing Cordelia earlier this month and now Kirsten. I won't get ahead of myself though!

Kirsten has been part-done for a few months, and it was only in the last couple of weeks I was able to overcome whatever was blocking me from simply getting her finished off, so two satisfactions for me this time: another unit painted, and something completed that has been long-gestating in painting terms. Not my best standard of painting, but now done, which for me is the most important thing.

This silent assassin is described as an enigmatic killer in the ranks of Les Jaeger. She also completes my first Team in over a year, and over six months since I finished the third of four members of the Team (The Colonel). I will put a post up of my Team Les Jaeger in a few days time.

In game terms, Kirsten is a cheap Prowler unit for Azur. Her attacks can all potentially inflict Poison States, and in addition she has a ranged counter-attack and move and fire options in her armoury, as well as a potentially deadly one-shot area of effect attack against all enemies within line of sight within 12 inches; stack the right buffs on her at the right time and this fairly inexpensive unit could make a mess of clustered enemies. As a consequence, I think an Advantage Card buffing her Attack value does have real value, such as Supernatural Weapon or Cursed Weapon, but only if her player can plan properly to get maximum benefit. However, since it is vital to get her in the right position with maximum AP, then cards such as Fate Clock and Clock of Cronos also have real value, as does support from units such as Juliette Kaim.

I am not too sure what I will be painting next for Anima Tactics, but hopefully the current momentum will be sustained, especially as I am quite far behind my year to date target. Anyway, please stay tuned to see how the project progresses.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units Owned/Units Painted: 164/72 (43.9%)
Anima Tactics Range/Discrete Units Painted: 159/67 different units (42.1 %)
Year to Date Target: 2 of 9 units (3 per month target; 22%)

Cordelia Rosalind

That took a while. Far too long. Not the mini, but finishing painting any Anima Tactics mini/unit.

It has been almost three months since I last finished an Anima Tactics mini, and admittedly for fans of the game, the recent news from Cipher Studios was very disappointing. I remain absolutely determined to paint this whole range, and will be pleased to look back on that feat should I succeed. Hopefully I can regain some momentum now that Cordelia is painted; I would love to be past the half-way point of the whole range by summer/autumn.

The future of Anima Tactics does not totally appear to be over, but I wait to see what comes next if anything after the assurance of the 'last few releases. By my estimate there are 7 certainties or almost certainties:

Anaximenes; Legion; Nimrod, September; Celia special edition; the Bearer; the Nameless.

While I also reckon there is a slim chance of one or two other previously not-indicated units being in that final mix too. We shall see. Nonetheless, it leads me to think that there will be 159 discrete units (including limited edition variants etc.), so I will be using that in my target/goal information going forward, adjusting the value as more information comes out.

On to this latest addition. Cordelia Rosalind is another Wissenschaft Prowler, combining an array of ranged attacks with Stealth. I loved this model when I first saw it, and that has not changed, despite that it was a bit of pain to get the parts to fit satisfactorily. Cordelia is pretty formidable in her sniper function, and I dare-say she will get some use in future games.

I now have up to 555 Levels of Wissenschaft, so could easily field a 600 Level force with a Summon or two for Valis Ul Del Vilfain. That kind of Party would make for a big game and would be far in excess of the 300 Level games I have played so far. If I ever get the time, it could be fun.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units Owned/Units Painted: 164/71 (43.3%)
Anima Tactics Range/Discrete Units Painted: 159/67 different units (42.1 %)
Year to Date Target: 1 of 9 units (3 per month target; 11%)

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%)

Dagger

Dagger was started at roughly the same time as Claude Valmore, but I have been busy completing a final assignment for a course, which has drastically impacted my painting, and meant a delay in painting Dagger. Some sudden painting momentum from Zomtober on one of my other blogs has helped me get Dagger done, so that was very pleasing, especially as it has been a month since my last Anima Tactics unit was finished.

It is funny that in the last couple of months or so I have managed to add 3 more units to my Azur forces. That certainly wasn't planned, but then there really is not too much planning to what minis I paint and in what order I paint them!

Dagger looks to me like a more selectable proposition than Claude Valmore; they have some similarities in their durability (Defense, Armor and LP), yet Dagger can be used more offensively than Claude, and is much less dependent on enemy Actions.

Given that all of Dagger's Actions use 3-4 Actions, then with his 3 AP recovery I think he really needs Advantage Cards that help AP recovery, which for me means his best options are Clock of Cronos or Fate Clock. I think it will be tricky to use him, as his Actions work best when used at full AP (4), which means that getting him into the right position is vital. I hope that before too long I can get around to putting an Azur Party in battle so that Dagger gets some game time as I love the model and find his Actions very interesting, even if it may take a while learn to to get the best out of him.

For the year I am way behind my target for Anima Tactics, and I hope that in the next couple of months I start to recover some of that. I currently have less than 100 units to paint - at my current rate I am still looking at just under 3 years from now to get that done. I feel that I also need to add more Samael and Summoners; Samael especially is the only Organization that I cannot really get a decent Party on the table for at present, and something I feel I really want to rectify.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing, but I still have two minis on pre-order)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 64 (60 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 39.3% (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: 39.5%
Year to Date Target: 23 of 30 units (3 per month target; 77%)

Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound (III)

I evidently like painting these things (after my first Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound is here; and the second is here)! The main reason for painting a third is that I wanted a couple of 'Summon'-version paint-schemes, and  also because my painting has slowed down. As they are quick and easy to do, it helps me avoid full-on painters block to have got 'something done'.

The funny thing is, I am not sure I have actually used any of them in a game yet! I may have faced one once, but I have not yet selected a Hellhound or Type-004: Hellhound unit in a game that I can recall. That said, now that I have added a few more Summons in the past two or three months, I am much closer to being able to try out a Summon-horde type of list.

Keep an eye out soon for a group shot of all my painted Summons so far, ten models in total, although I really intend one of the Hellhounds more for my Black Sun than as a Summon.

Still, I cannot see me painting any more of these - three is plenty I think - so its is time for me to look for other 'quick-fix' minis for when I experience painting slumps in my Anima Tactics project. That said, I have been doing a bit of work on some other units, so hopefully I can get on track with the project sooner than later.

Of course, I had to get a picture of all three Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhounds together.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 160 (added: nothing - but I am now waiting on 3 minis; one has been dispatched from the USA, and hopefully the other will be too soon - also from the USA)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 58 (54 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 36.25% (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: 17 of 24 units (3 per month target; 71%)

Shinobi

Ninja! Essentially Wanderer ninjas, Shinobi are non-unique units for Anima Tactics, described as elite assassins said to come from the Eastern island of Varja. I like ninjas (I have painted 8 so far for Pulp City!), and so eventually I would like to paint a few of these (more on why in a moment), and I do currently have another available in the mound of blisters.

Shinobi can be taken once per 150 Party Levels, so usually one or two in a typical Party. Unlike other Agents (so far!), they can be included in Organization or Faction Parties (currently, other Agents may only be used in Organization Parties - not in Light or Dark Parties). However, there is also an interesting wrinkle with Kagemaru when used as an Optional Leader; then his Master Shinobi and Elite Shinobi abilities allow you to field a ninja squadron - he allows up to two additional Shinobi, with all Shinobi having a reduced cost! Use them in an Azur Party with the Shadow Lords Organizational Advantage and suddenly you can have Kagemaru (as Optional Leader) and 4 Shinobi with maximum enhancements, all for 155 Levels versus the usual cost of 200 Levels (basically a 'free' extra unit). Add more Prowlers such as Dagger, Harod, Kyler or Kirsten, and the cost break continues. Assassin force!

All that aside, I would rather have another Shinobi sculpt before investing in a third and fourth. Right  now however, there is no sign of another sculpt appearing but I will remain hopeful as other Agents have had two variants.

On the colour scheme, I had started painting the whole uniform dark blue, but I did not like it, so I dropped the mini into the stripping bath (Dettol; works a treat, and best stuff I have used so far). I re-started using 'black' (dark grey) as the base for most of the mini, and keeping the dark blue to add some contrast, which was a motif I started with Kagemaru. I will keep this colour scheme going forward for other Shinobi, but altering the position of the dark blue to break up the uniformity a little. Most importantly, my 2014 painting target is almost  back on track across all lines after losing a month in February (I want to manage four minis per month, plus another couple somewhere across the year), and for Anima Tactics I want to paint around three minis per month on average; so far for this year I have painted ten Anima Tactics minis, so I am down by two.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 156 (added: nothing, but currently several mins are on order...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 52 (50 different models; technically as September has not yet been released, that is one-third of every mini I have, and one-third of those actually available!)
Painted Units Percentage: 33.3% (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: 33.1%
Year to Date Target: 11 of 12 units (3 per month target; 91.7%)

Tiamat

Tiamat is described as the youngest of the four 7th Heaven Knights that serve the Empress, and as a lazy womanizer, but with a peerless talent for fighting.

He is also my fifty-first completed mini for Anima Tactics as my painting rolls on. Tiamat utilises the same basic Empire colour scheme that I have used elsewhere (although there will come a variation when I eventually come to the likes of Samiel and Iosara), with the addition of red as a flourish which should help him stand out a little against the rank and file. I may repeat that red flourish on other Empire Leaders as it should help keep them looking a little distinct.

Tiamat offers me a bit of flexibility for building up my Empire towards a reasonable size Party (i.e. 300 Levels), since he is an Optional Leader, meaning I could still add a unit like Griever if I wanted. With Tiamat I now have around 275 Levels of Empire, so a couple more units are probably needed to make viable Party configurations. It could still be a while before I play a game with Empire, except maybe at a lower Level game such as 200 Levels (usually around 4-5 units).

In game terms, Tiamat looks like a decent fighter, although not in the class of some more combat-focused units; balancing that he has some support capability, with Actions that can disrupt enemies (World of Wires and Starlight Romance - and the latter is an area effect which is very potent) and has an Action that offers exceptional Haste for a paltry cost of 1 AP (basically better than most if not all Neokinesis). He has a fairly low Armor compared to some Empire units, but is very mobile so covers some of their perceived weaknesses.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 156 (added: nothing, but currently several mins are on order...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 51 (49 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 32.7% (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: 32.4%

Kyler

Another Anima Tactics mini done, and I feel so close to finishing my fiftieth Anima Tactics unit (being careful to avoid getting overconfident mind you!); so here is Kyler. I had a sudden burst of motivation, so the bulk of the work was done in a couple of hours yesterday, using my standard Azur Alliance colour scheme (see my Juliette Kaim for the first mini I did in this pattern).

Kyler is an assassin. Remodeled using Lost Loggia technology, and turned into a psychotic killing machine, this member of the dread Team Les Jaeger  has become one of the most prominent killers on Gaia.

Kyler has benefited from a cost reduction from the 2013 Saga II and IV Update, dropping to 35 Levels, which should help make the four-piece Team Les Jaeger a more attractive proposition. However, I think it will be quite a while before I have enough Azur Alliance units ready to field a useful Party of them. With my chaotic approach to what I paint and in which order, one never knows though!

I suspect Kyler will be best used as part of Team Les Jaeger or possibly not at all, despite that he is pretty cheap. From reading the official Anima Tactics Forum, Azur Alliance are pretty challenging to get to grips with, not least the Prowlers that fill the ranks of the Organization. In games, I tend to prefer forces that get stuck in and perhaps don't rely on significant subtleties of game-play, so Azur Alliance may not be the one for me - nonetheless I will be painting them all (I hope!).

An Advantage Card that is pretty much primed to work with Kyler's Actions is Nullem Lusec; Kyler has a 1 AP Attack called Dancing Mad (Attack 4; Damage 2), which would mean up to 4 Attacks of 6/2 which could be interesting. Alternatively there is Nue which makes it harder to Seek a Hidden unit (such as Kyler when using Stealth).

I now need to paint one more to hit mini number fifty, which will feel like a major milestone, not just for achieving another ten painted, but for getting much closer to a third of the range painted (since I have painted two duplicates so far, that would be mini number fifty two at the earliest). Getting this unit done and other recent completed minis (such as Kira; Arkham; Ahriman, Lord of Darkness; Type-004: Hellhound/Hellhound; and Type-020: Verrier) has been pretty pleasing after painting nothing in February.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 156 (added: Maria)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 49 (47 different models)
Painted Minis Percentage: 31.4% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 150 (including 2 LE minis)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 31.3%

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%

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%

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%

Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound

To to engrow

This unit is an unusual one in game terms, but I will get to that later. First up, the painting side of things.

This has been a 'quick and done' paint job (albeit one I am happy with, even if it is not spectacular), simply because I could feel a sense of painting inertia coming on. In the past few years I have undergone a few painting slumps, lasting weeks or even months, and I could feel another one on its way.

What I have learned in that time, is that just getting 'something done', finished and complete even if it is not my best work, can be useful to snap me out of doing nothing at all on the painting front. And given this year I am determined to paint as many minis as possible to make up for the relative inactivity of last year, well I needed to address that as soon as I could, and this was the perfect model for me at the required time. Something that could be done quick and simply, for what is hopefully an effective looking gaming piece.

The Hellhound is my 28th Anima Tactics mini, and the 41st mini I have painted this year so far (versus the paltry 24 I painted in 2012; 6 of those were in one month alone). So progress continues!

This mini is unique (so far) in Anima Tactics, as it can be fielded in either of two ways. One option is to use the model as a Type-004: Hellhound, a 25 Level Neutral Black Sun Undead unit; basically a pretty simple fire and forget type of nuisance, particularly due to its Charge and its Dark Hunter ability, with the added benefit of Stealth.

The other option, and right now the one that intrigues me more, is to use the Hellhound as a Level 15 Dark Summon. Again, it is kind of fire and forget, but with the advantage of a free de-buff Action against nearby enemies if the Hellhound kills its target. As a unit it is very cheap, and adds a simple to use extra unit for a Dark Summoner.

In fact I am so intrigued by the possibilities with the Summoned Hellhound, I plan to add at least one more to my collection, probably to be painted with a colour scheme more in line with my Black Sun units. It also makes nice counterpoint to the cheap Light Summon (Hamadria).

As a Summon or Undead unit, the Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound cannot have Advantage Cards attached, meaning more Levels elsewhere.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 142 (added: Hellhound; Goethia; Frey; Freya; and female Wissenschaft Agent)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 28
Painted Minis Percentage: 19.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted; percentage pretty much unchanged due to those pesky acquistions!)

Alessa Raincross

Click on me to embiggen

This one was *mostly* finished around a week ago after a period of on-off 'work in progress', but when looking closely I realized I had initially missed the lacing on her crop top, so that was rectified a few days ago. Considering I did not expect to do much Anima Tactics this month, this is my third for July!

Alessa Raincross is a Wissenschaft Crow and former bounty hunter who was caught in an explosion when she hunted the assassin Vayl. Her legs were replaced with technological prosthetics and subsequently she joined the ranks of Wissenschaft.

There are a few gun-toting female characters in Anima Tactics (others that come to mind are XII, Cordelia and Kira, both also Wissenschaft; Valentine from Empire), so I am happy to get one done as a contrast to the regular 'huge swords'!

Game-wise Alessa Raincross is very much focused around her Ranged Attacks. In addition, like most non-Gear Wissenschaft units she can have 2 Advantage Cards attached. Assuming use of the Lost Loggia Organizational Advantage, then she can be loaded up to make a very effective sniper type based on he Stealth Action.Therefore the Nue Advantage Card could be useful to make Alessa harder to find when using Stealth; or perhaps Covert Operation to allow Alessa to gain Advanced Deployment. Finally anything that stacks with Attack or Damage is inevitably useful given her focus on Ranged Attacks.

With my Wissenschaft shaping up, a couple more would be nice before I switch focus to the Gears.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 135 (added: nothing new since the last update!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 25 (a few more are in the dreaded queue)
Painted Minis Percentage: 18.5% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Juliette Kaim

Click to embiggen

Juliette Kaim is the Azur Alliance's greatest messenger, passing on the orders of the Arbiters.

Juliette is also my my first completed Azur Alliance, the first of that Organization like Yuki was for Samael - I really am determined to paint all of this line if I can pull it off, so branching out is one of the key things to enable that I think; that way I can get a small foot-hold into each line-up.

This unit is quite atypical in several ways when compared to the rest of the line. Most units weigh in at between 35-60 Levels, with the majority in the 40-50 range. At 25 Levels Juliette Kaim is a very cheap unit, but one that has a particular function. The knock-on effect of the standard costing is that at 200 Levels you expect to have 4 units, possibly 5 cheaper units. At 300 Levels you expect to have 6, possibly 7 units. The point is that Juliette stands outwith the building blocks of Levels, except when you look a little deeper.

One Party I have in mind is to use her with Team Les Jaeger (The Colonel; Kyler; Rheindhold; and Kirsten). Collectively they come to 175 Levels, allowing Juliette to neatly take that up to 200 Levels.

Another factor is that Juliette is all about buff and de-buff. And to maximize her buffing capability she needs to be in a Party with an Arbiter. The Colonel will fulfill that role if used as part of Team Les Jaeger, so another pointer in that direction.

I have read a number of forum comments that Azur Alliance is 'under-powered' compared to other Organizations, but since I plan to paint and hopefully try out everything eventually, that does not deter me. And the idea of a sneaky bunch dressed in black appeals to me a lot!

On the Advantage Card front, well at only 25 levels I wonder whether she would be better left without, allowing another Unit to use those precious few Levels of Advantage Cards. That said, if I was to give her any cards it would be something like: Gnose (meaning no Ranged Attacks or Charges against her from more than 6 inches away); or Nue (adds to the difficulty to detect the unit if it is Hidden, which is important as Juliette needs to be Hidden to use one of her Actions).

On the painting, I am fairly pleased, although the neck frill may get a little more work before varnishing.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 127 (added: Sho; slowed down the acquisition slightly there!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 20
Painted Minis Percentage: 15.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)


As an aside, the current available range stands at 147 minis by my estimate; at my current rate that would around 44-45 months to complete the lot even if they don't release anything else! Time to step up my painting speed methinks! :)

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)

Wissenschaft Agent (male)

My seventh Anima Tactics mini is finished! Comments and criticism welcome.

Wait a moment; "Seventh you say? I count only six!"

Astute readers may have noticed only five preceding posts of painted minis. Well I finished my sixth on Sunday, but as it is part of a Team, it won't be shown until the other part of the Team is finished.

So on to this, my seventh as I said. This model is my first Agent; Agents are non-unique characters that can be fielded in multiples depending on the size of game (usually 1 per 150 Levels). That restriction stops spam I guess more than anything. Agents are customizable, and each Organisation's specific Agents has particular options available. Those options sometimes change the Faction (Light, Dark or Neutral) or Category of the Agent, however Wissenschaft Agents's are always Neutral and Prowler. A basic Agent is worth 20 Levels and can have a combination of options up to 20 extra Levels.

The models have some options for parts/construction, and each Organisation pretty much has male and female options available (same rules for each), so variety is easily achieved.

This was finished quite quickly, and I am particularly happy with the blending on the trousers, which were painted with the same approach as those on Clover. I think the colour scheme works well and so I have the nucleus of a small Party now, based around Wissenschaft: Hiro; Dereck Shezard; Wissenschaft Agent. That totals 150 Levels - not enough to qualify for an Organisational Advantage (which kick in at tiers of 200 Levels), but enough for learning the game I reckon. Time to start working on filling out the opposing Party then!

EDIT:

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 63 (2 more acquired after mini #5; oops)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 6 (the real '6th' will be counted when the whole Team is finished)
Painted Minis Percentage: 9.5%