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%)

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%

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)

Valis Ul Del Vilfain

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sarah Reindhold

Another one down - number twelve ('gotta collect them all' - I may very well take that literally!).

I understand that Sarah Reindhold is related to the Azur character Reindhold (also known as Alfred Reindhold Webber), but cannot confirm until Saga III and/or IV book is out. Whenever that may be.

In the meantime this is my third Church mini, but has not really been painted towards putting into a Church Party at this time, more simply to keep up my painting momentum. That said, she is my first Summoner, so maybe she will get some use sooner or later. I did mention that I wanted to get some Summoners and Summons painted up, but I have more in mind Samael characters for that aspect of game-play.

Sarah's Actions are all around buffs and de-buffs, and one o the most interesting looking to my eye is her Upkeep Action Nathaniel's Incense which provides a Turn on Turn Life Point recovery. The only way to tell if it is as workable and useful as it appears is to get some games in of course! The down side is her de-buff ability appears to possibly switch off Nathaniel's Incense too.

My colour scheme for the various Saints in the Church will be the white clothing or robes with red shawl so their should be some uniformity as they start to appear.

I am not too happy with the face on this mini; the eyes have been done twice, and I am not doing them a third time - they stay as they are. Also the shininess around the red should be taken care of when I can eventually hit my minis with the Purity Seal.


Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 80 (added: Azriel; Alastor; Saint Aestrega; Vayl)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 12
Painted Minis Percentage: 15% (that percentage growth has slowed down with recent purchases; I have another 9 minis on the way - so I need to get 2 done just to get ahead again when they have arrived)