Team Les Jaeger

My first three Teams were finished within less than twelve months, and the fourth...has arrived over twelve months after the third. <sigh>.

So far the only Team comprising 4 units - The Colonel, Reindhold, Kirsten and Kyler - Team Les Jaeger is one of 3 Team options for the Azur Alliance. Despite having more members than most other Teams, this one only comes in at 165 Levels, meaning that fielding 2-4 additional units in a 300 Level game is very feasible, especially with the discount that Azur can take on Prowlers (knocking 10 Levels off the Team cost).

Forming Team Les Jaeger turns The Colonel into a sort-of Arbiter, able to give Orders (small extra Actions) to the Team at no AP cost. So while many other Teams feature individual benefits for specific members, this one is dependent on The Colonel to buff the rest of the Team.

I haven't used Azur yet in any significant size of game, but now I feel I have enough to make a decent game of it with them (possibly bolstered by Wanderers Kagemaru and a Shinobi or two), so hopefully in the next few months Team Les Jaeger will make it to the table.

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%)

The Colonel

The Colonel is the head of Les Jaeger, and a man whose power and influence extends across the entire world.

The Colonel is the third member of Team Les Jaeger that I have painted, and leaves just one more mini (Kirsten) to finish the whole Team; Team Les Jaeger is currently the only Team comprising 4 units.

In game terms, The Colonel is formidable prospect, with hand to hand and ranged Attacks, as well as the option to steal Life Points from allies and a defensive Action, meaning he is potentially quite durable. However as a member of Team Les Jaeger he gains Arbiter status, adding bonus Actions to his Team. Looking at the Team, I really cannot see a good reason to not invest the 5 Levels Advantage Card cost to get the benefits. He also has the Initiative ability which helps with the Initiative Roll each Turn.

This mini has been assembled for several months, and I think it would have remained unpainted had I not finished painting Reindhold so close to having some time off work. I had some motivation and was able to get him finished over three to four sessions. I may go and do a little more tot he flame to create greater hot to less hot contrast. Please forgive the ropey photography.

This takes me to four Anima Tactics units for the month, and with a few days left I hope that I can get at least one more done before the end of August. It will help me recover some of the deficit that has built up!

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: nothing new since the last unit, but I am hoping for another couple of releases soon...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 61 (57 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 37.4% (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: 37.5%
Year to Date Target: 20 of 24 units (3 per month target; 83%)

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%)

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%