Type-005 (blister)

My second Type-005 (my first is here); Zomtober has really helped spur me on to get a number of minis finished this month (on the day I finished this Type-005, I finished 3 other minis).

This Type-005 follows the same colour scheme as the preceding one, and the third I am working on along with a Type-009 which will have a matching scheme too. Hopefully they will be a fearsome-looking selection of units when finished.

There are two Type-005 bodies, with a selection of two left arms, two right arms and three heads. I plan to stop at three of these units, as with the Type-009 upgraded, I expect the four models will weigh in at 85 Levels as they benefit from a Black Sun Organization Advantage which awards levels for upgrades. In a 300 Level game that leaves 215 levels plus 5 upgrade Levels for another Undead unit, which should mean around 4-6 additional models, or 8-10 for a 300 Level Party as a whole. Given that a 300 Level Party would typically be 6-7 units, that is quite a potential numerical advantage. I will need to work on a few more units to get there though.

I have started work on both the remaining Type-005 and the Type-009, so hopefully they will be finished while I still have some painting momentum. Let's see how that works out...

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 144 (added: another Type-012 Hunter)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 32
Painted Minis Percentage: 22.2% (percentage of minis owned and painted)

A Desolate Place of War (Battle Report)

My first Anima Tactics Battle Reports, and like the Battle Reports I have done for Pulp City, told using Comic Life software. A huge thanks to Rob as the main source of images.

This is a little different to my Pulp City Battle reports, because I envisioned it being a little more like a (mostly!) sequentially illustrated story rather than panel-to-panel comic book style. I use lots of action names and dialogue superimposed over the images in my Pulp City Battle Reports, so if enough people prefer that, i could change how I do these in future.

Finally, the action took place a few months ago, and I have only just had time to get around to this, so things are as best I can remember them!

Click on the images to enlarge.

Type-005 (Starter Set)

I am pretty pleased with how this model has turned out. It has been assembled for quite some time, and was something I planned to get around to eventually, but with Zomtober underway on one way of my other blogs (click for link), I was inspired to do some Undead painting for Anima Tactics; to that end I made a start on my first two Type-005's (I have three; you can take one per 100 Party Levels allowed). This is the first, and I would like to finish the second before the end of October, motivation permitting.

With a really limited palette, this was actually quite quick to finish: the different areas of colour are skin; metal; black cloth; green cloth; leather straps; blank dead eyes. I chose to use my usual Zombie skin recipe rather than the Anima Tactics 'studio' Type-005/Type-009 skin hue which is a kind of magenta. That does look cool, but I know what I like for my Undead!

Type-005's seem to have taken time to improve in perceived value in the game. At first glance they are quite cheap units with a degree of customization available (more on that with the next Type-005 post). However as Undead they cannot take Advantage Cards, which means that mitigating their inherent limited accuracy (Attack 4; no special Attack or Charge that adds Attack or Damage) is a key issue. Initially their biggest inherent advantage could be that after being taken out, the essentially explode at the start of the next Action Phase. However if your Black Sun Party takes Elite Squadron (Plot Card) and has a Type-009 upgraded to Type-010: Commander, then suddenly taking a few Type-005's means that you can have Attack 6 and Damage 6 units at just 25 Levels cost apiece (Type-005A: Assault). Add to that they have a 12 inch range Attack and the possibility of some annoying spam is unleashed.

Time to start thinking of playing a Black Sun Party methinks! And time to get painting the other two Type-005's and my Type-009...

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 143 (added: still nothing since the last painted mini!)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 31
Painted Minis Percentage: 21.7% (percentage of minis owned and painted)

Team The Condemned Lovers

My second Team, although perhaps my first team proper (as a group of units that can be taken separately, as opposed to Bella and Aqua who must be used together if at all).

Drake and Cenette form The Condemned Lovers, he a vagabond warrior, she a princess and master fencer with angel blood in her veins.

There is a lot of interconnectivity in the backgrounds of the various Anima Tactics characters, and Teams possibly exemplify that above all else when it comes to the tabletop; there is usually a game-play bonus for each member for taking a Team. Those benefits for The Condemned Lovers are primarily built around what happens to the survivor when either Drake or Cenette is lost as a casualty - Drake in particular stacks on a lot of positive States, while Cenette can sacrifice herself, potentially saving Drake to stacks those aforementioned benefits.

The cost is that to take a Team usually requires use of an Advantage Card slot as well as the Level cost of the Team card (Team The Condemned Lovers is 5 Levels for example; so not too expensive by any stretch).

There is one other benefit that comes for a Team - they only count as one Wanderer if used in an Organization Party, useful for filling out the ranks with what is likely to be an effective sub-Party.

The Next 10 (3)

It took around 3 and bit months between the first 'Next 10' and the second 'Next 10', and to my surprise not too much difference for the second to this third 'Next 10'. I thought I had slowed down much more than that time would indicate, but then July was pretty productive in my Anima Tactics painting.

While momentum does feel it has slipped, I hope to pick some up in the next couple of months. Currently I have 112 Anima Tactics minis to paint, and I do not yet have them all, so this remains a big project!

This batch saw a lot of female characters painted, as well as a predominance of Church and Empire. What that bodes for the next 'Next 10' is anyone's guess!

As for the image, next time should see the usual triangle formation return, but the pesky extra spirit thing with Damaris messed that up this time around!