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%

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%

Yuki

Click to en-grow-ify

Yuki is described as one of the last Ice Maidens, and is my first finished Samael unit.

This mini has been in my painting queue for a while now as I started here, over-painted bits I was not pleased with, then stalled and as usual took things slowly. The thing is I thought this was a stunning mini from the moment I saw it, with a really interesting dynamic with her sat on her own tree, and no weapons etc. My problem as ever though is I struggle to maintain focus long enough to finish minis quickly most of the time (with occasional exceptions). Well she is finished now and I am reasonably pleased with the outcome.

I started to photograph here yesterday, but realised I had forgotten to paint the tiny creature at her back! D'oh! Well that was rectified tonight in short order.

Yuki is a Mystic with abilities that make her very good at locking down and limiting enemy units. In addition to eschews the usual movement rules but can be very fast, possibly one of the fastest units in the game, but at a high Action Point cost with a relatively low AP recharge. She also has a basic Ranged Attack, but I see that as very much a secondary or even tertiary ability. In regards to Advantage Cards, if I was to give her a card I would consider Control Bound (Equipment that boosts the difficulty of resisting her Effects) or Afterimage (a Power that makes her harder to hit at range since she should not be anywhere near the front line anyway); both are Level 5.

With Yuki being finished, the only Organization I have yet to finish a mini for is Azur, so I hope to rectify that fact before too long. Also the next mini I finish will mean that my next 'Next 10' is also done, so hopefully that will be sooner than later.

On the minis owned front, well they continue to trickle in...

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 126 (added: Erika; Samiel, the Black Lion; Saint Hazael; Kira; Type-012 Hunter; Shadow; and Maximo Ligori)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 19
Painted Minis Percentage: 15.1% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)