Gear Mk. Trithemius

This is my first Gear, and a tester of sorts. I have a couple of these now and will use them to work out my painting approach to the bigger Gears like Goethia, Theurgia and Grimorium. Legacy of Solomon may be different but I am not sure yet, and the Golem Gears such as Hecatondies Sigma Zero will be certainly be approached differently.

Gears come in two flavours so far, and the more common type is considered Technomagical Powered Armour, and that is the class that the Trithemius seems to fall into. Gears are mostly developed from examples of rediscovered technology known as Lost Loggia in the Anima Tactics background. Most of them have Damage Resistance, cannot take Advantage Cards, and many are Immune to Poison.

The Gear Mk. Trithemius is a sort-of Agent type of Gear; it is not an Agent as such, but counts against the limit of Agents, and like Agents has a small menu of options to customise its abilities. Unfortunately, the creators appear to have printed the game card for the unit with an error in its AP recovery rate (the card has it as way too fast for its Level value), although this has not been officially addressed in an Errata or update that I can find. I hope that is rectified fairly soon.

Since I mainly play against Wissenschaft when I play Rob, I hope we get a game in with one or more Gears fairly soon, although countering the decent Armor values prevalent among Gears will take some working out.

I enjoyed painting this and turned it around quite quickly, so the second one may be done before too long. Possibly.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 163 (added: Gear Mk Trithemius x2; October)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 59 (55 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 36.2% (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: 36.2%
Year to Date Target: 18 of 24 units (3 per month target; 75%)

Summons

All the Summons I have painted so far, in one group shot from the first I managed (Wrath of Nature) to the latest (a third Hellhound).

And yet again, I am reminded I need to get more Summoners painted! I also need to paint some more Light Summons, and I do have one part-done, so hopefully another will appear before too long.

On the whole my Anima Tactics project has struggled this year, primarily for other commitments such as coursework. So I have painted less than planned, but hopefully in August and October I can make some inroads into the backlog.

25 Followers - Comments On Posts Very Welcome

The blog is over two years old now and has 25 Followers which is great to see (although more would be welcome!). As I write this there have been over 23,000 page-views of 122 posts published so far, with the most-viewed seen over 200 times.

I am going to continue with this blog as a chart of my progress of my Anima Tactics project to paint at least one of every mini in the range, but It would be great to see more Followers and especially more comments. With regard to comments, it is a way to let me know what kind of content visitors to the blog would like to see.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who have stopped by, and if you have ever thought of commenting, please go right ahead!

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%)

Al-Djinn (II)

Another Al-Djinn, started at the same time as the first one, but finished separately due to the differences in some key colours. And finishing this one took a little longer than hoped as I have been focused on some writing recently which inevitably ate into painting time.

Given that the Al-Djinn are quite atypical, even among Summons, and are not straightforward attacker or tank type units, and that their support is not through simple buffs/de-buffs or Healing, then I suspect I won't be playing them too often, but you never know. Still, yet another reason for me to get more Dark Summoners painted!

Thinking about the fact that I am not likely to play these units too often, that makes me really wish Anima Tactics had better distribution and support into the UK. I think it is one of the better small-model count skirmishes that UK-based gamers just don't know about, but that is biased by my admittedly very strong liking of the minis and the game as a whole.

There is a strong background for the Anima range, nice rules, crossover into other gaming platforms, and real depth to the minis line (over 150 minis currently with more to come), yet on a few fora I have read comments about lack of awareness of the minis. There has to be enough of an audience to make future new releases sustainable, yet for some reason Anima Tactics seems very much to occupy a niche, within the low model count niche of skirmish games, within the larger niche of war-gaming; or 'a niche, within a niche, within a niche' as a friend once described another game I really enjoy immensely. The kind of game that has a dedicated enough audience for its own needs possibly?

I hope that does not sound negative, I'm just airing some thoughts. I love the game and its minis, and will stick with it. :)

I remain committed to my plan to paint at least one of every mini for the Anima Tactics range (and perhaps should be committed for it...). So please stay tuned to the blog to see how my progress goes! Hopefully another one or two units may appear before the end of this month.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 160 (added: nothing - but still waiting on 2 minis)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 57 (54 different models)
Painted Units Percentage: 35.6% (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: 16 of 21 units (3 per month target; 76%)