The Next 10 (7)

It has taken me around three and half months, but after finishing my first Church Agent here is the seventh instalment of the 'Next 10'.

In the time since the last batch of 10 units, there have been no new releases for the game, so I am staying ahead of that, although I do wish the delayed releases would become available soon - 'new stuff' helps motivate me to paint 'old stuff' sometimes.

With 4 units finished recently, Azur is most represented in this batch. I was glad to get 3 more Agents done, but most of all I was very happy to get Arias Vayu painted as it added another much-needed Light Summon, and was a unit I was putting off tackling.

Unfortunately no larger models were completed in this batch, which is something I think I need to make a concerted effort with in the near future, maybe with a couple of Gears. I still need more Samael and Empire units too.

Looking forward, I think a realistic target for 2015 is probably 30 Anima Tactics units, meaning 2-3 per month. If I can have the next Next 10 done before the end of March, then that would put me ahead, so we shall see where I actually end up.

Church Agent (male)

Unit number 70 - done!

These Agents are the special forces available to the Church's highest circles of power. Many are trained from childhood to hunt down and destroy supernatural threats to humanity, while others use their divine gifts to further the work of the Church.

I started this mini along with another Church Agent and a couple of non-Anima Tactics minis at the same time, to take advantage of the fact that all were using red as a predominant colour. What that meant was that in a few days I managed to paint 3 minis, and so I have inched further forward with my Anima Tactics painting total. This mini was started once previously, and stripped of paint when I was unhappy with my progress. There is some pitting at the back of the mini I am unhappy with, but that will stay as it is, as I just do not want to strip and repaint it again. More importantly, it is my first Church unit completed (since Alis Testarossa) in almost 6 months!

As mentioned in a recent post (click for link), it looks like Agents may get a change to their rules, so I am very interested to see what will happen with Church Agents. once all the Agents cards have been revealed, I will probably get a set printed via Artscow until such time official cards are printed.

As the year draws to a close, I don't think there is any hope of achieving my target of 36 Anima Tactics units this year. However, I may get a couple more painted possibly, and if I can match the same total next year and the year after, the project will remain steadily on course. That may need me to paint 'smarter', doing what I have done with Deimon and Luther Delacroix and painting a couple of units in tandem for speed,

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 70 (66 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 42.7% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete units (including 2 LE minis; including September as he *still* is due for presumed release)
Percentage of Whole Range Painted: 43.4%
Year to Date Target: 29 of 36 units (3 per month target; 81%)

Agent Rules Redux

A few days after posting my painted Azur Agent and commenting about the unit's rules, there has been a preview of a new approach to Agents. Ruitori revealed the first example cards, with the first revealed update is the Azur Agent, now followed by the Empire Agent.

I like and prefer the new simpler approach as it is more pick up and play friendly, while hopefully offering a decent set of rules for each incarnation of Agent. My feeling was that to mitigate the risks of min-maxing from a wide array of choices of the old style, the Agents probably ended up being not up to par for their Levels. While the old style offered a wide menu of choice, ultimately it stifled the likelihood of fielding an Agent as there were always better options at the same cost in existing named units.

What this means is that stuff like Ash Slaves (an Al-Djinn Action) remains to be seen how it will be affected, but I do hope this cleaner more defined approach is adopted for the Agents.

Luther Delacroix

Scion of the Delacroix family and now its head, Luther is also the vice-president of Black Sun.
  I prepped Luther Delacroix a while back, and only started painting him a few days ago when I realised I could save time working on him simultaneously with Deimon. Doing so helped me sustain some recent painting momentum I have had, which was great from a personal perspective. Like the Azur Agent I painted last week, Luther Delacroix took around a week to complete from base colours to finishing, side-stepping the copious time many of my minis spend in the dread 'painting queue'!
  Finishing Luther also takes me so much closer to Anima Tactics unit number 70, which I feel is pretty good going for two years worth of painting. I still think I am looking at around three years to paint all the Anima Tactics minis I have remaining, and that objective remains intact.
  On the mini itself - while I really like the overall look, and especially the pose and concept, I really think the clothing folds are over-done and over-emphasized. A small quibble, and something that could have made a very good model great IMHO. Despite that, overall I do like the mini a lot.
 Luther will be much more about managing Undead units in his Party than Clover, so offers a different type of Leader. In turn, I can imagine each of these Leaders may favour a different kind of Party selection. Luther especially may benefit from a plethora of Type-005's.

  In terms of Advantage Cards I think Orb of Power would make sense since it give Luther a free Power point immediately in the game, which he can then add to by using his Magic Skills. Alternatively maybe something like Protective Shield which allows free Dodges and therefore would allow Luther to reserve precious AP. I would like to get some Anima Tactics games in soon to try out the burgeoning Black Sun line up that I have.
  With Luther and Deimon now done,  I think it really is time for me to try and fill out the ranks of other Organizations, especially Empire and Church to give me more options for both. But then again, whatever I plan, I seem to do something else! Nonetheless, I would love to get a least a couple more Anima Tactics minis finished before the end of the year since I have fallen quite far short of the goal I set for the range.

Running Totals

Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)

Anima Tactics Units Painted: 69 (65 different units)

Painted Units Percentage: 42.1% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)

Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete 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: 42.8%

Year to Date Target: 28 of 33 units (3 per month target; 85%)

Deimon

Deimon is described as the head butler and guardian of the Steiner family, a man of inflexible will and indomitable skill.
  I started this mini ages ago, long before really getting stuck into it properly in the past few days. After a productive first few weeks in November, I was determined to see if I could finish another couple of models, so I decided to crack on with Deimon and Luther Delacroix since they would use a lot of the same colours. I really wanted to try and get 4 Anima Tactics units finished for the month since I have dropped quiet a way behind my target of 3 per month. While I have had some motivation going on, it has been really nice to 'get stuff done', especially that I have painted 14 minis across a number of games and ranges in the past two months.
  Deimon has some interesting special rules, and they epitomise the synergies that Black Sun seems to have between the various unique units. In game terms, he has an interesting risk-reward trade-off that allows him to be accurate and hard hitting. The downside is that maximising that opportunity is not without risk (in his case acquiring Negative States), which for me makes for a very interesting game management mechanic.
  In terms of Advantage Cards, Fate Clock offers great synergies with his Negative State-enhanced Fate Clock runs the risk of inducing Doom on its user, and Deimon is just the unit to do that with since he can potentially transfer all Negative States to his target. I love his rules, and while I don't think he will be 'easy' to use in-game, I think he will definitely be a lot of fun!

Attacks and his need for AP.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Units: 164 (added: nothing and still no sign of that pre-order from months ago...)
Anima Tactics Units Painted: 68 (64 different units)
Painted Units Percentage: 41.4% (percentage of AT minis owned and painted)
Anima Tactics Range: 152 discrete 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: 42.1%
Year to Date Target: 27 of 33 units (3 per month target; 82%)