Thanks For Visiting & Signing Up

I just wanted to say that even though things have quietened around here (only one mini in August; only one so far for this month), I still aim to keep painting Anima Tactics minis, so thank you to everyone who has taken time to take a look or to sign up as a Follower; thanks guys, it is greatly appreciated, as are any and all comments and feedback.

Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound

To to engrow

This unit is an unusual one in game terms, but I will get to that later. First up, the painting side of things.

This has been a 'quick and done' paint job (albeit one I am happy with, even if it is not spectacular), simply because I could feel a sense of painting inertia coming on. In the past few years I have undergone a few painting slumps, lasting weeks or even months, and I could feel another one on its way.

What I have learned in that time, is that just getting 'something done', finished and complete even if it is not my best work, can be useful to snap me out of doing nothing at all on the painting front. And given this year I am determined to paint as many minis as possible to make up for the relative inactivity of last year, well I needed to address that as soon as I could, and this was the perfect model for me at the required time. Something that could be done quick and simply, for what is hopefully an effective looking gaming piece.

The Hellhound is my 28th Anima Tactics mini, and the 41st mini I have painted this year so far (versus the paltry 24 I painted in 2012; 6 of those were in one month alone). So progress continues!

This mini is unique (so far) in Anima Tactics, as it can be fielded in either of two ways. One option is to use the model as a Type-004: Hellhound, a 25 Level Neutral Black Sun Undead unit; basically a pretty simple fire and forget type of nuisance, particularly due to its Charge and its Dark Hunter ability, with the added benefit of Stealth.

The other option, and right now the one that intrigues me more, is to use the Hellhound as a Level 15 Dark Summon. Again, it is kind of fire and forget, but with the advantage of a free de-buff Action against nearby enemies if the Hellhound kills its target. As a unit it is very cheap, and adds a simple to use extra unit for a Dark Summoner.

In fact I am so intrigued by the possibilities with the Summoned Hellhound, I plan to add at least one more to my collection, probably to be painted with a colour scheme more in line with my Black Sun units. It also makes nice counterpoint to the cheap Light Summon (Hamadria).

As a Summon or Undead unit, the Hellhound/Type-004: Hellhound cannot have Advantage Cards attached, meaning more Levels elsewhere.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 142 (added: Hellhound; Goethia; Frey; Freya; and female Wissenschaft Agent)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 28
Painted Minis Percentage: 19.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted; percentage pretty much unchanged due to those pesky acquistions!)

Saint Astraega

Click to enlarge-icate

It seems like ages since I finished an Anima Tactics mini so I am glad to rectify that right now. This month has not felt too productive, although I have now painted in just two months (13 models) what I painted in each of three months (January to March; April to June) across all ranges I am working on, so not too bad I guess!

I have turned out 4 Pulp City minis this month so far, which has impacted on my productivity with Anima Tactics. So as I stated up front, I am pleased to have finished another.

Saint Astraega is one half of Team Saint Council with Saint Evangeline, and very much a support unit. As the number of Church units I have completed grows, so to do my options. I am now at a stage where 3 models (Grey; Luzbell; and Saint Astraega) would likely be vying for 2 'slots' in a level 300 Party, and looking at Astraega's capabilities, I think she is edging out Grey, since she may be the model to keep Lostaroth Marchosias in play since I have struggled to keep him alive against Rob in the games we have played; he has definitely been a high priority target!

Since the two key Actions I imagine using require 4 Action Points apiece (Astraega's limit), I think a likely Advantage Card will be Clock of Chronos, although once I can field the Team Saint Council, more options will become viable, since Astraega will be able to replenish Action Points through that card.

This one was started a while back painting wise, but kind of got left behind as I was inspired to finish sundry others. I even made a mistake by starting to paint the stems of her flowers magenta before I actually realised they were not flames!

I have started work on a couple of other Church models (Damaris and Saint Evangeline), so as soon as the next one is done, I will do an updated Church Party picture. In the mean-time I hope I can sustain some momentum as I do love this range of minis.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 137 (added: Medeus; and Alis Testarossa; more on order)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 27
Painted Minis Percentage: 19.7% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Empire Agent (female)

Okay, okay; I did paint more minis for Anima Tactics than I hinted at near the beginning of June.

It has been a productive month for me, with 4 Anima Tactics minis, and 4 Freebooter's Fate minis painted (see here for my Freebooter's stuff), taking me to 34 minis for the year so far - I only painted 24 in the 12 months of 2012, so far so good then in terms of my productivity.

This is my second Agent, and means I am up to 155-175 Levels of Empire depending on how the Agent is configured. It looks to me that the Empire Agent can be made a very solid unit, with Armor 5 a very attractive option (I think my go to set-up will be to recover 3 Actions per Turn; +1 Attack and Damage; +3 armor for Armor 5).

With this mini I am up to 4 Empire units so far, and I am hoping to add Lilith as a Leader model making a potential 250 Levels, which in turn will be fairly easy to round out to 300 Levels with a Wanderer or an appropriate 50 Level Empire unit added.

For Advantage Cards, while it might me tempting to add Supernatural Armor, I think that is too costly to justify, so probably a simple Elemental Weapon to make an okay close combat unit. If taking a risk that I am fighting someone without decent anti-Armor, maybe Raphael's Gift to 'tank' the Empire Agent up a little.

Running Totals
Anima Tactics Minis: 135 (added: nothing new arrived yet, but one or two on order)
Anima Tactics Minis Painted: 26 (a few more are in the dreaded queue)
Painted Minis Percentage: 19.3% (percentage of AT minis owned that are painted)

Church Party

Click on me

Hot on the heels of my Wissenschaft Party post, here is my other (so far) 5 unit Organization Party.

This collection of Church units comprises 220 Levels, or 225 if Lostaroth Marchosias is used as an Optional Leader.

Right now the only real option I have to expand this to 300 Levels with what I have already is a combination of Wanderer and Summons, or to take an Advantage Card to boost Sarah Reindhold's Summoner Level to 2 and take a couple of Summons (I currently have 3 combinations of 75 Levels of Summons).

Therefore there is probably a greater need to fill out those 75-80 Levels for Church more than Wissenschaft right now.