Tales of the Ninja #3

It too a little longer than planned, but the Tales of the Ninja team have released issue number 3!

Tales of the Ninja is a fanzine dedicated to the games of Ninja Division (Cipher Studios and Soda Pop), and #3 has a few pages summing up my Anima Tactics Painting Project. :)

Anima Tactics - The Beginning of the End?

Yesterday saw a huge announcement about the future of Anima Tactics, one that may be the nail in the game's coffin. Cipher Studios announced they are discontinuing the range.

Link to the announcement

Cipher Studios announces that the Anima Tactics™ Miniature Skirmish Game is being discontinued.

The Cipher Studios web store will close March 13th. Stock will then be transferred to the Ninja Division | Soda Pop Miniatures warehouse and resume sale on March 30.

The last new figures for Anima Tactics™ will be released through the web store, including a special edition Celia model.

So there are seemingly 5 releases or so to come, likely to be: September; Nimrod; Anaximenes; Legion; and special edition Celia. 

Aside from my obvious disappointment, the timing seems odd given that at the end of October 2014 an update was promised soon after about the game.

That aside, the announcement apparently won't impact the Gate of Memories Kickstarter campaign(s), so I still hope to get the Bearer and the Nameless.

the discontinuation of Anima Tactics the miniature game does not affect Gate of Memoriesr [sic]. Anima: Gate of Memories is being developed by Anima Studios. Kickstarter fulfillment [sic] will be delivered as promised when the game comes out. Hell Dorado development is being continued. We will actually be speeding up development on the releases for the Inferno book. We are simply moving to a direct sales model. -Kai Nesbit

Going forward, all is not necessarily finished, and the game may yet return in some new form. Carlos (the man behind Anima Studios) posted this via Kickstarter:

Link 

Hi everyone.
Regarding the announcement of Cipher Studios about Anima Tactics, I want to coment some points to make everything clear.
1°) Will it have an impact on the videogame?
Of course not! Gate of Memories development will go on in the same way as it was planed. The game is going to be finished and all the pledges will be given as promised, regardless if you are a backer of the first or extended campaign.
Anima Tactics was not directly related to Gate of Memories development.
2°) Will the minis of the Bearer and the Nameless be released?
Of course. Including AT rules for them. ^^
3°) Will another company takes over and continue AT instead of Cipher?
Right now, we are working with Edge Entertainment in a new branch of Anima Tactics sequel game. Give us time to prepare everything. ^^
4°) Will the Saga 3 rulebook be released one day?
Yes, but in a different way than the original plan. Right now, we are working in Anima Tactics Saga, which is equivalent to Anima Tactics sequel / 2nd edition.

As for my project to paint the whole range? That will continue. It will be harder to maintain without the carrot of periodic new stuff, but being more clearly finite means I can have a countdown goal to aim for. Hopefully by the end of 2018 I will have a complete painted AT collection, which may be a unique feat. Watch the blog for progress. :)

Tales Of The Ninja

While painting progresses slowly, I just wanted to take a little time to draw attention to a web-site and fanzine that supports Ninja Division games and products, including Anima Tactics (as well as games like Helldorado and Relic Knights among others).

The Tales of the Ninja web-site can be found through this link. The site also has issues of the fanzine available fro free download, with issue 3 due soon, which may feature an article by ye Pulp Citizen about my project to paint everything for Anima Tactics.

Anima Tactician: 2014 Reflections, And The Year Ahead

First of all, I want to say once more a big thank you to everyone who Follows the Anima Tactician, everyone who reads, and most of all those who Comment on the blog. Interaction is what is spurring me on with this project, so any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. I really do want to paint this whole range, and as I get further in, it will no doubt get a little harder.

2014 was an interesting year for me. Not as much time for 'hobby stuff' as I would like as I was involved in a course, and other things, but I still managed some painting and a little gaming.

The picture shows what are probably my favourite 5 Anima Tactics paint-jobs in 2014 (clockwise from top left: Deimon; Al-Djinn; Arkham; Kira; and Tiamat).

I painted 29 units for Anima Tactics in 2014, 7 fewer than 2013, but still largely on track. In the year ahead I want to try and paint at least 30 Anima Tactics units, including a few that have been part-painted for many months. I managed a few games in 2014, but in the year ahead I would also like to get a few more games in. I have accumulated some more terrain this year, so it would be nice to get it gamed with. Finally, I want to maintain a similar of better rate of blogging, as I managed 63 posts in 2014. That will depend on gaming and painting of course!

As for stuff external to my bit of the hobby, I look forward (hopefully!) to delivery of the Anima: Gate of Memories Kickstarter especially the minis, as well as the delayed new releases from 2014.

So please stay tuned to see what the Anima Tactician has to offer in 2015.

Agents Unbound

"At midnight, all the agents and superhuman crew go out and round up everyone who knows more than they do."

With apologies to Bob Dylan for appropriating the above quote, I am glad Agents have been getting some attention with the recent rules revisions being previewed, especially since painting my first Church Agent, I now have finished an Agent for all of the current Organizations that have them.

I fully expect all Organization Agents, as well as Shinobi, to get eventually reworked profile options, and I do think the new approach has made Agents a far more viable and useful unit option. While some may think t'their' beloved build has lost out somehow, on balance I do think it makes sense to revise how Agents work in the game, and their revisions seem to lean towards viable support-type units, which seems fitting since they are the foot-soldiers of the various Organizations in Anima Tactics.