next »

[studderingdave]

We have a decent interest in Anima Tactics at my LGS and i want something different to paint. I read over the rulebook and watched a few games being played. i have a specific playstyle that follows me through most of my games. I want something with a 60/40 split between melee and shooting, i prefer resilience over speed. I like to be able to both dish out damage in melee and take it. Any advice on what fits that description?

I also really like a lot of the Wissenschaft line, perhaps as a second force, what would you suggest for a 300 level game using Cordelia and one of the "gears" as a requirement for the list.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[0-0-17]

Your best bet is Empire. Wissenschaft need buffs to be survivable (beyond the gears) and specialise more in alpha strike. Characters like Daniella, Samael, Lilith and the soon to be released Valentine (check the dark faction forum for info on her) will give you the range punch you want while they have several characters that have high ARM and LP and can dish out a lot of damage. If you play Warmahordes they're the closest to Khardor (which sounds like the sort of play style you're describing).

If you are already playing games with a lot of heavily armoured characters then I'd suggest Black Sun for their high numbers of relatively sturdy (for how little they cost) undead, although they don't have much ranged firepower.

Alternatively If you are set on Wiss then Cordellia and Alissa can give you a firebase with Celia and Grimorum for tanking but the other characters will die quite quickly if they get hit (admittedly they often have above average defence so it's harder to hit them)

[BlueDagger]

Also remember that in Anima Tactics you don't HAVE to play an Organization. You can play any models (except agents) that you want as long as you don't mix Light and Dark models in the same list. If you play an organization you get bonuses and can mix Light and Dark models, however there is something to be said with having free choice to mix and match models available in the game.

[studderingdave]

khador is y main faction for warmachine, so i really like being able to take a hit.

so ill take a look at empire for resilience. im still gonna pick up some Wiss. models for the look. is the grimorum better then the goethe in regards to survivability? how about ranged damage output?

[Usagi]

Wiss is very much a "don't get hit" type of faction. Not counting gears, they have some of the highest average defense in the game. However armor is a rarity among them...even one or two points. So, they can't so much take a hit, as avoid more then most. Wiss also has one of the best combat leaders available in XII. While the organization as a whole may not fit your description, that figure sure does.

It is a bit repetitive to say, but empire probably is your best choice. as a whole they are able to sponge damage better then any other group. They even have an organizational advantage geared towards that (not that anyone every uses that over critical mastery ). But, their range capability probably falls a bit short of the 60/40 you're ideal is. It's probably closer to 75/25 or so, in the average finalized team. But, even given that, will probably fit your style best.

As for Gears and survivability. Grimorum is much more survivable then Goethia. Much, much more survivable (grimorum has very thick armor, and with the right pilot can heal it's self). Goethia, however, is much, much better at ranged. Again, that compounds further with the right pilot. Then there's Legacy, who is probably one of the most survivable units in the game and an absolute melee god with a base stat line of 7 attack, 6 damage, 10 defense and 5 armor (with the level 90 version) and the ability to dodge as a damage resistance unit to boot. However, it's also between 75 and 90 levels, and a leader, so it's a serious commitment.

Ultimately, the nice thing about Anima is that, you can get both organizations up and running for about the price of one functional WM army (though gears throw that off a little bit). So, it's easy to experiment and change things up here and there. Here's hoping you have lots of entertaining games!

...Now I want to play my Legacy...darn it. <_< >_>

[studderingdave]

i think i am going to commit to Wiss. i know its sort of outside of my playstyle but i cannot get into the empire figures. i like the gears, i like cordelia and a lot of the Wiss. sculpts. i need to hammer out a buy list for 300 level games, it is what is played locally.

so, now, my only stipulation is i want to run cordelia for sure for the model to paint. i want a gear for center piece. money isnt really an issue i have spare funds for a force.

how about...

Legacy w/ Reist 90
Cordelia 45
Celia 45
Alessa 45

gets me to 225, is another gear horrible? perhaps grigorum w/ Steiner

im sort of just shooting in the dark here. thoughts?

[Usagi]

well, you (generally) want 6 figures...less then that will often put you at a numbers (and thus actions) disadvantage. That's not impossible to work around, but I wouldn't recommend it as a first time team either. That being said, if you were to put Sophia Ilmora (a wanderer) in as a support piece you could stll fit in Feng-Yi or Veronica. Neither of which is looked upon as an amazing piece. But, I use Feny-Yi in my Legacy team as a defensive piece. She gets up to 5AP (as opposed to the much more common 4AP non leaders get) and is good to tie people up because of that.

Ideally, you want people that can run interference for your snipers, so they can lay down a lot of damage. You also don't want too many people ganging up on Legacy...because even he can come down with enough focused fire.

You could, as an alternative, replace Alessa with Rayne as well...kind of depending on what you face. Alessa is better for facing slower, high armor groups like empire. Rayne is better for more standoffish groups like Samael. Being able to dodge well and close range quickly and dangerously.

Ultimately Wiss is a very flexible organization. Due to it's process advantage is can patch the weaknesses or bolster the strengths of just about any (not gear) model it can field. That's an amazingly powerful thing. Use it well. ^_~

[studderingdave]

so, working with this:

Legacy w/ Reist 90
Cordelia 45
Celia 45
Alessa 45
Sophia 35
Veronica 40

rounds me out at 300 points and i like all of the models.

im going to run with it an see how it treats me. any general tips for the above list? locally we have an empire player and an azur player.

thanks for all the advice.

[spacemonkey]

Actually you'll need to revise your list slightly since Celia is 50 Levels, not 45. 

[Kagami, The Renegade]

I'm surprised nobody suggested Samael. That's an all around Organization with a good focus in firepower as everybody and its dog has some kind of ranged attack. While armor it's not certainly their strongpoint they have some monsters like Konosuke and Morrigan able to soak (and do) tons of damage as well as some very capable and robust warriors like Chesire, Nahimana or Kairos. That being said, if you don't like the excellent armoured knight sculpts of Empire maybe you won't like the excentric look of Samael demons and magical creatures.

My suggestions, that I find fit your needs, were Samael and Empire.

[studderingdave]

i looked over the samael range and while i find some of the sculpts t be interesting, the ones i like most dont justify me starting the force. Morrigan doesnt look to be released yet.

retweaked the current Wiss list:

Legacy w/ Reist 90
Cordelia 45
Rayne 45
Alessa 45
Sophia 35
Veronica 40

swapped Celia for Rane, for sake of points.

[Usagi]

With a list like that, you're mostly going to want to use Rayne, Veronica and Legacy to keep people off of Cordellia and Alessa. You can use Sophia to support either side of that equation, however you want. With the front liners, you want to use Rayne and Veronica to sort of control the flow of people engaged with or targeting Legacy so he doesn't get overwhelmed (he can draw a LOT of fire). Then you use Legacy to step in and clean up the figures that the snipers and other melee weakened already. You can use the process to keep AP high or armor up on your two weaker frontliners, as well.

At least that's how I play my similar list. ^_^

[studderingdave]

thank you for the insight. i look forward to painting and playing with these models.

Edit: Seems the Sophia model is pretty hard to get. Its not on Warstore nor ANYWHERE on ebay. am i missing something?

[Hiro]

First let me start by saying welcome to Science (its what Wissenschaft literally means). Your joining the ranks of the most OP organization of the game. We have lots of speed and, with the process, toughness as well.

Second, that Legacy team is honestly too fragile. Legacy is as close as indestructible as this game gets, the best way to beat it is to kill the rest of the wiss team. And your team is full of fragile characters. Yes, a process shield helps a lot but you lack a frontline to help Legacy in combat. Legacy 90 only really works by using the org. advantage manipulation to save points. But thats not officially out yet in english so never mind. Best to stick with Legacy 75 and use the process.

Org. Adv. The process

Legacy Of Solomon (Valeria Strauss)
Lorenzo
Hiro
Rayne
Cordelia
Sophia

This list gives you a tough frontline by put shield on 2 of your fighters. Use Rayne(w/ process shield) to protect Lorenzo and Hiro so they can save AP for charges. Cordelia is always useful and can eat alive most Damage Resistance (DR) characters by herself. Use Sophia to buff Lorenzo and give extra AP to legacy so he can always use is special dodge.

However, playing Legacy doesn't really give you what you originally asked for, a 60/40 Melee/Shooting team.

Org. Adv. The Process | Team Card: Assault Group

XII
Lorenzo
Rayne
Cordelia
Grimorium Verum(Steiner Wenzel)
Fate or Sophia

This list provides plenty of firepower. Half the team can shoot and they are all powerful shots. XII can use a process Haste to shoot twice every turn and Cordelia is anti-armor. Don't underestimate Grim's ranged shot, Even if he is inaccurate, at 4AP it still does base 12 damage. Its an attack that enemies must dodge.

Note - read Fate's stats here: http://cipher-studios.com/AnimaBB/index.php?topic=5638.0

Fate isn't out yet but feel free to proxy her with Sophia or another mini. I honestly think shes better for this list than Sophia but they both have their uses. Sophia can provide buffs to the assault group as well as Grim, but Grim is very inaccurate without constant buffs.

Fate has several advantages over Sophia when played with Grim. First, just taking Fate provides a constant +2 attack buff to Grim as long as she remains on the table. This means that Grim suddenly has an 8/8 -2 armor charge. Fate can heal for Grim and combine with Steiner, Grim can heal an amazing 10 LP every turn if you spend the AP to do so. Last but not least, Fate can give AP to Grim which means he can spam his AoE attack more often or simply basic Attack and Heal every turn.

Simply put, Fate takes Grim,a somewhat mediocre Damage Resistnace character for his cost, and turns him into a God on the battle field. Grim gains the accuracy to be an effective threat as well as being one of the most incredible tanks in the game with a possible 10 LP a turn healing.

Overall, this list gives a lot of speed (Assault Group), toughness (Grim and process shields), and plenty of firepower.

Its a damn good list that should do well against just about anyone else with good tactics. Yes, I've seen Grim crush Damien 1 vs 1 even though Damien is a direct counter to DR characters. Not only that, but Grim can just heal himself back UP afterwards.

Note: XII can use both his innate process and the Org. Adv. Process at the same time. So you can pick two positive status to place on him. Remember that, its big part of what makes XII so great. I have seen XII go from close to death to ending the game at full health.



P.S.

Sophia was suppose to be sold in stores as part of a pack with other wanderer characters at a discount.

You can still order her from Cypher Studio: https://cipher-studios.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_18&products_id=37&zenid=063bdb47b48fc38697e7bb99995de110

[studderingdave]

thank you hiro for the lengthy write up and the access to sophia.

which one of those lists you posted would you way is more forgiving?