Category Archives: Articles

Welcome to Hobbyist Tactics!

November 21, 2011 – 8:00 am

On a monthly basis, I will be sharing with you the various tactics I employ when painting my miniatures. I have been an avid painter and gamer for over a decade now. It is a challenging, fun and rewarding hobby! When Anima Tactics came on the scene, I was immediately drawn to it simply based [...]

By Erin Strickland | Also posted in Anima, deCiphered | Comments (0)

The Hiring Post

November 16, 2011 – 8:00 am

If you know yourself and you know the enemy, the battle is already over. – Sun Tzu Welcome to the Hiring Post.  We’re going to take a hard look at some of the models of Hell Dorado, assess their uses, and hopefully give you some ideas on how to use them.  We’ll be covering all [...]

By Robert E Allen | Also posted in deCiphered, Helldorado | Comments (3)

Deciphered: Circles of Hell Part 1

November 14, 2011 – 8:00 am

Hi everyone my name is Rory. Just like all of you I am mad about Helldorado and I am lucky to have been given the opportunity to share with you some of the methods I use to make terrain and boards for the game. I know making terrain and boards can be a time consuming [...]

By Rory | Also posted in deCiphered, Helldorado | Comments (0)

Boot Camp: Anima Tactics #1

November 9, 2011 – 8:00 am

Boot Camp: Anima Tactics #1 By Odie I love finding new games to play. I love those rare gamer moments when the discovery of a new game causes genuine excitement – for a split second, the world falls away, the blood pumps a little faster, and the mind reels with thoughts of dramatic victories in [...]

By Odie | Also posted in Anima, deCiphered | Comments (2)

Deciphered: Tales from Alamut #1

November 7, 2011 – 8:00 am

A Step by Step Guide to Lighting Effects by Matt Deas Glow effects and light sources are nothing new in miniature painting, however they can be very challenging to apply effectively. In this article I’d like to demonstrate a straightforward method of applying lighting effects to a mini. I will focus on the grenades on [...]

By Matt Deas | Also posted in deCiphered, Helldorado | Comments (2)

Deciphered Episode 1

November 4, 2011 – 8:00 am

Greetings! Here at Cipher Studios the gears have been turning to bring our fans some awesome new ways to get the most out of our games. Today, we are starting a new segment titled Deciphered. I’m Justin, contributor and editor for Deciphered, and from here on, I’ll be bringing you articles by a number of [...]

By Cipher Justin | Also posted in deCiphered, Helldorado | Comments (2)

Church Overview Video

September 30, 2009 – 10:47 am

Today we bring you Sallust de la Iglesia’s (Rishkith) organization overview video for the Church. Check it out, he has some good pointers for both beginners considering playing the Church and for hardened Inquisitors.

By Cipher Dave | Comments (4)

Photographing Miniatures – By Ryder Gaddis

September 21, 2009 – 5:34 pm

Many of you are hard at work on entries for the Anima Painting Contest, Leg 2 (see: http://cipher-studios.com/2009/08/anima-painting-contest-leg-2-wissenschaft-agent/), and speaking for the rest of us, we can’t wait to see the results! In order for your figures to look their absolute best for the contest, I’ve written this tutorial. These are the techniques I use to [...]

By CipherJoel | Comments (2)

Blending Darkness to Smoldering Color – By Ryder Gaddis

September 15, 2009 – 11:41 am

Ahriman, Lord of Darkness is a menacing character. A great deal of his visual impact comes from the way his dark colors smolder and suddenly burst into vivid ones. Rather than being a complete walk-through of the figure, this tutorial focuses on how to achieve this effect. Wen-M’s illustration I started with. My essential tools [...]

By CipherJoel | Comments (4)

Ryder Gaddis Fires It Up!

July 23, 2009 – 1:36 pm

Here are some tips from Ryder Gaddis, one of our very excellent painters, about how he pulled off the flames on the Fire Demon. I have put up the images with both the black and the white background he sent to us when he was finished. I think each background shows off the model in [...]

By CipherJoel | Comments (5)