Sunday, 18 March 2012

Anima Tactics: First Weekends progress


So the first weekend fully dedicated to Anima Tactics miniatures comes to a close and quite frankly I feel a little drained from it. I mentioned in my last post that the miniatures are cast in multiple metal pieces and that the quality of cast is good, my opinion on this has not changed. However the number of pieces involved in making the larger kits is at times challenging, due to the small size of some components and need to remove fine mould lines. It has been some time since I have worked with large metal miniatures and as a result took a little time readjusting to work with it. Below is a good example of the number and scale of parts: The Type - 012 which is essentially a giant dead dog consisting of around 12 different components; including lower jaw and two separate horns, all which need cleaning and a little positioning to fit (like with most multi part metal kits).



The Raziel NK - X (apologies for poor pic) has turned out to be a bit of a beast in the building. I dedicated the whole of Saturday cleaning and pinning this monstrous miniature together and despite the fact I securely pinned every part, I fear to even look at it, incase it falls apart. Every time I handle the miniature, I get flashes of one of the four metal tentacles snagging my sleeves and accidentally launching it across the office whilst screaming a resounding "NOOOOOO" at the top of my lungs. Paranoias aside I am very proud at having this miniature fully cleaned up and built, it already looks imposing just sitting on the work table and I am sure that once painted it will grab a lot of attention on the tabletop and in my (very secure) cabinet.


In contrast to the metal tentacled NK-X, the Raziel Archetypum was quite a mundane affair in terms of build; consisting of only 4 or so pieces and a rather static pose. Not a single tentacle or small lower jaw bone in sight, the final product however stands impressive, sporting a Raxxor (sword) only a little smaller than the NK-X but non the less detailed in sculpt and design. The only issue I had building this miniature, was the fitting of the left shoulder spike; it sits a little funny in the socket and requires some fiddling and trimming to fit snuggly, a small gap might be left but it is nothing a little bit of putty can't solve. I opted for the clawed right arm instead of double Raxxor as I actually like the clawed hand pose for this figure.


I have seen some really cool (but weird) art for what looks like a super beast for the Black Sun: "The Necro Golem" resembles some sort of massive patch work worm thing, complete with enough grabby hands and tentacles to entertain a hard core hentai fan. With the recent release of Morrigan and Nature's Wrath (also two big beasties) I am wondering if this figure could make production in the future? With the majority of the Black Sun miniature in possession I only have three very normal looking humanoids to add to the collection, and some more super sized zombie gribblies would make welcome additions to the collection and keep me interested (getting greedy now aren't I)...however before I get carried away I do need to remember that Cipher Studios are trying a major push of the Helldorado brand and that the Black Sun is the newest faction to be added, still giant zombie tentacle worms anyone? 


With a trio of my Black Sun band built and polished with wire wool, I am considering putting paint to mini but a part of me thinks I should build the rest of figures and paint as a batch. I will sleep on it for tonight and decide first thing in the morning.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios
The 14th legion

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