You may remember me asking about Anima: Tactics. Well, I got my Dark Faction Starter Box while Cheryll received her Light Faction one. Prepare for my review!
First of all, the box is great. Really great. It\'s a very sturdy cardboard with a nice artwork of the miniatures on front. The whole box is a clamshell design, held together by a yellow ribbon (and a little sticky tape that can be removed with no damage at all).Inside we have two compartments in one half of the box, both padded with foam, and another piece of foam glued into the other half of the box. The minis are look like they are an afterthough, occupying the smallest compartment in a \"we just threw them in\" look
The top compartment houses the playing cards, several blue markers and a d10. In theory it would also have bases for the minis, however I did not get any in my box. Cheryll got the bases but missed a card.
The cards. They are printed on cardstock, of course, and have a slight sheen. A noteworthy thing: the cards all have different sizes. Not by much, but they all are slightly different which makes them awkward to hold - the smaller ones keep sliding out of my hand. The cards include the one playing card per miniature that has the artwork of the miniature on the back and the stats on the front, one \"plot\" card called \"Dawn of Darkness\" (basically an upgrade for your characters that allows them alter the course of the battle), an item card providing the ever present Final Fantasy patented potion (used to heal your characters), a kinda \"reference card\" that provides most relevant information about the genral flow of the game in a nutshell and last but not least a card of markers to mark characters that are suffering from a bad condition or are under the effects of a spell. This card actually got me to laugh - the first thing I noticed was that the marker for \"blind\" and the marker for \"doom\" are direct copies of two Guild Wars skill icons - the Mesmer skill \"blackout\" and a Necromancer skill with a name I can\'t recall at the moment. Those are not similar - they are 100% the same. Interpret this however you like
The d10 is nothing special, neither are the markers - they are unremarkable pieces of blue plastic that are slightly translucent.
Now, onto the main course - the miniatures.
There are two in every box, as stated before. The Dark Faction gets a bloke called \"Cheshire\" or \"Chesire\" (the name varies...) and a (dare I say cute?) little demoness called \"Shinigami Ayl\".
Cheshire is a one piece model. That guy has some remarkable hair on his head and a sword as big himself in his hand - behind his back, actually. Add in his mostly naked upper body (sculpted nipples! Judging by those, he must be really cold), some techincally useless pieces of armour and some garish attire and there\'s your stereotype nime character right there I like the mini though, it\'s very well sculpted (did I mention the nipples?), especially the feathers. His weapon also looks massive though not as massive as some of the Rackham stuff The body proportions are kinda off, but that does not diminish the look at all - cartoonish and just overall well done.
Shinigami comes in five parts: One body, the scythe plus left arm, one \"horny looking thing\", one \"blocky cape-like strange looking thing\" and a tail.
Now here\'s my roblem. I still have no idea where those things are supposed to be placed. OK, scythe, clear, I know that. Tail, got that, kinda fits there. Horn thingy, well, it fits into a notch but I have no idea what it actually is. Blocky cape thing, no idea AT ALL. Well, it has a notch for the tail, but the tail kinda goes there, and then that thing goes there and then it just kinda floats there on her hair.... blocking most of it from view... I think I\'ll just leave it off.
There are some more things I notices about her - for example, she has a really long neck, about one quarter of her leg. Also there are some very fine arts that remind me of Rackham. All in all well sculpted.
Both miniatures had not a single visible mold line. I removed two miniscule pieces of flash - in every other aspect they are perfect. No bubbles, no moldline, basically no flash.
The rulebook barely fit and really looks like the Confrontation-style \"quick rules\". The rules seem good but we have not yet played a game - I suppose we will next wednesday.
I\'ll get you some pictures as soon as my father finds the camera... buy a new camera, put it somewhere safe, forget where it is
First of all, the box is great. Really great. It\'s a very sturdy cardboard with a nice artwork of the miniatures on front. The whole box is a clamshell design, held together by a yellow ribbon (and a little sticky tape that can be removed with no damage at all).Inside we have two compartments in one half of the box, both padded with foam, and another piece of foam glued into the other half of the box. The minis are look like they are an afterthough, occupying the smallest compartment in a \"we just threw them in\" look
The top compartment houses the playing cards, several blue markers and a d10. In theory it would also have bases for the minis, however I did not get any in my box. Cheryll got the bases but missed a card.The cards. They are printed on cardstock, of course, and have a slight sheen. A noteworthy thing: the cards all have different sizes. Not by much, but they all are slightly different which makes them awkward to hold - the smaller ones keep sliding out of my hand. The cards include the one playing card per miniature that has the artwork of the miniature on the back and the stats on the front, one \"plot\" card called \"Dawn of Darkness\" (basically an upgrade for your characters that allows them alter the course of the battle), an item card providing the ever present Final Fantasy patented potion (used to heal your characters), a kinda \"reference card\" that provides most relevant information about the genral flow of the game in a nutshell and last but not least a card of markers to mark characters that are suffering from a bad condition or are under the effects of a spell. This card actually got me to laugh - the first thing I noticed was that the marker for \"blind\" and the marker for \"doom\" are direct copies of two Guild Wars skill icons - the Mesmer skill \"blackout\" and a Necromancer skill with a name I can\'t recall at the moment. Those are not similar - they are 100% the same. Interpret this however you like
The d10 is nothing special, neither are the markers - they are unremarkable pieces of blue plastic that are slightly translucent.
Now, onto the main course - the miniatures.
There are two in every box, as stated before. The Dark Faction gets a bloke called \"Cheshire\" or \"Chesire\" (the name varies...) and a (dare I say cute?) little demoness called \"Shinigami Ayl\".
Cheshire is a one piece model. That guy has some remarkable hair on his head and a sword as big himself in his hand - behind his back, actually. Add in his mostly naked upper body (sculpted nipples! Judging by those, he must be really cold), some techincally useless pieces of armour and some garish attire and there\'s your stereotype nime character right there
I like the mini though, it\'s very well sculpted (did I mention the nipples?), especially the feathers. His weapon also looks massive though not as massive as some of the Rackham stuff The body proportions are kinda off, but that does not diminish the look at all - cartoonish and just overall well done.Shinigami comes in five parts: One body, the scythe plus left arm, one \"horny looking thing\", one \"blocky cape-like strange looking thing\" and a tail.
Now here\'s my roblem. I still have no idea where those things are supposed to be placed. OK, scythe, clear, I know that. Tail, got that, kinda fits there. Horn thingy, well, it fits into a notch but I have no idea what it actually is. Blocky cape thing, no idea AT ALL. Well, it has a notch for the tail, but the tail kinda goes there, and then that thing goes there and then it just kinda floats there on her hair.... blocking most of it from view... I think I\'ll just leave it off.
There are some more things I notices about her - for example, she has a really long neck, about one quarter of her leg. Also there are some very fine arts that remind me of Rackham. All in all well sculpted.
Both miniatures had not a single visible mold line. I removed two miniscule pieces of flash - in every other aspect they are perfect. No bubbles, no moldline, basically no flash.
The rulebook barely fit and really looks like the Confrontation-style \"quick rules\". The rules seem good but we have not yet played a game - I suppose we will next wednesday.
I\'ll get you some pictures as soon as my father finds the camera... buy a new camera, put it somewhere safe, forget where it is
