Good evening!I am new to Anima : Tactics.To say the truth I just bought my tow starter boxes and I have to tell I am both amazed and horrified by the miniatures.They are very beautifully sculpted but very difficult to paint.I think except the colors I will need washes for the shades but I don't know how to use them.Can anyone give me a hint?Also,some images of AT miniatures have bases with rocks etc.Is this that thing that they call Green staff?How it is used?

I know that with all those questions I seem to be from another planet but if someone can guide me through those things I will appreciate it much!

Thank you for your time!

For painting it would be better if you go to your FLGS (friendly local game store) and ask how to paint the figs, written descriptions and video tutorials that skip from section to section would only confuse you because there is often the problem of "take a LITTLE of that and mix with a SMALL amount of that then put a THIN layer on that" . In the FLGS they will sit with you show you how to do it exacly from start to end (or at least they should find time for it) maybe even they will teach you how to paint the whole miniature.

As for the terraine bases, don't use green stuff for things as rocks . GS is used only for sculpting additional bits or whole minis. Its a big boy's toy but use it if you want. The min source for terrain are mostly glue + sand/dirt , rocks etc but for grass or some extra things like water , or dead earth you will need modeling components bought at the FLGS. Ask for them and they will tell you what you want to hear.

I'm thinking about getting into this game. Just wondered, do the figures come with general guides on the colour (f.eks X has blue pants and green coat) or is it all up to you to make them your own?

it all up to you to make them your own have fun ...

I found some great tutorials on youtube and don't let the professional painter examples scare you away, do your best and enjoy the game.

And there are some cool tutorials on coolminiornot. But you will have to practice...and practise....and (guess) Practise.

Anima Tactics has very nice Minis but your right, they are not easy to paint well.

Good luck and have fun.

New player here as well, but Ive been painting professionally for quite sometime. I agree Grandmikus, hit up your local store. Other then that you can purchase any number of how-to mini paint books. Another avenue would be to hit up dakkadakka or coolminiornot and surf the site for tutorials. Or you can just jump feet first and try it out without using any of these tools. I have the following suggestion...get a good black mat spray paint to base, then use some sort of acrylic paints...dont glob it up either, smooth even coats.

I'd try not to be too indimidated by the models. Firstly I'd ignore the level of artwork in the books as the people that paint up to that standard are few and far between. I always advocate a fairly basic approach to painting as it can still produce good looking minatures and requires the minimum amount of painting skill. I usualy pick a couple of colors and use those through out my team producing a strong unified look to the team (my Holy Empire team are all done with deep purple garments and white armour with gold trim which looks pretty kick ass IMO)

I always start with a quick look at the model. Decide what parts are going to be painted what. What parts are robes (and therefore purple) what parts are armour (and therefore white) and what parts are going to be picked out in gold. The next step is a black undercoat followed by a couple of layers of dark purple on the areas which need it. The parts that will be white are given a couple of layers of light grey followed by a couple of layers of white. Recesses are left black to provide quick depth to the model. Weapons are then painted silver with the details then picked out in gold. Boots and leather are done in dark brown. Lastly skin is done as brown followed by a layer of dark pink and then light pink. Eyes are then picked out with a tiny stroke of white and a tiny line of black horizontaly for the pupil.

While the model will look a bit flat it should still look pretty good and if you are going to be playing with them on a regular basis then it's probably all you'll need, especialy as they are probably going to get handled and bash about a bit over time. Over the time I've been painting I've pretty much got my technique down so I can paint up to a decent standard without having to go into the more advanced techniques. All of what I've learnt has been me sitting down and actually painting; finding out what works for me and refining my technique over time.

One thing that I would say is never be afraid to simplify things. My best example is the Janus Faith model I'm curerently working on. I looked at all of the gold detailing on the model and was like 'wow that looks awesome' when it came to actually going it myself I saw that it was going to be a bit outside of what I was capable of. Therefore I simply just did the whole thing in white with the recesses left in grey and it still looks really good to my eyes. My main tip though is that practice makes perfect and you can only learn by actualy picking up a paint brush and having a go!

A lot of my models I have primed black and dry brush white to bring out the lines, this process I have found lines that I could not see in the raw model or primed white. I like using black so if I do have to get lazy areas not painted are shadows..... hey, I paint to play. If I do find that I really want to lighten an area I will first paint with white before painting. I do not much with washed but a big fan of dry brushing, and yes, I know my figures would look better with a wash... I paint to play.