Anima Tactics to be Discontinued

[Tioch]

So this was just announced on Tabletop.

http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/cipher-studios-announces-anima-tactics-discontinued/

According to the press release from Ninja Division, the folks who took over Cipher Studios, the game was apparently unsustainable from a business standpoint.

While I'm pretty disappointed in this, I can't say I'm surprised by this. Frankly, I'm surprised this announcement didn't come last year. Anima Tactics was and is a pretty fun game with a lot different strategies. The minis were gorgeous and I even liked the storyline. I just wasn't impressed by how the game was handled from a business standpoint. Long stretches with little to no announcements or support, the initial conundrum that came from issuing the rulebook, lack of effort to form a community, etc.

Course, I also think some of the blame comes from Hell Dorado itself, which to me, seemed like a big mistake for Cipher and a pretty weak product line. Regardless, pretty sad to see Anima: Tactics go.

[Da King]

Yep this is sucky news.  Truly an underrated skirmish game with deep tactics and resource management.  Sadly I think only you and I played this locally Paul.

I'm sure there will be some sales going on though, might be a good opportunity to complete some factions.

Later,

[Scifi_Toughguy]

It always seemed like a cool game, I just don't have the resources or the time to allot to more than one game at the moment.  Sad news indeed.

[Tioch]

Yep this is sucky news.  Truly an underrated skirmish game with deep tactics and resource management.  Sadly I think only you and I played this locally Paul.

Yeah, and that was unfortunate in my eyes. I know some other guys like Denny had some minis floating around, but they were sucked in by Malifaux (which arguably plays at the same "shock-value miniatures" style approach that Hell Dorado did). I mean, you can't necessarily put any blame on local stores for the lack of success since it wasn't until maybe a year or so ago that there was any discussion of an ambassador/demo program and even less discussion about prize support.

I'm sure there will be some sales going on though, might be a good opportunity to complete some factions.

According to the press release and their own website's release schedule, there will be some final Anima releases. Probably the best to note is the Lvl 100 monster named Legion for Samael. I'd love to fill out my collection of Wissenschaft and Empire, but sadly there are a lot more profiles listed on the Anima Tactics Oracle than what are listed in the release schedule, so some characters just will never be.