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 Stux wrote:
I don't like to explicitly mark them, because I want the option of putting different guys in different squads.

Just buy more dudes.

I bought a bunch of 25mm coloured counters that I blue tac to the bottom of each base. I use 2p coins for the champions/Sergeants. Not too intrusive but clear enough and none permanent...

I like to do a small stripe around the very bottom edge of the base, like you are doing an edge highlight. Much more subtle than painting the whole rim a different color but still noticeable enough

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 Stux wrote:
I don't like to explicitly mark them, because I want the option of putting different guys in different squads.

Just buy more dudes.

I do! They just tend to be for new armies :p

 Creeping Dementia wrote:
https://www.squadmarks.com
These are out of development and are shipping now. They are affordable, reuseable, and you can stick magnets on the bottom for use in metal army transport bags. Just paint the tabs different colors and you're good to go.

I like the look of these a lot.

Out of my armies this mostly comes up with Imperial Guard infantry and Chaos cultists. I just stick to using movement trays which prevents any issues with identifying the appropriate models in each squad.

Similarly, I have 60 Daemonettes and they are only ever fielded in three squads of twenty.

If a new Codex/FAQ/edition/impulse changes that, it will take less than ten minutes with some black paint and a silver marker to re-number them.

Or you could do up a different numbering system initially whereby squad 1 has ten marked '1' and ten marked '2', squad two has ten marked '3' and ten marked '4' etc. etc. which would allow you to field them in 6x10 squads or 2x30 squads too.

Abaddon303 wrote:


I bought a bunch of 25mm coloured counters that I blue tac to the bottom of each base. I use 2p coins for the champions/Sergeants. Not too intrusive but clear enough and none permanent...

Clever and effective.

That is pretty clever. How much do those counters cost?

Canada doesn't have a coin that's the same size of the 2p; the closest is the 'loonie', which is one dollar, and I'm not blu-tacking $20 to the bottom of one of my squads.

Do they have them in different sizes? I have eighteen Seekers that are prone to inter-mingling so I'd need some that can fit on 75x42mm bases too.

For those thinking of easy way to switch up squads I would say that the silver marker on base is probably the best method as it allows you to quickly change units between many games without having to add 30+ coats on the units shoulder pads.

Each of my Guard squads have differently painter right shoulderpad in a non-bright color. Specialist squads have various ornaments. Flamethower squad have a skull under a red chevron, demolition engineers have the Brainiac TV show logo and so on...

Also, rank insignia is painted in the right corner.

I've seen people paint the base a different color for each "basic troop" squad. So it's super obvious at a glance which squad is which. I don't want to do that on my guys though.

Each of my armies, though, has it built in incidentally, though:

-My Marines each have their Company number on the left shoulder and their Squad number on the right. That's due to fluff for my chapter, not due to wanting to tell them apart.

-Each Aspect Warrior squad is a different Shrine. So each squad has a very different paint scheme. My only duplicates are Dire Avengers, though. (And 2 3-man Shining Spears, but one is Craftworlders and the other is Exodites riding Cold Ones - hard to confuse). I love my DAs so much that I never care to run 2+ Guardian squads, so I don't have a problem.

-I don't castle with my T'au. I know it's less effective, and they don't do well, but I don't like castling.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for Specialists, even if you swap them between squads, I find tracking Sepcialist squad assignments very easy. There aren't many of them that get swapped around, and when they do, they're the definining characteristic(s) of the squads.

The other day I heard someone suggest using movement trays to differentiate units in horde armies. Seemed like a good idea to me. If the squad indicators are on the tray then it still keeps pretty flexible when it comes to changing up which models are in which units without having to repaint.

The minis have to come out of the movement trays at precisely the time they're most likely to become intermingled, though.

Otherwise only your first rank gets to fight.

I can definitely see that being a problem. It partly depends on the design of the movement tray and how the unit is being used though.

Like, if it is a tray designed to maximize spacing between models and I want to pile in as many models as possible I could see that being a big problem. On the other hand if it is a tray that keeps the models packed close or it's a unit that I don't necessarily want to get the most models possible into melee with it seems like a lot less of a problem.

I haven't used movement trays in 40k, so this is all just guesswork on my part and I could be totally wrong about everything.

 Dakka Flakka Flame wrote:
I can definitely see that being a problem. It partly depends on the design of the movement tray and how the unit is being used though.

Like, if it is a tray designed to maximize spacing between models and I want to pile in as many models as possible I could see that being a big problem. On the other hand if it is a tray that keeps the models packed close or it's a unit that I don't necessarily want to get the most models possible into melee with it seems like a lot less of a problem.

I haven't used movement trays in 40k, so this is all just guesswork on my part and I could be totally wrong about everything.

There are some decent pile-in movement trays available. Depends on the unit though and whether it suits shoulder to shoulder rank well.

FWIW, Private Benjamin has a plog on here for his Steel Legion and he utilizes movement trays, if you want to have a goosey.

I get the definite impression that he's not really about optimization, however.

For squads that remain the same I use a number of colour lines on the front and back of the rim of the base (for me and my opponent).

For squads that sometimes change, eg: changing out models with different weapons, I use liquid chalk pens and mark the rim of the bases with either a number of lines or a colour. This is easily removable and is bright.

For my marines I use different colour dots on the underside of the bases, going from red, yellow, blue, green, orange, purple.

Takes a second to check and is a fast, visual indication if a model is a part of a squad or not, especially for multiples of the same unit, such as hellblasters, intercessors, etc.

For the last 40K army I painted, I just painted the base's rims different colors to match the squads. It didn't mess with the army's overall scheme and keep them easily identifiable when looking at the table.