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I was just curious on any ideas you guys had to keep large units distinguishable from one another when close together. Nothing worse than getting 3 blobs of gaunts into a bottle neck and then have to figure out wound allocation on them. So far i have batch painted my gaunts in groups 20 and i make each batch slightly different from one another and try to keep them in the same unit.

Also does anyone else proxy dev gaunts? I really don't want to paint up another 60 gaunts just to run them as devourer gaunts. I figure its not to big a deal as all the models in the unit are equiped the same. Personally i try to shy away from proxys except for circumstances around horde armys.

My orks are painted in trukk sized mobs of the same clan colour. I just combine two of these mobs to get a blob, so the blue/yellow Orks are one unit and the red/grey ones are another

For my nids when i used to use the same list every time i painted the rims of the bases different colors.

With my Guardsmen (who usually impersonate cultists), I tend to make a boundary by turning the models on the edge of each unit backwards.

I've also had the issue when more than one CSM unit is in the same close combat, which is why one of my CSM units is modelled with chainswords and bolters, and the other just has bolters.

My guardsmen have platoon/squad numbers painted on their shoulder pad.

With my ork boyz, I paint mobs of 30 in different colors. Quite simple really, but if I want to make smaller mobs I might get problems though
But if you reeealy want everything to look the same, mark each base as belonging to whichever squad. Just a small dot of some other color on the back of the base or under if you prefer

Cut the gun barrel off, using a razor saw, then do the same to a devourer. Magnetize both barrels and the gun, and you're set. Regarding distinguishing models, I have had luck with using slightly different carapace colouring.

Yeah, diff color bases, diff insignias, tattoos, skin(if a tyrinid) etc, diff basing coloring, don't do something too complex though

I have a bunch of Gants with mixed weapons owing to having been playing them for awhile. Since I run all gants with no upgrades, I just group them by weapon and stage in painting.

I've never played a horde army in 40k, but i do play against them quite frequently. The common methods i've seen are:

painting the rims of bases different colours, or painting numbers on them.
Painting the trim on units differently, or having unit numbers
One Tau player i know has banners on all his fire warriors with unit markings
Painting the armour different colours
Units of the same type have different weapons, or different coloured weapons

Whatever you choose, all the horde armies i've seen have very clear differences between units of the same type. its helpful for both players in that you can tell at a glance what is what

Buy 1" washers. Paint them in sets of 10 or 20 in different colors (trivial with spraypaint).

Put a magnet in the base of every gant. When they spawn, pick a new color washer, place gant on washer, deploy. Bam - instantly able to tell different squads apart.

I paint the edges of the bases different colors.

If I had a IG army I would use differant colours on the shoulder pads.

The best (and fastest and cheapest) method I've seen used is simply orient the figures in different units in different directions. Unit 1 might all point towards your table edge, unit 2 towards the left edge, unit three towards the right edge, and so on.

It means you don't need to make permanent unit designations by painting markings or bases, or spend money on washers, magnets or markers.

"These ones that are painted are part of this unit, and these ones I haven't got around to painting yet are in this unit."

I've git 72 Fire Warriors which I field regularly just cause I like throwing a lot of dice. For them I painted the Tau logo on their shoulder pads different colours and with the corresponding Devilfish I paint the little bubble on the left side of the nose to match the squad I bought it for. Before I did that I put all the models with identical legs in the same squad (crouching squad, running squad, etc). With my pathfinders I painted their helmet lenses different colours and will probably put a coloured mark on their helmet eventually. I give kroot different coloured tattoo designs and with crisis suits I paint the helmets different colours (since helmet colour change is supposed to denote shas'vre I give him helmet antenna)

zteknon wrote:
For my nids when i used to use the same list every time i painted the rims of the bases different colors.

Same technique as I do; painting the base rims is easy to do and to spot the different squads/units.

rigeld2 wrote:
Buy 1" washers. Paint them in sets of 10 or 20 in different colors (trivial with spraypaint).

Put a magnet in the base of every gant. When they spawn, pick a new color washer, place gant on washer, deploy. Bam - instantly able to tell different squads apart.

Bloody genius. A+.

I paint the bases of my models a colour. I have 4 squads of 20 orks, red, blue yellow and white

For Orks I just use some spare dice to separate the units of im doing green tide.

You could also use the water slide decals you were provided.

SYKOJAK wrote:
You could also use the water slide decals you were provided.

Wait, people actually use those?

Different colors for different squads

SBG wrote:

rigeld2 wrote:
Buy 1" washers. Paint them in sets of 10 or 20 in different colors (trivial with spraypaint).

Put a magnet in the base of every gant. When they spawn, pick a new color washer, place gant on washer, deploy. Bam - instantly able to tell different squads apart.

Bloody genius. A+.

Bonus - you have magnetized bases now.

 Rotary wrote:
I was just curious on any ideas you guys had to keep large units distinguishable from one another when close together. Nothing worse than getting 3 blobs of gaunts into a bottle neck and then have to figure out wound allocation on them. So far i have batch painted my gaunts in groups 20 and i make each batch slightly different from one another and try to keep them in the same unit.

Also does anyone else proxy dev gaunts? I really don't want to paint up another 60 gaunts just to run them as devourer gaunts. I figure its not to big a deal as all the models in the unit are equiped the same. Personally i try to shy away from proxys except for circumstances around horde armys.

My ork boy units are each painted a different color, denoting various tribes that have gathered under a powerful warboss.

My Foot guard have different coloured shoulder pads depending on the unit. Makes it very easy for both sides to see who's in which unit. For Gaunts I would either paint the sides of the bases, or give slightly different carapace colours. (If and when I get around to painting my nids anyway).

I use different base colors if I plan the painting right, but right now my favorite "acessory" for 40k is......



BITS OF STRING!

marks out deployment borders, great for the diagonal one, unit borders, measuring curved distances ect ect

 easysauce wrote:
I use different base colors if I plan the painting right, but right now my favorite "acessory" for 40k is......



BITS OF STRING!

marks out deployment borders, great for the diagonal one, unit borders, measuring curved distances ect ect

same here, bits of string on the board. simple and effective

I sort my boyz squads by which close combat weapon they are using.

+1 for laying string to separate units. Use matching colors to the terrain if you wish.