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I’ve recently started playing wh40k (played WHFB back in the mid 90’s), and feel the urge to repaint/fix my old HE army.
But most of my units/characters are older and I don’t really want to start making conversions out of them. I know that wysiwyg is real important in 40k (at least from what I’ve encountered).
But how is the general rule in WHFB?

IMO, front rank is the most important. do try to wysiwyg, btu if you can't at least aim for the front rank

The only thing I care about for WYSIWYG in fantasy is the command. If its obvious which guy is the musician, champ and you have a banner all is good

Make the fron rank or 2 wyswig after that whatever. My 30 grave guard are 15/15 HW/S or GW. I just switch out the front ranks depending on what I'm running.

Also if you have a command make sure it's wyswig.

Command is important, these need to be clearly defined wherever possible.

Weapons, generally the front rank or two is all that matters.

Characters, well, its generally ok - typically you can outfit them however you want and just use whichever generic hero model you're using, so long as its representative.

Count me in with the "first 1-2 ranks is wysiwyg" crowd.

Same general rules as 40k, if you can easily tell what's what at a glance you're fine. Front ranks and command group matter the most.

The official rule is that over 50% of a unit must be equipped properly. So out of a unit of 30, 16 must have the proper gear... and the other 14 can be equipped however.

But as you can see from the responses in this thread, most people won't care so long as the front rank (or two) is kosher. That's the really important part, that the gear of the unit is readily identifiable.

But how about characters?
My wh40k army characters are all 100% magnetized, you can’t proxy a powerfist to a power sword etc. And if you play with a 10 man sternguard squad and they all have combimeltas all the models have to have combimeltas.
That’s why I asked about the wysiwyg. Don’t really feel good about starting to saw thru my old oop models. Ofc you can’t proxy the command, or bsb. My question was mostly regarding magic items on characters. Do I have to magnetize multiple equipment to my prince/mage/hero models?

No don't worry about making your lords and heroes WYSIWYG.
Just try to pick the model that is most suiting to what you have him equipt with.

Honestly no one will tell you you can't use it. There are so many magic items and weapons in the game that no one expects you to show exactly what they have.

Never been a fan of what you see if what you get anyways in 40k its like your restricting people from trying to try out new build (not you just that rule thing)

If you want to model your guy with a dispel scroll, ruby ring of ruin and a weeping blade to for it but no one will complain if you bring a generic character with a sword and tell people that he is equipt with a fencers blade and dispel scroll or whatever.

Fantasy is not like 40k tho

Also for magic gear the rulebook even says you can be flexible

"We can simply assume his axe, hammer, or other suitable hand weapon has the same properties..."

WYSWYG is nowhere near as important in fantasy as in 40k,

for example,


In the free company unit, everybody has weapons ranging from pistols to swords to greatswords but crunchwise, everybody only has 2 hand weapons

ATXMILEY wrote:
WYSWYG is nowhere near as important in fantasy as in 40k,

for example,

Spoiler:

In the free company unit, everybody has weapons ranging from pistols to swords to greatswords but crunchwise, everybody only has 2 hand weapons

This is not a good example of how important wyswyg is. It clearly states in the rulebook about this unit specifically in its entry about them being armed with whatever. It was a way they could use the mordheim box in regular armies. This unit is the exception, not the standard.

WYSWYG is important. You should be able to readily identify a unit and what type of mundane equipment it has. In a friendly game with agreed upon proxies, fine, but in any kind of closed list enviroment (which is all fantasy IMO) then using empire spearmen as counts as halberds, not ok. Or any spearmen for that matter. If you bought perry brothers minis armed with spears trying to pull them off as anything but spearmen unless BOTH players are ok with it, then no it is not kosher.

 namiel wrote:

ATXMILEY wrote:
WYSWYG is nowhere near as important in fantasy as in 40k,

for example,

Spoiler:

In the free company unit, everybody has weapons ranging from pistols to swords to greatswords but crunchwise, everybody only has 2 hand weapons

This is not a good example of how important wyswyg is. It clearly states in the rulebook about this unit specifically in its entry about them being armed with whatever. It was a way they could use the mordheim box in regular armies. This unit is the exception, not the standard.

WYSWYG is important. You should be able to readily identify a unit and what type of mundane equipment it has. In a friendly game with agreed upon proxies, fine, but in any kind of closed list enviroment (which is all fantasy IMO) then using empire spearmen as counts as halberds, not ok. Or any spearmen for that matter. If you bought perry brothers minis armed with spears trying to pull them off as anything but spearmen unless BOTH players are ok with it, then no it is not kosher.

I'd disagree with that a little bit.
Played in a tournament last weekend and players just say what the unit is equipt with. Noones to fussy.

Most skaven players will say their clanrats have swords and shields but lots actually have spears. (island of blood clanrats) I've never been told I couldn't do that no one has even mentioned it. I just plunk the unit on the table and say "unit of 30 clanrats with hand weapons and shield full command" and I always get the "alrighty roo!" Lol

 chiefbigredman wrote:

 namiel wrote:

ATXMILEY wrote:
WYSWYG is nowhere near as important in fantasy as in 40k,

for example,

Spoiler:

In the free company unit, everybody has weapons ranging from pistols to swords to greatswords but crunchwise, everybody only has 2 hand weapons

This is not a good example of how important wyswyg is. It clearly states in the rulebook about this unit specifically in its entry about them being armed with whatever. It was a way they could use the mordheim box in regular armies. This unit is the exception, not the standard.

WYSWYG is important. You should be able to readily identify a unit and what type of mundane equipment it has. In a friendly game with agreed upon proxies, fine, but in any kind of closed list enviroment (which is all fantasy IMO) then using empire spearmen as counts as halberds, not ok. Or any spearmen for that matter. If you bought perry brothers minis armed with spears trying to pull them off as anything but spearmen unless BOTH players are ok with it, then no it is not kosher.

I'd disagree with that a little bit.
Played in a tournament last weekend and players just say what the unit is equipt with. Noones to fussy.

Most skaven players will say their clanrats have swords and shields but lots actually have spears. (island of blood clanrats) I've never been told I couldn't do that no one has even mentioned it. I just plunk the unit on the table and say "unit of 30 clanrats with hand weapons and shield full command" and I always get the "alrighty roo!" Lol

The first few ranks being armed correctly is ok but that makes the unit readily identifiable. It really depends on your local scene and enviroment. Here i have seen people using dice as counters for models and those players are shamed hard for it. I have a unit of blue painted warriors of chaos and most players i know will give me hell if they are marked anything but MoT. These are all my opinions and how the guys i game with feel about the issue

First rank or 2 should be something close I agree.
You mean dice as wound counters?

I think my area is just really laid back about it all. My flgs owner is super nice and wants everyone to get a chance to play so isn't strict on that kind of stuff. As long as your a good sport (which every player at my store is) then everyone has fun. I've never seen a guy who would get angry over WYSIWYG, he might ask for clarification on what a unit has but won't tell you not to play it.
Makes me feel lucky to play at a store with such good sports I geuss!!

I mean they have a unit that is "60" strong but only 10 models on the table with dice counting the other 50.

people are pretty cool about it but trust me you will get crap for it and no not everyone will readily play a pick up game if youre coming in with half an army and most things are proxies.

I don't allow dice as wounds. You need to actually get the models. The exception I make is for undead & now daemons players.

ONLY because they can summon and maybe they get off a couple spells & don't have the numbers for it because they don't know how many they might need. While I'll still say no to just making a paper square with plague bearers on it. If you summon a unit & reality blinks another to full & find yourself shot models, hey it happens. I'm not gonna penalize you for not predicting that happening but I'm not gonna let you be a cheap bastard & have a unit fo 60 slaves with 10 models & 50 "wound counters"

Granted you still need the models. I'm not gonna let you summon Ushabti & use fell bat models.

Oh okay ya I wouldn't allow that either at least use models lol

I like the idea of front two ranks as WYSIWYG, but this idea that "you have to have the models" is about as dumb as using dice or coins to mark models. If you are running a big block of dudes, no one should ever nitpick even if there is a random model in the front rank with the wrong weapon (I did up a unit of VC Skellies and had the banner sticking out of a torso to save some bits).

I do prefer wound markers to removing models if I've put the time into lining them all up so they don't fall over. Using dice as models is just sloppy though....

In 40k, you can buy an extra bolter or flamer or whatever for your unit, and it gets really annoying if all the models are moving about and your opponent can't remember which is which. Having RnF means we can chill out a bit. That huge blob of mans is swords, kay? It has a banner and musician. Cool. Now let's kill each other.

The front two ranks is a decent idea. But it limits the look of a lot of units; some of my Clanrats and Slaves have shields and/or spears, and some don't. It adds to the "mangy, disorganized mob" feel.
And then there's those units that have pseudo-dioramas within their ranks. Or more typical unit fillers.

As long as it's not deliberately misleading (a unit of Empire Crossbowmen being used as Chaos Chosen), I don't have a problem with it.

Even with dice or bits of cardboard as models, to an extent. I've had people who wanted to test out a new army, or even see if they wanted to get into Warhammer in the first place.
Granted, if they then just refused to even make an effort to upgrade their cardboard squares to units, yeah, I'd take issue.

Not filling the entire unit with models gives you a good way of making unit fillers, fill your units with neat things to bulk them up. Herdstones for beastmen, small pub for dwarfs, rat holes for skaven etc.

 welshhoppo wrote:
Not filling the entire unit with models gives you a good way of making unit fillers, fill your units with neat things to bulk them up. Herdstones for beastmen, small pub for dwarfs, rat holes for skaven etc.

Meh, don't need no stinkin' unit fillers. Those're for people who don't have a pool of 300+ clanrats and 200+ slaves.

I love unit filler. It looks great and really changes up the same units.

@melkorthetonedeaf
Made in us
As for not removing models, if you're playing me you need to take them off. Seeing 5 ranks will affect my decision & I don't want to have to calculate "Ok 5 ranks of 7 minus 8 wounds means you still have 4 ranks so you have the +3 rank bonus..." I might easily charge a 10 man unit but I probably won't if I see 30 models and don't notice the 20 "Wound counters" next to it.

Plus it may affect my charge. If I can clip your rear rank and you go "Oh well remember that ranks not actually there" I'm going to be pissed. Plus the risk of accidentally picking up a wound counter die or forgetting to mark wounds.

As for your lining up issues, magnetize your bases. Makes everything so much easier.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 welshhoppo wrote:
Not filling the entire unit with models gives you a good way of making unit fillers, fill your units with neat things to bulk them up. Herdstones for beastmen, small pub for dwarfs, rat holes for skaven etc.

Meh, don't need no stinkin' unit fillers. Those're for people who don't have a pool of 300+ clanrats and 200+ slaves.

I have about 300 slave/clanrats models....

I think unit fillers are a cool way to fill out ranks for people who don't want to buy so many models. As long as unit fillers are modeled so it semi matches the unit its in then I'm good with it! Just dont put 1 halberdier on a screaming bell (15 models would fit that) base and say unit filler please

My unit fillers took more time and money to construct than their equivalent in models. But they add so much movement and life to the unit. Those are the armies I love playing against. Where each unit is like a little display all on it's own.