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This sounds stupid, but what is the best way to tell apart your squads of identical infantry? Short of painting them that is.

well I guess you could do some fancy stuff with squads having the same thing on the base or something like that. I just have yellow, red and blue rims on my squads.

It Probably Depends a bit on the race you have, Eldar would Probably have squad markings for there Guardians. But aspect units i could imagine being far more unique in what they do.

Marines would probably depend on the chapter, maybe honors or trophy's on some units.

IG could be more rag tag to represent units that have been in service longer.

Otherwise, you can paint markings on the base. In warmachine, some people would put the names on the bases So other players could look up info on the unit at any time.

Even a ring of blue for the first squad and a ring of purple for the second for the base could be good.
Really you can do what ever you want to do, As long as you can show which is which unit. Its probably good.

I intend to mark the back of each base (visible to me) with Formation and Unit ID.

In addition, I'll distinguish the Imperial shoulderpad by branch and command level, so Platoon Command distinct from Platoon Squad or Veteran Squad, and Artillery Command distinct from Company or Armored Cavalry Command.

Spacing.

 McGibs wrote:
Spacing.

That's usually part of the problem. When I drop off infantry from my Gorgon I have to get all those 50 models in close proximity to the hull which can get quite cramped

I use a silver marker to mark their bases. Renegades and Heretics can't legally take a Gorgon, FYI. Sucks, 'cause I really wanted one.

I just turn each squad into a different direction. Those kind of problems usually come with gretchins as it's quite common to field multiple squads of 10 dudes condensed into the same area.

Add different terrain to different unit bases - stone, branch, bush, girder etc.

I've done a few different things over the years:

On a scale from Narrative to Competitive
1. Paint squad numbers on the model (shoulderpads, shields etc). Most codexes will say how the various different armies give squad markings in the fluff.
2. Paint a small portion of the model in a different color for each squad. Just a single armour panel, piece of cloth, gun housing...
3. Dots or Numbers on the base (as above).
- Many people want to do this on the back of the base to not spoil the mini, but it does make it harder as your opponent most often can't see the backs of the bases as easily as you can.
4. Paint the entire base rim in different colours.
- Everyone involved knows immediately the squad differentiation without any examination
5. Paint the entire squad a different colour. This sometimes can fit well with the fluff (eg, I have 7 squads of 10 brimstone horrors, each is a different colour fire.)



And non-painting means:
1. Spacing. Keep a 3" gap between units
- Not great as it hampers your possible tactics.
2. Orientation. Alternate minis squads face forwards or backwards, left or right.
- I personally don't like this much as it is very common to get confused.
3. Marking. Get a stack of small coloured markers (elastic bands are great: see something like https://www.ebay.com/p/Rainbow-Loom-Rubber-Bands-Refill-10000pc-Bracelet-Kit-Storage-Case-Organizer/920801737) and place a sash on each model.
- This works well. Doesn't affect your painting, doesn't harm the minis, impossible to get confused during the game.

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
This sounds stupid, but what is the best way to tell apart your squads of identical infantry? Short of painting them that is.

Sometimes, painting them works best. I'll go around the edge of the base with a stripe of a certain color, about 90 degrees or less.

However, another little trick I try to do, if I can with Space Marines- different Helmets. Not easy to do with bigger forces. Another little add-on is things like crests and different right shoulderpads- maybe 'bumpies' on one group, and the other has shoulderpads without trim.

I'm not aiming for high art or prizes, so I simply paint the rims of the bases different colors - red squad/blue squad/etc. Generally there's no rime or reason behind the colors I've chosen beyond "Easy to see" & "Colors on hand atm".
Now in the case of my IG I've built them on the platoon lv, color coded as per older codices. So I've got Red platoon, Blue platoon, etc. Within that I've got individual squads marked as C, I, II, III, IV, V, S1, S2, S3, V1, V2, V3, H1, H2, H3 - both on the front & the back.
At a glance you'll be able to tell wich figs belong to wich squads.

Figures themselves will be painted up in appropriate squad markings, but I've always found opponents don't always notice that while moving/shooting/planning charges/etc. Thus I went to color coding the bases in early 3e.
I'm not going to listen to you bitch that you didn't know what squad you were shooting/charging.

Karol wrote:well I guess you could do some fancy stuff with squads having the same thing on the base or something like that. I just have yellow, red and blue rims on my squads.

I generally try to paint the rim of the base a specific color relative to what their battlefield role.The more important a model( HQ, Relic, Character, etc) the more detail & time/effort goes into it.

Then I go into which region of Nocturne they represent with their main armour color. Trim & Pauldron then are assigned to which squad is which. If a unit is permanently attached to another (HQ & bodyguard etc) then they will have similar armour colors on a specific part of them (left leg, right arm etc).

Then decals/transfers!

I don't like to explicitly mark them, because I want the option of putting different guys in different squads. Sometimes I want a special weapon in my Infantry Squad, sometimes I don't. That kind of thing.

It's never really been a problem in practice to be honest. I suppose it would be more of an issue for melee if you were running multiple units of the same guys that all wanted to get as close in to the same enemy as possible!

I do play Tyranids, but I tend to have one big mob of Hormas, one big mob of Stealers, etc.

For those suggesting to paint numbers on shoulder pads or bases, does this not make things difficult if you want to mix up your squads?

For example, I play Dark Eldar and generally have several Kabalite squads but I don't have consistent squad sizes.

Sometimes I'll have 10 Kabalites in a Raider, other times I'll have 2 units of 5.

It seems like trying to number my squads would make things very awkward as I'd have to either not use half the models from each squad (whenever I just want to use 5-man squads), or else combine squads in a rather awkward manner ("No no - squads 1 and 2 are actually the same unit. It's squad 3 that's a separate unit...").

 vipoid wrote:
For those suggesting to paint numbers on shoulder pads or bases, does this not make things difficult if you want to mix up your squads?

Never really had the issue, but it's worth thinking about. Worst case I grab the paint and slap a new color stripe over the old one.

A few thoughts to add:

1) In general whatever difference you make you want it easily visible at arms length away from you or further. Because that's the view you're going to have during the game for the most part. So if the difference is too small or in a spot that can become hidden or obscured during the game its going to be less effective. Small numbers on the back of a base can sound very unobtrusive, but at the same time its only visible from one angle (one player will always not be able to see it) and it might get obscured behind terrain or other models during the course of the game.


2) Terrain on the base is another means you can set models apart from each other. You could mount all of one squad on marshy terrain, another on meadow, another on rocky etc.... If you blend it well you can then have a totally unified looking army with terrains that compliment each other, but which are also distinct from each other.

3) Combining units. As noted above if you use a marker on the model or base they become much easier to tell apart during a game. But at the same time it sets your squads apart from each other.
However nothing stops you putting the "gold rim" with the "blue rim" units together into a single squad. You just have to note that to your opponent before the game and on your army list and likely remind when actions are being planned out during the course of the game.

4) Remember that you only need a different marker per unit type. So you don't actually need all that many different markers for most armies. Even if you're running a Tyranid army heavy with gaunts, the different weapons and gaunt types already set different squads apart so you might only need two or three markers to tell apart the 3 different fully 30 model termagaunt squads you have; then you can repeat the same marking method for the hormagaunts you've got etc...

5) Ideas like turning ecah squad to always face a certain direction can work and mean that everything remains uniform, but at the same time it just looks rather daft if you've got a squad facing away from the enemy for the entire game. Even though unit facing basically has no effect in the game; most people prefer units to look in the direction they are heading/toward the direction of fire.

The whole 'what if I want to mix the squads up' thing is the reason that I haven't painted squad numbers or anything like that on my Salamanders, so that I can recombine them in whatever configuration I fancy. The only real differentiation on those guys is pauldron colour between 3rd company and 5th company, so that rather restricts me to mixing and matching within each company.

It's something I've thought of while putting my Biel-Tan together too, because I'm doing different squads of Aspect Warriors in different shrine colours - e.g. Dire Avenger squad 1 are dark blue with white helmets, sqaud 2 mid blue with red helmets etc. I've just accepted that because I'm in in for the painting much more than the gaming that I'll paint them however I want and then worry about mixing squads up if it ever comes to it. It's pretty good for unit differentiation so long as I want to field them in the exact squads that I've painted!

Depends on the army.

For my nascent GSC, I'll be painting the right hand shoulder pad of the Neophytes specific colours. So Red for one squad, blue for another, green for the next and so on. Those are easy visual markers for both myself and my opponent to refer to, even mid-game.

Purestrains? Possibly carapace markings. Depends entirely on my skill at the time! Could also just be differently painted base rims. Again, it's all about easy, visual reference for both parties.

I use a marker and mark the squad # or CCS1=company command squad 1 abbreviations under the base, plus you can scratch off the mark if the squad changes due to editions.

I suggest researching how this problem was over come historically and taking inspiration from there.

Something I've not seen listed yet is to pilut a magnet on each base and have a different trinket for.each squad, like.a.skull.or something. Probably not so.useful for standard mooks, but could be handy for special or heavy weapons that you might want to switch between squads in different games.

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.

Mostly I do slight variations on the suqad’s Paint job (say, white-dimmed shoulder pads for one squad, gold for another).

I also use heraldry or squad numbers - my guard have their unit stenciled on their back (the idea being their allies can see the markings, but the enemy can’t).

I’ve also done coloring the base edge - a variation is having snap-on rings so you can swap members in and out.

Colour Coding. Here are a few examples:

Catachans
Different colour for bandanas.

SM
Different colour for squad insignia on right shoulder.

With my guard, all of the left shoulder pads have a letter and a number to denote their platoon and squad.

So a guardsman with A2 on his pad is from Alpha platoon squad 2.

My orks are defined by warpaint. One mob has one side of their face painted blue, one mob has white stripes under the eyes, etc.

Different base colors, or just paintibg them different (i.e. i painted five of my blightlords closks yellow, the other 5 will be purple)

I don't do anything special to differentiate squads. That would make it take way too long to sort out and set up my army, since I also keep my guardsmen in a big box o' guardsmen.

I generally don't have a problem know who is from which squad because they're spread out far enough apart from each other, and if it is a problem because like 40 men are piled up in one building on the same floor, it's fine as long as I know how many men each squad has and move the right amount out.

You lost me at "short of painting them".

 Stux wrote:
I don't like to explicitly mark them, because I want the option of putting different guys in different squads. Sometimes I want a special weapon in my Infantry Squad, sometimes I don't. That kind of thing.

I've solved that by simply having extra models in many cases.
So IG Plt. (Red), squad I, has 16 models: 1Sgt, 7 lasguns, 1 HW team (Missile Launcher - 1st squad is always a ML in my IG platoons) and +6 models: PG/Melta/Flamer/Grenade Launcher/+2 lasguns.

Other armies? I build it 1 way & that's how it stays - until the rules force a change.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 vipoid wrote:
For those suggesting to paint numbers on shoulder pads or bases, does this not make things difficult if you want to mix up your squads?

I don't mix up my squads. I build full size squads. 1st squad is always 1st squad, 2nd is always 2nd, etc

When I want to field multiple smaller squads? I simply pull less models from each squad out of the case.