Unit Designation?

[Lior'Lec]

     Ok so I’ve run into a curious question here. When painting multiple units of the same troop trope what is most common: to paint each unit essentially the same so you can break them down into whatever sizes units you want or predetermine your unit sizes and make each individual unit slightly different (a different colored cape/cloak, armor trim different colors, etc.)?

     I’m finishing up a unit of Skull Reapers and don’t know if I should paint them so I can combine them with my previous unit or make the two units slightly distinctive (and easier to distinguish in play). I’m also painting five Blood Warriors and have the same quandary with them.

[Tommy]

I like when people use scenic details, e.g. half the bases have rocks and half have tufts (and maybe a third group have both). That way it’s not jarring when they’re together and not confusing when they’re apart.

Edit: For blood warriors etc. the obvious decoration is skulls! ?

[Ragnar Alpaca]

I’m on the other side, it drives me insane seeing people have different bases in an army, I would much rather see the bases all be the same and a certain element of the model be a different color like a cape, armor piece, etc. 

[Kramer]

I’m with @Ragnar Alpaca. I like my basis to be uniform across the board.

Almost every unit has a banner that will feature a colour that corresponds with little details. So for the gors I’m painting it’s the tabards (the cloth). Usually in the same colour spectrum. A redder vs a darker brown for example  

But I’m not really a min max kind of player so most of my units have different weapon options. My two units of arkanauts are distinguished by hand weapon. I even broke the champions axe off to change it for a sword to correspond with his sword wielding mates. 

[Dirtnaps]

I paint one of their details a different colour if they've got the same weapons or give them markings (like having a unit of pink horrors arms end in blue or paint blue swirls on them).  I have two 20-man units of chainrasps I'm in the process of painting, one with their cowls painted an almost black green and another with dark red cowls, otherwise I usually paint units the same and just differentiate them by their weapons.

[Tzaangor Management]

I've tried both. Did different coloured crystals on the bases for different units in my Tzeentch army and have used different plumes and tabbards on my Stormcast units. I prefer the second method, but would suggest planning it out before putting paint to model, as I found that I'd painted a couple of bits the wrong colour on my first unit, because I hadn't been thinking about it properly at the time. It's relatively minor and I suspect it's not hugely noticeable, but it gets on my nerves whenever I look at it ?

[Skreech Verminking]

To be actually true,

the only reason I paint my clanrats similar is because of the amount I would have to field.

400rat all painted different will well look  fantastic on the battlefield, but you’d probably need dopple the amount of time painting all those models rather than having a unified Couleur system.

Edit:also having some sort of an color or something different that shows your mark on each model in your army in such a way that they all fit to your army can and will also look amazing.

[Brad Gamma]

I pick out a small detail that can accomodate variation easily without distracting from the theme.

For my Longbeards its Blue vs Purple gemstones. For my Orks its triangle vs Check patterns etc.

However, I am finding that these are a bit too subtle. I have to focus quite a bit to be able to tell in a pile-in situation.

[Jables3000]

With my old lizard men army I used to paint the scales different colours to represent different spawnings / units.

[Overread]

There's a few ways and it depends on the unit somewhat as  to the best approach, as well as your own collecting plans

1) Paint the base rim a different colour. 

2) Detail/paint the base surface different. This might be just a specific detail or could be the whole base itself. A subtle way would be to, say, have all models on grass bases and then have a few with rocky outcroppings within the grass, then others with grass and roses/bushes/flowers etc... Together it fits and separate you can tell them apart. 

3) Paint a small detail or variable detail on the model a different colour. This might be painting a banner carriers banner differently; or highlighting the back armour, or painting scales, tails, noses, whatevers different.

Note with points 2 and 3 remember that the detail wants to be visible at arms length from above, the most common angle you are going to view during a game. You can make really detailed markings on the chest or thigh or areas of thebase close to the feet, but if its obscured at a normal gaming angle then it defeats the point of it. 

How you divide up depends on you and how big you want your collection to be, and how many of the model you need for viable groups. So this can come down to personal preference. It might also change over time so it can be helpful to have a means that is distinct and which can be emulated with ease. So you might start with 3 separate, medium to small units of a specific warrior type; then slowly add models to each to bump them up to full size. 

Remember you can always split a large unit into two and so long as both units are at opposite ends of your army they shouldn't meet up except rarely - by which point remember that regular armies without any custom markings still work. It might not be the most ideal, but it can be a sensible idea to keep in mind.

 

For example, myself I'm leaning toward having units of 30 Witch Aelves with a distinct marker, and then steadily collect a large number of them to use. Meanwhile Khinerai I'm considering marking in groups of 5, even though I might use two groups combined (eg red and blue are in the same unit for this battle) since I've more chance and reason to break them down into smaller unit groups to use in some armies. 

[ManlyMuppet88]

I paint kneepads in different combinations so that they can be distinguished without too much problem or combined if needed. Obviously that will only work on some models but it works for me.