Identification of units

[grant]

Just curious if anyone has an interesting way of identifying units - number on the corner of a base or something similar. With my French, I am finding the banners to be too similar with the infantry, and they are difficult to identify, even though so far I have been able to build each regiment with a theme - greatcoats, no greatcoats, mix; it won't take long before I run out of variations!

[Big Al]

Well, instead of bases, just make subtle changes on the bases. Some with tufts, some with a particular coloured tuft like yellow flowers, others with more bare earth and so on. That's all I do and it works. The number thing would spoil the effect of the bases. Sometimes, you can make the base pattern run so that they fit together a bit like a jigsaw, or make the scenic effect do that. Another way is to place a little blemish on the banner or the packs of each figure or something. You know, nothing obtrusive that would look out of place, but would make them recognisable to you. I always try to make such markings blend in so that I know what they are but it doesn't look obvious to anyone else.

[grecian1959]

Grant i base mine on stg 2p coins (my fiendish plot to de-stabilise the UK economy --only joking ) .So i put letter/number or symbol underneath which helps me set up and pack away units after-battle

Peter

[Stuart]

when ever I'm using a dark colour on any fig, I tend to scrawl a couple of initials or numbers on the bottom of the base eg. 66th = Berkishire Reg, PMR = Parliament Manchesters Reg, and the same with officers names, just enough of the name to prompt my memory. It's not a great system especially when time passes and I think "what the hell is FRR"?

[shadegate]

I've been very OCD with my 40k minis and indexed the underside of the bases with a letter code for each unit/unit member and followed it up with a small index card listing the basic stats for each mini.
When I first started 40k this really helped remind me what I'd modelled on each figure. I've got very heavily converted orks and I used to have trouble recognising the difference between the various armaments.

[grant]

Thanks for all the great ideas!

I am going to go with Al's. Funnily enough I was going to use flowers for my Japanese, and never even thought to do the same with the Naps! So I have a pack of flower tufts. Bingo! And a shot up banner will make for another different unit. I was very resistant to the thought of numbers or labels on the bases because you are right - they take something away.

Sounds like I might be able to vary these enough now.

Cheers!

[Big Al]

You see! Once a member of the Tufty Club, always a member of the Tufty Club!

[grant]

You see! Once a member of the Tufty Club, always a member of the Tufty Club!

Tufty! Tufty! Tufty!

[Comte Michel]

On my 6mm stuff and on my 1/3000 naval I have a 1cm wide strip on the back/side of the base respectively. This carries the unit name, and in the case of the 6mm units a few critical BP stats. The 6mm labels are all colour coded for even easier recognition and have a brigade badge so that the units don't get mixed up. The naval stuff has an appropriate ensign on each label.

In both these cases I find it's essential to do this. For 6mm it's impossible to fight big battles without it. With it it's very easy to spot at a glance which brigade commander goes with which brigade, and where all his units are. And for naval it makes it a lot easier to identify the ships quickly, especially destroyers.

I wouldn't do the same for 28 or 15mm. I did toy with the idea of sinking a small hole in one corner of each base and filling it with paint, a bit like the pip on a dice, to colour code each squad. That way it wouldn't detract too much from the fancy base work and tufts. Jury's still out on that one.

[grant]

Completely agree on the small scale stuff. When I was making my Hunsdorf battle Baccus minis, I did label them - otherwise I couldn't have been able to know who was who. With my Flames of War, I have used the historical names of Company, Platoon commanders when I have been able to find them, and then radio call signs (21C, for example) on the bases on the bevelled bit. Looks decent, I think. My GHQ 1:2400 WWII and 1:1200 Napoleonic, all have the ship name on the base.

Once the scale increases - I think Al has it - a label becomes intrusive, and ruins the effect of the base.