So, give me some advice.

If you paint up multiple datachments of Dark Angels, how do you distinguish them from one another?

I may try putting the Dark Angel emblem on one shoulder, but I don't think I want to try putting numbers on the other; and even if I did I don't think they'd help you much at arm's lenght on the tabletop.

Would you vary the color on somehthing?

-Allen McCarley

I'd make some of them oblique and some of them obtuse...

Anyway, jokes aside, I use colors on the left pauldron: My 2st company uses blue markings, the 3rd company uses green markings. One tactical detachment uses a vertical Party Per Fess, the other a Party Per Pale. The assault and devastator detachments uses solid color on the pauldron, and uses a colored helmet to distinguish them from tacticals (I only have the old SM minis, so all my marines are identical - no HW or jumppacks). Assault marines have red helmets, devastators have blue helmets.

(Heraldry references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraldry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_the_field)

It's reasonably simple and quick, and easy to pick out in the field (and when sorting them after the battle).

coloured helmets is the way forward:

My BA army uses the old yellow / assault marines, blue / devastators codex colouring


If you're being a purist though and want everything green.. then helmet colours aren't so good

My suggestion would be to paint weapons red, should be painfully obvious who's who on the tabletop at a glance. 2 big red blobs? devastators... lots of sticky up pointy red sticks? assault marines... !

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Dark Angles!?

That image is really nerdy.




I approve.

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.

I think the really "dark" angles are the obtuse ones .. that 135° is a right dimwit !!

Markings on the pauldrons or knee pads... Or different color guns, or basing.

No. 90° is a right dimwit.

Ow. My brain. Don't you know activating the ventral pun cortex causes pain in about 16% of adults?

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.

<forehead smack>


I can't believe I did that twice in the same post.

You're joke did give me one idea; If I did three detachments of tacticals, I could mount one detachment facing 30 degrees to the left on their stands, mount one of them facing front, and mount the third facing 30 degrees to the right.

No, I don't think this would look good in a game and I'm not really going to do it, but I bet it would look cool in the army photo.

-Allen McCarley

For my old Marine armies I use the position of the Heavy weapon trooper to differentiate the formations.
Have the heavy weapon trooper on the left for 1 formation, on the right for another and center for another.
You could do similar with the Devastators too.

DA studio armies tend to go with colored weapons (predominately red) so while not completely cannon its the next best thing to fluff It's pretty straight forward, looks good on the table top.

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So simple and brilliant!

I'm not sure I'll go this way, but this is definitely worth thinking about. It would then leave more "minor color variations" I could use to distinguish between companies. (Not that I think I'd ever field more than one tactical *company* at a time.)

-Allen McCarley