There are currently more that 50 Winter Guard models on the table when Irusk commands his WGK list. This is a well and good during deployment, and perhaps during the first turn. But what to do later on when the table is a complete mess of Winter Guards from six different unit all mixed up? I have opted for coloured base markings, here is how and why.
You probably all know how it is. The battle is progressing and the well ordered ranks of Winter Guards have descended into a chaos of Winter Guards from several units all mixed up - and the clock is ticking!
One the deployment is done, it is still easy. Irusk normally deploy in the Empress' standard deployment no. 1 (see picture below). One Rifle Corps on each flank (the red one on the left flank, and the green one on the rigt flank), and the Winter Guard Infantry in the middle (marked with blue).
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| Deployment, the easy bit |
Already during turn one, Irusk might be in trouble. 51 Winter Guards pressing forward do take up a lot of table space. So, it is quite easy to get them mixed into each other. The picture below shows a typical first turn (I have colour marked the different units for simplicity). It is still somewhat easy to distinguish the different unit, as they are not too mixed up yet.
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| Turn 1, trouble on the horizon |
Second turn, I'm usually in trouble. The picture below shows the chaos emerging. Try and guess which Winter Guard belongs to which unit. This is usually here I start loosing on the clock.
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| Turn 2, even worse |
To exemplify, the same situation is depicted below just with each trooper marked with the corresponding coloured rings.
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| Turn 2, again |
It is clearly not feasible to sit and put coloured rings on each trooper during the game - neither is it particularly pretty. I initially started by "only" making the bases slightly different. Below is a picture of the unit leader for each of the Winter Guard units. To the left is one of the Rifle Corps units. It has barbed wire and wooden spikes on the base. To the right is the other Rifle Corps Units. It only has barbed wire on the base. In the middle is the Winter Guard Infantry unit with only barbed wire. I assumed that it would be easy to separate normal infantry from Rifle Corps on the battlefield - I was wrong. In particular with respect to the Rocketeers, they all look the same.
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| Spikes and barbwire |
Next level was to add colour markings to the base, which also function as front arc markers. This has helped a lot. It is perhaps not very evident in the three battle pictures above, but it really do help. I have also added a small star on the back of the unit leader base so I easily can spot him.
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| Who's the boss? |
This is clearly not a huge super fantastic new thing. I am pretty sure that plenty others have been doing the same. However. it has really helped my gameplay. Without having done a thorough scientific trial, I am pretty sure that I am saving at least five minutes each game by being able to easily identify which unit a given Winter Guard belongs to, and who is the unit leader. It is either green unit Rifle Corps, red unit Rifle Corps, or blue unit Winter Guard Infantry. The remaining models (Field Gun, Mortar, etc.) are not a problem.
Until next time.
For the Motherland!
Very cool.
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