"Same rules, different markers" Topic

Today I have been painting Markers, that is markers to note suppression on an element and markers for elements that have reacted, sort of a subroutine effect. Same rules just different markers styles.

These started out 14 years ago as printed and cut out cruciform markers that replaced just bits of card that looked terrible. I hate games where the markers are more prominent than the miniature, however badly painted they are, like mine.
The cruciform ones were OK but were a real pain to produce and had limited life. Next came ones made using pan scrubbers, the type with a scotch pad one side and foam the other. Cut into small squares and the foam shaped looked good but were too big once we moved into 1/144. We did use LITHKO markers but they to us, were too expensive and being shiny never did it for me artistically. Then came the major event the 3D printer. Special small markers for 1/144, OK but in the end they were too small. So up to date I have a final(I hope) standard marker that can be painted in two cloures to represent its function.

A new super complex scenario is about to start with effectively 3 games going one at once (sort of) so loads of markers needed, we do not have enough for 3 games at once. So time to start printing and while I was at it, time to replace the less than perfect previous standards. The few remaining Lithko markers will be left they are functional and too expensive to throw away, but today I have painted 70 new markers more than sufficient for 3 games at once (I hope).

What are your opinions on markers/labels etc on the battlefield and have they changed like me over the space of more than a decade?

Always a problem. You don't want them to overwhelm the miniatures, but an invisible marker is no use to anyone. You want the meaning clear, but that pushes toward larger markers which actually SAY "Suppressed" or whatever, and so are larger.

My solution is generally brightly colored but small, and no more than three types. For WWII, there's generally only a "suppressed" marker, which is a small piece of cotton ball disguised as smoke.

I'll use different conventions to go along with a club or group, but that's my preferred system.

I have settled on using only "naturalistic" markers. Besides casualty figures (which can mean "stand loss", "routed", "pinned", etc depending on the rules), I'll employ small toothed washers (same thing but for vehicles), white- or black-colored cotton wool, and small pebbles painted distinct but unobtrusive colors – forest green, yellow ochre, dark red, pale grey, or charcoal black.

Yup, nothing worse than a markers saying SUPPRESSION. We use a marker a bit like an explosion orange(ish) for suppression and dark smoke like for reaction. Again if you have perpetual beginners or folk that want to play a myriad of different games they will never play any of them well and may need more blatant makers as they are not familiar with the rules. However they will generally provide poor games anyway as you need to know the rules by heart so you can concentrate on the tactics.

Do you have a photo of your new markers?

I just use small wooden cubes painted various colors.

Gray = suppressed
Brown = broken track

Etc

It is a challenge. I have gone to three directions:

1. A pin stuck in the corner of the stand, cut off the top and plastic, colored beads are slid on the pin, various colors for the different conditions. Each pin can take two to three small beads. Casualty rings and such are verboten.

2. As suggested above, cotton balls. I use dryer lint too--two colors for conditions, white and gray. The lint makes great smoke to denote fires too.

3. For larger scales and stands, I have taken ^ vee-shaped plastic and made back labels for the stand, covering them with packing tape covering it. You can then mark off 'hits' and conditions with a marker, which then can be erased. The
plastic wedge when painted/flocked is invisible from the front and sides.

4. I do use markers too, but individual officers with flags for disorder or whatever I want them to mean.

Whatever I use, I do what them visible, but not wrecking the
the table scenes I've spent so long making.

I definitely prefer markers aesthetically integrated into the game, but that isn't always practical, and it takes quite a bit of play to sort out a system. I have nice naturalistic systems for the 3 rules families I have run a lot (GQ1 & GQ2 family, Fire & Fury family, CY6), but some systems I really like just have less development put into them.

Some rules just defy nice markers. Every year or two I come up with some more nice markers for GQ3/FAI, but I still rely on my overflowing boxes full of cartoonish Litko markers for a lot of those. The system uses rosters, and the markers are mostly play aids added to cope with a game flow problem or tracking my own house rules simplifications (torpedoes, sinking states, concentrating gunnery, etc.). I have a grand plan to create a whole box of shell splashes someday, but never seem to get around to it.

I also have boxes of old markers I rarely use for anything, e.g.: a beadbox full of little puffballs in 8 colors. These come out once in a while for a new system, then get replaced by better markers that integrate with the rules better if the system gets played a lot.

- Ix

Pennies. Spray paint different colours for different effects. You can use bright or camouflaged colours. Cheaper than anything but pebbles from the driveway or small washers.

I admit I have also sometimes invented markers that didn't really have a rules mechanism needed for them.

I painted up blazing fireships for my 1/2400 sailing fleets, just because they were cool. They've never been used. A tower of black cotton is sufficient to mark a fire, and I've never played a system where fireships worked right anyway.

After my first AWI rebasing project I had extra foot officers, so I mounted them individually on small round magnets. I subsequently invented a use for them (to show "brave colonels" in RF&F), but this isn't strictly necessary.

I have a box of deployed parachutes waiting for pilot figures to hang from wire underneath. They aren't finished because there is no reason in any dogfight game I've ever played to represent a parachuting pilot. I still mean to finish them, just as soon as I find the right scale pilot figures in a "hanging from a parachute" pose.

I spend an inordinate amount of time inventing systems to attach "wakes" to the back of my ship models, for nearly every era of naval gaming. The only games for which these have been useful were rules I wrote… and I don't play them anymore.

There's more, but you get the point. Has anyone else succumbed to this temptation?

- Ix

Pennies. Spray paint different colours for different effects. You can use bright or camouflaged colours. Cheaper than anything but pebbles from the driveway or small washers.

I went one better: I glued pebbles onto pennies.

I also added grass, dirt and bushes so they blend in better. I have three sets: one rock, two rocks, three rocks. They serve as a collection of universal "hit" markers for all kinds of horse & musket games. Most useful markers I ever made.

I have another collection half-finished in desert colors. I've only run one desert game ever, so there's been no pressure to finish them.

- Ix

I'm currently working on a new 6mm WW2 project, with everything mounted on thin metal bases. I'm leaving a narrow clear area at the back of every base and I'm going to use small magnets painted different colors to denote suppressed, pinned etc. I found small round magnets on Amazon that are 5mm across, so they're pretty unobtrusive. An added bonus is they will stay on the base until removed

Brock

Doing the same but I am finding picking up the thin metal is getting harder with age. My solution is going to be gluing a common nail (about 1" long) on the base to make picking up easier and less wear and tear on the minis. Have to paint at least the top 1/4" a bright colour so I don't make them all bright red. At least until tomorrow when they become dull brick red!

Stephen, I have the same issue with picking up the thin metal bases, so I bent a narrow piece of metal (about 3/8") in an L shape and glued it underneath the bases to essentially make a handle jutting up from the rear of the base. Paint it black and it's not very visible nor will it cut fingers

Great alternate. I will have to consider that. Of course I can grind off the sharp tips. Hmm…

When possible, use casualty figures, rocks, etc. for various markers. I hate markers on the table, and I am guilty of it myself. It's so much easier to put a colored chip or puff ball down to represent morale failures, but it does not look pleasing.

We mostly play skirmish games with individually based minis. Generally, we don't have a lot of situations with states like that. You're not suppressed because you have a suppressed marker, you're suppressed because there's someone who will shoot you if you step out.

That said, if there are one or two states, it is usually put the mini on its back or face down. Sometimes going from face down to on your back then back to standing is a progression through states.

79th PA

I agree that naturalistic markers are a better option when possible. My group plays 28mm Fire and Fury ACW and I have aesthetically appropriate markers like a figure reloading to indicate low on ammo, casualty figure to indicate disorder, and so on. It's difficult to indicate some more abstract concepts however with markers, especially with tiny 6mm. The small magnets seem like the best solution for this particular project.

Finally pinched a slot on Alex of Shipyards photo system for a picture. Lots here my new ones, the orange inverted cone type and some Lithko flame and black plus some new ones painted grey/black The models are 1/144 for scale.

link

I am less concerned about appearances than practicality. If I can't see a marker, or miss it, then it is useless. Obvious and inexpensive is good for me. Of course my tables don't look like the near photo realistic ones I see more and more of in various places. Again practical rules.

I use "explosions" made out of cotton wool mounted on a penny for suppression markers.

At the club, we have table tops with green carpet nailed on. Some gamers use those sort of pins with spherical coloured tops as markerd. The heads are pretty small.

I'm fine with stargrunt chits showing squad and leader quality.

I try to only put markers on the table that would be seen by the enemy. That means no order or activation markers. I have a marker that shows if a unit is moving and its speed. No marker means the unit is static.

When an infantry unit is fired at it can immediately go into an IP (Improved Position spread out taking advantage of local cover and concealment) and return fire or Hunker Down safe from direct small arms fire but with little ability to return fire, observe and react. It can also choose to immediately fall back and seek other cover and concealment. The marker has "IP" on one side and "HD" on the other. I may eventually make something more graphic.

When units fire there is a small arms fire marker placed in front of them showing the direction of fire and a "Volume of Fire" marker is placed on their target. Multiple units can fire at a single target and the total "Volume of Fire" on the target determines its suppression level and ability to react and return fire.

If a unit is losing the firefight they can Hunker Down and wait for reinforcements or a mortar barrage or issue a Fall Back order which is automatically obeyed.

Wolfhag