"Named leaders" Topic

Another thread about leadership in games got me thinking.

In both my British colonial and Spanish American War collection I have named officers. The names are printed on the base. Since I prefer TSATF, every office above platoon level is named for some historical or literary person. I also have both foot and mounted figures for each. My own favorite being the Zulu War, I have at least 30 named figures. In the campaigns I have run, it interesting to follow their career.

Do you have named figures in your collection?

Most of my Napoleonic command stands are generic for their nation (and I even have a couple of generals in overcoats that can play for any team), but there are a few that only have one identity – Napoleon himself of course, Davout, Murat, Wellington, and Blucher. Oh, and a Pierre Bezuhov to stumble around the redoubt at Borodino…

Yes. My Prince Rupert was "killed" at Naseby but fortunately it was only a flesh wound an he will recover to, hopefully, win at the next Marston Moor game.

Yes, at least for the skirmish type forces. Naming is one of the fun parts. I have several long lists of period/place appropriate names. In one case, a Viking figure looked a bit like a person I knew, so I deconstructed his name (Quentin) and translated it to Old Norse as Fimtar the Foul.

Do you have a Colonel (or perhaps just major or even captain) Pickering?

Grelber

Yes.

I have a bunch in my Napoleonic forces, even a "Col Campbell" figure, a vintage plastic Airfix mounted Scottish officer from the old Airfix Waterloo Highland set that I purchased in the early 1970s!

Jim

Only a few extra officers are generic in my Napoleonic armies

I have individual figures for many of my ancient, ECW and samurai armies but I use pins with printed names on paper to swap out the names depending on the battle being refought.

I have also seen my Prince Rupert killed fairly often over the years, usually by a run of the mill dragoon unit taking a lucky shot.

I have Patton and Hitler for my Bolt Action armies.

And many Named Characters for my Warhammer armies.

No officers. But I do have Sgt Rock named along with the members of Easy Company.

Where a figure represents a historical chap,

Tally Ho!

A friend names his Napoleonic staff officers after his family from back in France and Germany. They bravely in most games!

My ACW Generals came sculpted to represent specific people, so they are named, and have the name under the base. I also did what I thought was reasonable research to paint the horses the right colours for the right generals (sometimes, it was not a precise answer). Gen Grant is Gen Grant. Hooker, Howard, Longstreet …

A few other historical figures, mostly generals and politicians.

I have a number of fictional milieu, so some of those figures represent specific people, so they are named too. Judge Dredd is Judge Dredd. Chewbacca, Snake Plissken, Spiderman …

For some reason, most of my martial arts media figures, I actually call by the actors' vice characters' name, or more frequently a comic variation … Kim Jelly, Loose Brie, Nuck Chorris ….

I have some minis of immediate family, so me …

… is just "me". That's SMWBO on the other side of the table, handing my posterior parts to me on a plate during a game.

I have some other named figures: for Stamford Bridge, there is a special mini to represent the warrior who (apocryphally) single-handedly fought off fifty men – Bridge Guy; my Roman governor-general, Doucheus Baggus; and a cadre of Blue Moon hillbillies who obviously equate to people I knew growing up in rural Appalachia.

I'm sure I am skipping someone, but nothing comes to mind right now (oh, waitaminnit … what's his name?subheadingDave Crowell

I do a lot of skirmish gaming so named figures are the norm.

When I do larger battles I name at least the major officers. Helps with immersion and I care more about my little chaps.

I try to name skirmish figures--or alphanumeric in the case of Imperial Storm Troopers. But it's a work in progress.

I have recognizable French Corps commanders (Davout and Ney) and for SYW a bunch of named generals (Freddy the Great, Nasadaly, Prince of Lorraine, etc.) while for ACW I have the usual suspects (Grant, Lee, Jackson, even AP Hill) – for our colonial gaming we name the leaders for each game – we also do that for our Hail Caesar games (such as the tribune Noxious Carbuncle and the legate Poisonous Fungus)

I have some. Sir Dennis Pack leads his Portuguese brigade.
And one of my Bonpartista Spanish generals is el Duque de Plaza Toro.

In enterprise of martial kind, when there was any fighting,
he led his regiment from behind, he found it less exciting…

When I build my Imagination army, based on 18th century Russia, all of my officers and aides are Bond 007 villains. No one has picked up on it yet.