Distinguishing Captains

Galadrin · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:52 pm

HI Guys

Are they any tips for making generic captains more easily distinguished from their troops? I played a battle recently where my friend (for the first few rounds at least) got mixed up with which figure was the Minas Tirith Captain.

Do people paint them a different colour scheme? Different Weapon/s?

I used to play warhammer 40k and it was easy to distinguish a sergeant from a back banner or different helmet.

I figure in a larger game whith a few generic captains it might get confusing, so any sugesstions that you use, or have seen used would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bofur The Dwarf · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 9:58 pm

How about converting him to a commanding pose? Or you could add something to the base to make him stand out, maybe a rock or piece of slate, or even a dead body.

If you have orcs, it could be a different weapon. For Gondor or Rohan, you could add gold details, different colours etc. that's just a few examples.

Hope this has helped :-D

Erunion · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:00 pm

It's very easy to simply spruce up the paint job a bit. Give him some gold trim, or paint a little embroidered edge on his cloak. You could also put him on a rock, but then you run the risk of exposing him to bowfire.

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:02 pm

I tend to give my random names based on the paint job. Hence why one of my black guard captains is stripy :oops:

I highlighted his cloak more than the other one so he became stripy.

VandalCabbage · **Joined:** Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:12 pm **Posts:** 286

Slight conversion jobs are what I use. For example, one of my orc captains has a gondorian shield with a red eye painted over the tree. One of my easterling captains has one foot planted on a discarded enemy shield.
If you can get oop metal versions of plastic troops they make excellent captains, since they are more detailed.
Even regular captains can be converted - my dwarf battle company leiutenant has an old dwarf shield.
Names can be very helpful indeed. - gives your army a lot of character.

Goldman25 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:13 pm

Paint jobs, conversions, the way you base the model. If nothing else, you could paint the rim of the base a different colour.
For some examples, in my Minas Tirith Battle companies, to represent some of the heroes, I've done things like repainting pauldrons, a head swap with a WHFB Empire helmet, giving one of them a torch from the Uruk Siege Troops beserkers.

Fishlegs · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:56 pm

For my Minas Tirith army, the troops all have black skirts and the captains all have white skirts. Other armies are generally easier to distinguish. Maybe Easterlings would cause some confusion for newer players?

LordoftheBrownRing · **Posted:** Wed Jan 22, 2014 11:30 pm

Even a simpler way also. I buy like 36 reg uruk hai or something, then I have a 3 pack of uruk hai in metal, and I use them as captains because theyre all unique poses.

Laevos · **Posted:** Thu Jan 23, 2014 7:19 am

I like to make conversions to my models, so I also use conversions to make my captains stand out. An easy one for uniformed armies is to give the captain a head without a helmet. Weapon or shield swaps also make a model instantly recognizable. As evil player you could also add trophies of your favorite (or most hated) enemy.
As most people I also tend to add more detail on the paint job of a captain. Just pick a colour that is not present on the regular troops and add trim to the armour, a pattern to the cloth or some freehand on a cloak.

Rangefinder · **Posted:** Thu Jan 23, 2014 5:25 pm

Right there with you on looking so much alike for Minas Tirith.
I have taken to painting the captain up with blood on sword and the armor. Even still, I paint the edge of their bases gold. So it's really easy to tell now.

Xintao · **Posted:** Thu Jan 23, 2014 6:55 pm

For a recent convention game I ran with lots of inexperienced players, I put a small Red dot of paint on the back edge of the base. I told the players, and they had no problem following it. Even pointed it out to me when I forgot while running the combats.

Thingol · **Posted:** Fri Jan 24, 2014 11:48 pm

I paint my minas tirith captain with white breastplate and shield, subtle but enough to make them distinct!

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:58 am

I try to use official Captain models for whatever I can, but this isn't always an option or convenient. Here's a breakdown of what I use as Captains for each force:

Dwarves: There are plenty of official models for Captains, as well as other lesser Heroes like Shieldbearers and literally dozens of named Heroes. In an emergency, the old metal Dwarves from Shadow and Flame are distinguishable enough to serve as Captains. I've personally had a converted Khazad Guard with axe and shield in use as a Captain for over a decade. (Since before the official models were released.)

High Elves: There's really only one official model for High Elf Captains, plus the Rivendell Knight Captain you can make using that boxed set. Shouldn't need much more than that, since almost any of their named Heroes are better point-for-point.

Wood Elves: There are a massive number of official Captain models; 2 for Hobbit Wood Elves, 2 for Galadhrim, 2 for Mirkwood Guards and at least one for LoTR Wood Elves. There are also the Fellowship-era metal Wood Elves that can do as a Captain in a pinch.

Rohan: Rohan really only has one Captain model on horseback and a couple foot ones. There is a third on foot who is quite rare and sought after. Having never bought either the foot and mounted blister or the "Fine"cast command box, I've resorted to using conversions to represent Captains of Rohan. One is a Rohan Royal Guard with Damrod's head who I use as Elfhelm. Another is a converted Ranger of the North with his star and helmet crest filed off and armed with Rohirrim shield, ax and spear. My last one is a mini who I've re-done a couple times is based off of Ceorl from the book and Decipher card game. It is a plastic Warrior of Rohan (the bowman who's drawing an arrow) converted with sword, spear and shield.

Gondor: They truly have a wealth of named Heroes, but for unnamed guys I always use the official models. The metal MT Captains are in great, differentiating poses and the Captain of Dol Amroth is nice as well. For Knights of Minas Tirith, I use either the mounted Isildur converted with a KoMT head or a metal KoMT with a Numenorean shield.

Moria: Only a couple different Captain models for a big horde army. Shamans play a bigger part, but when you need some Captains for Might. I use one of the official models with a shield added, the metal Moria Goblin with his sword pointing forward, and a plastic conversion based on one of the plastic bowmen. (This last one you can see a couple of examples of in any of the books concerning Goblins.)

Mordor: Again, scads of different official miniatures for both Orc Captains (5 or more) and Morannon Orcs (at least 3) so there isn't much need for improvising. I, however, use one of the old Fellowship Orcs as a Captain; the one with his sword pointing in front of him in full armour. With around 15 different metal Orc poses, there's bound to be a couple you'll like as Captains. Mordor Uruk-hai Captains are missing an official miniature though, and I haven't done a conversion for one. (Although the "classic" Shagrat mini would do alright in that capacity.)

Easterlings: Foot models are pretty well covered, I use a couple of the official metal Captains converted to have sword and shield. I haven't gotten back to my Easterlings in quite a while, so I haven't figured a solution for mounted Easterling Captains yet. My mounted Hero is usually Amdur or a War Priest.

Uruk-hai: At least 3 different Captain minis plus a legion of named Heroes. Fighting (armoured) Uruks are more than good, but Scouts don't have a generic Captain model. Luckily, there are about 8 poses of metal Uruk-hai Scouts from the Fellowship of The Ring days.

Haradrim: The various King and Chieftain models are all nice and distinguishable. I use the mini that comes with the Mumak as an additional foot Chieftain.

VandalCabbage · **Joined:** Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:12 pm **Posts:** 286

Lord Hurin wrote:

Easterlings: Foot models are pretty well covered, I use a couple of the official metal Captains converted to have sword and shield. I haven't gotten back to my Easterlings in quite a while, so I haven't figured a solution for mounted Easterling Captains yet. My mounted Hero is usually Amdur or a War Priest.

You might want to consider the oop metal kataphrakts. The options for posing allow you to make a really distinguished captain.

Zarathustra Suicuine · **Joined:** Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:24 pm **Posts:** 183

Numenor: Never had an official captain model for some reason (can't think of another faction that did not have an actual captain model :/) So I just used the metal spearmen with a sword from warhammer fantasy (yeah, it's a bit big

) and gave him a beard and painted his hair grey, to represent his seniorority.
High Elves and Easterlings both have really nice captain models.

Dorthonion · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 9:54 am

I read the title and immediately thought 'Kirk and Picard'. I am a sad git.
I too use the official captains, but in the case of the rather monochrome WoMT and KoMT, adding a little extra splash of colur might make it easier to spot the mini among the gleamng cohorts - maybe a bit of gold edging on part of the armour, or if you can sculpt a bit, add a little cloth band to one arm, maybe white with a hint of the tree like on Boromirs flag at Osgiliath.

SouthernDunedain · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 11:11 am

Hunter orcs haven't got an official captain model. I use the official ones also or convert if none are available. Fountain court make great captains.

Goldman25 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:54 pm

Hurin, Moria also has the old metal Goblins, I think it was four in a blister pack. Those work pretty well as captains, and since there was four in a pack, it worked well for a horde army.

Lord Hurin · **Posted:** Sat Jan 25, 2014 3:20 pm

Goldman25 wrote:

Hurin, Moria also has the old metal Goblins, I think it was four in a blister pack. Those work pretty well as captains, and since there was four in a pack, it worked well for a horde army.

Yep, the one with his sword pointing forward is in use as a Captain for my Goblins. As I have 2 blisters, I've converted to other to hold a spear so there's no mistaking which one's the Captain. My Goblin archers don't have Captains since I haven't played them much since the warband rules came out, but I would probably use the metal Goblin with bow who is running forward.

I really like the variety of having the metal guys mixed in with my warbands. For Goblin Heroes, I have quite a lot:

Durburz
Groblog
Druzhag
Goblin Shaman x3
Goblin Captain with shield x3
Goblin Captain with bow x2
Blackshield Shaman
Warg Chieftain for the beasties

So I have enough Heroes for potentially up to ~150 troops. Plus I have the Balrog, who will do in a large game.

Beowulf03809 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:53 pm

Sometimes we use a standard (typically plastic) model as a generic Captain and try to call him out both with extra detail but usually having the captain on some base terrain. For example a rock or such to elevate the captain a little and help him stand out.

There are some players that go over the top arguing one side or the other on the LoS question when you do this but thankfully we don't have anyone like that around here. If a NORMAL model without the extra 'decorative' base is or is not in LoS that's what we would go by. If LoS is achieved only because of the decorative base change it simply doesn't count.

I also agree with using metal versions of some regular troops as Captains in some cases. Even if they are still the same pose as a plastic troop that came later they are often well enough detailed to let you paint them to stand out.

Distinguishing Captains

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