The Commander Series Forum

Most CWC army lists allow for various grades of infantry. Typically, there are conscripts, regular troops, and elites. How do you differentiate between the different grades of infantry in-game? I have ocme up with three possible solutions:

(a) use different miniatures and paint them differently. For example, for my GHQ West Germans, was thinking of using Modern US for the regular troops, Modern British for the elites, and Sub-Saharan Regular Troops for the conscripts.

(b) alter the base somehow. I am thinking of putting small sockets on the infantry bases where I can plug in little flags with the words "conscript" or "elite" on them

(c) Don't worry about it and just play the darn game


Which option do you folks recommend, or do you have your own solution?

I haven't played with different grades of infantry within one army. So for me it's (c)
For (a) my eyes aren't good enough to differentiate between miniatures even if they're made by GHQ. Maybe a different color will do, but some gamers have difficulties to tell my Soviets from my Germans - they are painted differently and different miniatures.
I would go with (b) but use something more unobtrusive than little flags e.g. little stones, a colored bush, etc.

Likewise - c.

IanS

You could differing numbers of figures you have on a base.

Adrian

I go with Adrians suggestion. I use square bases for my inf with three models for conscript, four=regular and five = elite. In 1:300th I also use different base shapes for mg mortar etc. and coloured edges to mark the country, e.g. red USSR, black Germany and so on.
Oh dear, the things you have to do when you're an OAP.

I would actually go the other way round as conscripts usually hug to together while "elite" know spacing and will have greater firepower

Adrian

I second what Gun Hit is saying

I am also seriously thinking of using GHQ Sub-Saharan Regulars for West German troops. Remove the guys with RPGs and you are left with troops with modern shaped helmets and carrying G3s - perfect! Unfortunately I'd already bought a load of H&R infantry about a month before the Sub-Saharan Chaps were released. D'oh!

To differentiate between troop types I would paint the base slightly differently eg. green for conscripts, black for regulars etc. But I would only paint the rear facing side of the base in that colour, so only you see it. Why give your opponent free info? Or go one step further and put a big 'C' or 'R' on the underside of the base. For elite troops it would be fun to also use slightly different miniatures to make the 'armed to the teeth' look, with additional LMGs or even those light mortars that the CWC rules amalgamate into squad weapons. Just make sure you don't then get confused between your units with & without IATW upgrades.

I suppose my issue is I like to play with "full disclosure." That is, I want to be able to say "now where did I put those Gebergsjagern?" and sweep my eyes across the table and find them quickly. Of course, that means my opponent will also be able to do that. But I suppose I'm OK with that. I don't meta-game where you try and hide units and hope your opponent doesnt notice them until its too late.

Of course, that may also be why I lose consistently.

I very rarely use units without IATW upgrades. The only case where this is relevant is my Afghan Mujaheddin force. Here I use 20mm deep bases for "without IATW" and 25mm deep for "with".

I have three bases of RAF Regiment guys I usually declare as using M72 LAW rather than Carl Gustav (just for a bit of variety) but it's easy enough to keep track of three bases that are out of the ordinary.

Richard

You could put a number on each base and keep track of what numbers have what upgrades on a piece of paper.

You should be able to remember the number quickly of the unit that has the BFG9000 upgrade. Your opponent will just see the numbers until the BFG9000 fires. Then everyone in a 3 mile radius will "Have that unit's number."