An Opening Rant...Unit Fillers

First of all I would like to say "Cheers" to treps for getting this set up...I think this will be a much better venue for discussing issues relevant to our "cause" I was starting to have a hard time finding all the blog posts that I had commented on to see if anyone else had commented.

Anyway...I also wanted to take the chance to vent alittle. This morning over on Bugman's Brewery I got a little steamed over the topic of Unit Fillers....which as a good Oldhammer player...I HATE I think they are ridiculous and are mostly a symptom of the crazy size of units that are necessitated by Newhammer. To clarify I'm talking about the large based...often sculptural pieces that many people these days include in their unit of 50 infantry to bulk up the unit without having to paint another 4-6-8 plastic figures to actually make the unit complete. In my experience these often take the form of a wagon with supplies...a statue of some sort...an Ogre randomly thrown into a unit of humans or dwarf...a pile of beer kegs...blah blah abla....they look silly to me. What unit in its right mind is toting along a big old wagon or statue on its way to a fight. I believe that a unit should be composed of troops...and only troops. Baggage should be left in the baggage train! Creativity should be applauded but is better directed to terrain or objective markers of some sort.

Needless to say many of the 8th edition players on the site took exception to my arguments....which is why I spend very little time on mainstream WFB fora outside of the figure painting/hobby sub-boards...its just irritates me.

End rant...

Cheers,

Blue

I have to say that I totally agree! You don't see unit fillers in any other miniature related games. I attended Salute this year and was blown away by the quality of the painting on show, not just in the painting competition, but in many of the games on show. Corunna was totally exceptional (and a worthy winner) but its impact would have been lost of in the middle of the Britsh thin red line there was an overturned bagged cart or spiked 12 pounder to make up the numbers.

Getting a good sized army painted to a good standard is very challenging no matter the game.

Unit fillers are cheating!

Orlygg.

They can look amazing but are not for me. I prefer the more scenic ones to large troops or wagons but I guess they don't really hurt.

I actually think, that done well, they can really add to the unit. It takes what can be a plain unit rank after rank of minis, and turn it into a mini diorama.

Also, as someone who paints at the pace of a senile snail, painting less minis to fill the same table space, is IMHO a good thing.

They're not for everyone it seems, but I can see their place.

I have mixed feelings regarding unit fillers, for example a mini diorama representing something tied to the unit is ok for me (for exemple a fight in a unit of goblins, or something in this vein) but not a statue or things like that.

Bruno

WOW a proper oldskool gaming forum, I have to say I have been lurking in the oldhammer blogs for sometime now but have been unable to comment as i couldnt be bothered to sign up.

I have really enjoyed all the blogs and the dedication to all things oldhammer.

I too detest unit fillers but I think they came about because the EE just charge too much for their minatures forcing people to find what they can to field the scale creep units that you now need in order to play!

Back in the day there was no such thing OR the need too, a unit of 10 was perfectly respectable and twenty was the "norm" now you NEED 30 minimum to get anywhere with newhammer. Well they can just sod off, I aint falling for it!

ttfn

A good grumpy start there Blue!

Unit fillers are a bit of a mystery to me as I don't really go in for the newfangled Warhammer forums - I did post some of my Orc's Drift stuff on the Warhammer forum and Battle Reporter forums ages ago to see what kind of reaction it got but never really read many of the other posts about awesome new lists or the latest uber unit capable of winning games on its own.

Here's an interesting one for you then and one of the only examples of unit fillers that I've come across -

http://mrsaturdaysmumblings.blogspot.co ... -done.html

Don't know if you're familiar with Mr Saturday's (and I'm sure he won't mind me promoting his amazing project) herculean efforts in resurrecting the Fimir but definitely well worth a look!

So here's the question - is it ok to use a unit filler in the services of Oldhammer when you've spent countless hours lovingly converting pretty much each and every one of the Fimm warriors in the unit?

Seriously though I can understand your irritation Blue in the cases where unit fillers have been used without thought or imagination and most of all as a consequence of 8th edition craziness. I can also imagine the response you got didn't do much for your view on the subject!

Yeah, cheers bruno - this is awesome!

Unit fillers? What?

What ever happened to WYSIWYG?

If there's a WAGON ON THE TABLE it's supposed to, you know, REPRESENT A WAGON!

So as a scenario objective it's really cool, My alchoholic halflings are going to be all over that wagon like a plague of hobbits looking for booze .

Thantsants":32u6ks4q said:

http://mrsaturdaysmumblings.blogspot.co ... -done.html

Don't know if you're familiar with Mr Saturday's (and I'm sure he won't mind me promoting his amazing project) herculean efforts in resurrecting the Fimir but definitely well worth a look!

So here's the question - is it ok to use a unit filler in the services of Oldhammer when you've spent countless hours lovingly converting pretty much each and every one of the Fimm warriors in the unit?

Click to expand...

Of course, it's a Stone Elemental, just in the wrong unit at the moment Big fan of Mr Saturdays Cycloptic Formorian project.

I am a firm believer on the whole of wysiwyg for units (ok so occasional proxie of different weapons if none of the correct type are available but the base cound should = the minatures in the unit you just remind your opponent of what they are armed with so all is fair).

But saturdays wish for a full army of fimm is a tough call, its a great looking unit to be sure and the army will be awsome when finished but the use of unit fillers, lets face it why not just make the extra couple of minis afterall you have gone to so much effort why not just finish the unit rather than take a short cut.

I'm lucky to own enough fimir models to make an army so that wont be an issue for me, and I was lucky enough to getburoner odinson from frothers to paint a few of them before he had to get a proper job. Im hoping one day to win the lottery so he can finish that army for me

ttfn

I'm lucky to own enough fimir models to make an army so that wont be an issue for me, and I was lucky enough to getburoner odinson from frothers to paint a few of them before he had to get a proper job. Im hoping one day to win the lottery so he can finish that army for me

Click to expand...

That sounds tasty - where do we post the lottery tickets to?

Great my address is....hang on you only want to rob me of my lead mountain no! its mine you hear! mine all mine and what I dont paint before I die I'm going to get melted down into a lead coffin so I can take it all with me mwhahahahahahahah

While I can definitely agree with the fact that unit fillers can be uninspired and silly, I have to say that I really enjoy making them and seeing them in use.
Newhammer does encourage ridiculous unit sizes for the most part and unit filler is certainly more prevalent as a result. This obviously sucks. Unit filler makes it a little easier on the wallet to bolster a unit, something I support firmly. Most importantly I think unit filler is a great way to add a creative 'signature' to a full unit, an extra personal touch that adds a bit more atmosphere to what is essentially an art project. One model squatting on a base four times its size is irritating, but imagine this army without unit filler...

Mr. Saturday's Fimir are another great example. Subtle touches that add a bit more character to an already characterful force!