Topic: 27th Battaillon Jagers Colour Scheme

[Dr_Ruminahui]

The aquila would lookl good gold, IMHO.  Yes, I know gold isn't orange, but...

You might want to do the feathers different coulours to show platoons and squads.  You could do the body of the feather the platoon colour (so, this guy would be from "green" platoon) and the top of the feather the squad colour (so, "yellow" squad).  Be a way to tell your squads appart but still make them look unified.

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

['Mark']

- I have a bazillion Empire feathers cluttering up the bottom of my bitz box, I'd be more than happy to stuff a few dozen into an envelope and send them to you, if you want them.

Wow, that would be awesome! How do you think those feathers will look on a Praetorian helmet? I'm using Praetorians as vets (including veteran sergeants, 'corporals' who represent sharpshooters doctrine, officers, my standard bearer, etc), and they should look a little special. I could give my normal troopers a plume like on the picture, and save the larger feathers for veterans. Opinions?

Thanks a million for being willing to give me a bunch of feathers, I think they'll look great on my models!

I like the idea of having platoon/squad feathers/plumes. Any suggested combinations, besides white and red?

I'll work on the orange for the next model.


Sorry for the short answer, bit in a hurry.. but I've got a day off tomorrow, I'm hoping to finish a few more models.

[Lt. Helstrom]

No prob

I don't think feathers would look all that hot on a Praetorian pith helmet, those things seem to reject decoration somehow (except maybe for a seal or badge style thing on the front). Anyway, I'm pretty sure I can provide you with enough feathers to kit your whole force if you'd like - there's double feathers, too, which might be nice for NCO's and officers? Are you familiar with the Empire feathers? Feel free to drop me an email so we can work out the details.

Oh, you wouldn't happen to have any spare Cadian vox casters, would you?

['Mark']

I don't think feathers would look all that hot on a Praetorian pith helmet, those things seem to reject decoration somehow (except maybe for a seal or badge style thing on the front).

Yeah, my idea was to do it somewhat like the plumes. Don't think that would look too bad..

Oh, you wouldn't happen to have any spare Cadian vox casters, would you?

Did a quick check, think I've got about a small dozen (9-10)  lying around. They're yours if you need them

I'll send you a PM later today (as soon as I can, but I'm a bit busy), or you can email me if you find that easier (your email address is hidden..)   Thanks again!

[Lt. Helstrom]

Deal!

I've opened my email to the general public (didn't even know it was disabled).

The feathers do come with a little decorative attachment nob on the bottom, now that I think of it. That might look pretty good if they sit on the front of the helmet. Don't matter, I'll gather up a bunch and you can figure out what looks best where.

['Mark']

Why do things always take me a week longer than expected?

Anyway, sorry for the delay, I had to paint some stuff for my existing armies (and as we all know, existing armies come before new armies!)   I did finish greenstuffing some hats, though.

I've done a quick head with white plume with red tip. Didn't paint the rest of the model yet (just some quick grey and green for overall appearance), so just say so when it's impossible to judge the plume like this...

Is this better than a green/yellow plume, or would you rather see different colours?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

It's hard to tell without the rest of the model painted, but from where it stands now, I think i like the white/red better.  However, I still think your feathers should be your way of showing units, so I hope this is white platoon, red squad.

BTW, do you intend to paint his hands?  I hope so.  Otherwise I think he will be too dark.

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

[PaxImperator]

I like this one much better than the yellow and green one.

I don't know about using coloured plumes to denote squads however. I think it'd go at the expense of the unified, uniform look of the army. What I'd do is paint squad numbers on the backs of the headgear, or perhaps on the lasgun casings (that should be black ) with skull white. 

[Lt. Helstrom]

That looks splendid!

I think that historically, plumes were often used to denote companies or battalions per purpose - ie. flank company, centre company, grenadier company, skirmishers company, and so forth. You might use a similar system if you have platoons with different tasks?

If you have a platoon of 40 of those guys arranged in a square, with the HQ in the middle, it will look bloody awesome

['Mark']

BTW, do you intend to paint his hands?  I hope so.  Otherwise I think he will be too dark.

Nah, I thought I'd leave 'em the way I primed them.             


Anyway, I do like the idea of using the plumes to identify squads and platoons, but I also agree with Pax that it would go at the expense of uniformity. Helstrom's idea of changing it per platoon may be the answer, that way not every squad will have a different colour plume but the plumes can still be used to identify the three different platoons in my army (Command, first and second platoon)

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Well, I think you can do the squads different without sacrificing uniformity, by making the "body" of the feather designate the platoon and the "tip" the squad.  However, one can't really tell whether they would look too different until you paint up two units.  I would recommend doing the first one all with white and red like this one, then try the next with white and something else.  If it doesn't work, it should be easy enough to quickly swap the tip colour.

And Pax, I can see wher eyou are coming from, but I think numbers on that kind of hat would look silly.

Inquisitor Psychologis Ruminahui

['Mark']

Well, I think you can do the squads different without sacrificing uniformity, by making the "body" of the feather designate the platoon and the "tip" the squad.  However, one can't really tell whether they would look too different until you paint up two units.  I would recommend doing the first one all with white and red like this one, then try the next with white and something else.  If it doesn't work, it should be easy enough to quickly swap the tip colour.

You're right, I'll just give it a shot and see where I end up.

[Valhalla114]

Mark,

I really like the unit. It retains some Mordian value but now looks like an 18th century Dragoon. It would be especially awesome if you made a Rough Riders Squad out of them.



That would be a killer unit.

Concerning the unit you posted. I know its primed, but are you still gona go with the gold/yellow trim that looked awesome. I never liked the Mordians, but your unit just comes out as something completely original. Like a pocket of 18th Century in the year 40000. The feather looks awesome. On my first cadians, I denoted different platoons and squads on their shoulder pads. Here you cant do this, but the American Sailors during the Revolutionary war would sew a cross on the top of their hats so their snipers in the Raven's Nest (lookout on top of sails) wouldnt fire at them. Just an idea. Since youre the one thats gona be looking at them the most, some sort of aerial identification might work for you. I like the feather idea too. The hat stitch is just another example from history.

I noticed youre keen on being called Mark so I did my best not to call you Terra's Guard.

['Mark']

Mark,

I really like the unit. It retains some Mordian value but now looks like an 18th century Dragoon. It would be especially awesome if you made a Rough Riders Squad out of them.

Eventually, I will. Not any time soon, though, as converting an entire army to have these hats will already take months, but once I'm done I'll definitely look into cavalry.

Concerning the unit you posted. I know its primed, but are you still gona go with the gold/yellow trim that looked awesome.

Yeah, it'll be painted like the other trooper. I just wanted to show you guys a white plume with red tip, but didn't have time to paint the entire model.

I never liked the Mordians, but your unit just comes out as something completely original. Like a pocket of 18th Century in the year 40000. The feather looks awesome. On my first cadians, I denoted different platoons and squads on their shoulder pads. Here you cant do this, but the American Sailors during the Revolutionary war would sew a cross on the top of their hats so their snipers in the Raven's Nest (lookout on top of sails) wouldnt fire at them. Just an idea. Since youre the one thats gona be looking at them the most, some sort of aerial identification might work for you. I like the feather idea too. The hat stitch is just another example from history.

Hm, worth trying, I think. But it's one of those things that will cost a lot of extra work, so I'll first convert and paint up the models, then I'll see if I can add some more extras like crosses and whatever else. Keep this kind of ideas coming, though, even if I don't use them right now there's always a chance I'll use it later on!

I noticed youre keen on being called Mark so I did my best not to call you Terra's Guard.

Nah, I just think it looks a bit silly   I put it in my name too because some people kept getting confused about the sig. I'm not gonna kill you if you say Terra's Guard instead of Mark!    (I might hurt you a little, maybe break one or both of your legs and cut off your genitals, but I'm really not going to kill you over it... )

[Lt. Helstrom]

Perhaps you could use those Cadian playing card symbols on top of the hats?

[PaxImperator]

And Pax, I can see wher eyou are coming from, but I think numbers on that kind of hat would look silly.

Yes, you do have a point there.

How high are the Mordians' collars exactly? You might be able to sneak some small Roman numerals in there with a small brush or pen.

Something else you could try is to use white feathers with red, blue and green tips to denote platoons, and use the bases in some way to differentiate between squads. You could paint a number of dots on the back of the base, or just the squad number, or you could apply different numbers of tufts of static grass to each squad's bases. If you have access to the WHFB Empire armies book, there are some pictures on the very last page of an army that uses the same black and white uniforms across the force, but every regiment's soldiers have a different colour plume tip. It works very well there.