MODELING GAMEPLAY ACCESSORIES
Part 1: Warhammer Accessories

Captured Banners

Here's another gameplay accessory that is definitely not essential, but it might save your models from a bit of damage. When one of your units is defeated in combat, instead of giving your opponent's unit your standard bearer, you can give him a captured banner token. This way, you don't have to worry about your opponent dropping, scraping, or otherwise damaging your precious models as they move across the battlefield.

Reminder Counters

Reminder counters are just that, counters to remind you of the special abilities and psychological advantages of your troops. Those of you with good memories can skip this section, but if you are like me, you occasionally need something to remind you that one or more of your units is Stubborn, causes Fear, has Killing Blow, suffers from Stupidity, Regenerated, is Subject to Frenzy, has Poison, or has one of the other many special abilities found in the game. I can't total the times I've paid a huge points cost for troops just to forget about their expensive extra abilities. The only thing worse than completely forgetting is remembering just after you have done too much to go back. Remembering you have Fear is not of much use just after you've been charged, beaten, and chased down by a unit of Goblins. At that point, there is no going back.

To this end, a set of reminder tokens sitting along the edge (in your Deployment Zone, or wherever does not annoy your opponent) can be very beneficial. Again, if your tokens sit on the battlefield, you will want to make them easily distinguishable from real units, objectives, and characters. Click each of the five images above to see a larger version.

More Psychology

Having a reminder that you cause Fear can be useful for the absent minded, but there are other tokens that might be even more useful – a Fear token for the enemy units that have failed their Fear check, for instance. You pay for the Fear, so don't forget to benefit from it. Once an enemy unit fails its Fear test, slap down a Fear token on that unit. This token will remind you that your opponent needs to roll 6's to hit in the ensuing combat. If his unit ran away due to your Fear, hold off on the token – you don't need it and you don't want to rub it in.

Panic tokens are also useful during the Shooting Phase and the Combat Phase, since the actual Panic tests are sometimes taken long after the Panic-causing events have occurred. Mass Panic can win games and you don't want to forget which enemy units need to be tested.

War Machines and Siege

Customized templates can add a lot of character to an otherwise-complete army. Small, large, and flame templates can all be modeled to match your army. Customized rulers for ranged weapons and missile fire look cool, but make sure the measurement units are accurate otherwise you will be in a lot of trouble with your opponent and the event organizer.

Playing a game of Warhammer Siege? If you are hardcore hobbyist, you might have a few models or units converted up so they're carrying ladders, grappling hooks, and/or battering rams. If you don't have these conversions but want to keep track of which units have what equipment, then tokens can be a blessing. Slap down a few tokens and save yourself months of converting, painting, and money. Instead, use the time and money you saved to start a warband for a new army.

Magic

One of the best uses for gameplay accessories are tokens to represent Remains in Play spell effects, Gut Magic spell effects, and any other special abilities that need to be remembered. Luckily, most players either have army-specific magic or have one or two favourite Lores of Magic. This fact means that not very many of these tokens actually need to be made. The Lore of Fire and Lore of Light both have two Remains in Play spells, and Gut Magic has three spells with continuing effects. That is not too much work for someone looking to go that extra step.

Army-Specific Markers

There are almost too many army-specific special abilities to count, let alone list here. As a player of an army, you will have to decide what abilities will need tokens on the battlefield, which you will need reminders of, and which ones you can remember. Click the four examples below to see larger images of them to get a few ideas for other markers. Personally, I have never forgotten my Trollslayer's Unbreakable ability, but I almost always forget the Fear caused by my Cold One Knights and often forget the Stupidity that the Cold Ones are under. Make tokens if you need them – you can always retire them when you become more familiar with your army of choice.

Conclusion

All in all, gameplay accessories like the ones shown in this article can make a game go a bit smoother, even if you only go for the most essential pieces. As an added bonus, showing your devotion to your army of choice by creating a customized set of accessories for your force could put you in high esteem with your friends and the judges at tournaments. More important than impressing your friends and enemies, though, is the possibility that you might be reminded of the important abilities your troops possess when you need it most. Nothing hurts more than forgetting and losing when you should be winning, and these accessories can prevent just that.

Back: Gameplay Accessories