Skill Coloring Standards

[Haar]

I know the idea of painting a code on each mini to represent the player's skills is a little controversial. You might not like it because you want to sneak an extra dirty player onto the pitch, or maybe you think we'll get sued by wizkids. Who knows. Regardless, I'm doing it and I wanted to share. I think if the idea catches on, we should set up a standard color coding scheme for all the possible skills, so we don't have to translate between coaches. So here goes.

Once again, I did all of this for my own benefit. Once too many times I have dodged the wrong guy (the guy with block instead of dodge, or the guy who has an AG downgrade), so I wanted an easier way to track stats and skills. Another benefit is if you forget your team roster (has happened to me many times), you can still play.

I just painted my bases goblin green, no frills, and am actually putting the skill dots on the flat part of the base rather than the ring, but if you put kewl texture on the base, this should also work for the base ring. For each skill the player has, I put a small (square-ish, about 2-3 mm on a side) dot of color, where the color corresponds to a skill. I also painted in very small numbers the stats of each of my players. That way I can see everything at a glance. Maybe someday if I get a digital camera, I'll put some pictures up.

But here are the skills I've gotten so far and their color codes (standard citadel paint names). Some colors are too similar, so I am running into trouble as I start getting the more esoteric skills on my figs, and may have to go with dual color dots, or maybe a single color for "other"

Dodge: skull white
Block: chaos black
Frenzy: blood red
Jump Up: chainmail
Pass Block: codex grey
Dirty Player: scab red
Tackle: dark angels green
Pass: regal blue

That's about it so far (it's a young team, and most of them get dodge first).

It has been invaluable to me, since we play on a clock, and I tend to forget which of my Elves has dodge and which has block.

Comments? Color code suggestions?[/list]

[wesleytj]

my friend mike had a dwarf team and he always used to do that. I don't remember which colors he used for what but it was helpful at times.

[Colin]

I think that diff colours to rep diff skills is a good idea (I actually suggested something similar in a diff thread). My suggestion would be to ues a certain colour range to rep a skill group, ST AG Passing, etc, and shades and tints of that colour for the skills. E.g. red for ST skills, crimson (dark red) for mighty blow, med red for multi block, maroon for break tackle, etc.; blue for AG skills, navy for dodge, med blue for catch, sky blue for leap, etc. You get the idea. Personally I wouldn't go that far, but it could work quite well if you had enough colours to choose from. The only limiting factor will the the paint range itself (how many diff colours and shades).

[wesleytj]

it's a nice thing to do, but i certainly wouldn't ever make people do it.

for one thing there's the aesthetic bit, which is also why I'm against the color coding for player types too. Just make people use recognizable figs for their teams and it's no problem.

2nd it's a lot of work...especially for the skill coding. I don't want to have to dig out my paints every time my catcher gets a skill.

Finally, a lot of guys use the same figs on multiple teams...guys borrow figs and all kinds of stuff.

[Colin]

Personally, I think there are too many skills to make this idea workable.

[Da Scum]

The coding I could see getting real complicated on some teams with a wide selection of skills. Though I find for sanity sake I do like, for both mine and the opponent's reference, colour coding the bases for what position the player is in. (As I tend towards making custom teams.) Mind you this is easy with the Goblins.

[Colin]

Hey, forget about colour codes, just add a standard pole to the back of each player and attach a piece of paper to it with all his skills written on it (OOps sorry for the sarcasm)

[Bevan]

Hey, forget about colour codes, just add a standard pole to the back of each player and attach a piece of paper to it with all his skills written on it (OOps sorry for the sarcasm)

We had a coach who did this. Well, not quite. He used a 2 letter code on the base for each skill. It needed tiny writing for some players.

I use colour codes on my players with a combination of colour and position of the colour meaning something. For example red hand for Block, blue hand for Catch, green hand for Strip ball, grey base for Guards, white base for +AG, +MA players get 3 white stripes(TM) on their shoes, throwers get a band on the ball for each range band they can throw at 2+, dodge gets white leg bands, frenzy has a red helmet, etc.

I do it because I enjoy repainting the models after each game and it helps me grab the right player for what I want, when setting up as well as during play. I wouldn't want it to be compulsory. It's easier for me if my opponents don't remember all the codes, although I tell them if they ask.

[Marcus]

Could look good for a Nipponese themed team. Have every player with a sashimono on their back and use kanji or colour codes for their skills.

As for dots on the base, I think I'd spend as much time looking up what colours mean what as I would working out what player had what.

Marcus

[everyman]

As your opponent, I'd be real happy to see all of your players clearly labeled with their skills. Strategically though I doubt it's in your best interest.

As coach of your own team, you know what players have what skills because you're staring at the same team every other week.

Your opponents do not have this familiarity with your team. They are going to need to look at your roster and during the match use up some of their 4 minutes asking/remembering which of your players have what. This is to your distinct advantage.

Now if *both* teams shared the same color code I think it would make the game better for everyone. We could both tell at a glance what players have what, the game would flow smoother, and we'd both be spending more time thinking about "important" things rather than on memory recall.

-- Eric

[Bevan]

As coach of your own team, you know what players have what skills because you're staring at the same team every other week.

-- Eric

This is only true if your team doesn't improve every week.