Unit Fillers - How many is too many?

[kharn138]

Does anyone know what the overall accepted percentage of a unit can be made of unit fillers? I'm working on a 40 man hoard (20mm bases) and have an idea for a unit filler that will be on 2x 40mm square bases, or 20% of the entire unit. Is this going to get me dirty looks for too much unit filler, or is this acceptable? The idea isn't to cut corners and save me from buying a box of models. The idea in my head is just going to require that much space. I'm curious as to what everyone thinks. Thanks!

[Urgat]

20% is fine (for me).

[Kayosiv]

More than 1/3 is too much.

[mrtn]

Some people won't accept it however small it is, some will accept it however (almost) big it is. I have no problem with it, unless the filler is just one skeletal arm and a head replacing 8 models. In other words, make it a filler, not just a place holder.

What's even better is to ask your friends.

[zoggin-eck]

Does anyone know what the overall accepted percentage of a unit can be made of unit fillers?

What on Earth? Was there an official vote, and nobody told me about it?

Ask your mates.

[Hakar]

Personally I don't mind all that much, as long as your 40-man (or rat) unit still looks like a group of 40-ish individuals.
And not, say, 30 and a big rock.

[boli]

rule of thumb I tend to follow is if the unit filler ADDS to a unit rather than takes away its fine. a unit of goblins should still look like a unit of goblins and not a hill with goblins on.

even if 50% of the unit comprises of "filler" of if still looks like the unit in question and thee are enough single models to allow you to take casualties easily I say it counts.

[T10]

And what sort of filler are we talking about here, anyway?

Is it a way to get a higher model count than there are actual models?

[Akkaryn]

And what sort of filler are we talking about here, anyway?

Is it a way to get a higher model count than there are actual models?

People use them to save money. For example a common one is to use rat ogres in the middle of a horde of clan rats. This saves have to buy a box of x when you just want a fraction of the models.

I personally disagree with the concept for actual playing. But for display I have seen some very effective fillers.

I won't refuse to play against them but for example my mate was playing against dark elves and a horde of corsairs although the fillers looked good it was very difficult to distinguish at a glance how many models were left in the unit.

[tmarichards]

As long as you've put the time and effort into making the filler, I have absolutely no problem with them as long as I can still tell what the unit is supposed to be.

[vcassano]

I generally won't complain, as long as some reasonable effort has gone in and it doesn't just look like you have cheaped out then that is fine by me. The very nature of unit fillers is that you cannot declare absolutes except in the extremes.

[RanaldLoec]

My empire fillets are four men on a 40mm base, its just to help ranking up.

It's quicker to throw down four 40mm bases in the centre of a unit.

If some one uses a unit filler to bump up their model count I have no problems with that at all. I mean allotof people spend ages bitching about GW prices, then people moan when some one tries to save money by creating unit fillers.

[DareX2]

What on Earth? Was there an official vote, and nobody told me about it?

Ask your mates.

My sentiments exactly. Unit filler, off-brand models, house rules, etc. all fall under the same category of "ask your opponent beforehand."

[Dreadlordpaul]

I use them in my DE army in my corsairs unit as there is a piece of fluff in the DE book which mentions the slaves coming back to life so after the front rank and first rank the rest of the unit is skeletons to represent the dead slaves

[Rosstifer]

off-brand models

Interesting. If my army contains non GW models you would expect me to ask if I could use them?

[DareX2]

Interesting. If my army contains non GW models you would expect me to ask if I could use them?

Personally, I don't care what's used, especially if it looks awesome. I tend to prefer staying within the range, as I think it's in keeping with the overall look and feel of the game. I'm sure there are people out there who think otherwise.

[xxRavenxx]

Interesting. If my army contains non GW models you would expect me to ask if I could use them?

Yep. Same as if I showed up with 25 cubes of mdf as my chaos army, or wanted to use goblin spearmen as handweapons. You deviate from the normal parameters, you should ask your opponent if its ok.


As for unit fillers:

As many of these as you like.

Zero of these. (Though its one of the nicest unit filler rocks I've seen in a while. I'm almost swayed )

[Lord Inquisitor]

It depends on the unit. However, here are some guidelines:

1. Make sure the filler isn't too big to allow you to form any reasonable formation. For example, even if you plan on being in horde formation, you may want to form up 5-wide under certain circumstances. A filler more than 5 models wide is therefore not recommended. Equally, too many unit fillers might prevent you from making certain formations.
2. Make sure the filler does not take up any space in the front rank, side files or rear rank. These are the places you can expect characters to move to or where you might need to know the exact edges of the bases of the models when working out who can strike whom in combat.
3. Make sure you have enough rank and file on single bases at the rear of the unit so that if enough casualties are caused to remove the unit filler, you can replace the empty space with individual models. For example, if you have a unit filler that comprises 16 models, make sure there are 15 models on single bases (in addition to single based models in the front/sides of the unti). That way if one casualty is removed from the unit filler you can remove the filler and replace it with single models from your dead pile.
4. If the filler is really big, more than 4 or 6 models say, try to put some kind of terrain feature at the corners of each base - something to allow you to tell exactly where a model begins or ends (e.g. for templates).

Basically, unit fillers are fine, but I don't want to be playing against units with fillers sticking out the sides because you decided to change formation or where I have to remember that 14/36 'models' in the filler are dead. It gets really confusing especially with regards to trying to work out how many are hit with templates, etc. I think no more than 30% of the unit being fillers is a reasonable rule of thumb because it ensures you have enough rank and file for the above criteria.

[jack da greenskin]

Yep. Same as if I showed up with 25 cubes of mdf as my chaos army, or wanted to use goblin spearmen as handweapons. You deviate from the normal parameters, you should ask your opponent if its ok.


As for unit fillers:

As many of these as you like.

Zero of these. (Though its one of the nicest unit filler rocks I've seen in a while. I'm almost swayed )

I hate this attitude. It implies anything using proxies or non GW models is a decision to be made by the opponent before the game starts (which it is) but anything using GW models will obviously be accepted straight away, no questions asked.

It's a 2 player game, I wont play my opponents army if it doesnt look like it'll be a fun game, but I wont make that decision based on the models their using, moreso, the paintjob, their personality, and how well I know them.

[Lord Inquisitor]

I hate this attitude. It implies anything using proxies or non GW models is a decision to be made by the opponent before the game starts (which it is) but anything using GW models will obviously be accepted straight away, no questions asked.

It's a 2 player game, I wont play my opponents army if it doesnt look like it'll be a fun game, but I wont make that decision based on the models their using, moreso, the paintjob, their personality, and how well I know them.

I don't think that's the point at all. I think it's much more that unit fillers designed to look cool are cool and unit fillers that are designed to just to save on buying/painting the appropriate models look cheap. Buying non-GW models is not the issue - we're not talking about buying mantic ghouls rather than gw ghouls, but sticking a single tree or rock on a base and using that to count as half a unit.