Marking D&D Miniatures - advice?

[pogre]

One of the things we used to do with historicals that had to be differentiated was to use different colored pipe cleaners snip them up and place them on the bases.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Name them. Larry, Moe, Ronald, et c. Eventually you'll grow recognize them individually.

 

[ConnorSB]

What my friend did was to leave the bases black, but paint one big drop onto each one in a different color. So if there was an orc tribe, there would be Orc Green, Orc Blue, Orc Red, and the leader, Orc White. Since there were limited recognisable colors in his paint set (Warhammer basic paint set thing), he would put 2 dots on some bases, or 3 or 4 or 1 dot. So there could be Orc Red, and Orc 2 red. He never attached mini to base, so he could use the same set of bases for every encounter.

Which brought up another issue, because the bases seemed to transfer luck over, regardless of the mini that was stuck onto it in that given fight. 2 Red Dots always gave my characters trouble. The NPCs attached to it always seemed to roll 20s. Freaking 2 red dot base.

 

[Bloodsparrow]

"Painter's Tape"

Little squares either on the bottom of the base or on the base itself.

You can get it at any hardware store, comes in several colors, you can write on it, sticky enough to stay put, not so sticky that it will leave residue, and comes of easy.

 

[Halivar]

One of the things we used to do with historicals that had to be differentiated was to use different colored pipe cleaners snip them up and place them on the bases.

I have seen this before at a convention. I think it was Historicon, but I can't be sure...

 

[Ysgarran]

A dab of fingernail polish is what I'm planning on using. Make sure everyone has their own favorite color...

 

[Henry]

These are some awesome suggestions! Thanks to everybody! Looks like I've got some purchases to make, and some Crested Felldrakes to experiment with...

 

[alsih2o]

One of the things we used to do with historicals that had to be differentiated was to use different colored pipe cleaners snip them up and place them on the bases.

mmm, reusable goodness

 

[Desdichado]

For my Blood Bowl minis, in the past I've painted a little white block at three equidistant points on the round base. Then when that's dry, with a very fine brush and black paint, or even with just a pen, I've written a number on that block.

It works very well because it's relatively innocuous -- it doesn't stand out, yet it's easily seen and identified by me and my oponnent from practically any angle.

 

[Rel]

Henry, just get some plain white labels, write the numbers on them and then cut them up into tiny squares. Then just stick them on top of the head of each mini so I looks like they are wearing cute little mortar-board hats. If you write lewd things on the labels instead of numbers then this will look a great deal like my high school graduation.

Then when that terrible day comes and you finally inflict a TPK, the monsters can all throw their hats into the air in celebration!

That should break the grim tension nicely.