Getting Started

Markers are just small tiles that can be placed next to models to remind you of something, such as wound markers for when a character loses wounds. They are extremely easy to make and can be very useful.

We are going to make some simple markers out of foamboard. An A4-sized sheet of 3mm thick foamboard costs about £2 and is sufficient to make hundreds of markers. There are plenty of other uses for foamboard as well (such as movement trays), so the leftover bits won't be wasted.

You'll also need a blade, a ruler, some PVA glue, and your choice of paint, objects, etc.

Making Markers

First decide the size you want and cut some small squares out of foamboard (or cardboard if you want a cheaper option).

Then decide what they are going to mark and paint them up how you want them. I like to paint mine the same colour as my bases and movement trays so everything is consistent. I've made some for my Vampire Counts which are blood stains roughly in the shape of 'F' and 'R' (to mark units with ASF and rerolls from magical effects) and loads of skulls and severed heads for wound markers.

Magnetic Markers

If you think markers are too fiddly, you could use magnets to attach them to their target and tidy them up.

I've made magnetic wound markers which attract directly to a patch of magnetic paint on a model's base. I attach the right number of markers at the start of the game and then remove one each time the model suffers a wound. This makes it really easy to see how many wounds a character (or any multi-wound model) has left.

I've also made some Marks of Chaos to put on movement trays to show which god favours the unit. This means I can paint all my Warriors of Chaos as undivided and just assign them a Mark as and when I want to.

The pikes were made from toothpicks. The Marks of Chaos were made using balsa wood and green stuff. Tiny disc magnets were attached to the bottom using green stuff to ensure they are flush with the surface.

More Ideas

There are plenty of things that a marker can represent and plenty of ideas for each type, such as numbered footprints to mark declared charges, shiny green fragments for Skaven Warpstone Tokens, rolled up scrolls (e.g. from Empire flagellants sprues) to remind you when a wizard has used a scroll, and so on. They are also useful for tracking buff spells from things like Gut Magic and Chaos Warshrines. You could just use dice, but these are more characterful!

Wizard familiars can also make fun markers, such as using the daemonette as the marker for Titillating Delusions, or the pumpkin-headed guy for a Dark Elf Focus Familiar. (Most of these familiars are still available from Games Workshop's collectors' range.)