Banner sizes?

[ManicMan]

I don't know if it's partly down to personal taste or skill but when I look back at alot of 3-4ed Banners in photos, they can range from 'normal' size (maybe about 20mm long) to HUGE (40mm+) Though when Citadel released standard bearers with a pre-built standard, they are mostly for 20mm or smaller. It seams some staffers loved to mod and make the banners much larger, yet they never seamed to release ones for that.. fair enough, they want to you mod yourself but still.. interesting.

going through 3ed Armies, Bryan Ansells chaos has HUGE banners, so does Pete Taylor's Skaven. Whoever did the Goblinoid army with Kev Adams posing has some nice huge ones, Elves and humans seam to have more the 'normal' sized ones. Looking at 4ed Skaven Army Book, you get to see the same standard bearer in both a Slave Regiment and a Stormvermin regiment, yet for the Stormvermin one, the standard (which this one doesn't have a cross bar) had a bar added to allow a 30mm banner which is too big for the figure as the bottom is handing down over the base>

I do find some of these quite interesting in the range of 'types' and it does seam some are more designed for 'How can we make out this unit over a table distance when making a photo' where smaller ones are better for single figure shots.. I also see a number of figures which, sometimes with no logical reason, Banners are added. There is a Grey seer with a Banner added which... well, I guess he walks for a bit then sticks it in the ground.. Either that or Skaven Golf courses are pretty fun.

What are some peoples tastes on Banners and Banner sizes?

 

[Citizen Sade]

Oldhammer heresy perhaps but I much prefer an icon or totem to a banner.

Huge banners strike me as unwieldy and impractical. I understand that many people like them and that they’re an opportunity to showcase skills but I find models struggling with them a PITA to store and transport.

 

[ManicMan]

While they are cloth and not what I'm used to, I can say from experience that carrying a wooden banner with extra weight added to it up and down a highstreet can get a bit unwieldy though a decent banner strap helps.. don't see many miniatures with banner straps though..

 

[Michael Stockin]

From a 3rd POV, fairly regular sized unit banners. The army banner however is more imposing and magnificent.

 

[Golgfag1]

I tend to go for about 20mm to 30mm square or oblong for actual banners, anything larger starts to look out of proportion with the figure carrying it. Examples below of unit banners and just to and a bit of colour to units.

Paul / Golgfag1

 

[Fimm McCool]

As with Paul I think 20 to 30mm looks fine on the tabletop, fits most commercial banner poles and allows enough room for some pretty imagery. However I do like an army banner to be bigger just so you can tell where it is (and read the hilarious puns from a distance). Nothing too crazy, but 50-60mm stands out suitably.

 

[ManicMan]

Just for the stake of it, here are some nice ones in a range from 3ed and 4ed.


Brian Ansell with a Unit of Beastmen with 'Chaos Champion with standard'. This is a pretty huge one with nice work that looks... slightly more orky but fine for Chaos.

No clue who did this one as Kev Adam's Army wasn't but this is classed as a 'Hellfire Bannner' carried by an Orc Hero, this one is a army standard. Might be Kev's painting though.

Grey Seer from the 4th Army book by.. No clue, doesn't credit studio figures, with a banner that just.. kinda sticks in the ground next to him.

Aly Morrison converted c15 Orc Standard Bearer.


A collection of Some John Blanche Orcs which are said to be paper with piano wire for the string.

I think every one of these is converted as I don't remember seeing citadel sell ones with banners that long.

 

[KingOfTheLeadPile]

I also go with 20 to 30mm most of the time; as was said before, to stay in proportion with the minis. I do try more and more to not use squares or rectangles, when I think it fits the vibe of the mini/force, but gor for some more 'exotic' shapes. This can be as simple as having a rectangle with a triangle at the bottom for elves, for example, or for cavalry of the Empire a rectanlge flying horizontally with a slim triangle on the top, etc.

 

[twisted moon]

i aspire to having a giant army banner, but other than that just go with whatever looks okay. since i have no artistic skills, i don't need a lot of space.