Ok, the point is I will soon have a big number of basic warriors to set up, and I wonder how to get the most out of them in terms of model flexibility: using the same model to represent different things. I have limited budget to spend on miniatures, so I need to get the most out of each.

Great Weapon / Shield:

For example, can I set up the warriors with GW, and attach the shields to them with blu-tack as needed? Warrior models assembled with GW have their left arm nicely bent in front of them, so placing a shield there would mean no problem, and the blu-tack would be invisible behind the shield itself. Has anyone tried this? In this way, I can easily add or remove the shield, and I can even use the warriors with GW as rangers If needed.

On the other hand, as Halbrad said, maybe I should always field troops with shields when possible. Should all my warriors and longbeards forget about GW, save for my wannabe ranger unit?

Also, can I use the blu-tack trick to attach the GW to the quarrelers back to make them rangers? Can I do the same for placing shields on Thunderers and Hammerers backs? Will blu-tack end up ruining the miniatures painting?

Warrior / Longbeard:

In the same spirit as before, how can I turn a warrior into a longbeard without making it "permanent"?. Can I for example say that all normal warriors use silvered shields, and longbeards use golden shields, and add them shields accordingly? Or perhaps I can focus on making the Units standards clearly different to indicate one kind of troop from another. Perhaps I can blu-tack the facemasks, but that looks like more trouble than worth it, and I was thinking on using the facemasks to give some variety to the models.

Perhaps Im getting ahead of myself. Maybe in 90% of the battles I will field the same blocks of warriors and longbeards, so Im worrying needlesly. But at this point I really dont know.

I welcome your comments and thoughts.