Counts As- Problem or no Problem?

Grey Knight Propaganda

Hi all,

OK, this has been a bit of a hot-topic online over the last few months. Every time I've tried to write a response, it has scanned as angry and Trollish, so I've stayed quiet- I don't wish to become part of the argument, but I am happy to get involved in the debate (see the difference?) First of all, I'd like to make one thing clear- "counts as", as it is used in the current context, is what others and myself used to call "Representation". It is when something other than the official model is used as a playing piece. Like this:

Sternguard with Razorback. Note the Sergeant's different coloured helmet

Or this

A Land Raider

Friendly cover

Both count-as a specific rules entry (in the case of the last one, it's a Leviathan in 40K, in case you were wondering!)

I can see why some people have a problem with this. I've spent time, money and effort on my army, why can't they? 

The argument starts to get a little strange for me when those pictures are grouped in with these:

Goatboy's Space Goats/ Goat Angels

Thundergoat Cavalry

Iron Goat

Goat Hunters

Goat Claws

Goat Angels :)

Dan, at 10 Inch Template- Skaven Dark Eldar:

That's not representation to me- that's conversion. People who increase the cost of the hobby to themselves are doing it to produce something cool. They are not trying to take advantage. Yet, Goatboy's Space Goats seem to be reviled on-line? Oh yes, because the use the Space Wolf Codex. If they were Goat-Marines would people still have a problem? Ah- they are Goats for all Codii! OK, well, here's my Space Marine Collection, for various Codii:

Codex: Space Marines

Codex: Blood Angels

Codex: Dark Angels

OK, that's enough- I think the points clear. Using Space Marines to represent Space Marines is- Hmmmmm? Is what? Now if I were to use these as Blood Angels....

I might see the problem. But coming up with a non-Codex colour scheme (which is harder than it sounds), or converting an army so it's unique across the board, so that you can use them across all the relevant armies? That's not gaming for advantage. Don't agree, OK, it's an opinion shared with:

Just saying. 

Final note- using models from one army to represent units in another? Can get complicated, but if you're doing it for a reason, then OK. If someone tried it against me in a pick-up game, I'd get a bit snarky, but OK. At the end of the day, I think that WYSIWYG is important- if a model has a Missile Launcher, then it should be modelled with one. Similarly, if a model is in power armour, then it should be modelled in power armour. People that lovingly convert their entire army tend to think about this though, and in my experience it has rarely (if ever been a problem)

To finish- a set of images for representation. Comments, as always, are welcome.

Titan

Valkyries

Space Marine

Imperial Guard

Chaos