Do you have a mini with a nickname? Who is it? What do you mean what am I talking about? Okay, here is my example. When I first started collecting LOTR I bought a box of 24 WoMT (yes, GW used to sell LOTR in boxes of 24. It was awesome). Anyways, I wanted to paint one differently than the rest so I had a proxy Capt should I ever need one (this was before warbands, you didn't *have* to field captains).

Anyways, I painted him in black armor with gold trim. I used him in a few battles, always as a regular WoMT, nothing fancy, but over time I started adding things to him. A cape for style, a weapon swap so he carried a bigger sword, a repaint because my skills improved and he was my most seasoned/deserving veteran. Eventually, he became known as The Black Knight of Gondor. I never used him as I intended (a capt) he has always been fielded as a regular WoMT, but all my friends know who he is and because of that he usually dies pretty quickly, but much like an episode of Cheers, everyone knows his name and they're always glad he came.

Which minis did you nickname? Which one now has their own legacy?

I used to have a Legolas+Gimli on horseback model that had my best painting job ever (at that time). It was my favorite model because it looked good, and it also had to be on the battlefield in some way or another.
At that time I think I was only 14 years old and for some reason the real rules didn't interest me. We invented our own game (me and 3 friends) and the model was just always there.

I was quite a dominant figure at that time so I made it so that that model was actually pretty overpowered. I feel sorry for my friends that they had to deal with me like that. It was like a mounted Legolas with the melee strength of Gimli who for some reason never gets dismounted. They also shared wounds and won me alot of games.

Unfortunately I gave all my warhammer away to the hospital's child cancer department. It felt actually really good doing something like that with the warhammer I lost interest in. But nowadays I'm really interested in it again so had to buy stuff all over.
Not that bad since I can afford it now and made a few children happy with it. But still a few well painted models (including my Leg/Gim model) are just a memory now.