I wonder how many americans play Usariadna and how many of them play it because it represents them. I'd assume any chinese players would first and foremost pick an army based on what they think looks cool.
My Taiwanese friend played Aleph. He didn't care for the Yu Jing faction at all. He wanted Ghost in the Shell. It's sort like how American Western games are way more popular outside of of the US! lol
They wouldn't necessarily need to play Yu Jing to think it's cool that Asia is well represented in the fluff. As a point of comparison with 40k or a lot of other longstanding Sci Fi and Fantasy franchises, it's pretty significant.
I have similar ick around Kuang Shi, and decided to proxy in some S2 REMs, I’m just on the fence about which ones. I wish Kiranbots came in packs that were cheaper than the Arjuna box, as four of those would be ideal, and it fits with the other Aleph loaners in ISS so the aesthetic won’t suffer. Anecdotally, “some,” and I’d wager that those folks are often veterans who vibe with the faction. Similarly, there are probably Americans who love Caledonia because they’re attached to whatever Scottish heritage they have. One of my BattleTech buddies back in the day had been a tanker and then retired from the Army and played, well, just a crapton of tanks in spite of the game being mainly about giant stompy robots. I’m not saying it’s 100% correlation, just that the correlation is higher than zero. Like how not all JSA players are weebs, but more than none are.
The last 3 posts are not really needed in this thread, in retrospect the quoted post is not needed too since it inspired the discussion derailing so I will remove them. Please keep the forum politically free. I quite like the discussion about heritage and selecting on what to play, I never experienced it myself and I can vaguely recall two people I ever knew who did so, not sure if it needs its own thread though.
It all boils down to the individual and how they interpret things. I'm scottish and I don't see any connection to the Scots in infinity. I see it as a work of fiction and no relation to Scotland today really. However I'm not particularly patriotic and am hugely cynical in general and critical of my own country so my reading of it will be different from someone with a different experience/ outlook/ attitude. Doesn't make me right and doesn't make people that see it differently wrong. I know ppl that find Scots in infinity cringy and ppl that absolutely love it Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Ehh...that's not an accurate reflection of the wargaming community in China. Shanghai alone has *5* GW stores (I think only London surpasses it). That's just official GW stores & doesn't include independent retailers. While there are indeed many expats players, the overwhelming majority of the community are local Chinese. Just as in other countries, 40k & AOS are the most popular games here. People also play all the other games, such as Warmachine, Star War Legion, or Flames of War. There is a sizable community for Infinity. No concrete data here, but I'd venture to say that either Infinity or Warmachine is the second most popular wargame in China after the GW ones (by a large margin of course). People are attracted to Infinity mainly by 1) great sculpts & cheaper prices 2) rules & competitive play Regarding people's opinions on the lore, I've seen little misgiving about it - as least among the online community. The thing is, Infinity lores are often very over the top and people generally don't take them very seriously (The chance of the Party restoring the Monarchy is zero. There is no popular support for the former imperial houses & the Party will never make any concession on its absolute power. But then again, this is the universe where Medieval Knight Orders somehow revive themselves). It's also hard to develop serious commitment to the Infinity lores when there are so few background materials around. Yes, I am aware of the existence of the RPG books. But still, compared to 40k or Star War Legion, Infinity background is rather weak (in contrast, there is great enthusiasm in 40k lore & GW is translating several novels into Chinese). PS: If Party censors actually read Infinity lores, they are 100% going to ban the game. But Infinity is too small a fish for them to fry.
Thanks a lot for that! Nice to hear from someone with actual experience there. I'm just curious, do you know which genre of games are more popular? Sci-fi, Fantasy, Super Hero? I think any company that wanted to make it in the Chinese market, would start with fantasy. I notice just by Chinese movies and animation, fantasy seems very popular. CB could do really well making a Wuxia-like fantasy skirmish game.
It's interesting that GW has made a beachhead and started creating a miniature gaming market in China since I last looked. Clearly they're making major inroads in Shanghai, but Shanghai really is alone in having 5 stores. Hong Kong looks like it has one store and Beijing still has none. China is huge though, so without more data, it looks more likely to me that there's an emerging player base in a couple of major cities rather than a countrywide phenomenon. I'd be interested if you know of GW independent FLGS or gaming clubs popping up anywhere in China. They're the lifeblood of non-GW-monoculture games, so if they take off that would be a sign the hobby is really spreading. I'd also expect some mainland native games to pop up sometime, as the temptation for some entrepreneur to take something and run with it is very strong over there. Someone designing a Chinese language first set of rules with good miniatures and fluff made in China would be able to massively undercut GW there and take off fast. P.S. Absolutely agree with your P.S. that's my guess too. So either it stays completely under the radar, or somehow someone randomly reads one of the two manga books and forwards it to their boss to try and get a promotion for digging up western propaganda.
Chinese player here, I admit I was attracted to Infinity when someone told me “There is war game where China is a playable faction!” But I stop treating the lore seriously after I read the party bring back Ming and Qing. Now I just love the game because the miniatures.
I was attracted to playing Yu Jing because my wife is Chinese. I have a lot of sympathy for my Kuang Shi, ordered to get out there and solve all the problems by a female Celestial Guard...
Chinese Yu Jing player here. The lore is obviously over the top and has no real basis in modern geo-politics, but I do like that it at least attempts to paint the faction with some nuance. Some bits probably wouldn't sit well with the government, but a lot of much bigger names fly under the radar in China. The visual design elements are anachronistic and perhaps a little stereotypical, but that's also Infinity in general. I would say it's comparable to Military Orders or Caledonia, and without the visual flair the faction would be a lot less interesting. The names are mostly pretty bad tho lol
Welcome! Glad to have you here. I love the look of modern mixed with old. It's what gives it a distinct look. As you said it's like the Caledonians and MO. Haqqislam to some extent as well. They might need to re-think the names with the next edition. At least the Chinese names. They do have Korean and a few others.
I may be a bit late here, but similar things do happen and as long as suggested perpetrator denies everything, there are basically only 2 options: 1) Target is much smaller and weaker than its political opponents, and the only thing the latter lack is a good excuse to gang up on it, economically or otherwise; then it gets brought up and acted "upon". 2) The target is too strong to be brought down by this pressure and nothing changes. Maneuvers continue...
