1) Ok. 2) Of course, it wouldn't be WW2 without Nazi Germany. 3) Nice touch. 4) Makes sense. 5) Cool. 6) Cooler, if he plays with SS regiments. 7) Awesome, and would be very fun trying to hold a conversation with him.
I had a very pleasant demo game of FoW with two guys dressed as an American soldier and a British paratrooper at SPIEL four or five years ago. They had an Omaha beach and a Pegasus bridge table with them that looked stunning. They also collected money for the Kriegsgräberfürsorge (yes, that is a real word), which is an organisation that maintains war graves and memorials all over Europe. EDIT: I might even have some pictures from them, I'll have a look.
Cool! But very rare to see people in any uniform but German at a wargaming event. (Obviously, it's a different story for re-enactors/living history types).
I think it's very interesting to see all of your responses to my hypothetical check list :) Well, Archipelago is one to look at. It doesn't use any places or powers by name, but it does allow you to use a power called slavery (and in the expansion 'Triangle Trade') to subjugate natives (in an abstract sense) for your own personal gain. It does reduce a global resource the players need to maintain to not all lose (revolt), so the ideal game state for most players is to subjugate and placate the people that lived there with 'jobs' and religion and to become prosperous using the resources of the new found lands. It both makes you complicit in the evils of colonialism, but also feel kind of bad about it. Or at least it should. It also has questionable artwork (Specifically the little faces) which I still haven't decided whether I think is brilliant because it lampshades the way that your colonial power thinks of the locals and is being Ironic, or is horrifying because it's reinforcing stereotypes and not drawing attention enough to itself as ironic and so will be being taken sincerely. I actually really like the core game loop and mechanics of Archipelago, but i'm souring more to the theme as time goes on.
From 5 to 7 I simply won't interact with the fellow; but if he addressess me, I'll gently remind t Him that he's wearing the paraphenalia of people who would have sent my wife and 4 year old daughter to a gas chamber. That's what I told a friend who said that "the Gremans should have finished the job". Believe it or not, when you give "the others" faces you can recognize, most people are decent enough to pull their heads out of their asses.
With the announcement of the new Tunguska sectorial which unit name or model should we be outraged at?
Obviously the Securitate. I really don't see the point of naming units like that. A name like Moderator does the job as well. Now please don't tell me that the unit name helps you in learning how to use the troopers.
Sounds full on! I think games as a media to portray historical violence almost always leaves a weird taste to the players. You are playing a game, enjoying yourself, but the game is based on the misery of others. On the other hand, there is a learning element involved. I don't know Archipelago, but I can imagine that I would be in two minds about it as well. I guess i would not like the artwork. I prefer things to be a bit more spelled out.
I just assume the Spanish guys who make the game think the name sounds cool and fits into the sectorial. When I see it I think security forces and not Romanian secret police right off the top of my head.
The real life Securitate were pretty hideous. But then, Tunguska ain't all sunshine and rainbows. Founded by mafia remember? It's a crime syndicate hideout turned anarcho-capitalist paradise whose chief income is based on keeping illicit banking, intelligence brokering, crypto and infowar services and such extremely secret. The Tunguska Jurisdictional Command enforces Tunguska contracts pretty ruthlessly, and the Securitate is their paramilitary security force, whose job it is to police the station and deal with any trouble-makers. Gutier does seem like a smart, well-read guy. He clearly took the name from the real Securitate, as it isn't coming from anywhere else, and he knew what it mean. It think it's intentional. Like DangerRose said. You can play WWII games and you can play Waffen SS if you like, but there's a line to be drawn between playing them because on the tabletop they're an interesting force, and fetishizing. I would do the same as him, and probably have a quiet word with the TO saying that I don't think it's acceptable. If I was the TO? I'd tell him to get changed, or leave. That shit aint alright.
If everyone else or quite a few people were dressing up then I wouldn't think much of it. Now if he was the only one there wearing it I'd probably think he's an odd bird but I'd chalk it up to the hobby attracting people who are odd. Now if he's there handing out Nazi propaganda and talking about how we really should be rounding up the jews and putting them into concentration camps then I'm going to try and crush him in the game and make it as unfun as possible. I'll rules lawyer everything and just try to troll his as much as possible. But if he's just wearing it then whatever, I might find it in poor taste but I'm not the guy who decides what's in good taste. I remember playing an x wing tournament and there was a dude dressed as an imperial officer and I didn't have a problem with that. Also my friends dad use to do ww2 reenactment and had the full get up as a German soldier, even had a half track which was cool. Nicest guy you would ever meet and not a Nazi sympathisizer at all. Asked why he was on there side for reenactments and he told me that one, somebody has to do it otherwise you only have Americans and two it was interesting considering how much stuff there was already about the American side.
I agree that Guitier seems to be smart. The Infinity background is well developed and has a very realistic feel to it. I think for some people this is boring, For me as a political scientist, it is fascinating. However, as human rights activist, those historical names just don't sit right with me. I think telling the story of Tunguska as mafia controlled would do enough to make people understand that we are not talking about the nice guys here. No need to offend people who are affected by atrocities of the past or who just find these things tasteless. I guess many people don't get the names anyway so any "positive" effect Guitier had in mind by using those names is wasted. What strikes me is about Tunguska is that of course, the mafia has to be Russian according to the stereotype. This is where I think Gutier is not so smart. He uses cliches a lot. And the stereotype about Russians being criminals sits pretty tight. I play Infinity with a Russian. I certainly don't want to bring that cliche to the gaming table. I mean, ok, those Tunguska mafiosi have to come from somewhere. Couldn't they have come from all parts of the world? I would be happier if they were all German, to be honest. Better than making them Russian. Just to break with the stereotype. I completely agree with you. This is the way this should be handled. The Holocaust is not a laughing matter.
You make some good points, I certainly can see where you're coming from with the stereotypes, yeah, especially stuff like the Russian mafia. And indeed, is it right to use the Securitate, when they could be called something else so easily? People have suffered at their hands in real life, they shouldn't then be a cool sexy paramilitary force in game.
At the very least, it seems an RPG character starting in Tunguska has the option of starting with either Russian or English. In addition, the main bank families are the Waldheim, the Figueroa and the Haller... Not terribly Russian names. Sounds like they have some American mafia mixed in.
Thanks for the info. The background of Infinity is complex, so yes, Tunguska is not meant to be entirely Russian, but predominantly Russian. This is what sticks in the mind. Merovinigia also has Germans and British living there, but we all think of them as French. As for the bank names, I am pleasantly surprised that there isn't even a particularly Russian name amongst them.
While Russian "Mafya" with their Vory / Bratya fellows are indeed a big part of the Tunguskan Underground Culture, in the older N1 and N3 Manuals it was clearly statted that is ALL OF THE OLD CRIME FAMILIES of the Human Sphere to have a vested interest in keeping that "Free Offshore Banking" kind of Mothership very intact and functioning. . . There are Oriental Gangs such as not only Triad / Tongs of China (ESPECIALLY after the brutal purges originated on a DIRECT ORDER from the Jade Emperor of Yu-Jing, a fact that transformed the I.S.S. from a bureaucratic apparatus into the lethal "Imperium Inquisition, Cyberpunk-Styled" that is Today in the Infinity-Verse) but also the Yakuza Clans of Nihonjin (very interesting to know how their linked "Corporate Zaibatsu" front companies will fare under the "New Rising Sun") and the "Seoulpa Rings" of Southern Korea. . . There are modern R.W. "White Collar Moneylenders, with Guns" of the Modern Capitalistic Embezzlement going hand-in-hand with the descendants of the "Hillbilly Criminal Families" that cultivate Vegetable Drugs everywhere in the world. . . There are the Big European Crime Families, with IN FUCKING FRONT the thrice-damned FUCKED BASTARDS of the Italian Mafia of "Cosa Nostra" (the Sicilian Criminal Enterprise, BOTH in Old Italy and in New Jersey / Hoboken "Pizza Flavours") along with lesser Italian Crime Families ("Camorra" of Naples that is a sort of "Free-For-All" style of Barrio Gangs such as in Southern America; "Ndrangheta" of Calabria that are still specialized in Kindapping-For-Ransoms and Petty Extortions rather than Drug / Weapon trafficking and the weird "Sacra Corona Unita" of Puglia that mask under a veneer of "Monarchic Nostalgics" their Smuggling Links with Albanian Traffickers). . . There will be Druze Contacts moneywashing their "Blood Diamonds", there will be Yuan-Yuan backed "Fake Shipping Concerns" to resell at premium Stolen Starships and Pirated Goods, there will be even the more absurd "Cyberpunk Criminals" of the Human Sphere going there to cancel traces of their crimes and obtain shiny, spotless Maya Data-Currency. . . . .such as Praxis "Monster Makers" from Bakunin with the funds needed to continue to upgrade their "Nightmare Labs" and Corregidoran "Jaguar Gangs" of South American "Vatos" and Central African "Tsotsis" with the need to resell what was acquired by evil deeds and even weirder stuff such as Pan-Oceanian Hexas creating triple / quintuple "Count Jumps" to wash away the Yujing Patent Pending from some "Liberated Stuff" along with whatever nefarious plans will be concocted by Svengali, the Rogue Artificial Intelligence that is DEDICATED to Crime. . . Honestly Tunguska could be considered "Submondo Faction, The P.R. Face" as it is. . . And don't forget that of all the Troops that We have seen they are the fricking "Crime Family Vault Banks" kind of Guards (and also Privately Contracted Special Response Teams) but with a Paramilitary Background. . . Imagine WHAT kind of "Virtual Bank Heists" are done, daily, in Tunguska to need the mobilitation of Szalamandra T.A.G.s and "Kriza Boracs" Superheavy Infantry Suits, Hollow Men "Cyborg / Drones / Whatever They Are", the fearsome Special Forces that are Grenzers / Hecklers / Spektr and the "Humble" Securitate that from the more recent concept art seems "Suited Plainclothes Cops" that hastily donned an Army Kevlar Suit over their nice "Ties & White Shirt" clothes. . .
