"What WON'T you do in Wargaming?" Topic

My attitude toward gaming is a reflection of my philosophy, i.e. "Life is way too short to be taken seriously."

The only thing I try too avoid is making the game unpleasant for others. I have no problem gaming Viet Nam or modern combat; others do. I'm not going to make them play something they don't feel good about or have have to make that choice. There are plenty of people to play with, there's no reason to force one's preferences on another. I have friends that have trouble just talking about thier experience in Nam. Why would I invite them over for an afternoon of gaming in the Mekong delta? Who am I to judge? There are plenty of other wars to fight.

I'll play anything if it interest me.It's a game.

I'm guessing there might be one or two people scratching their heads over a guy whose avatar is a Confederate flag saying he won't play SS.

Wargaming is a game that is based on the competitive aspect of human conflict (or "war" as we experts like to call it). In wars, people die and/or get hurt in nasty ways; that's all wars, not just the ones that happened recently. Yer average Swede in Russia c.1700 suffered just as much as yer average Grognard in Russia c.1812, and yer average Heinrich in Russia c.1944. Virtually every society with a martial tradition has fought a "nasty" war sometime, somewhere and we've all been someone else's enemy at some point. Once met an Irish-American gamer who would not play British at all; not even WW2 – would actually rather have played SS, in fact.

Personally, I won't play any conflicts where there are participants (of any age) still living. That's because I won't risk offending them, not because it offends me.

We all have our onw personal taste boundaries, mine used be a time horizon of about 20 years, but these days I'll play pretty well anything.

I don't use unpainted figures, I'd rather use counters than unpainted figures (and I have played with counters sometimes when the appripate figures weren't available).

There is a saying that you should be prepared to try anything once, except for incest and country dancing.

I have tried country dancing.

All the best,

John.

Play naked. My opponents breath a sigh of relief.

Translate Phil Barker's rules into standard American English – life is just too short.

I wont play FOW or 40k

I won't play with plastic.

Unpainted figures on my side of the table.

Bare tables.

Take part in a 'serious' wargame competition.

I guess I have to agree 100% with Ace. I always try to discern the game from the players.

Also, no unpainted lead. And one color does not equal painted.

T

Get too upset about the game (my poor luck won't allow it).

Get self-righteous about what toys and how people play with them.

I'm guessing there might be one or two people scratching their heads over a guy whose avatar is a Confederate flag saying he won't play SS.

Because those people know that I am an ACW reenactor…that's a copy of my units Regimental Colors…
(Psst…btw I also do Union, but don't let anyone know…)

Besides…If you can show me someone in this day and age who's current or previous generation had someone killed by "The Stonewall Brigade", then please let me know…

I suppose my unpainted plastic SS units won't be welcome very many places other than at my own table.

I have or will play almost everything. We played a cops and drug smugglers game, and I work part time as a police officer. So playing the game on the table top and in real life all in the same week does not bother me, except in real life I don't play the drug smugglers.

Generally, I like miniatures over board games, and I like historicals over fantasy. Don't care for magic in games, but I have played it. We used to let everyone pick a game, and we played it if we liked it or not, and when it was our turn to select a game, the other guy played our game with a happy face.

Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

There really isn't a lot that I won't do. I guess I'm not fond of DBA or HOTT but I'd play those with the right people.

I won't put unpainted pieces on the table …someone else will that's up o them .
No sense in playing if you are gong to cheat . Won't play if it ain't fun .

I won't playing anything that feels boring. Lately, I don't play anything….

I won't play with unpainted figures (my stuff that is) I will cut some folks some slack. Others (who have had plenty of chances to put some spray paint on their figs) not so much.

mjc

I won't ever finish painting an army.

No plastics
No unpainted figures
No points
No Fantasy
No Sci-Fi
No skirmish games

I've tolerated the New Model Army on a wargames table in Scotland. After that anything goes.

I'm continually fascinated by number of people who think that unpleasant behavior only began in 1940…

No Fat chicks

No tournaments – pretty much it.

>>> I won't ever finish painting an army.

Close 2nd!

(I have actually finished some, but the gist of the statement by autos da fe is embarrassingly close to the mark.)

No un-painted stuff. Badly painted is ok. As long as there are two or more colors on the model (e.g. just a base color plus a dab of flesh on the face) I'm fine. This is only for strictly miniatures games though. I don't mind using un-painted models on a board game.

I never have a problem with any specific period or a particular side – I've always been able to emotionally detach any historical unpleasantness from the game. I will even play the Japanese side in a game set during the Sino-Japanese conflict. (A Japanese bullet came within two feet from taking my Dad's head off after Hong Kong fell.)

I have played SS quite happily. I would not play with real Nazis, but these guys were only 15mm high and made of pewter. I would not be happy with any game that simulated war crimes, but the games where I have used SS were just general scenarios.

I no longer game with semi naked supermodels, either as opponents or playing pieces. I do enjoy painting them though.

I'd play in the nude, but only depending on the temperature in the room. There is, after all, such a thing as shrinkage.

Geez Dan, TMI dude!
Buff Orpington, this has been a problem in the past?
Play the SS, no sweat. They are pieces on a table. I leave it at that.

Won't do… Humm….
I will not play with anyone who calls me a cheater.
I will not play on an empty/sparsely terrained table.
I will not play with unpainted figs (my side only. IF he does not have them painted, thats cool… But he better expect some jibs about it… )
I will not play ancients.
I will not play Napoleonics.
I will not play the American Civil War.
But the biggest of them all is…
I will not play without beer.

Wow, I must be really flexible. I will play any armies. Would prefer totally painted though, and will not play my own unpainted. But I can understand the people that have thier preferences and nothing wrong with that.
When I play "Call of Duty" on the Xbox, I would prefer to the be the Amercian forces, but if I am German, Japanese or Soviet I still play to win. It is only a game.
I only ask other players give 100% as I do and do not "cheat" or "bend the rules" as I would not do to them.

I like won't play SS or Japanees

Anyone of you drive BMW or Toyota or Subaru or any other former Axis country. Pssst don't look at your computer, phone, tv, radio or anything else.

What a load of horsecrap.

10 Things that I won't do in a wargame;
1. I will not play with unpainted miniatures (primed figures don't count as "painted").
2. I will not run a Historical game using mixed scales ( Example: HO scale tanks and 1/72 scale troops, 15mm scale ground forces and 1/144 scale aircraft) I know it silly but it drive me crazy.
3. I avoid participating in games with gamers wearing period costume or uniform. Creepy!
4. Play with gamers, who insist on talking about current politics or religion during a game ( Conversions about drugs, sex, and rock & roll are allowed, after all I am a proper gentleman, not a prude).
5. I will not leave a game hosted by someone else at a con or event after it starts, until it is complete. Out of respect to the GM who went to the trouble putting together the event and the other players. Once I commit to a game, it only fair that you see it through not leave half way through.
6.Cheat.
7. Argue like an idiot, with another player or the GM.
8. Not accept a beer if offered.
9. Turn down a good cigar.
10. Complain about anyone on my team, who can't play the game worth a darn and loses the game though some bone headed move (This one is a work in progress, but I'm trying to get better).

Cheers.

Actually, no unpainted figures, either metal or plastic.

Here's my list of not do's.

1/ Cheat
2/ Fantasy games
3/ Current wars like Afganistan. Our boys are still fighting there. It's too close for comfort.
4/ Play in games where there's too many players. These games tend to drag.

The last thing I will do is be a gracious player and won't get my nose out of joint if I loose.

I like won't play SS or Japanees

Anyone of you drive BMW or Toyota or Subaru or any other former Axis country. Pssst don't look at your computer, phone, tv, radio or anything else.

What a load of horsecrap.

Apples and oranges man…take a chill pill….

Ooo! politics enters in – as always….

i will never lose sleep over figures that have navy blue facings instead of royal blue

i will not leave a game before it is scheduled to end

i will not set up a game where one guy has the french guard with some poles to water it down while everyone else has line troops in the open

and i hope i never take a game too seriously

> and i hope i never take a game too seriously

Good advice Corzin, good advice.

JohnG

play with smelly rules lawyers

It is not apples an oranges. Who made their tanks? Who made their airplanes? Who made the electronics for these vehicles?

I hear peopele say "my granpappy was in the USMC killed in the war and I drive a Toyota but won't play Jap in a wargame". WHAT?

I know someone who gives me a bit of a hard time when I tell him I sometimes fly a WW1 German plane in Aerodrome.

--tournaments are for tennis, golf, and poker…not wargames.

--I'd feel very uncomfortable playing Iraq or Afghanistan for the same reason Terry L gave.

--I felt very uncomfortable the one time I played WH fantasy chaos or if I were to play WH40k chaos. I am not overly religious, but their whole backround and such is out of my comfort zone.

--I won't play with whiners, or uber-rules-lawyers….its just a game.

Unpainted figures.
Any Italian army. I hate SS. I bought some to paint to give my friends to introduce them to WWII and enjoy killing them, but never had the stomach to paint them.
Space Marines, Roman or Napoleonic French (I hate the super powered armies).
I also have trouble with playing WWI it is one of the wars that makes me very uncomfortable… and all the modern wars from Vietnam onwards. They just feel too close and too inhumane (as if any war is humane, but…) to play them.

There's nothing I won't game but there are somethings I won't game around certin people, example I never have My Vietnam stuff out when I know My Uncle is coming over as He is a Vietnam Vet.

"I'd play in the nude, but only depending on the temperature in the room…"

I won't play with Dan (Cacique Caribe) while he's naked…

I stopped playing in tournaments a long time ago, especially DBA and the like. I found that more often than not, I was not having fun. Isn't that the cardinal rule of wargaming; to have fun with your buddies, and afterwards, share a drink and boast of your generalship and superior dice rolling? Too many DBA matches with guys who brought along their own 'precision crafted' measuring sticks, accurate to within one one-millionth of a millimeter or other such crap. Unfortunately, these are typically the same guys who measure, then pick up the ruler and move the unit as far as it needs to go to make contact, or evade, or whatever situation best suits their needs at the moment. If you have to cheat, go play a video game; you can download all the cheat codes you want/need.

"I hear peopele say "my granpappy was in the USMC killed in the war and I drive a Toyota but won't play Jap in a wargame". WHAT?"

My grandfather was a signaller in a heavy anti-airctaft regiment. Captured in 1942, died in 1944. I'm sure he had a wonderful time in Japanese captivity, a real lark.

I'll play Japanese but I won't paint them. Rational? Probably not.

I won't play with obnoxious snobs or people who can't just have a fun game and not complain about figures, paint jobs, terrain, or fiddly rules details. If you've got be "superior" about something, the truth is you're probably the only truly "inferior" thing in the room.

I won't cheat.

I won't play games based on endless exceptions and absurd levels of complexity.

I won't play 40K again. (Well, maybe if invited by a very good friend.)

I won't play games where the outcome is a foregone conclusion designed to perfectly match the designer's/judge's interpretation of a historical event. If you just want to do a moving diorama, don't include me. And don't bother with dice.

I won't use, purchase or play anything based on abusive or grotesque sexual imagery, or excessive representations of gore for gore's sake.

And I won't play with Dan (or anyone else) while they (or anyone else) is naked. Ewww.

I will play SS and for whatever it's worth I'm 'Jewish' but very not religious. In the same vein I'd play NKVD border troops and my grandfather was a war refugee coutesy of the Russian Revolution.

I'll play Confederates too, although I'm a liberal in Georgia, (which in the past 18 months has started to become something like being a Communist in the 50s(slight exaggeration)).

I'm not sure I'd play any of those groups in every possible situation. "Einsatztroopen: The new Bidding and tile-laying game from your friends in Germany" would probably be too much for me.

I WON'T play with anyone I wouldn't go drinking with, which includes Nazi, Fascists, slaveholders, most Republicans, American fans of Manchester United, and every golfer I've ever met.Tournaments are right out. Those are representative examples not an exclusive list.

Why would anyone not buy a car from a country that has been at peace with you country for 60 years? If you're an American or British then your country is at war with a group lead by a Saudi. So by exntension do you also not buy oil/gas/petrol by from Saudi Arabia? Do you also avoid products made in the PRC because of the Korean war, and if so how do you buy consumer products?

anleiher

"In WWII mini-gaming, I WILL NOT play SS. I'll play Wehrmacht, but not SS. I never liked the b*st*rds and I take exceptional glee in killing them."

Amen, brother. I take particular pleasure in beating them with Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians, etc. but anyone will do in a pinch.

Oh, so you play 'historically then? I can't any of those 3 nations defeating anyone. Oh well, the Belgians won that great victory that allowed them to plunder the Belgian Congo.

Wargaming to me is about TOY soldiers, so any army is ok for me.

I won't:

play in any sort of tournament.

allow myself to be roped into refereeing any sort of tournament.

put unpainted miniatures on the table.

criticize other people who put unpainted miniatures on the table.

ever again game with anyone who uses the phrase "I beg to differ, sir"

call anyone out for cheating in the middle of a game, although I will also never game with that person again.

try country dancing.

allow anyone who drinks more than I do to handle my miniatures. And I don't drink.

play any game for any reason other than the pure fun of it.

As far as different periods, armies, political factions, etc are concerned, I'll play whatever looks interesting.

LT

Procopius,
I believe anleiher may have been alluding to the fact he enjoys defeating the SS with forces that historically never defeated the SS, ie rewriting history on the gaming table.

As an aside, I'm sure somewhere in the closing days of the war some Free Dutch and Free Belgian forces defeated some SS units, even if only a platoon or company level action. At least a few SS undoubtedly met their deaths at the hands of Norwegian partisans as well.

Ah, this old chestnut.

"Once met an Irish-American gamer who would not play British at all"

The old over-compensating to reinforce an identity or attachment to an identity perhaps. I could be wrong. My parents are Irish (from Ireland) and I have no qualms about playing British, or King Billy's troops, whatever.

But all conflicts have two sides and I can't ignore one becasue of perceived or actual "bad stuff" they may have done. Has there ever been an army or force in history that has been entirely righteous? If you're going to recreate a period someone has to take one side. But each to their own of course.

XRaysVision sums it up perfectly for me
"The only thing I try too avoid is making the game unpleasant for others."