"Nice Uniform at the FoW 2014 ETC" Topic

Well, just to be thorough… to me, a 3rd gen immigrant Pole…no, the confederate flag doesn't have the same effect. I just wanted ot demonstrate that perception is all about the reader/viewer….

Looking at all of these posts… we use terms like "bad guys" and "evil"… from our perspective… I am sure there are others who think Ivan is a hero.. same for the SS, etc…

And we couldn't have war gaming if everyone loved eachother and was good to eachother… I knwo soem german players who are of German decent and they are fanatical about their FoW German armies… just not as vocal in mixed company…

I grew up thinking the black uniforms were awesome… being too young to understand what it all meant I was becoming a Nazi based upon "visual" stimulai… and not knowledge…

Life is weird.. you grow and learn… I still love all of the German stuff, but play it for what it is, a game… no emotional baggage.

Some folks find it weird that as an American Pole…my first two armies were a huge Soviet Tankovy and German Panzer army.. I then started concentrating on building Stalingrad armies…

Eventually I got into my early war Poles and Polish Paras… and US 82nd… I love paras!

Poniatowski,

You make some interesting points about perspective and the power of visual aspects.

Growing up in the Workers' Paradise, nothing positive was allowed about the German role in WW2 and we were, of course, taught that the Soviets were liberating heroes.

I have too much emotional and personal baggage to play WW2 Germans; indeed, I very rarely play WW2 but, if I do, I use Italians, Romanians, British or Finns.

Jurgen

First off, I apologize if anyone considers this to be "thread necromancy", but I just noticed this thread and wanted to weigh in. In my defense, the thread was still on the main "WW2 Discussion" page, so it's not too old I hope!

Right off the bat, in the interest of full disclosure, let me point out that I'm, among other things, a WW2 reenactor and have worn a variety of German uniforms over years up to and including Waffen SS. So I'm used to seeing such things up close and am far less sensitive to the sight of Nazi regalia than others might be. This will no doubt color my views.

Anyway, in no particular order here are my thoughts on the thread so far:

-That is about the worst attempt at an M32 black SS uniform that I have ever seen. I mean there are several Asia based retailers out there who make M32 uniforms that are at least of passible quality. If one had the mind to, (for whatever reason) the kid in the photo could have outfitted himself from head to toe for a good deal less than a FoW army would cost him. I mean if you are going to do it, at least don't be a FARB while doing so! ;-)

(On a related aside, I am totally stealing this photo to post to a Facebook group I read that lampoons
reenacting "FARBS"!)

-I see nothing wrong with wearing a period hat to a wargame table. As others stated it lends to the mood and
is just fun. A number of folks in my local group do the same thing. I too have worn a Rebel kepi to
ACW games. (the cool early war one with the light blue infantry branch of service body and dark blue band)
I habitualy wear original caps that are apropriate to the side I'm playing in the Rhodesian Bush War games I run.
Likewise, I've worn WW2 German caps to games of that genre. I simply don't see an issue with it, and have never had a negative comment directed toward me for doing so. About the closest was when I wore an M42 SS camo cap (with no insignia) to a FoW tournement years ago. The guy who was registering players made the comment "I guess I don't have to ask what nationality you are playing!

That being said, it's probably a good idea not to wear anything with insignia as overtly contraversial as say a
swastika or sig runes to a gaming table. If for no other reason, it sends the wrong message, and refraining from doing so heads off answering tiresome questions or otherwise provoking a confrontational with the more sensitive folks out there. That is the same reason why a WW2 Axis reeanctor should at the very least remove his tunic (were most of the scary looking stuff is)
when traveling to and from events. Outside of the context of the event, the danger of sending the wrong message is great. In any event, while a period appropriate cap is just fine in my opinion, a full uniform is probably over doing it.

-As others have pointed out, there is a glaring double standard when it comes to the reaction to the display of
WW2 German insignia/uniforms when compared to Soviet examples. By all rights there should be at the very least a comparable viceral reaction to both and perhaps a more negative reaction to Soviet regalia given that Marxism racked up a bigger body count and has had a much longer lasting destructive legacy than has (the largely discounted outside of crank circles) National Socialism. But there are my biases showing through again! ;-)

-Finally, I'm pleasanty suprised that there has only been one example of "internet tough guy" type posturing on this thread. On a thread of this length, I would hae expected at least three or four "I'd go up and punch him in the face/break his figures/kick his Nazi a--/whatever"
type comments. (when in reality very few here would even go up and verbaly confront this misguided kid, let alone commit the crime of assault…)

Martin

Finally, one off topic aside….

>>Or standing as a BNP candidate?

Really?
No matter how one feels about the BNP, associating them with Nazis is simply hyperbole. "Nazi" is one of those words that has a very specific meaning, but that gets thrown around far too often in an inapropriate manner. They are certainly a lot of things, but until one can show that the BNP supports the 25 points of National Socialism, refering to them as "Nazis" has about as much meaning as calling them "mean ol' poopoo heads". It's meaningless name calling. It also damages the meaning of the word and a case can be made it's disrespectful to the memory of the victims of the real Nazis.

/Blue Fez Material off

Martin

"mean ol' poo-poo heads"

Works for me.

Eh, it was a Nazi zombie uniform, and it matched his Nazi zombie army. It was no more offensive than some of the serving girl's outfits. I played on the table next to him, and spoke to him after his game. He was a cool dude.

I don't see the issue.

This is coming from a player who has three SS FoW armies, so I'm obviously a national socialist.

On to more important matters, I've heard much about the serving girls outfits and yet not seen one photo!? This is what's wrong with the modern gaming community, too much focus on, um, gaming and history stuff…… :-)

Your statement

"it was a Nazi zombie uniform, and it matched his Nazi zombie army"

Would seem to utterly contradict your later statement

"He was a cool dude."