 Editor in Chief Bill   | 08 May 2018 12:11 p.m. PST |
When you wargame, how concerned are you – on a scale of 0 to 10 – about figuring out which force in the game are the 'bad guys'? |
 miniMo  | 08 May 2018 12:13 p.m. PST |
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 x42brown | 08 May 2018 12:18 p.m. PST |
It's easy the other side are the 'Bad Guys'. x42 |
| Daithi the Black | 08 May 2018 12:40 p.m. PST |
Unless it is sci-fi or fantasy, it is usually pretty clear who the bad guys are lol |
| robert piepenbrink | 08 May 2018 12:50 p.m. PST |
I'm with x42. In fact, I don't see where "the whole good/bad thing" enters into it. I have a side, and my opponents have a side. This is wargaming, not melodrama. |
| JimDuncanUK | 08 May 2018 1:02 p.m. PST |
The ones in the black hats. |
| Cerdic | 08 May 2018 1:33 p.m. PST |
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| Kropotkin303 | 08 May 2018 1:36 p.m. PST |
As a solo gamer I play for both sides to win I hope.As I play mostly fantasy there are some sides that are Evil and may have some Evil rules. For example in LOTR Strategy Battle Game Evil archers can fire into a melee while Good guys don't for fear of hitting their own people. |
 etotheipi  | 08 May 2018 2:33 p.m. PST |
0 – It's obvious or it's irrelevant. |
 Legion 4 | 08 May 2018 2:43 p.m. PST |
Anyone trying to kill you/your side are that "Bad Guys" … |
| Bashytubits | 08 May 2018 3:03 p.m. PST |
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| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 08 May 2018 3:23 p.m. PST |
When I'm playing, the bad guys are the other side. That should be obvious. When I'm the referee, both sides are the good guys. The orders I write for each side reflect, if only subtly, because I try to write orders like a military professional, but with fewer TLAs. |
| Dynaman8789 | 08 May 2018 5:24 p.m. PST |
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| USAFpilot | 08 May 2018 8:12 p.m. PST |
When the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta fought over two millennia ago, who were the good guys and who were the bad guys? It's harder to tell them apart the further back in history you go. With recent conflicts it's the winners who write the history books, in which case they always like to portray themselves as the "good" guys. Maybe it really comes down to a matter of perspective. |
| Legion 4 | 09 May 2018 5:35 a.m. PST |
Yes, it's always about POV … Even ISIS thinks they are the good guys !?!?!?!?!?  GHQ even makes ISIS figures ! link Someone is playing them ! |
 Mister Tibbles | 09 May 2018 6:30 a.m. PST |
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| etotheipi | 09 May 2018 1:17 p.m. PST |
Even ISIS thinks they are the good guys Maybe. Maybe not. Everybody throughout history has not necessarily believed they were good guys. Certainly, there have been "bad guys" who believed their actions were or didn't need to be justified. There are a couple classic "bad guys" according to "common knowledge" of history whom I I consider to be the good guys. And they did, too. But f'r'ex, some, maybe even most of the Nazis and Nazi leaders didn't necessarily believe in "the cause" all the way to the end. But they also didn't renounce, possibly didn't feel like they couldn't renounce, until they had lost. Just acknowledging that you are the "bad guy" doesn't somehow make you a good guy. In fact, if you keep going along, it may make you worse of a bad guy than the ones who believe they are "good guys". Stalin never believed in "the cause". He saw it as an expedient to power. Maybe he felt he was justified, or was amoral about it – the ability to seize power justifies the use of said power. Then again, maybe not. Maybe he knew he was exploiting others for his benefit and was OK with it. The current drug cartels are great examples of people who not only know they are the bad guys, but both revel in it and leverage that reputation as a power base. |
| Cerdic | 09 May 2018 1:39 p.m. PST |
But do they REALLY know they are the bad guys? Or do they just know that OTHER people view them as the bad guys? |
| Legion 4 | 09 May 2018 2:52 p.m. PST |
I'm going with – ISIS are the bad guys whether they know it or not !  |
| miniMo | 09 May 2018 2:53 p.m. PST |
When I play them, I know they're the baddies!
Romans, Charlemagne, WW2 Germans. cf. even Hans can see the reason: YouTube link |
| etotheipi | 10 May 2018 6:22 a.m. PST |
ISIS are the bad guys whether they know it or not ! Starting with the assertion that characterizing a group on basis of cognitive factors is fundamentally flawed, and continuing that when we say something like "ISIS" we mean "most people in ISIS most of the time in general" or possibly "most people in the leadership of ISIS most of the time in general", I would say that ISIS carries out a lot of behaviours that are more consistent with a group knowingly trying to exploit an ideology to gain/retain individual power rather that a group that reasonably holds to their stated ideals. Or … they're bad guys and they know it. |
| Legion 4 | 10 May 2018 6:49 a.m. PST |
Their ideology may say it's based on some religious beliefs. But anyone of any religion or even probably an atheist, must know what ISIS does, has nothing to do with the religious beliefs, of many others … AFAIK … But I don't want to get into a religious discussion, for a number of reasons … 'nuff said … Back to models and wargames : Also GHQ even has some figs that can be used as Taliban or AQ, etc., … This is the their heavy weapons pack … ghqmodels.com/store/tw2.html And insurgents e.g. Talis, AQ, etc., with light weapons as well … ghqmodels.com/store/tw1.html |
| wrgmr1 | 10 May 2018 3:49 p.m. PST |
It's a game. There are no bad guys, just figures. |
| Legion 4 | 11 May 2018 7:16 a.m. PST |
That certainly is the "best/one" way to looks at it … As I always say, it basically comes down to "adults(?)" playing with toys … just toys … |
| Corporal Fagen | 11 May 2018 1:51 p.m. PST |
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