Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 2:05 a.m. PST |
I've heard the term used in the most ridiculous ways in the last couple of years, but I had never heard it applied to miniature wargaming until today. I was about to pay for a couple of items I grabbed from the diorama aisle of one of our local craft stores, when I was asked what hobby I was into. When I told them tabletop wargaming with miniatures, they called it a "blood sport". I started to laugh and then realized that they were perfectly serious. That's when my jaw dropped. Has anyone else heard it called that? Or was this lady and her friend (both in their late 20s?) just a fluke, perhaps just a couple of escapees from an asylum somewhere. Dan |
McWong73 | 20 Oct 2018 2:29 a.m. PST |
Sound like run of the mill half wits to me. Surprisingly common feature amongst retail workers the world over. |
Redcurrant | 20 Oct 2018 4:46 a.m. PST |
It is only a bloodsport when the pikes of a phalanx accidentaly get under your fingernails. |
ZULUPAUL | 20 Oct 2018 4:51 a.m. PST |
Haven't heard it called that but have been given some strange looks. Paul |
Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 5:19 a.m. PST |
Well, back in mid September my wife and I debated a bit over the origin of the phrase "open season". So, logically, I immediately did a simple Google search of the phrase. Well, that was the first time I read anywhere that fishing and hunting are being referred to as "blood sports": link link But now some are calling tabletop wargaming a "blood sport"! LOL. Too many loons are clearly walking around free and have been given access to the internet, instead of staying in the safety of their comfy padded cells. Dan |
arthur1815 | 20 Oct 2018 5:28 a.m. PST |
In the UK,shooting/hunting birds/animals of any sort has long been called a 'blood sport', but fishing has somehow slipped through the net… |
FusilierDan | 20 Oct 2018 5:32 a.m. PST |
Dan I found a different definition of Blood Sport and Wargaming is certainly not that. |
Chris Wimbrow | 20 Oct 2018 5:34 a.m. PST |
Rather off the topic, but the last time I was questioned about a purchase, the clerk asked me if I liked fishing as I had grabbed some lead weights (sinkers). I tried to explain about plastic scale model airplanes with tripod landing gear needing additional weight in the nose or otherwise forward to pose properly on the shelf. That earned me a vacant stare and an end to the repartee. |
Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 5:38 a.m. PST |
Lol. Well, I think I'm just going to stop answering that question when I'm out in public. Either that or I'll just order all my stuff online. :) Dan |
Parzival | 20 Oct 2018 5:53 a.m. PST |
Ah, PC Snowflakes. Just reply "Oh, yes! The carnage of their little tin blood pouring out on my kitchen table is horrific. That reminds me to buy some bleach!" and watch them utterly melt down. |
jdpintex | 20 Oct 2018 5:56 a.m. PST |
You should have replied "yes, yes it is" and then followed with an evil laugh. It's always fun to watch snowflakes melt |
Legion 4 | 20 Oct 2018 6:29 a.m. PST |
Many who claim something is a "blood sport" wouldn't know what one really was if it hit them over the head … Violently and repeatedly ! |
pzivh43 | 20 Oct 2018 7:19 a.m. PST |
I am more and more reminded of George Orwell. |
20thmaine | 20 Oct 2018 7:20 a.m. PST |
I don't think it is – I've never heard it referred to as such. Conventions used to get picketed sporadically in the eighties here in the UK. I found it a little odd at the time – queuing for Dragonmeet and wondering – "do these people really want the country overrun with Orcs and Kobolds? Us D&Ders are the last line of defence". But – peaceful protest and persuasion is legitimate and I was glad to see them there. |
miniMo | 20 Oct 2018 7:30 a.m. PST |
Only when folks try to pick up a stand of hoplites by grabbing the pointy wire spears! Or when trimming figures, I've got so many little scars on my left index finger… |
Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 8:00 a.m. PST |
Or under fingernails. I was pinning a figure a couple of days ago and, when I went to pick it up again, the sharp piece of paper clip went right under my thumb. After all these years, I think my wife has finally given up asking about any new cuts, bruises and punctures. She just rolls her eyes and hands me a bandaid. :) Dan |
robert piepenbrink | 20 Oct 2018 8:03 a.m. PST |
I always tell people I play with toy soldiers. No problem so far. But yes, of course, if our present idiots are allowed to continue unchecked, expect eventually to find it illegal to teach wargaming to children, or to hold games where someone might be Offended. I'm not sure when exactly the US Constitution was amended so that everyone had a right not to be Offended, but it clearly has been. |
JimSelzer | 20 Oct 2018 9:03 a.m. PST |
UFC is socially acceptable , people buy the pay per view throw parties yet we are considered weird when all we do is push little guys across the table and roll dice. ONLY in America folks |
Legion 4 | 20 Oct 2018 9:08 a.m. PST |
I always tell people I play with toy soldiers. Me too ! I don't care if they think I'm geek, etc. ! 'm !!! |
Virtualscratchbuilder | 20 Oct 2018 9:46 a.m. PST |
I've told this story before…. Once upon a time I was sitting on my porch steps sanding the fuselages of some 1/144 scratchbuilt aircraft. The elderly lady across the street came out to get the mail and noticing me she came over and asked "are you actually whittling?" I said no, just building some WWII bombers for a friend. She threw up her arms and said "Oh I knew it was something violent… I just new it…" and half ran waving her arms and mumbling all the way back to her house. Came out again in a half hour or so to get the mail she forgot the first time. |
Jcfrog | 20 Oct 2018 9:52 a.m. PST |
Blood sport? Only when porr eyes have the fingers push on lances and pikes. Esp. Under nails. |
mmessenger | 20 Oct 2018 10:40 a.m. PST |
Blood sport? Nah. It's performance art. But only a very small audience is able to divine the deeper messages. :) |
Tacitus | 20 Oct 2018 11:06 a.m. PST |
It's Blood sport as much as Jean Claude Van Damme fights in fights to the death in Thailand. |
TMPWargamerabbit | 20 Oct 2018 1:01 p.m. PST |
Yep….. Easy to remember the scenario action when bloody outline markers placed on tabletop.
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Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 1:06 p.m. PST |
Ha! Those markers look really awesome! Are they Litko? Dan PS. I wonder how many of today's delicate individuals fainted when they watched this video and then got to the 2 minute 28 seconds mark: :) YouTube link |
Thresher01 | 20 Oct 2018 1:56 p.m. PST |
For some/many, it is, and always has been. Interesting that chess is not considered to be so, despite players "sacrificing" their pawns, knights, bishops, and yes, even their queen in the quest for victory and glory. |
14th NJ Vol | 20 Oct 2018 2:00 p.m. PST |
Haven't heard it called a blood sport, I have however heard that "it glorifies war" by fools that are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. |
Zephyr1 | 20 Oct 2018 2:21 p.m. PST |
" Or was this lady and her friend (both in their late 20s?)" Future Spinsters & Scolds in-the-making… ;-) The only time my battlefields got bloody is when I painted red blood splatters on the casualties. That only happened for one game, because afterwards I discovered that the (craft) paint actually didn't wash off easily… :-p |
goragrad | 20 Oct 2018 2:48 p.m. PST |
Amusingly, my brother is out with my niece today for the beginning of Second Rifle. I on the other hand have been painting up some Middle Kingdom Egyptians. Hopefully the only blood spilled today is by my niece. |
TMPWargamerabbit | 20 Oct 2018 3:19 p.m. PST |
Dan CC Yes they are Litko markers. |
Legion 4 | 20 Oct 2018 3:40 p.m. PST |
I do like those bloody outline markers too ! |
Hal Thinglum | 20 Oct 2018 4:44 p.m. PST |
"Snowflakes?!" Give me a break! |
Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 5:14 p.m. PST |
The Litko markers aren't "snowflakes". They are body outlines, so more like "bleeders". :) Dan |
Cacique Caribe | 20 Oct 2018 7:56 p.m. PST |
True. I should just enjoy the shocked looks, specially at this point in life. Dan |
Wargamer Blue | 20 Oct 2018 8:10 p.m. PST |
At last wargaming has been sanactioned as a sport. |
Bobgnar | 20 Oct 2018 9:39 p.m. PST |
It's not a sport and, I've never seen any blood in the game, maybe a representation of it. |
HansPeterB | 20 Oct 2018 10:40 p.m. PST |
Well, of course we aren't indulging in a "blood sport"; we are playing with toys and that's about it. But we also shouldn't get too worked up when people misunderstand what we do, and we certainly shouldn't start calling people names like "snowflakes." It isn't like we are under siege or anything. I remember when I started playing wargames back during the tail end of the Vietnam War, and, yes, I heard a few comments In contrast, today, I found almost everybody (and especially my students) is interested, supportive, and even think that my weird hobby is kind of cool. Dungeons and Dragons and so forth has actually done a lot to make our hobby *more* socially acceptable -- granted in a nerdy sort of way -- than it was in years past. So relax; chuckle at the ignorant, and move on. |
arthur1815 | 21 Oct 2018 1:44 a.m. PST |
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Volleyfire | 21 Oct 2018 2:45 a.m. PST |
The nearest it'll get to being a bon fide 'bloodsport' is when someone loses it in public and punches someone else really hard on the nose. If it hasn't already happened already then it's bound to at some point in the future it can only be a matter of time before someone somewhere loses it bigtime over some petty misdemeanour, I mean it's happened in every other walk of life you care to mention. |
WarWizard | 21 Oct 2018 3:23 a.m. PST |
I think they are lots of video games which are extremely violent, that someone may frown upon as a blood sport. But not playing with toy soldiers. |
Cacique Caribe | 21 Oct 2018 4:35 a.m. PST |
WarWizard The problem is that point makes way too much sense for some people to grasp these days. Well, to a couple of people, at least. And I have no problem calling those two snowflakes or whatever. They clearly had a very low melting point for our hobby, way lower than the average population, and they were looking to spread that – and their ridiculous definitions – to the rest. Dan |
etotheipi | 21 Oct 2018 4:50 a.m. PST |
If I am in the mood for some amusement, my approach to this type of encounter is: A question along the line of "Why would you call it that?" In response to "Because it …" [insert complete crap here], say "No, it doesn't." Then in response to the random words, hastily thrown together in a sentence, "Why do you think that? How many games have you played? How many articles or studies have you read on it? What is the basis for your opinion?" Tis usually triggers the apoplexic response, when people are brought to face that their "deeply held values" are based on less than superficial, shallow knowledge. |
skinkmasterreturns | 21 Oct 2018 4:59 a.m. PST |
I have to agree with the video game comment. I've been seeing people being shot,stabbed,blown up etc on TV for some time with not so much as a peep. In fact it seems quite acceptable. |
Cacique Caribe | 21 Oct 2018 5:42 a.m. PST |
I don't understand why some people are rushing to the defense of these two crazies, or are trying to act as though the terms "snowflake" or "flake" are a new thing when referring to people who behave as though they might be on drugs (or might need to be): etymonline.com/word/flaky It certainly is not something that was invented in the last couple of years or even the last couple of decades. I would think they'd me more upset about our tabletop wargaming hobby being referred to as a "blood sport". Oh well. Dan |
robert piepenbrink | 21 Oct 2018 7:44 a.m. PST |
Is it worth the trouble? And is it kind? I used to save Joel 3, vs 9, 10 and 11 for visiting Jehovah's Witnesses. Now I thank them kindly for stopping by and send them on their way. |
Zinkala | 21 Oct 2018 8:27 a.m. PST |
I don't know if it can be considered a sport but the way I do my hobby often contains blood. A lifetime of working with dangerous tools and I still get myself with the knife at times. People's weird attitudes rarely shock me anymore but still can dismay me. |
mckrok | 21 Oct 2018 10:39 a.m. PST |
I thought a 'blood sport' was a contact sport, like (American) football, rugby or hockey, which routinely results in injuries to include loss of blood. I watched a college rugby game yesterday, and yes, I did see blood. The real purpose of blood sports isn't to cause injuries or even to entertain, but to develop young men and women into highly functioning adults able to: persevere under stress, work as a team member for the benefit of the team, manage their time, push through pain, develop comradery, perform at a high physical level, think, plan, compete, etc… and of course, build confidence in their abilities. pjm |
Silurian | 21 Oct 2018 1:32 p.m. PST |
If there are truly any "snowflakes" concerning our hobby, they are so few and far between they are not worth mentioning or getting in a fuss over. There'll probably be a handful for every hobby. Most people who comment or ask questions are just ignorant of what it's all about. A moment of polite explanation usually leaves them satisfied. These are the only types of people I've encountered. |
Henry Martini | 21 Oct 2018 5:37 p.m. PST |
It has happened, Volleyfire… at a club I used to attend back in the early eighties. Two nincompoops engaged in fisticuffs over some petty rules disagreement of the type that was more common in those days with the torturous, barely-playable rules 'systems' then in use. |
Volleyfire | 22 Oct 2018 1:53 a.m. PST |
Are you sure Dan they weren't simply winding you up? They thought to themselves "this job is like soooo boring, lets have a bit of fun and wind up the serious bods who come in here for their model toy 'fix'" and they decided to do a bit of play acting to yank your chain, get a response and liven up their day. Perhaps???? |