Strange converation at the game store yesterday with I suspect a fundy

[nadinbrzezinski]

So we were playing Flames of War, 15 mm WW II historical game. Yes, they are a hoot to paint and it is a nice mental exercise, and chess is also a war game, so there.

And this guy comes over and starts talking to us about Iraq (and all the things going out there, like the WMDs... and torture and all that. You can guess what channel he watches... I mean all those things were said to make George look bad.

Suffice it to say he was a little shocked to see a USN Vet, from both Gulf War I and Gulf War II that does not agree with the war. Or the fact that since there are no WMDs found, well the casus belli is not there, therefore this is an aggressive war and a war crime, yes I managed to get that in edgewise.

Then it really got weird.

Are you Christian?

Now I could have said I am Jewish, but I realized where this guy was going (mind you I am running Germans in a WW II game, weird I know... there is a reason why they are very generic and I have YET to paint any in standard SS uniforms, even if those seem like a challenge in 15mm, especially the tiger stripes).

So both hubby and I stuck to the agnostic line.... there are times it is NOT a good idea to admit to being Jewish.

I guess this guy was going to push the very popular but this is a crusade, but he pulled back, realizing we were not buying it.

Now I came this close to telling him if he believed in it what was his son, prime military age, doing out of uniform, but the opportunity never presented. At least we actually saw him really confused. An actual military member (ret) who didn't agree with this. Of course when he said that he only listened to ONE news media since the rest... I told him, well you should also look at foreign sources because NONE in our media is telling us what is happening.

Though he admitted, I was very well informed... oh and getting shot in TJ is not as good as the Gulf... but hey what can I say, that didn't surprise me. After all it is just brown people...

This is the level of insanity we are facing though. and some folks still believe Sadam was a horrible man. Of course he went into Chemical Ali and 100K killed, nowhere did the investigators find that to be the case, but still... we did manage to tell him so far we have killed a million to a million and a half and that they changed one bad regime for another.

I tell you, when he left, he was confused.

[WeDidIt]

1. Games Plus? n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Yeah, by the way it was a very close game, but hubby still won

[WeDidIt]

3. I've been thinking about picking up FoW

I play W40K and WFB at my local GW store.

Games Plus is a trek for me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Iit is a cool game

we are getting to the point of actually THINKING twice about taking the traveling circus to the local haunt. FOW still fits in the car, but when we decide to do apocalypse... no, not really.

Hell, hubby found a Titan on line really cheap... so yes it is getting to be a real pain... and we are not even transporting terrain for the Apocalypse. I am looking at getting a table to set at home. Lame I know.

(Yes Warhound, really cheap...)

He likes to troll the Ebay... sometimes he scores

Oh and the local game haunt is Game Empire

[southernyankeebelle]

5. LOL - These idiots believe that just because you are in the military or

retired from the military you are a republican. Well my husband, father and father-in-law all retired from the military. Between the 3 of them they have over 63 yrs service. They are all democrats from the time they started voting. They never would vote for a republican. My husband works with a bunch of rednecks and alot of them are so supportive of the war yet some of the wouldn't think of going. My husband critized the war from the beginning. No says anything because he is a veteran and he reminds them he fought for that right and its to bad if you don't like what he says. We even have an Obama sticker on our car.

[greennina]

6. So you were celebrating the death of 120 million

by playing a game meant to glamorize that, and you think he may be the one with a problem?

[Curtland1015]

7. Yes. That's EXACTLY what he was doing...

[MineralMan]

9. Was that what she (sorry) was doing? I didn't get that.

Where did you get it? Lots of people play war games. It's a game. They're not celebrating anything. Chess is a war game.

But, hey, thanks for your concern. I've noted it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Yep, that is exactly what we were doing

Enjoy your stay.

By the way, care to tell me what wars Go glorifies, and what wars chess glorifies?

Here is a free clue... when we play since we have a very close connection to WW II, my father survived the holocaust, we MAKE A POINT of letting people know what ACTUALLY HAPPENED during the war. It is also a GREAT TEACHING AID. Or are you all for forgetting history?

By the way update your numbers, it is more than 120 million.

[REP]

13. Sure the OP was just 'celebrating' and not an actual Nazi?

So ... someone who plays a chess game is more of a problem then someone who still believes the Iraq quagmire was justified in any way, shape or form? Ooooookay.

[Curtland1015]

8. Oh, and PS... I'm a big Warhammer nerd.

Tabletop games is fun!

Space Marines for the win!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Angels of Absolution... doing the insignia on those by hand is a real pain

and my I-Guard has troops from almost all printed regiments... fun.

[WeDidIt]

14. Dark Angels

Full third company
6 Deathwing Squads
Three Ravenwing Squadrons

I've got a fair start on the ninth and tenth companies, too.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Oooh boy, that is wonderful.

hubby runs Orks... and we have a regular "arms race" going on the painting table.

Our games of Apocalypse have on average 5K per side... and heavy gear... the baneblade was painted in WW II german paint scheme, why bother to make it consistent with the rest. And British WW I markings, with of course german numbering.

The historical players just laugh, getting the joke. The 40K players are befuddled. Then again some of the infantry is "wearing" late WW II german camy, it looks good. and of course the marines stand out, in their bleached bone armor.

Some of them are REALLY old, like first print predator, and some of the troops are very recent print with very early bolters.

We use, especially the I-Guard cammy and uniforms as a jumping point for actual history discussions. Warhammer 40 k is chockfull of history jokes. So is Warhammer, but most American players miss those. One of these days I need to finish my Vlad the Impaler... err Vampire Counts army.

[obliviously]

12. Olive skinned not brown people! nt

[patrice]

16. Not to mention the fact that 1-1.5 million apparently included Iraq's educated leaders in wholesale

killing programs guided by those (religious mostly) rising to power in the country - with our help.

Information Clearinghouse has an article listing the numbers, professional classes, and schools/universities/organizations they were associated with.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. I know but if you try to go into those details is almost impossible

with folks who honestly still believe Sadam was such a bad man and we liberated an oppressed people. (Oh and of course it was a crusade, doncha know?)

[patrice]

18. The hard thing about it is that when I say "we" and "our" I do mean including me, even though I

was against it from the start.

THAT'S the thing that makes me fight it; this horrible thing that happened to Iraq AND to our Troops includes me!

People such as the one in your anecdote need to know more about exactly what happened in Iraq. Thanks very much for making that effort with him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. it was far more my hubby than me, since he had the street cred

also the other shtick these days is to ahem thank vets. Another thing I could not get into is, you see they don't want to be thanked, but to get the medical and other services they earned.