TooFatLardies Oddcast: Episode 6
February 22, 2018 by crew
Welcome to the Oddcast, where the TooFatLardies crew get together to discuss history, gaming, and all things Lard.
Oddcast Podcast Archive
TooFatLardies Website
The lads get together once again to discuss what's new in the world of Lard what they are working on and then get stuck into a couple of meaty topics: political symbols in wargames and how the design of a game can provide a plausible command experience for the gamer. The usual trip to the library rounds off this episode.
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Good stuff. I would suggest investing in better mic’s as sound quality is key to successful podcasts.
fantastic to hear this on the site, always an engaging and interesting talk. Very excited to hear what’s coming down the pipe line from the Lardies.
Really good discussion. There was a great discussion on the same track on a Beasts of War forum years ago. The Confederate flag from the American civil war triggered some discussion. I think that we should be generally considerate of people’s feelings, but if you are playing a game where part of the emersion and fun is being historically accurate you shouldn’t hide the symbols that were used. Someone said that having the Confederate flags on the sides of boxes or other box art of civil war miniatures was unnecessary. I disagree. There again, if a wargames shop owner in the southern states of America decides to display a half dozen Confederate flags all over the front of their shop for the release of a new series of civil war miniatures and local residents complain, I could perhaps sympathise with their resentment. The flag today represents more than just the historical military standard / national flag that it had at times in the past. If there appears to be ‘intent’ to misuse the release of a new product to display a flag that causes offence this should be condemned. Conversely, removing confederate flags from the tabletop battlefield or removing the flag from box art etc. seems wrong to me.
You will never please everyone, because offence is taken not given. Even if your intention wasn’t to give offence you can still occasionally offend people and sometimes it will be down to someone being overly sensitive, but sometimes it will be that you have been inconsiderate or blind to the potential for offence.
We are ultimately playing games. It can feel a little over-inflated sometimes to demand the right to field potentially offensive flags or symbols in the name of historical integrity as we roll out two grey plastic armies and roll dice. I think historical gamers are actually right not to alter symbolism to suit changing sensibilities, especially if historical accuracy and research is a key part of your hobby.