So - Who WON'T You Portray?

What you do outside work has nothing to do with them as long as it's legal. The word 'tribunal' springs to mind.

"Social pressure" can be quite strong.

For all those saying they won't do German for work reasons. I'd LOVE to see an employer try to stop you. What you do outside work has nothing to do with them as long as it's legal. The word 'tribunal' springs to mind.

Depends on who you work for and your local laws. I recall a certain forum member having this problem a few years back.

events need enimies

Agree with Rooster on this, I would portray any combat soldier at an event and leave politics at home. Least likely to want to portray Japanese as I have yet to see a site that looks like a jungle and I think the Japanese soldiers psyche is the hardest to understand.

My hardest decision is who to do as a second impression next year, leaning towards Brit (for patriotism) or Russian (For a cheap loadout).

For all those saying they won't do German for work reasons. I'd LOVE to see an employer try to stop you. What you do outside work has nothing to do with them as long as it's legal. The word 'tribunal' springs to mind.

Depends on who you work for and your local laws. I recall a certain forum member having this problem a few years back.

Indeed, and if he'd have wanted to, he could have taken them to court. Ironic really!

What you do outside work has nothing to do with them as long as it's legal. The word 'tribunal' springs to mind.

"Social pressure" can be quite strong.

Or 'bullying' as it's otherwise known.

No side off limits to me, though cost is another thing! As Headshot said, a uniform doesn't change who you are

I have American Airborne loadouts at the mo (82nd and 101st) and the only reason for this was back in 2005(ish) there was only (TM and very old JAC )Thompsons, (Jac) Bar's (Hudson) Grease Guns, (Marushin) M1 Carbine's. Avaliable to the WW2 scene. (There was TOP MP40 which used bellows? , the Tanaka KAR 98 the Shoei MP44 and MG42 but the price and the realibility of those guns put me off (well couldnt afford them!) and my airsoft knowledge back then wasn't what it was now.) So i brought the 2 cheapest guns (TM Thompson and Hudson Grease Gun) and went Yank. Thats all i based my decesion on.

I would probably like to stay on the allied side and get a Brit load out and a cheap russian loadout.

Origianlly i didn't want to do a "bad guy" impression but since joining comrade in arms. I now know that events of can not run with out them. Also the article on the site http://www.ww2airsoft.org.uk/dem-nartsees-is-eeevil/ sort of turned my head slightly as well. I may collect some German gear but like I stated above would like to do a Brit and Russian first. (and that means getting a Sten, Bren, Lee Enfield, Mosin Nagant and a PPSH first!)

i really fancy doing a chindit impression (fancy makeing an owen gun)but it would not get a lot of use unless a lot of others decided too as well,it just interests me.ive no qualmes about doing german and my mates that i usually scermish with are all doing german.my biggest problem about a second loadout would be cost as im allways on a budget,to do a german loadout would mean starting from scratch again whereas another allied impresion eg canadian or austrailian or polish would be more easy as only minor aditions could change the loadout that i alreasdy have.

I'm happy to portray anything but I'm less interested in some than others. US interests me the least and I doubt I'd ever make a US impression but I'd be ok with borrowing for an event. The likes of Jap and Brit I wouldn't mind owning but it would probably be more of a budget/ look a like kit than a full impression.

a german loadout would mean starting from scratch again whereas another allied impresion eg canadian or austrailian or polish would be more easy as only minor aditions could change the loadout that i alreasdy have.

Always the way, hence why I have ended up with 6 German and 4 Soviet impressions. Easier to add a few new items than start afresh.

im really keen to get a french resistance, kit together,

We do need another resistance game sometime soon.

im really keen to get a french resistance, kit together,

We do need another resistance game sometime soon.

It's not strictly resistance, but we'd really love to see some partisan players at our Volturno event. We're hoping some of the Close Action regulars will book on as such.

I don't really mind who I portray, although practically speaking, I can't see myself doing Japanese (complete lack of numbers), Russian (would rarely use it), or US (although I have borrowed kit to do US in the past).

I've got Heer early and mid/late war, FJ, Brit infantry and airborne. That's enough to keep me going for now.

As a sandal wearing muesli eating Guardian reader I can't quite bring myself to do SS, but Heer & Luftwaffe are OK. Sovs and Brits, hurrah! No interest in US, same as modern airsoft and wargaming. No doubt some vague resentment at living in Airstrip One.

Japanese, no I don't think so. My grandfather died in a Japanese POW camp and I wouldn't be able to look my Dad in the eye again.

I know they are are only games and we are just dressing up, but....

Cheers
Martin

there's nothing wrong with having strong feelings against doing a particular impression,war is bound to have a verry personal affect on people but neither is the person who does do that impresion a card carrying member of that political regime.our little hobby would come to an end if somebody didnt be the bad guy.neither should we as brits think of ourselves as white as snow,we didnt have a massive empire by poilitley asking other countries if they would like to become subjects of the british empire.if you look far enough into the past nearly all countries have a few nasty war atrosities in their closet,i think the reason that the german ethnick clensing of the jews and the japanese death labour camps are so poinient is that we were at the birth of the global film news age where we now get to see at home what only soldiers saw before.

Only german for me because I like my floppy hat .there you go that's my stong views on the subject

I definately wouldn`t portray a jap, and I have misgivings about portraying a russian. I picked my old impression as an FJ because they had a fairly honourable wartime history. If I did another impression I`d do Heer or Brit line infantry but only when some manufacturer comes out with a half decent springer bolt action rifle, and when I`ve got enough money coming in to actually have a chance of making it to a game..

I won't portay SS as there's already enough people who do, and also it looks a bit l33ty to me. I play ww2 a bit to get away from the elitism in modern airsoft, so SS doesn't intrest me in that way. (not that I dislkie SS players) I would't really do jap as has already been said, no sites to do it, and the way they fought is just completly alien to me. I'm disintersted in American kit also (not that I'll never to an american loadout), so I think I'll stick with Russian, British and possibly German heer/ luftwaffe/ FJ

Not interested in the pacific theatre personally.

I usually attempt a generic SS panzer grenadier, Heer infantry, British infantry and Us infantry. I try to be as generic as possible, especially with the SS stuff. As it's very easy to get carried away with the cam

Just waiting on a suitable northern game to pop the CIA cherry.

Just waiting on a suitable northern game to pop the CIA cherry.

There are plenty of northerners who I'm sure would happily offer a lift to you.

I am finding that the Americans are the real bad guys in WW2 airsofting that is a suprise for me. I thought there would be plenty of supporters??? There are at normal open days especially when there are a plentiful supply of WW2 guns for them Thompson Bolt actions M14`s and the fever over the last years of Band of Brothers etc.

Interesting thread

Without wishing to sound too much like Eurovision, my vote went to.....the Japanese! Nothing whatsoever to do with the politics, everything to do with the fact that I'm 6 foot, white and European, and I simply couldn't pull off the look!

As many of you know, I only do German at the moment. I would certainly do, and am seriously considering getting kit for it, a British para impression, largely because my dad was one - post war - and I would certainly do Russian, in recognition of their titanic struggle against the Germans and the tremendous losses they experienced. As others have said, acquiring and then storing kit is problematic and necessarily limiting. I, too, find it easier to tweak things and add to what I have already to make different German impressions rather than trying to create totally new ones right now

Hey a very interesting topic and really about being able to detach from reality (past) and I'd have to admit to be unable to play a german for the very same reason a couple of the guys mention re the japs. My grandparents would turn in their graves if they saw me in a German uniform, but even though I see the soviets as the worst in a historic perspective I think I could play as a soviet. ..so, actually a bit strange...

I find it strange too, but I suspect this comes out of recent media portrayals of Americans and perhaps the perception of those choosing to do American impressions being more into the glory of portraying a person played on film, rather than choosing to portray a faction with historical accuracy in mind. (I say this as someone who owns only American paratrooper kit - which I bought over 6 years ago!)

This stance is of course, a deeply flawed one and in most cases very inaccurate; but like Bedsnherts said, this isn't the thread to criticise people's decisions, just one for expressing one's choice.