I prefer to play as the bad guys. Almost universally, in every game I play. I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it has to do with my discomfort with the ethics of wargaming itself.
When a game simulates warfare, there’s an underlying tension—what does it mean to revel in strategic battles where pretend lives are at stake?
Playing the bad guys removes this moral ambiguity. Their objectives are clear: conquest, destruction, or domination. And if I lose? Well, then, the good guys won!
But navigating this moral space gets trickier when the “bad guys” aren’t so clearly evil. This happens a lot in tabletop wargames, especially when a company wants a faction to appeal to a broader audience. Take Warhammer 40k, for example. When I originally played, the Imperium was unambiguously cruel—its dystopian, fascistic nightmare was painted in stark tones. The Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum) embodied this best. They were a massive, expendable force, throwing waves of conscripts into battle, enforcing purity laws through Commissars, and barely tolerating their own abhuman troops. It was grim, it was dark, and it made the Imperium super fun to play as!
Years later, when I returned to 40k, I found that the faction had shifted. While some grim elements remained, Games Workshop had softened the edges. The Imperium was no longer just an oppressive machine—it had been recast into a more conventional good-versus-evil conflict against Chaos and the xenos. That shift left me adrift. I even tried 3D printing alternative models to recapture the old lore’s bleak tone, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that 40k itself had changed. And with it, my connection to the game faded.
That could have been the end of my wargaming journey. But unlike the last time I quit 40k, the miniature gaming landscape had exploded with alternatives. Games Workshop no longer had a monopoly on quality games, and I quickly found myself immersed in fresh new game systems.
Discovering Infinity
One of my new favorites is Infinity by Corvus Belli. It’s tactical, fast-paced, and has a passionate community. The aesthetic—especially the cyberpunk feel—immediately drew me in. I gravitated toward Yu Jing, a faction whose high-tech, orange-clad soldiers fit my love for sleek, futuristic design.
But there was a problem. Infinity doesn’t really have traditional good guys or bad guys. Every faction exists in shades of gray, with their own motives and ethical compromises. And Yu Jing? They’re not the Imperium’s cartoonish, over-the-top evil. They are something far more insidious—something real.
Yu Jing is a vision of a future China, an authoritarian superstate that enforces obedience through propaganda, social control, and technological surveillance. This isn’t fictional evil with skull-covered space cathedrals; this is an extrapolation of a very real political system that exists today. And that made me uncomfortable.
I’ve been to China. I’ve seen firsthand the mechanisms of control, the omnipresent surveillance, the suppression of dissent. Playing as Yu-Jing wasn’t just playing “the bad guys” in a fun, abstract way—it was engaging with a dystopian future that feels alarmingly close to the present.
Embracing the Theme: Propaganda and Terrain
Despite my discomfort, I found a way to lean into it. Rather than ignore Yu Jing’s oppressive nature, I decided to highlight it in my games. With the help of AI tools, I designed a set of Yu Jing propaganda posters, fully embracing their dystopian aesthetic. I’m also working on a set of terrain pieces to reflect their totalitarian rule—a cityscape where technology and fear go hand in hand.
I’ve always been comfortable playing the bad guys in games, but this experience forced me to think differently about what “bad” really means. In 40k, the Imperium was a far-future nightmare, so detached from reality that its darkness was entertaining. But Infinity’s world is much closer to home, and that makes it all the more unsettling.
Still, wargaming is about immersion, creativity, and storytelling. By embracing the darker aspects of Yu Jing, I can use my hobby to engage with themes that matter—power, control, resistance—and create a battlefield that isn’t just about strategy, but about the messages hidden within the game itself.
And at the end of the day, if I lose? Well, then the good guys won.
Happy hobbying, and don’t forget—Democracy is worth fighting for!
I am an outdoorsy geek. Which is not rare at all. In fact, outdoorsy geeks are some of my favorite people 🙂