Robey Rants about... Sci-Fi Masks

Quickly: yes, I have written a script about Asmodee and X-Wing. I will be recording it as soon as I can. Also, I've not yet finished animating the vid eo for the SFG script. I forgot how long that s*** takes! I need to come up with a simpler way of doing this...

Anyway, my rant. Some of you have heard some of my rants over the years (battlefield taxis being my most famous), but I thought I should collect some of my thoughts in occasional posts on the Patreon blog. They may eventually escape containment and find themselves on my public blog on the Precinct Omega website.

This rant is inspired by working on a range of science fiction minis, but in particular by perusing the work of Enemy Spotted Studios. Their minis, by the way, are great. The designs are top-notch and the printing quality (by Death Ray Designs, apparently) is really good. I would like to buy even more of them, but...

Why do some many companies decide that making their minis look "sci fi" means taking modern-looking designs and putting them in masks?

Some of you may recall my rant about sci fi settings with swords and axes and how they are basically a signpost of incipient war crimes. Masks are basically the same.

There are two things soldiers love when they are patrolling. The first is to be comfortable. The second is to be not dead. And decades of experience have taught soldiers that having your face clear and visible is the best pathway to achieving both of these things, more often than not.

Having a clear face means you have the best possible peripheral vision. It means your breathing and perspiration are unobstructed. It means you can eat and drink quickly, when the opportunity arises. Not only that, but having a clear face means that both civilian populations and your enemy can see that you are a human being. Do not underestimate the value of this.

If you have to approach a civilian or someone who appears to be a civilian, your ability to communicate that you aren't a threat is vastly increased if you have your face clear and unobstructed. Meanwhile, if you find yourself defeated and wounded, the likelihood of being taken prisoner over being summarily killed is considerably better if your face is visible.

Sure, in hot dry conditions it's good to wear a light breathing mask or shemagh to save you from inhaling copious amounts of dust. But when the dust isn't a problem, the mask will always come off (because hot, in addition to all the reasons I listed above). And in very cold conditions, you might wear a mask to protect yourself from freezing (although you'll see that even artic explorers usually don't wear a mask unless they're actually in an ice storm).

So why do so many miniatures ranges and, indeed, sci-fi media generally like to put their soldiers in face-hiding masks?

I think there are a few factors. The first, as with laser swords, is the rule of cool. Masks are cool. There's no denying it. I don't think there's a young soldier on Earth who, when Army of Two dropped, didn't Google "ballistic masks" - before realising that real life ballistic masks don't look anything like as cool as fictional ones and only provide the most basic of protections in return for the sacrifice of a lot of comfort.

But if you add some sci-fi magic to make them actually stop bullets and not actually create the conditions for the worst acne you've ever seen in your life, then they are still pretty cool. Add some sort of automatic water dispenser inside the visor and you're nearly compensating for the other massive inconveniences.

Because the one drawback I didn't mention - which is common in sci-fi media franchises - is that if you wear a face-hiding mask then it's a hell of a lot easier for an enemy to put on the same mask and present as one of you! Did Bob actually just take a leak behind the tree? Or was Bob shanked, stripped and replaced by an enemy who will shoot you in the back.

Hey, Bob. Could you, um, take off your mask for a second...?

It's literally Evil Overlord List item Number One!

My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.

If you take rule of cool aside, the practical argument in favour of masks, aside from the questionable benefit of protection from facial injury, is protection from environmental threats. If you're in an environment with low or no breathable atmosphere, it makes sense to move around in a self-contained atmospheric space. But in those circumstances, you'll want something that maximises the visibility of your face and peripheral visions, to supplement those safety concerns, which means an astronaut-like bubble helmet. This can, of course, get smaller in order to reduce your target profile, and there are a few examples of sci-fi characters wearing a transparent visor, often with a convenient augmented reality display to boot. I have less of an issue with these, but that's not to say I have no issue with them.

In wargaming and in sci-fi media generally, combat usually takes place in contexts with breathable atmospheres, not least because - if you're going to pay for the big names - you'll want to see their face if it's your primary money-maker. This is less relevant in miniatures wargaming, but the next factor becomes crucial.

The other side of the coin from the Evil Overlord point is that a masked miniature can be anyone and, by being anyone, becomes no one. On the one hand, it is easier to put yourself into the persona of the character on the table if the character wears a mask. To become that character, all you have to do is wear the same mask. This lets us imagine ourselves into our games more easily.

The dark side of that same coin, though, is that - just as the modern soldier wants to be seen as human - we who are making a fun passtime out of warfare might psychologically prefer to not see our miniatures as human.

And in my own collection I've very much embraced this. The most common feature of Red Force miniatures in my Zero Dark collection is that they are miniatures with face-concealing helmets. Meanwhile, the most common feature of my heroes is... that they aren't!

I should pause for a moment to talk about Infinity, as I often do. Their minis are a strong mix of completely face-concealing helmets and no bloody helmet at all! The USAriadna guys are a refreshing exception, but as a Haqqislam fan it really annoys me that my ghulams and daylami think that protecting your braincase is options. I mean, sure, their nation has an unlimited supply of Silk and they'll get resurrected, but that doesn't mean that getting shot in the head isn't extremely inconvenient!

But back to Enemy Spotted.

I hunted through their growing range of miniatures for some to add to my collection. And they have some real beauties. But the reason I ended up settling on the UN Reserves pack is because none of them is wearing a mask (and all of them are wearing a helmet!). And I really like this about that pack. It is extremely frustrating to me that none of the other miniatures in their collection have the same feature. Sure, I recognise that villainous mercenaries may actively want to hide from identification, so sure, stick them in mostly masks. But could we have a few characters with faces? Maybe one faction that doesn't feel the need to conceal their identities?

OK, this is a long way to go for an appeal to ESS, that they'll never read, to stop making minis with face-covering masks. But it's also a general point to fans of sci-fi wargames to think about the miniatures they play with. Why do they wear a mask? And if the miniatures don't wear a mask (but do wear a helmet!) think about if that makes them look, if not cool, then at least more like an actual professional.