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The inconceivable happened: in semester two of this academic year I'll be teaching a unit on wargaming at Uni. I hoarded a tonne of books on the subject (no, not games rules, I already had a few tonnes of those), have practical experience, and have the models and scenery (well, if I finish painting and assembly, not in that order). But the collective knowledge on LAF is an immensely useful resource, so I hope you don't mind if I ask for any advice, useful resources etc. which might help. To give you an idea, the aim is to get people to understand the basic mechanisms of wargames, a few concepts of game design, and some take away ideas. I'll be including a few practical sessions (gaming, not modelling).
Very cool. I'd be interrested to hear you intelectualize the topic (you are doing it at a univeristy level,m righth?).
Feel free to ask away - everyone here is at LAF very accommodating. I have qualifications and experience as a Corporate Trainer so will offer what little advice I can as you need it. I actually used “How to Play Warhammer Fantasy” as one of my training sessions to get my qualification. Had to keep it VERY simple for the limited time I had (basically a one on one combat example). I suppose you could start with how wargaming began as an actual serious training tool for the military and then evolved into the hobby as we all know it now. Good luck with everything.
If it were me, and I needed to focus on gameplay, mechanics and aesthetics, I'd pick a subject that they can easily identify with for the games; like an old west gunfight, superheroes or something TV / Film related. That way you're not going to get bogged down with the history teaching too.
If you have not obtained this resource I would highly recommend it Wargames Handbook, Third Edition: How to Play and Design Commercial and Professional Wargames by James F Dunnigan. It deals with the development of the classic board game simulations produced by SPI which I think is a good way to introduce a lot of the basics that will later be utilized in miniature gaming. As far as the practical gaming experiences used in the class I would suggest the simpler the better. Check out http://www.juniorgeneral.org/ a website designed by a teacher. I was a high school history teacher and used several of his ideas in my classes.I would be very interested in seeing your syllabus if you could share it with us and class notes you would provide for your students would also be fun.
Remember the K.I.S.S. rule (Keep It Simple Stupid). If they want to take it further there isa LOT of stuff out there. I'm sure you could point them in the right direction.Trying to explain Wargames is similar to being asked to describe all the different games that can be played with a pack of cards (Patients, Snap, Poker, Bridge to name but a very few)I would include historical events, especially 'well known' ones, then ask them to make decisions.A friend was once asked, by a visitor to our Wargames club, what do I need to do under your7YW rules to win. He replied, 'Whatever would have worked in the 7YW. If my rules are any goodit will work on the table-top, if not I will re-write them.'Feel free, especially at the start of the course, to Krieg-Spiel things. Give them a % chance of what they chose working. It does not matter what the result is, it is important that theystart to think.
Cool!Something I'd be interested in hearing about is WHO are the students taking this module? Do you think they will already be wargamers, or people who are familiar with it and think it sounds like a fun module, or people who know nothing about it? And if the latter, why have they chosen this module? Will you be 'preaching to the converted'?
You may already be covering this, but there’s also ‘committee’ style wargames or games without figures. If you need to know more, War games Development:http://wargamedevelopments.orgOr the Megagamershttp://www.megagame-makers.org.uk/mm-about.htm