Abridged too far....

[Doomhippie]

I agree that playing games like this does a lot to young people. It's not so much the violence but the experience of sharing in an effort that has a lasting effect on them.

And from a gamers perspective I have to say: great stuff, great drama and nice to read!

[kidterminal]

This looks like an excellent way to teach history! Will you run through battles from other peirods of history in hte future?

[fastolfrus]

This looks like an excellent way to teach history! Will you run through battles from other peirods of history in hte future?

Probably.

I have the figures (and some of the scenery) for Peking 1900 - plus the old convention game rules for "55 Minutes at Peking", so I could be tempted to go with that one, it's a shorter game (designed to play in an hour or so) rather than a two day tournament.

The Seven Years War is very colourful, but completely overlooked in Uk history classes, so that might be an option.
English Civil War or Wars of the Roses are both possibles.
I did a siege from the 30 Years War a few years ago which was ... interesting, but hard work - players who were not leading troops in the front rank sat  twelve feet from the table and sent all orders via messengers (written orders can be such fun) with an automatic delay, depending on where their siege headquarters were cited.
Given that the table was 18 feet long, and the defences at the far end were about a foot in height, the view was tricky, especially trying to recognise units by their flags, and sending messengers out to them with orders.

Or we might even try something like a naval engagement, Trafalgar is too obvious, but the Nile, or perhaps Ushant (Glorious First of June) would be a good contender.

[answer_is_42]

Fantastic stuff. That's a school club?! Good lord! I'd be mocked for all of eternity for even suggesting something on such a scale at my school! Congratulations indeed.

[kidterminal]

This looks like an excellent way to teach history! Will you run through battles from other peirods of history in hte future?

Probably.

I have the figures (and some of the scenery) for Peking 1900 - plus the old convention game rules for "55 Minutes at Peking", so I could be tempted to go with that one, it's a shorter game (designed to play in an hour or so) rather than a two day tournament.

The Seven Years War is very colourful, but completely overlooked in Uk history classes, so that might be an option.
English Civil War or Wars of the Roses are both possibles.
I did a siege from the 30 Years War a few years ago which was ... interesting, but hard work - players who were not leading troops in the front rank sat  twelve feet from the table and sent all orders via messengers (written orders can be such fun) with an automatic delay, depending on where their siege headquarters were cited.
Given that the table was 18 feet long, and the defences at the far end were about a foot in height, the view was tricky, especially trying to recognise units by their flags, and sending messengers out to them with orders.

Or we might even try something like a naval engagement, Trafalgar is too obvious, but the Nile, or perhaps Ushant (Glorious First of June) would be a good contender.

Sound great! The Seven Years War is a good idea. You could also try a major battle from the 100 Years war with each player playing acting as an indepented general of their own little contingent. It would illustrate the chaotic state of Medieval armies.

[fastolfrus]

Fantastic stuff. That's a school club?! Good lord! I'd be mocked for all of eternity for even suggesting something on such a scale at my school! Congratulations indeed.

Thank you.
Two years ago most of our players had never tried anything that didn't come in a GW box, our newer players have never actually bought anything in a GW box.

We have an open attitude towards figures - the game had 20mm plastics alongside 15mm metal - so long as they are on the right size/shape bases they're in.

As for mockery, they wouldn't dare, but I'm 30 years older than you....

[oldskoolrebel]

WOW!

It's truely excellent! Do you work in the school? I ask because in work we did have a warhammer club, (which i was never part of... i'm too busy running young engineers club and attempting to being the duke of edinburgh co-ordinator (and running staff hill walks  ).

Sadly to the best of my knowledge the warhammer club now is defunct since in my local education authority, which I could not possibly name (glasgow) we reduced the lunch break in the school from 55 mins to 40mins, to accomodate the 33 period week...  .  Ultimately this means that staff don't have the time to run lunch time clubs- personally I had to dissolve the lunch time branch of the young engineers club.

I'd love to be able to follow your's and matakishi's example but sadly due to work, university, extra-curricular and life commitments i just don't have the time!

Cheers
Andy

[fastolfrus]

WOW!
It's truely excellent! Do you work in the school? I ask because in work we did have a warhammer club, (which i was never part of... i'm too busy running young engineers club and attempting to being the duke of edinburgh co-ordinator (and running staff hill walks  ).
Cheers
Andy

Thanks for your appreciation.
I'm just a volunteer at school - our school has quite a few after school clubs (partly because our school buses run at 5pm) rather than lunchtime ones, and the wargames club is one such.
We have quite a few DofE participants, and I was pleased that 3 of them opted for wargames as their skill this year - so I end up assessing for DofE on that - I'm hoping for more next year.