"Playing with My Toys at Work: Living the Dream: Dorylaeum" Topic

I teach Latin for a living (I know, right?), and every other year we read selections of the Gesta Francorum, an early Latin source for the First Crusade, which is very accessible, Latin-wise, for high school students.

Two years ago I made a re-creation of the Battle of Dorylaeum which is covered in the text, using 1/72 soft plastic miniatures (for easy transport to school) and a painted piece of canvas for a map. I played it then, with only 1-2 kids showing up.

This year I played it again and had 9 kids show up for 2 hours after school and play. It was, like, totally awesome. The Crusaders won, 7 points to the Turks 6 points. Deus Vult.

I have a couple of pictures at our club webpage:

link

Excellent way to expand on the education. I used to be an instructor with the Air Training Corps back in the 90s and early 2000s and regularly ran air combat games for the cadets, boys and girls aged 13 to 18. All enjoyed the experience and got very competitive during the course of the campaigns. Several still game and I occasionally bump into them at shows around the UK.

Nice

My college runs an Ancient & Medieval Warfare class every other year.

Part of the assigned classwork seems to be to refight some of the battles using DBA. I see kids playing in the student center (Prof provides board and figs) often, I can never stop because I'm always scheduled to be somewhere else.

You are a credit to education and the hobby and hopefully a long lasting influence to your students. What your teaching is priceless and a fun way to make it come alive. Good luck.

Must be a great way to instill realism in a class.

A good number of female participants took part in your game too.

Dorylaeum: one of my favorites. Your setup reminds that where unknown terrain is a factor, each of us develops a mental picture to suit the paucity of details in the original narratives. That mental picture translates into a tabletop model. Yours is totally different from mine! And there is no help for it. Wargaming paradigms! :)