"Historic Wargaming in Schools " Topic

Good morning (here in the UK)!

I've been advised to post this here by a couple of people on facebook groups and the wider community. I am well aware that this is my first post to the boards, I would really appreciate it if you could take the time to have a read for me? If this would be best posted elsewhere on TMP please let me know!

I'm messaging today on behalf of the school where I work. We provide education and support for pupils and families who have been let down by the mainstream education system. Pupils who can show great difficulties in behaviour and in socialisation who come from some of the most deprived areas in our community.
Although we provide the key subjects (Maths, English, ICT) as part of our curriculum we are limited by the needs of the children in how we can get them to access wider subject areas.

One of the ways in we have found is through engaging a number of our pupils in tabletop wargaming. We have been able to link this to areas of the curriculum based around AQA unit awards in history as well as the maths and literacy skills needed to play and the important social aspects of wargaming. as a result we have found we can ensure our students will be leaving us with certification in a variety of fields of history including WW1 and 2, dark ages, ECW, ancients (romans and greeks mainly) and medieval Europe.

Through using wargames (up to now Flames of War) we have been able to give our pupils hands on experience with representations of the peoples of the time and then built in educational presentation and involvement (which the handful of rules and sourcebooks I own has been really useful) as we play through the games. This has been especially useful in modules covering WW2, and we are due to be looking at modules on Roman and medieval warfare and conflicts in Europe (Napoleonic) as well as continuing the WW2 sessions as some of the pupils have requested we look at Bolt Action.

Unfortunately at the moment the number of pupils we can involve in the sessions at any one time is limited by my own collection as the pupils do not own anything of their own barring some Flames of War that was kindly donated by Battlefront, so I struggle to get more than two pupils involved at any one time which then has an impact on the engagement as we are limited to one session a week.

Because nothing ever happens unless you take the chance and ask, I thought I'd approach the community on behalf on of the school and our pupils as I've found the gaming community will often rally around projects like this, especially when it comes to working with children who we support.

I know its cheeky, but for our pupils, does anyone have anything in their lead and plastic mountains or superfluous books that they can spare to provide the opportunity for us to continue to build on this aspect of our support and education?

We are seeing measurable improvement in the academic and social skills and behaviours of our pupils as a result of the limited gaming they've been able to take part in with improved relationships between their peers and a reduction in any negative incidents in free time as the children focus their attention on the game and stay later after school reducing the incidence of concerns in the community.

I have included links to our website so you can verify that I am who I'm saying I am and also the work we have been able to do with Battlefront who were amazing in being able to support us in developing our WW2 sessions.

link
link

…and for those who I've supported us so far: link

I shared this post out over a couple of the facebook groups recently and the response so far has been amazing for the pupils, including from the editor of War-games Soldiers and Strategy, Sarissa-Precision and Footsore Miniatures / Warbanner who are both sending us out some kit for the pupils.
Someone on one of the groups suggested I add an Amazon wishlist that I've had the pupils come up with ([http://amzn.eu/6u0EJAv](http://amzn.eu/6u0EJAv)) to let anyone international have a way of helping out if they wish.

I appreciate you having taken the time to read over this post and fully understand if this is not something you can support, at the very least hopefully it's a positive story for how wargames and our hobby is making a difference with our young people.

Paul,

Is there a way to make a monetary donation to your efforts? Like a "go fund me" account or something similar to that?

Very cool!

Have you asked Warlord Games to support the Bolt Action games?

And coopman is right, this would be a great thing for a Go Fund Me project.

I used wargames in school for over 20 years. try the Junior general web site for cut-out models and simple rules for all periods.

What good idea! How do I buy something for you on the Amazon list and get it to you?

Good for you, sir. Have you thought about using 1/72 plastics? You can get a whole lot more of them for your money, and maybe do a wider array of time periods.

This appears to be a very worthy effort on your part and I applaud the success you have had thus far. I would suggest you check online for free rules at link as they have numerous easy to play sets for a variety of eras. As you are in the UK I would suggest checking in with Baccus Miniatures and their lines of 6mm figures allowing you to do more with less. I would also check with Grand Manoeuvre and their line of 6mm paper miniatures which provide a great bargain for Napoleonics and American Civil War.

And don't forget the recent wargame books by Peter Dennis that allow you to field paper units.

Paul
I will second both juniorgeneral.org and link

I also suggest getting Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames. You can always use blocks of card for the units (as I did when I was a cash-strapped teenager and wanted to play Tabletop Games' Pony Wars) and play on a 2D map. Rules are simple (my daughter picked them up in minutes) and the book is crammed with scenarios.

For figures try Lancashire games: Alan holds regular sales so you can field a One Hour force of six units for a small outlay (plus he is a nice chap to deal with).

I would advise you to keep to one size/scale, though. That way you don't have to duplicate scenery. If you've started on FoW, stick to 15mm.

Good luck!

Hi all! Apologies for having taken so long to come back to you. As a new member I couldn't reply for three days…

Coopman and Lion in the Stars, we are up and running on go fund me from this week. You can find us at: link

Legatushedlius, with regards to the Amazon list if you follow the link its all set up so anything you order will come straight to us.

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far, I've had a look at any links that have been sent, or sites mentioned and there looks to be some really good stuff out there. Some I've seen before and some not, so thanks everyone!

Thanks Paul. Will send you something tonight.