Hi all,
Here are some photos from our first event at the Larchmont, NY library. I ran the AWI Battle of Freeman’s Farm. There were 10 people playing including Kim the teen librarian. I guess every school district has a different history course since these kids (middle school) pretty much knew everything about the Battle of Saratoga. In fact, they had just finished a section on it, and that’s why this particular battle was requested for today’s game.
I spoke with Kim after the game, as well as a few parents. They want to make a big effort to have future games reflect what is being studied in the classroom. I basically responded that’s exactly what I would like to accomplish. Kim will liaison with the history department and see what options we might have. In the mean time, we have our next game scheduled for next month and just have to pick a scenario.
As far as the game, I’m not sure if it because they learned about the battle in school, or because they have played other games, but these kids actually knew column and line tactics. This game was a bit more complicated than my usual “first event” Dark Age slugfest or castle siege. They advanced in columns, broke down into lines when they got into firing range, and took advantage of any cover (like fences), when they could.
The British players knew they had better firepower and really took advantage of it. Then they launched textbook bayonet charges when the American militia was ready to break. The Continental regiments mowed down the British at point blank range, causing horrendous casualties, but in the end, they just couldn’t hold and the British won the day.
We finished with a great discussion of what really happened and the larger implications to the outcome of the entire war. You can probably tell that I had fun with this one. It’s great when the kids are excited about history.
Next stop is Darien next Wednesday.