Saturday, July 9th saw two new forays for Next Gen- a new facilitator, and a new location! Huge thank you to Steven from Kingston, NY, for helping run my 15mm AWI game. He is a teacher, gamer, and historian and was absolutely crucial to the event going as well as it did.
The game itself was a blast to run, as we had a full room of 10 players ranging in age from 4th grade-8th grade. In every case, the players were new, having never done historical gaming before. We used a conglomerate game taking fun aspects from Larry Brom's "The Sword and the Flame" and "800 Fighting Englishmen", with period specific flair from "British Grenadier".
After a quick demo of the rules, we got right into it, with the British players pushing forward in attempt to seize 2 farmhouses from the Americans. The Brits were aggressive and made all the right moves, sweeping the flank with some help from allied Mohawk skirmishers, and driving up the middle with grenadiers and Hessians. The Americans however were ready, and blasted away, forcing two British units back to their starting positions. Because of time constraints, lunch, and the fact the players were new, we managed to play out half the battle.
We were both really impressed with the players' ability to absorb rules, tactics, and general knowledge about the era. All said, we'll definitely be returning to Canton at some point in coming school year. The librarians in particular were so happy with how professionally we managed the room, and gave the kids and families such a learning experience.
Afterwards, Steven and I grabbed lunch in Collinsville, where we debriefed the game, discussed our various gaming interests, and got a chance to think about future collaborations. All said, it was wonderful day. I can't wait to run another game for these players!