It all started innocently enough.... Hillary, my 11 year old daughter, sidled up to me one afternoon and said, "Dad, we're studying Greek and Roman history this year. Do you have any Greek or Roman stuff?"

"Sure," I responded, and spent the next ten minutes detailing all the troops I have, the great books, and of course, some of the history of those periods.

After rolling her eyes a bit, she asked if I would be willing to come into her class and maybe talk about it or run a game demonstration. I immediately agreed, after all, you don't get asked by your daughter every day to share your hobby, it might also expose some kids to wargaming that might develop into future gainers (actually I knew at least some of them played Warhammer Fantasy rules already), and heck, it could be fun.

I had read with interest articles in the HMGS Mid South Dispatch and HMGS Tornado Alley Alley about others who had set up gaining for kids in school. Recalling some of their techniques, I was determined to make this a fun and memorable event for the kids.

The first step was to ask Hillary's teacher what she thought of the idea. I drafted up a letter to her that night, outlining my proposal and estimating the time I would need. Donna Lynn Cooper is an excellent educator, and she jumped at the chance to give her pupils a novel learning experience. She approved the idea as I described it, but asked if I could do the presentation for both 5th grade classes (she and Mrs Roberts swap classes--one teaches Social studies and English while the other teaches Math and Science). "No problem" was my reply. We set a target date of 3 March giving me a couple months to prepare for two half-day sessions each accommodating 26 students.

Where to begin? I have some 25mm Greeks and Macedonians, but no Persians. I have a fair number of Ancient Indians, but not enough painted to field an army, especially to accommodate 26 players. Also, my daughter seemed more interested in Rome. Hmm. Well, I have a lot of Late Imperial Romans and their allies in 15mm. Okay.

What enemy? Looking over my troops, it became obvious I had a fair number of barbarian foot troops--Dacians, Germans, Gauls, etc. but not enough mounted enemies like Huns or Parthians. I decided I would build a basic barbarian foot army similar to the Dacian/German armies, with perhaps some light horse, and have them take on a smaller balanced Roman army fielding foot, mounted, and artillery. In the end, the Barbarians fielded nearly 500 figures, while the Romans were closer to 300. Thankfully, my friend Steve Anderson loaned me about 150 Spanish and Gauls to beef up my horde.

Rules would have to be simple enough to teach the kids easily, fast enough to get a decision in an hour or two, and accommodate large numbers of troops since I really wanted that panoramic battlefield look. I decided to use a highly modified version of WRG's De Bellis Antiquitatas (DBA). I wanted the simplicity of DBA, but more troops, so I organized the armies into units of 2, 4, or 6 standsusing the basing system of all WRG games (2, 3 or 4 figures per stand, all stands the same witdth but varying in depth with type). Artillery had 2 stands, legionnaires, auxilia, and all Roman mounted units had 4 stands, and psiloi and 6 stands.

The Barbarians had one 6-stand light horse unit, 19 6-stand warbands, and 4 2-stand wedged barbarian units. See the Order of Battle and Map in the accompanying article for more details. The Reference Sheet showing the simplified DBA rules is also in the accompanying article for those who might want to use it. I'm willing to e-mail this to anyone who wants to use it for their own games.

Units were deployed two ranks deep (except artillery) with no formation changes allowed. Movement was simple--measure the part of the unit that will move the farthest, not to exceed movement allowance. Generals diced for the number of troops under their control that they could move. However, the Barbarians had a free/mandatory move rule. Whenever their foot units were within 6" of the enemy foot, they did not count against their general's roll, but had to move straight at the nearest enemy-no fancy wheeling, etc. -- this simulated the "Barbarian rush."

Berserks were a twist left over from my WRG 6, and 7 days. I had some berserkers mounted in wedge. These units moved slightly faster than warbands, and when they moved into contact with the enemy, received a +3 to their combat roll. If enemy contacted them, they did not get the bonus. However, they were sort of like "expendables" in that they died if they were beaten in combat. The boys loved these units even if they tended to have them vaporized by cavalry and didn't mass them well against the Romans. Units received combat bonuses for being larger than their opponent (+I), double their opponent's size (+2, not cumulative with "larger" bonus), being uphill of the enemy (+1), having your general attached (+1), and if hit in the rear by enemy (4). Combat results were simple: ties (obviousno effect), beaten by enemy-recoil one base depth, doubled by enemy destroyed. As in DBA, there were some special cases for recoil and destruction (like warbands kill legionnaires)-see the Reference Chart. Units with enemy on the flank and forad to recoil in combat were destroyed instead.

Now that I had rules and figures, I needed battle plan and terrain. I wanted the Barbarians to have the onus of attack with larger numbers, and give the Romans an edge with some defensive terrain. I therefore selected a series of low hills for the Roman foot and artillery to defend, with cavalry on the flanks and psiloi out front in scrub terrain to skirmish with Barbarians. The Barbarians got a couple low hills that played little role in the battle. I didn't want to "garbage up" the battlefield too much as it would slow down movement and the game, and perhaps unduly influence the result. During playtesting it became obvious that the psiloi were too tough in the scrub, repeatedly beating off or even killing the warbands. I corrected this by making the psiloi bigger (6 stands vs. 4) but removing the rough. This simplified movement since there was now no rough terrain rules to discuss. I expected the battles to now result in a rapid Barbarian push up the middle against the waiting legions on the hills, while trying to survive the Roman cavalry onslaught on the flanks.

The hills I already had (though I spruced them up a bit with paint and. flock). However, my Geohex 4'X 6' mat was too small for my proposed 2.5' X 10' battlefield. Remembering one of my NOVAG buddy's ideas (thanks Tony Jacoby!), I ran to the fabric store and bought 4 yards of 6'-wide green felt for $20--cheaper than the smaller Geohex. Then I pulled out a can of spray adhesive and sprayed a 3' X 3' section, applied a mixed sprinkling of flicking colors to it as well as a few passes with various colored spray paints, and followed that with another coat of adhesive. Result--a beautiful mottled look! Repeat the process until the whole piece of felt is covered. Done.

Well, not quite. I wanted to add a little role-playing to the game to capture the kids imaginations. The Barbarian King and Roman Caesar needed symbols of office. First, I had my son Drew run to the nearby woods and bring me back a selection of suitable "clubs." I selected one, cleaned it up, cut off some projections, notched one end, cut out some suitable pointy and oddly shaped scrap pieces of wood, and glued them to the end of the club (now a fancy scepter). The handle I wrapped in leather strips. Then I painted the shaft a whitelblack striped pattern, the head red, and added gold sparkles to it. Voila! Orgetorix, the Barbarian King had a scepter. Caesar was easier---drive to the craft shop to buy suitable plastic foliage and florists wire. Take a piece of foliage, wrap it in wire, bend to desired shape-and you have a laurel wreath for Caesar which looks very nice.

I realized I would have trouble effectively managing 26 battlecrazed 5th graders. Since I had been updating Hillary on the developments, I decided to recruit her as my assistant rather than as a player. This had the added benefit of removing the tough call of what job (general or just player) to give my daughter and avoid any hint of favoritism (or disappointment). We ran one more playtest using our friend's kids as players (Elizabeth, Camaron, Alex, and my son Drew) to make sure she understood the rules and confirm my setup. Throw in some dice and rulers and we were ready.

School begins at 0900, so 0830 worked well to set up the battlefield and chat with the teacher. To prepare the children for the event I had printed out a copy of the rules with examples, some history, and the Reference Sheet for the kids to read over for homework the night before.

As the kids filed in the "oohs, and ahs " increased with the excitement level. Soon it was time to begin. After introductions I told them the main reason I was there was to show them that History need not be some boring book about people and places you've never heard about and will never visit, memorizing dates, etc. History can be fun, and help you understand why some countries act the way they do, why they fight or don't, and many other things.

The wall map then allowed me to show the expansion of Rome, and talk about how they were the invaders, etc. -- total 10 minutes.

Then 10 minutes to name off the generals on each side (pre-designated by the teacher and me), present the scepter and wreath props I mentioned earlier, and review the rules. For the record, the two Caesars were Ashley Romanias and Lindsey Eiriksson, and the Barbarian King Orgetorix was Faheem Ahmed and Johnny O'Malley..

The battles went as I expected, with the boys/ barbarians pushing aggressively up the middle and the girls/Romans sitting patiently on the hills while trying to envelop the barbarian flanks. As the game progressed, Hillary and I played both referee and coach--offering tactical advice as needed.

Unfortunately for the barbarians, in both battles they spent too much time attempting to trap and kill the Roman psiloi, and were too impatient on the flanks. These mistakes resulted in opportunities for the Roman cavalry to exploit on the flanks, and limited attacks on the waiting Roman foot before our time ran out.

In the end, Rome pulled out two close victories (19-17 and 17-14, the scores being the number of units remaining from the initial 24 at the end of our time period). Of course, the boys want a rematch... perhaps another day.

My overall impression of the event was quite positive. While running an event for that many people is quite taxing (as anyone at Historicon or other big game events can tell you), the game did flow fairly quickly and smoothly. I used timed turns for movement (about 3 minutes) to help keep things focused. Some children showed quite good tactical sense, especially one boy named Colin Lloyd. Many of them were familiar with Roman history too, including one young lady named Angela who wanted to play Brutus and take Caesar out of the picture!

I highly recommend running an event at a school to anyone with school age children or an interest in sharing/expanding our hobby. The kids and teachers really enjoyed it, and I found it personally rewarding. If you are interested in a copy of these rules or discussing this further, please contact me at Izmud@aol.com.