Let the Wild Rumpus Start - Again!

I'm sorry for the long silence over the summer and the first few months of school! I had high hopes of writing some blog entries about books I was reading or battles I was playing during my summer but it just never happened.

We're back and the Memoir '44 History Club has started up again. I only have 10 members for this session. In part this is because some of the students who were in the club last year have moved, a few students play Fall sports and have practice during the club, and one student said that she "wants to take a little break". Most of them want to join up again in the Spring so I may end up with a large group later on.

Even with fewer students, I'm having a great time and I'm happy to offer the club again. We welcomed three new students to the group this year; students I had last year who were eager to join the club even though they playing with 5th graders. They have some catching up to do, but they're smart kids and seem to be doing just fine

Our focus this session is on the Pacific Theater. We started the club last week by watching a few short videos on Pacific battles. I'm trying to make sure the students realize how different the war in the Pacific was from what we've studied in Europe. All of our battles will focus on the Japanese against the US Marines.

Because there are less kids, I have enough Memoir '44 sets for the students to play 1 v. 1 instead of in teams. They love being on their own! It will take a few more battles before they feel comfortable with the new rules in the Pacific expansion, but they have a good base of knowledge and are catching on.

Thanks for your interest in our little game club in Oregon! Welcome back to another great year of the Memoir '44 History Club!

Weiler-Putscheid

When Tom Myers came in to visit, he explained his experience in World War II to my students in relatively general terms. The students still got a good idea of what he had been through but weren't subjected to a gory account of the war. While he was in my class, Tom lent me an original comic that was all about his experience. The comic is called "G.I. Thomas R. Myers, Prisoner of War in Germany" and it was writen and drawn by Marcel Scheidweiler, a man who lives in the town of Weiler and talked with Tom extensively about December 1944.

The comic described in very exact detail how I Company, 3rd Battalion, 110th Regiment, 28th US Infantry Division was stationed at Weiler when the Battle of the Bulge started. Tom was part of the 28th Infantry Division and was sleeping when the first artillery shells started hitting the town. He quickly headed out to face the advancing Germans who turned out to be from the 5th Parachute Division. Tom was positioned in a foxhole in front of Weiler but retreated to the town when his foxhole buddy was killed. Tom and the rest of his comrades held Weiler throughout the day on December 16th, 1944 against a far superior German force.

Completely surounded and out of ammo, Tom and his surviving friends tried to escape during that night but most were either killed or captured as they tried to slip through German patrols. Tom spent the rest of the war in a German work camp. Years after the war, the citizens of Weiler remembered the heroic stand of the 28th Infantry Division and named a round-about after Tom Myers. I believe Tom said it was named Myers Square.

In honor of Tom Myers and his incredible experience, I designed a Memoir '44 scenario titled Weiler-Putscheid. This map, as far as I know, is the most historically correct scenario I have ever designed because I used the detailed maps that were included in Mr. Scheidweiler's comic who happens to be a resident of the area. Enjoy!

High Desert Rendezvous

Wednesday, May 6th, was the High Desert Rendezvous. Many of the teachers who had attended the different history lectures and most of the teachers who received a mini-grant were there. I did a short presentation about my Memoir '44 History Club by showing a movie that I made about the club. The other teachers were very interested in how I used the game to teach history. Most of the people I was talking to were high school or middle school history teachers and Memoir '44 fits perfectly with that age. I had several middle school teachers talk about starting their own clubs!

My presentation elicited a lot of questions. The teachers wanted to know how long we meet for, how the game works, how long it takes the students to set up the battles, and how well the game follows history. I was happy to explain the game system and was able to tell them what a powerful tool Memoir '44 has been for teaching history to my students.

Outside the conference room I set up two Memoir '44 battles: Omaha Beach and Ste. Mère-Église. Days of Wonder very generously donated a Memoir '44 poster for me to use in my presentation and it created quite a stir. Along with the poster and battles, I also displayed pictures from the club, one of our Campaign Bags, some resources I've created, and the three expansions we used in the Memoir '44 History Club (the Air Pack, Terrain Pack, and Pacific Theater). Before they left, every teacher received an educators discount coupon from Days of Wonder to start their own Memoir '44 Club!

The High Desert Rendezvous was a great platform for me to outline how I taught history this year through Memoir '44. I hope the other teachers had as much fun as I did.