It’s 7:00 on a Wednesday evening. America and her allies are at war with the Axis powers. Japan dominates the Pacific. Germany mobilizes ominously in the East. The fate of the entire free world rests upon America’s next move.The dice come up short. Kyle Sanders groans. He’s just lost two carriers to the Japanese.
The first-year Liberal Arts major and other faculty members and students meet monthly to play military-based board games known to aficionados as simply “war games.” Based strategically on actual World War II events, this month’s challenge is Axis & Allies, a board game pivoting the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union against Japan and Germany.
Dr. Lee Baker, RWC Associate Professor of History, first started the informal student group last summer.
“My wife (also a history professor at UC) isn’t really interested [in playing],” says Baker. “I thought people around campus would want to play.”
Baker posted signs around campus. “Want to command an army? Join the War Games Club.” To his wife’s relief, 18 students responded expressing interest.
The war games played by the group aren’t the ordinary “Battleship” variety. In addition to Axis & Allies, the group also plays more realistic and tactical games such as recreations of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, Rommel’s tank battles in Africa, and the battle for Stalingrad.
After Baker bought his first game at age 14, he was “hooked.” He now owns 72 games ranging from medieval warfare, WWI, and WWII.
“[War games] directly influenced my choice of what I study in my career,” he says. “It permits me to recreate a bit of important history.”
It’s that ability to recreate the past that proves to be the proverbial carrot for Science Learning Lab Manager, Frank Dill.
“You get to pretend that you’re the historical head of a country and see if you can direct battles as well as they did,” says Dill. “You refight Napoleon’s battles and you find out ‘hmm… he did ok!'”
Chuckling, he adds, “It’s a total ego and power trip.”
Sanders first began playing war games as a young child. Needing a filler player, his uncles introduced him to Axis & Allies. To their surprise, it wasn’t long before he was winning matches.
“When I began winning,” Sanders recalls. “I felt 10 feet tall.”
But there are more benefits to playing than the exhilaration of beating an opponent, Baker stresses.
“You also get a feel for what was going on at the time and the limits that people had on what they were doing,” he says. “If [students] walk away thinking ‘man, it was hard to invade Russia,’ then they learned something. I could tell them in class but it might not really sink in.
The historicity of the games draws third-year History major Jim Eagan to the table. An avid war games player since high school, Eagan competed in games lasting up to four and five hours long.
“They’re intellectually stimulating,” says Eagan. “I like the strategy.”
The War Games Club is open to faculty, staff, and students. The group meets monthly at RWC on varied days, dependent on popular availability. Contact Professor Lee Baker at leebakerjr@aol.com for specific meeting times.