Trying a DBA after-school club - advice welcome

Thanks for the replies guys.

I hadn't come across Junior General before, so will be having a root around there to see what it has.

One of the first things I realised is that the kids would be most attracted to the eye-candy, which is what we'll be very lacking to start with, what with having zero budget... I'll have to find other ways to make it exciting for them. Maybe let them wear Roman helmets and wave around other props...

Getting the kids to make their own terrain pieces is a great idea though - if everyone makes one piece, we'd soon build up a range of pieces.
I like Jim's brown corduroy for ploughed fields. Will be nicking that idea. Oh and Jim, thanks for the link to your hint cards. Those were the ones I'd seen previously, and was about to go hunting for again. Thanks for saving me the effort.

I have no idea how long the club will run for. It might just be a half-term thing, or it might last for a lot longer. I'll see how it goes, and keep you updated.

Cheers,

Derek

Hi guys,

Just a belated update, quite brief as I'm busy with work.

We had our first game, and the teacher loved it. He really liked how each element operated consistent with how actual units of that type would have, and once we got going, the game really sped up. He said that the simple counters I used with the troop name and the DBA definition helped to know exactly what each units was, and added flavour to each army.

Brief battle report: Teacher was Early Imperial Romans, son was Britons. Romans invaded, battle was held near a large hamlet, with difficult hills, woods, and a river. (Son knows the importance of suitable terrain...)
Main Roman army struggled to find anywhere to properly deploy, and languished in a column most of the time. They did however get their archers and bolt throwers set up in the hamlet, and shot at the warband as it came across the river. The warband general was at the front of the column and was killed. (In a moment of kindness, and because it was a 'test' game', teacher suggested that the other warband element should be killed instead, instead of the general. A decision he later came to regret...) After some initial success, the Roman archers and bolt throwers were overwhelmed by the warband. When the Roman cavalry clashed with the Briton's light horse, and came off worse, the tide seemed to have turned. Then the Roman general was mobbed by the warband and killed. Battle was over, Brave Sir Robin ran away.

We'll be having another game next week, then the plan is to let one or two other join in, so they pick up the game, and slowly increase numbers. Instead of having two separate games running, we may jump straight to big Battle DBA, and have a 2v2 battle on a larger board, so we're all playing together until they've got a good grasp of the game and can fight their own battles with minimal hand-holding.