History Club: World War Three Begins
Jarod Wredt
Staff Writer
The nations from 1800-1914 gather to collect their resources, build fleets, mobilize troops and eat pizza to mark the beginning of the History Club Imperialism Simulation.
The game is like more an intense adaptation of the board game Risk that involves trading, alliances, diplomacy and the overall taking over the world. The six nations which are the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia and Austria consist of teams of about four to six members. Each member has a specific job within that nation. Those jobs are Diplomat, General, Trader, Leaders and on some teams there is a representative of the upper-middle class.
“The objective of the game is to colonize areas throughout the world to accumulate resources. With those resources and trade, nations need to militarize to protect their territories. Eventually, imperialism and alliances lead to World War. To the victors, go the spoils,” sponsor Seth Styskal said.
At the beginning of each round, commodity card are distributed. Commodity cards are what each player receives per turn. Items like weapons, ships, different sorts of products, food, steel and gold are used throughout the game as trading materials or simply for war with other countries.
Then the traders take control of the round. They frantically scurry to the middle of the room to trade excess items for items that are more scarce, such as consumer products or other items the nation needs. This is a difficult because of the limited time period and small amount of items that people are willing to trade. Most items can be used in more than one way in terms of fleets, armies or war cards.
When the allotted time for trading draws to a close and the last second trades are transacted, the generals take what they need to make ships, fleets, weapons, armies and war cards. This is one of the shorter processes which could end in disaster if not for the diplomats.
“I think the most enjoyable part is witnessing the interaction between the nations' representatives. They learn to work with different personalities and make new friends,” Styskal said.
When it’s time for diplomacy alliances are made. One such alliance is currently being called the Big Three. United states, Great Britain and Russia working toward an alliance. There are several steps to make a full alliance. It will take a total of six rounds to completely make alliances between any two countries. First teams start with a simple trade agreement. This is just a contract that says you’ll trade certain items each turn. They then progress deeper into the alliance.
Last but not least is the leaders of the nations. They have a lot of deciding to do because they pick colonies and with each one may come with commodities. After the colonies are chosen the morale is adjusted. Morale is keeping the nations people happy. At the end of each turn teams need two industrial products, three food, two consumer products and one luxury item.
The game is enjoyable overall, but it also helps students understand imperialism during the World War I era.
“As a History Club, I think the game serves two purposes. It allows History Club's members to socialize, strategize and ultimately build relationships while learning how to function cohesively as a group. The Imperialism Simulation game also educates members [about] the positive and negative consequences of imperialism,” Styskal said.
Having to give items at the end of turns is a lesson in preservation of essential items for survival. Colonizing countries for resources teaches members about imperialism in the early 1800s- the early 1900s. And turning it into a game allows students to stay interested with these lessons.
With the tension mounting between nations and their leaders, the Imperialism Simulation may just become History Club’s own WWIII.
