Earlier today we posted this article asking for help in supporting our Youth Gaming League, since then donations and supportive e-mails have been flooding our boxes! One such e-mail comes from a Teacher in Illinois who uses the LOTR Miniature War Game to introduce his students to the world of Tolkien!

Dear Havens,

      I am very pleased to see that you’re interested in how Tolkien gaming is important to the future of his literary works. I run a very large league of gamers in Illinois that play the LOTR Strategy Battle Game from Games Workshop. Many of the younger kids seemed bored with the other traditional games and were looking for something new. What they found, was something very special.

      When I first introduced the LOTR game, many kids were skeptical. It was a new skirmish game set in a world they did not know. However, once they saw the ease in which the game was played, they were drawn in. What happened next was something quite refreshing. Here were kids telling me that they had found lots of “great scenarios” after READING the books. The kids were telling ME about the battles and the great adventures. Furthermore, I was fielding thousands of questions about this, that, and the other thing. Here were pre-teen to teenage kids finding a new world in which to set their minds free. They were no longer discussing the trivial mindless nonsense of the pop culture but having debates on what the Fellowship should’ve done, or what actions might have been taken. My personal favorite came from a nine year old who asked why Gandalf and Frodo didn’t fly to Mount Doom with Gwaihir and just throw the ring in and leave. LOL.

      I was so proud of what I had accomplished! Here were a dozen young minds taken from the claws of the pop culture and placed in a refreshing world of literary genius. They were having intelligent discussions and then playing out their “what-if” scenarios on the gaming table. Furthermore, I even had parents telling me how happy they were that their KIDS WERE READING!!! I believe that no matter what, I have made our world a better place for bringing young minds into Tolkien’s world.

-SauronsWrath

Let us know of other ways Tolkien’s works and games based on those works have had a positive impact on your life, drop a line to Flinch@TheOneRing.net today!

Click here for the Original Article!