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Local teacher teaches the world through board games
By Kalea Hall
NEW MIDDLETOWN
Paul Rohrbaugh isn’t just a guy who makes war board games. He is a teacher.
He wanted to find another way to instruct his students on important historic events, and what better way than using games.
Little did he know more than 30 years ago when he started using the games in the classroom that he would have his own game-publishing business and, one day, have hundreds of his own games.
“It’s always been a fun way to encourage students to learn more about the subject and learn more about themselves,” Rohrbaugh said. “This is a way for them to empathize with the history.”
He sees his game players as his students, and his game as a form of instruction.
With his own company, High Flying Dice Games, he has more than 50 games published, and he continues to produce new games and perfect others.
“To me, it is the story,” he said. “It is another form of narrative history. That’s what drives me as a teacher: What’s the lesson? How can I make this as interactive and informative as possible for the players, my students.”
Rohrbaugh, 59, has three master’s degrees, is a longtime teacher, and he still teaches part time at Youngstown State University. Outside of his game development, he is also working on two books — both are on historical topics. On top of that, he is a history encyclopedia. He has to be, given his stash of potential historical events he could make into new games.
He also is a collector. He has a countless amount of war games in his New Middletown basement — some of which he has played and others he admires.
As a young boy, he played with toy soldiers and eventually got into war board games. His parents saw he had a chance at learning and having fun, so they bought him some games when he was 13. One of those games, Afrika Korps, still sits on his shelf.
“I would tinker with their rules and come up with my own,” he said.
When he became a teacher at St. Rose Elementary School in Girard, he began to use games in the classroom. Students would have to prevent the Cold War from breaking out into World War III or they would have to learn how to survive as new immigrants to the country.
“The students had a lot of fun with that,” he said.
While he was continuously creating games for years, he didn’t actually have his first game published until 1999 by Microgame Design Group. The game, Trampling Out the Vintage, is about the Union army’s campaign to seize the key confederate city of Atlanta.
“This is specifically designed for people who have never played these types of games,” he said. “Creating these types of vehicles gets people interested in history.”
He continued to publish his games with this company until the economy took a hit. Once he was able to secure his own designer and create a business, he got to work publishing.
When it comes to making his games, he first thinks of an event that could be recreated in game form. He keeps in mind how important social interaction is to the game.
Once he has the idea, he researches and makes certain he pinpoints certain parts of the event.
Andy Nunez, editor at Against the Odds magazine — a military history magazine that publishes Rohrbaugh’s games — said buyers are more picky today, so they want all the details, and Rohrbaugh does that well.
“Paul is an ace researcher,” he said. “I think he has made a mark on the world of war board games by taking on games no one else wanted to do.”
Rohrbaugh will often bring out the underdog in his games. His best game? It has to be Le Vallee De La Mort published in Against the Odds that has two complete simulations. The game recreates the battles of Na San in 1953 and Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, in 1954.
“These were pivotal battles in the Vietnam War between the Communist Viet Minh and French,” Rohrbaugh said. “Their outcomes led directly to increased U.S. involvement and our eventual intervention in that war.”
Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of the Viet Minh, loved the game so much he sent a note to Rohrbaugh and autographed the game for him.
“That game takes an impossible siege situation and turns it into a contest,” Nunez said.
But Nunez hasn’t played Rohrbaugh’s September’s Eagles, a game that intends to recreate the “Golden Age of Air Racing.”
This game is locally available for purchase at Boardman Hobby Center, 6820 Market St.
Rohrbaugh said he sells about four games a day throughout the country and world and is constantly developing more ideas.
He has three Charles S. Roberts Awards for his games: Chennault’s First Fight: The Flying Tigers Over Burma won in 2005 for Designer of Best Magazine Wargame; Deathride: The Battle of Mars-la-Tour, 1870 won in 2009 for Developer of the Best Magazine Wargame with the Designer, Charles Vasey; and City of Confusion: The Battle of Hue won in 2013 for Designer of the Best Desk Top Published Wargame.
Right now, he has a few developers ready to publish their games under his company, which makes him feel honored. The best part for him is still knowing that he is teaching someone out there who may have never been in his classroom but has played his games.
“It’s been really nice to have this creative outlet,” he said. “The most-rewarding thing is getting feedback from this.”