Testimonials

May 19, 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
In 1989/90 I took a Continuing Education course led by James Istvanffy on the Waterloo campaign, 1815.  This was delivered over a course of 8 sessions and I found it to be eminently entertaining, educational and interesting.  Mr. Istvanffy was clearly an expert in the topic and his delivery was quite riveting. 
He used an extremely unique educational concept whereby he combined lecture, audio-visual material, and strategy gaming to engage his students in the topic.  The lecture component provided a richly detailed background on the campaign, the individuals and the forces involved.  However, from there he deviated from the standard classroom instruction by letting his students actually relive the battle by playing a game about it, Napoleon’s Last Battles.  I have never seen this used as an instructional technique elsewhere and I would advocate that it be used more often.
By use of this kind of aide, we were able to become intimately familiar with the units, commanders and terrain involved in the battle and the problems facing both sides.  It is an excellent way to learn and remember history.  Studies have shown that you remember 10% of what you read and 20% of what you hear.  I would like to see studies on retention of information that you actually play and put to practical use.  I would venture a wager that it is significantly more than 20% since to this day I remember the layout of the map, the units and commanders involved, and what important moves need to be made.
I should point out that learning the game taught us more than just the history of the battle – it also taught us problem solving skills and how to think strategically.  Mr. Istvanffy did not simply give us the game and send us off to play – he spent significant amounts of one-on-one time with us examining our decisions.  “What moves do you think you need to make first?”  “What units can you bring up to fill that gap?”  “You have these reinforcements coming in at this time – what are your plans for them?”  By the end of the course we not only knew about the campaign, we were also good strategists and problem solvers.
In summation, Mr. Istvanffy’s instructional skills were excellent and the instructional aides that he chose were ideal for the course material and for engaging the interest and information retention of his students.  I would highly recommend him as an instructor and I would absolutely support the use of any games in the classroom.  I have been hoping that there would be other similar courses for a very long time now.
Sincerely yours,
Rory M. Cory
Collections Technician, Military History
Glenbow Museum
Calgary, Alberta
(403)590-1934

[The Stratagem Solutions Seminar] was an all encompassing learning experience for me. Not only did I learn some valuable business strategies but also how to play a strategy game, learned about WWII history, and a few other [business skills].  And, I must say your knowledge of that time period is definitely impressive.  Not only did I learn a lot about history but your analysis of the game afterward was very helpful.  I wouldn’t have realized otherwise how parallel the strategy in the game was to my life.  I can definitely appreciate as a business owner how learning strategic techniques and advancements are particularly useful when I get to practice them in not only the safe settings of a game room but also in the abbreviated time period.  The lessons learned there in a few hours might have taken months to play out in reality for me.  Time is money and it was definitely worth my few hours to learn such valuable lessons.  I definitely recommend your services to other managers and business owners and I look forward to another opportunity to set my skills to the test.
Thank you again,
Michelle Nedelec
Awareness Strategies Inc.

I found the War Game and strategy training at the Fort Gary Horse junior officer professional development week-end to be very beneficial. Going through historic battles, such as D-Day, and the events following, is a great way to learn why past leaders made decisions and what the outcomes of those decisions were. Being educated about past war time decisions is one of the best ways to avoid possible errors in the future.
The war gaming part of the training was an excellent way for us to exercise our own judgment and decision making. Further, we were able to see the effects of our decisions in battle in a virtual setting that we could relate to real word scenarios.
Mr. Istvanffy has a great breadth of knowledge of both Canadian military history, as well as strategy war gaming, making him a very effective instructor for this type of training. I feel this training has great value and I look forward to future opportunities like this.
Sincerely,
OCDT T.R. Glasman