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Storm the Castle!
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One Defending team, with a castle, and one or more Attacking teams, each with a trebuchet (siege catapult), do battle. All the necessary resources to build castle, trebuchets and paper ‘boulders’ are supplied in the pack.
The battle part of the activity is pure fun but the preparation stage contains valuable lessons for working together as a group towards a successful outcome.
First teams get to grips with what the preparation entails. Quality construction skills are vital. There’s an issue around maximising limited resources but if the equipment is not built-for-purpose it will be ineffective in battle! They’ll need to test fire power and to study the lie of the land before deciding which trebuchet site to use (for the castle’s defenders it’s about predicting where those sites might be). Defenders start with a maximum point score of 100 points (more if their castle deserves it!) which get whittled away in battle by successful ‘hits’ from trebuchet boulders. They’ll need to asses the value of using some of their points on pre-battle activity: sabotaging trebuchet sites and deploying archers in the forests. If they predict the right sites it will severely reduce the power of Attackers (and attackers will assess the risks of these actions being taken in selecting their site). They can check out sites first, but it all eats into the time for making the ammunition! To optimise the preparations there are lots of pros and cons for teams to discuss and to avoid the blame game later they’ll need team consensus.
Once battle commences the easy point-scoring determines the winning team – or teams! The debrief can be as short or as long as you choose.- The value of bonding and working as a effective team
- The need to understand the task
- The meaning of quality
- To assess risk
- To identify strengths and weaknesses
- To manage the time available
- The value of negotiating skills
- Divide the group according to instructions in the Trainer’s Notes and briefly introduce the activity as an opportunity to work as a team on a fun task.
- Begin the activity by issuing the appropriate Team Briefs. When asked by teams issue the appropriate Construction Plans and Set of Resources.
- After a further 20 minutes issue each team with a Deployment Form and explain you’ll collect them in 30 minutes.
- If teams ask, allow them to set up a dummy tower for firing practice. And award extra points to Defenders IF they build an impressive castle with imaginative embellishments!
- Collect Deployment Forms to establish the outcome of any pre-battle activity and announce current point scores for each team.
- Give go-ahead for the castle and trebuchet(s) to be placed on the training room floor. Check distances are as per the map. Let battle commence, trebuchets firing alternately and scoring accordingly. Be prepared for the ‘last throw of the dice ‘option for both Defenders and Attackers.
- When all boulders have been used, or before if Defenders are reduced to a zero score, the battle ends.
- Announce the winner(s) and lead a short debrief.
There’s a Team Review Sheet to hand out and full details on running and debriefing the session are given in the Trainer’s Notes.
C. Osborne, Kuehne & Nagel Really interactive. Highlights the need for good teamwork, good strategy and the effective allocation of tasks. As a general comment: Northgate activities are very good, very informative and do what they say they do!
S-A Bennett, Scottish Prison Service CollegeFun activity to illustrate the importance of planning at the start, attention to detail, group decision-making, organising the team and good team dynamics. Using the Team Review Handout lets participants lead the review.
As a general comment, Northgate activities are quality materials with good Facilitator Guides.
J Lane, Independent Consultant
We trialled this new activity for Northgate at the start of a three-day course. Participants didn’t know each other. We started at 4pm and it ran for two hours. When battle commenced it was mayhem! But there are also many useful learning points about group dynamics and the characteristics of effective teams – not least in bonding and celebrating success. Afterwards the trebuchets were taken to the bar and were the centre of discussions for the whole evening. The perfect icebreake
- Virgin Holidays
- NLIAH Wales
- Scottish Prison Service
- Squires, Sanders & Dempsey
- Radisson Edwardian Hotels
- Yone-Team Creative Solutions
- Kuehne Nagel
- Ashfords Solicitors
- Trainer’s Notes
- Team Brief - Attackers
- Team Brief - Defenders
- Trebuchet Construction Plans
- Castle Construction Plans
- Deployment Forms
- Sets of Resources (card, tape, scissors, ruler, wood sticks, elastic bands etc)
- Pad: Team Review Sheets
- Tape Measure & Dice
