The Academy

The Academy teaches new players the basic rules prior to their first HOLF-sponsored game. This course replaces those previously offered as the Academy at St. Cyr (Academie Militare) and the Academy at Norwich.

The Academy consists of two phases:
A self-paced elearning formatted Basic Course consisting of a self-paced knowledge course with end of block tests;
and, a force-on-force game, the "cadet game", of short duration to exercise the newly learned skills.

The course uses the ground module of Civil War Online (CWOL), called Rolling of the Drums  (ROTD), to teach the basics in map & situational analysis, entering the orders web forms for units you control, and interpretation of the reports received back from the game server. The most recent version of the ROTD rules summary can be reached here.


Overview of the Academy Course

Go here to start the Academy course. You will be referred to as a "cadet" or "cadet colonel" while enrolled at the Academy. The course is open to all players who wish to play CWOL, AMWOL, and NWOL.

Basic Course

The Academy course is designed for players who have not participated in a game yet. During the "basic course" you will go through four elearning modules that teach you skills needed to understand the reports and maps you receive and how to submit orders to command your units. Additionally the basic course will make you familiar with the rules and game design used by HOLF for their land combat modules. Rules for the other three modules of HOLF games will touched on as well to give you a general background on how HOLF games are played.

To ensure that your progress is tracked and that you are enrolled in the end of course force-on-force cadet game, send an email to the Academy Commandant. Cadets also need to join the Historical Online Learning Foundation Players Guild (go here) where news of current and future HOLF games plus game developments are announced and discussed. This is the main communications conduit used by game administrators to explain game events to all players.

Cadet Game

The "cadet game" serves three purposes:
1 - To allow you to exercise the skills you just learned in the basic course, and;
2 - To facilitate mentoring of new players by mentors and cadre of the Players Guild who can supplement the knowledge you learned during the basic course.
3 - To allow new players to practice protocols and lessons learned passed along to them by their mentors.
All cadet games are organized and coordinated by the Academy Commandant. Enrollment in cadet games is usually done by emails between the Commandant and cadet officers. There will only be automated registration for these games on rare occasions. Cadets are expected to request cadet game slots once they finish the basic course.

News at the Academy

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