Each fall semester, on the first day of class of his upper-level American Military History course, the author informs his students that a major part of the class consists of a wargame in which they will participate. In this article, the author describes briefly how the class will be divided into two teams, and that on a specific evening during the fourth week of class, they will engage in battle at a park on campus known as Durham Park. The only weapons that they are allowed to use are water balloons. The author also tells them that their final paper for the class "will have something to do" with the wargame, but he remains deliberately vague when pressed for details. For most, the knowledge that they will get to participate in a water balloon fight generates a good deal of excitement and enthusiasm for the course. What they do not immediately recognize is that they will be actively learning the historical method by participating in a historical event and then analyzing it afterwards. (Contains 4 notes.)