Getting your kids into the apocalypse!

A few weeks ago one of our Twitter followers asked about how to get your kids into playing Warhammer and that got me thinking about doing a post about my son who is occasionally trying his hand at painting and even has a kinda 'pew pew' style game with me every now and then. So I thought I would give a few thoughts on how this has come about for me.

Firstly, I would say that its a great way to do something together that you both like which is always a good shift from simply sitting waiting for them to finish swimming/scouts/gym/music/[insert your kids hobby here] as its a great way to spend some quality time together. An added bonus as a hobbyist is that you can get some of your own work done as part of it and in the future you may have created a gaming buddy in your own home which is also handy!

How did this all come about for me?

Well this happened pretty accidentally for me. My oldest son, Charlie, was naturally curious about these plastic space men that Daddy seemed so keen on and that sparked his interest and lets face it, they look/are like very expensive toys so what kid isn't interested in them?! He also likes art and is kinda patient so the idea of modelling came naturally to him. Check out his first finished model above. He is only 7 but has done all of this himself - the only bits I got involved with was to help glue it together and provide advice on how to do the effects - amazing what a simple colour scheme and some dry brushing/washes can do!

He has decided to do a Raven Guard army and this was his first proper model, he has a set of attack bikes to try next.

How to introduce small kids to gaming

Alongside a bit of modelling we have tried playing a few games. I found out really quickly that simple was best here. At first I put up a few imperial buildings and we divided a small infantry force between us - then basically had a 'pew pew' game with turns - very simple. 

This has moved on to using a dice - just one/two dice to decide who many hits, how many wounds and then models are removed. We stick to a move-then shoot turn system and have avoided hand to hand fighting thus far. 

He has really enjoyed these and I kind of wait for him to ask to play rather than me trying to talk him into it. So far its been great fun and a superb way to spend time with my son either patiently lobbying together or blowing away some traitor guardsmen!

Reflections on seeing other Dads and kids

I remember that when me and Dad James attended our first Warhammer World Doubles Tournaments I was really struck by the father-son teams we saw. I can still remember thinking what great Dads they were and seeing how both were having a great time (apart from when two played us once and we tabled them, but thats another story)!

Seeing them made me think longer term and I hope I am still gaming when my boys are in their teens and want to team up with their Dad for a tournament, I take my hat off to those father son teams who had built an army together and played together at those tourneys. 

Happy gaming!