Hi everyone,

I have an 8-year old son who enjoys games. I'd like to try some skirmish or small-scale wargames with him (up to about warband or platoon size). He's a bright kid who reads well, so his comprehension level is pretty good but on the other hand he's still only 8, so he's not so good with patience and he's still learning strategy.

I've seen people mention Song of Blades and Heroes, which might be suitable, or maybe Dragon Rampant for bigger games. Alternatively, Osprey Games have put out a bunch of genre-specific rulebooks, does anyone have any experience with those (In Her Majesty's Name looked interesting)?

Basically chasing any recommendations or experiences from games with simpler/more accessible rules and a relatively short playing time - genre's not so important.

Thanks.

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WMH: Khador and Circle; Malifaux: Gremlins, Outcasts, Arcanists and Neverborn; X-Wing: Rebels; DWars: Prussians; Blood Bowl: Lots Dreadball: Humans; W40K: Space Marines; Epic: Orks and Imperial Guard; Warhammer: Empire

I would recommend both Song of Blades and Heroes and Dragon Rampant for kids. They both have really simple mechanics, and are ultra flexible when it comes to what models you use. Make some very basic lists using a selection of models (depending what you have) and add complexity as you go along.

You can get both rulesets pretty cheap, SoB&H you can just buy the PDFs.

Though if you want absolutely free rules, and have the models for it, Age of Sigmar is really easy too.

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Also known as Peter
Bloggin' - my record of painting and gaming in all sorts of 28mm games

Lion rampant is as simple yet elegant as I've ever seen. Cheap too. Book is like $30? And all you need is one or two boxes of perry plastic miniatures to have a good force.

Same for dragon rampant, though it's a little more complex as all units are custom built according to the player, but it's still very simple and there's no expansions needed.

These share a very simple system and have tiny stand alone rule books. You can use any models you want. I would use these if I needed to run a course on war gaming 101.

In addition to the already good recommendations above I have just started looking at Arcworlde and I think it's pretty simple with 1 = auto fail, 6= auto success. Most rolls need 4+ to succeed. Has modifiers so there is an element of math (a good thing). It's got a magic system you could include or ignore.

Rulebook is a free download, as are many of the model stats.

As much as I like the character to Alex Huntley's sculpts, no requirement to use those models. 30mm bases are technically a requirement but again could be overlooked

The game apparently scales from small warband skirmish to much bigger battles. Can't vouch for any of this though, I play my first game tomorrow

My biggest piece of advice though would be don't invest too much into whatever system. Kids are fickle


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Maxim 37: There is no 'overkill.' There is only 'open fire' and 'time to reload.' - Schlock Mercenary
Hobby Bloggin

Thanks for the recommendations, guys.

Just looking at some of the Arcworlde stuff at the moment. It looks interesting but not the place I'd start with Dan. I'm curious how your game went, Dave?

On the bright side there's a cheap Kindle version of Dragon Rampant from Amazon to go with the .pdf of SoB&H, so I reckon I might get both and check them out as well.

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WMH: Khador and Circle; Malifaux: Gremlins, Outcasts, Arcanists and Neverborn; X-Wing: Rebels; DWars: Prussians; Blood Bowl: Lots Dreadball: Humans; W40K: Space Marines; Epic: Orks and Imperial Guard; Warhammer: Empire

If you are interested in board game crossovers - try Mice and Mystics (DnD on a board with Mice!) or Tail feathers (Mice and Mystic X-wing crossover). I have bought both, but trying to find the opportunity to play with my 7 year old is easier said than done. She is really keen though.

I'd be interested to know if people thought Frostgrave would be a good place to start (maybe minus the wandering monsters for a start, and with a pre-selected spell list... maybe even mirrored sorcerers)? Seeing as I already have some stuff and am in the process of getting a bit more... that might be a place to go?

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"There are some people who think less is more. Warhammer, conversely, believes that more is always more."

"Cry "Havoc!!", and let slip the dogs of war" Julius Caesar; Act III, Scene I