How to Get Kids Into Wargaming?

[@Klatubarada1979]

"I'm not a child owner myself." Lol i love this channel!

[@mikereckhaus1139]

An aspect that catches my little ones attention is the lore. By telling them storys about 40k and about some of the models (children friendly). E.g. the Space Marines chapters specialities, memorizable gameplays of a tactical flamer Marine while holding a mission marker ... They we're burning to Play the game even before knowing what it is exactly about.

[@jburns272]

You can also use the stories to motivate your children to practice reading.

[@AristotleOfGreece]

Lore is a great place to start 'cause what kid doesn't love all the action etc. lol

[@druidobianco9734]

That’s the way gw markets the game: when a child or a teenager enters theyr store, they immediatly try to show the game in a narrative way

[@caseyrogers7538]

A couple of months ago, I dragged my kids (6 and 3) into the game store to pick up some paints. They stared in aww at all the Reaper Bones minis. I let them each pick out one, then I showed them the big bag I had in the game closet that someone had given me years ago. When my son said he wanted to play I just picked some profiles from the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game and used a playing card to measure movement and spell/bow ranges. It was pretty fun.

[@hellinterface6721]

I have a nephew who is currently 3. He likes to pick things up and chuck them at the ground at any moment without warning though. Was your 6 year old able to focus and have patience with it pretty well? I'm waiting to put my army on parade for him and give him that staring in awe moment but not sure which age is the right age. What Atom said about "when they can read" seems like good advice.

[@caseyrogers7538]

My 6-year-old's first couple of attempts did not go well, he got upset that it didn't turn out the way he wanted it to. A couple months later he tried again and had fun with it. My 3-year-old has had fun just slopping paint on them. The minis were Reaper Bones, which are practically indesructible of course.

[@hellinterface6721]

Haha cool. Ok. Did he get upset he lost or upset and frustrated by the rules and too much stuff dying? Oh yeah I think somebody once said always let your opponent win when teaching them a new game for their first time. I THINK that somebody was Uncle Atom.

[@hexedgegames6283]

Great video, for a non child owner you hit all the nails on the heads. I've been playing Kill Team 'lite' with my 9yr old boy and 11yr old girl. Very easy game to strip down and teach, first game movement and shooting, second game introduce charging and fight phase. And after add another element and so on till they can wipe the table with you, nothing more enjoyable and engaging to a child than beating dad at his own game!!!!

[@jeansteeler8831]

Definitely. Not to mention you are playing an active role in your children's lives. It fun and it's responsible parenting. They'll grow up remembering family fun times instead of getting bitter and distant.

[@osvaldoprado9906]

Love your testimony :)

[@xanthippus3190]

I plan on getting my nephews into wargaming, you've heard of wine aunts, I wanna be the warhammer uncle.

[@mariomariolemieux982]

I laid the groundwork for getting my nephew into wargaming when he was 6 weeks old, by giving my brother in law my old Tau army. By hooking his dad, I'm hoping to hook my nephew.

[@lennonpierce1607]

We should all form a club... i got my nephew a used copy of the old school rune wars to paint (hes 8-9 and very artistic driven). Granted they're not my warhammer, imperial assault or descent 2.0 tabletop levels... as he is only 8... BUT... Now he bugs his mom and dad for "brush time" basically instead of playing his 3ds... MUWAHAHAHAHA When we move into our new home, I have a hobby room planned with a big table... and airbrush station... nothing better than unbiased untapped kids imagination :)

[@mariomariolemieux982]

Ok, let's work on a club name. Motto is easy "And they shall know no bedtime." Also, it helps that my nephew lives 15 minutes from the GW main office in Nottingham. Any visit to him includes a visit to the mothership.

[@lennonpierce1607]

That is AWESOME... I am jealous. Where I live is a desert for tabletops and war games, so we scoop up whatever we can :) *dented box sales are so nice*

[@mariomariolemieux982]

That's just where he lives, and I get to visit. I've got some good game shops near me, but I'm pretty much in BFE.

[@redrooster7371]

Gaslands. You just take playing with toy cars to the next level. The rules are easy to adjust. Building and painting your own cars is easy.

[@rowluxillusion5235]

Our local Warhammer Store (Central London) runs a kids club every Sunday, my son is 9 and goes every sunday from 2-4, he spends and hour modelling and an hour gaming, it's absolutely brilliant. He meets other kids who are into Warhammer 40k like he is, they share painting tips, tactics and they compare their armies. It's fantastic.

[@bothygollach]

My son (8) goes to his local Warhammer store as well and loves it. He’s been taking friends along and does far more than he would at home.

[@rowluxillusion5235]

totally agree, they also now do Birthday parties and I think we'll do that for him next year.

[@Nilly-tube]

That's so awesome!

[@ADHDlanguages]

My daughter is 4. We haven't much gotten into the actual wargaming stuff obviously, but she enjoys painting models. She watches some stuff on youtube where people do toy modding and customization so she likes approaching it more from that angle. She loves horses so I've bought her some 10 packs of horses at the dollar store. We've put toothpicks on some to make them unicorns, and she likes to paint them up and then adds them to her collection so she can play little 4 year old games where they all go to the vet together and such - I strongly doubt she'd get more joy from a Bones guy that costs 30x as much. The world of modeling, painting, and wargaming is really big. The most important thing is obviously to encourage them in what they like, and imho who gives a damn whether it's the same stuff you like. But if you are trying to draw them in, just pay attention to what your kid likes and show them the sides of the hobby that appeal to their interests. If they like cars, they might be into gaslands, if sports, blood bowl, etc.

[@baitbait65]

Similar story here. My son saw some space marines on my desk and fell in love. We painted some extra reivers up but then he wanted to do more. We ended up getting a big box of cheap plastic army men and have been painting them together.

[@djtoddpharris9565]

I remember when my dad got me my first model airplane at the age of five, and it dovetailed into world war II miniatures which my brother and I would take our models, put them on the family ping pong table, and play out various battles using rules we made up. The rest, they say, was history! I've been an avid gamer and modeller since, and I'm fifty three now.

[@voingiappone]

I totally second the "hobby together" thing: my son is 2 yo and cannot speak yet... but he sits by my side and shakes my paints. He's been watching me so much that he also tries to squeeze the droppers on the wet palette. I think it will be really easy to capture his interest now!

[@mistertee1979]

My kids really enjoyed painting up the primaris marines from issue 1 of conquest, they are 6 & 4 and actually sat still for nearly an hour. Still a bit young for the games you mentioned but was thinking of just setting up shadespire boards and minis and basically rolling off to race across the board or fight each other. Will see how it goes!

[@caseyrogers7538]

My friend has recommended that too with Shadespire, leave the decks out of it and just run around the board and roll dice at each other.

[@jburns272]

One of my mates did something similar to teach his 7 year old son how to play Necromunda. Set up a simple board, pick a fighter each and attack each other from there.

[@josephpunley9941]

Yea got both mine painting with me help include them in the activity. I grabbed a ninja all stars set because the anime style minis are easy for them to paint. For actual 40k at home get them in at as my dice rollers

[@ironwolf113]

Well I am 12 years old according to Amazon product suggestions and I have been doing Wargaming again since I left college.

[@Cam64viper]

Amazon knows what's up.

[@rodneykelly8768]

I heard related comments on a model railroad tv show. Some people who were being interviewed about how they started the hobby, would say, "I got a train set when I was young." "I enjoyed playing with it, but I went away from it when I got older." Then, a decade or two later, they find their old set, and think, "This was fun," and restart their hobby. The moral of this rant is that just because your child doesn't stay with gaming, doesn't mean that their will not come back to when they are older.

[@PittsPilot]

Good take on it, now that I think back the reason I am into the hobby is because when I was 9 years old my uncle, who worked at Hobby Town at the time, came over with a space marine and after I saw it I had to have my own! I started asking for them for Birthday's and Christmas and collected them as a kid. 20 years later I started buying and playing war games again!

[@inkpenavengerYT]

My 12-year-old son plays T'au (power rangers color scheme). My 7-year-old daughter has a little imperium mix to hold her over until the new Sisters come out. My 4-year-old daughter plays Orks in Killteam.

[@joshualowe4454]

I have a 8 yo, and last year we got the middle starter box. Not dark imperium, but I can't recall the name. Anyway, we each chose a force from that and played through the missions together after the models were assembled and that lit the fires of interest in him. We've slowly moved into painting as well as increasing our armies, and I also use it as a reward for being well behaved/doing good in school. It's been a win-win so far!

[@ulflilienthal8120]

Great video, recently have gotten back into mini wargaming myself and love it. Never introduced my kids to it when they were young but recently became a grandpa and want to eventually introduce my grandkids to the hobby and the fun of the gaming.

[@janviggoneubergjohansen]

Child "Owner"??? Sounded like u can order one from GW. Høh..

[@koelkast9]

Shipping rates are terrible

[@ADHDlanguages]

Do they jack the prices up if you live outside of the UK?

[@TheElusiveMandog]

Just checked leave it to GW to have a product out of my price range lol 😂

[@PittsPilot]

You have to assemble them, they are made out of resin and by the time you are done raising them you'll just want to get rid of them cause there is no more space for them... oh wait did you say titans or children?

[@VJMorph]

Is it possible to get a refund?

[@ScapegoatStephen]

My daughter (currently 9) has been playing Zombiecide for a year or so, has been playing Guildball since January (smaller model count so easier to pick up the basics) and has been loving it. Setting up Conquest Issue 2 demo game for this afternoon as well as starting her on painting the Death Guard. I have picked up Kill Team as well to get her hooked. She enjoys the narrative element of games SO much and that really gets her invested.

[@arielsanchez465]

Awesome video, my kids and I can always count on Uncle Atom!!! "child owner" 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

[@joshuareddinger7555]

Hey Atom, nice video. I have 2 cents to add. I am not a parent but I do remember being a child. I remember playing D&D with my dad at a young age. He would handle the rules part of it and just guide my character through a little adventure. That really made the game fun and accessible. So I would say parent DMing is a good way to inspire love of all fiction gaming. On the hobby side of it I'd say build bigger models with your younger kids. 28mm scale is rough for adults to paint let alone a 5 year old. Start them off with something large that they like. (cars, monsters, tanks, space ships) and just help them with that. I know when I was in high school and heard about warhammer I was sucked in immediately simply because "you mean I can build these models and then play a game with them?!" So yeah this might work with kids.

[@manyslayer5889]

Started my son on Song of Blades and Heroes when he was 7 or 8. He's more into boardgames (loves Red Dragon Inn, most of the Tiny Epic games, Super Dungeon Explore, likes Space Hulk) and video games, but does want to give Kill Team a try. Going to pick up Blitz Bowl after work so another to try with him.

[@seankavanagh3742]

For painting - REAPER BONES - Cheap, hard to break and prebuilt. You can hand them to a child as young as 4 thou my son was in to full GW models in a year. Gaming - AGE OF SIGMAR - Open play one basic hero and two units no faction rules just the warscroll. I put the units on unit bases and my son just used to move that he loved it...now he is 8 he plays KILL TEAM so proud 😁

[@onionhat745]

Reaper Bones make the best Chaos Spawn and Chaos Furies. I've also used them for alternate AOS characters. Oh oh, and Rat Ogres! And Trolls. There's so much you can do with Reaper.

[@ARCcommand]

Heroscape was my gateway game when I was a young-un. It's inexpensive (it used to be at least, it's out of print now so sometimes you have to pay quite a bit), the miniatures are prepainted and extremely durable (someone stepped on one of them and there was absolutely no damage), the game is simple, there's a huge genre/unit variety, it is a quick game to play, and the game's rules are easy to learn but hard to master. Heck I'm 20 now, and my friends and I still play it, and we've used it as a gateway game for other friends of ours.

[@nickharvey7233]

I can pinpoint my immersion into the world of gaming precisely - in the early 80s, at my grandparents, I found a 1960s book of ideas to amuse children on rainy days. Several pages were dedicated to HG Wells’ “Little Wars”. It was a revelation - I could never look at my toy soldiers and Lego castle the same way again. My younger brother and I spent years fighting up and down the landing outside our bedroom, with serried ranks of 1:72 Napoleonic soldiers, devising our own rules. A ruler, some toy soldiers, and some marbles are all you need. It has the added excitement of even greater physicality and involvement than dice rolling. At about the same time, I discovered the Fighting Fantasy books - another great entry point. (And if you can’t get the kids off tablets, they have been transferred, original artwork and all, to the screen - I can particularly recommend the Sorcery! series produced by Inkle (I have to admit to having them on my phone, for more dissolute moments!) HeroQuest is a good shout - we had a short-lived TSR dungeon-delving game Legend of Heroes, which was similar, and my kids started on that. My brother and I progressed to Space Hulk and the Epic scale Space Marine. My 9 year son loves painting 40k and Warhammer fantasy - and we now play Kill Team together. My only advice: if your child has a half decent attention span, never underestimate what they are capable of.

[@c4darkmane616]

i started with Heroquest, then i was taught to paint by my mums friend's husband and he showed me his basement.... i never looked back, Lord of the rings cartoon, D&D cartoon series, Prince Valiant and Conan cartoons, films like Willow & Krull, the computer game Shadow Sorcerer each little thing just layered on my need for more fantasy. then i discovered 40K but i always come back to fantasy, im more creative towards fantasy and making my own setting and lore than i am Sc-fi

[@TheBubs866]

GW in the UK do the "First Strike, warhammer 40,000 starter set" which comes with most of the models seen in the conquest magazine so far. The box includes all the bits you need to play the most basic game. The rules take it in stages, adding more once you're clear on the previous set or rules. Even better that it can be had for just over £20

[@deangodden8568]

My 17 year old has just got me back into painting with a killteam after leaving GW fantasy painting 17 ish years ago, He is teaching me tabletop gaming as I never played only painted with his older brother. He found my old green skin/dwarves set and started painting so I got him into the hobby to make a full circle. Thanks for the channel some great stuff for a returner to the hobby.

[@Digitalfiendscom]

My kid started with Star Wars Armada at around 6 and then we moved to playing Massive Darkness. Now that she’s 8 we’re tackling Legion and Age of Sigmar. We’ve also got to get through Descent 2nd edition. Kids are awesome...most adults just look at you like, “uh huh”, whereas kids are typically all over this stuff and get into it.

[@BlueNETGaming]

"children are frequently sticky.." Made me laugh so hard! Love your channel and your content.. My 8 year old wants to also paint and play but I am so scared she will destroy my stuff so this is a good video for ideas

[@epicdungeontiles]

My son is super young, but always good to be prepared haha. Thanks for the info :)

[@sixxgunner8611]

Really appreciate this Video Adam, as you're not a "child owner" and clearly not on your comfort zone, you still did a video about it. Thumbs up!

[@davidcreighton-offord3275]

My older two boys just got through all of Hero Quest and absolutely loved it. Definitely made them more interested in the game and strategy side of things.

[@tbcross117]

My kids loved watching me paint gw stuff and were always wanting to try so i bought them some reaper bones models. Now theyre painting dreadnoughts and im walking them through 500 pt games

[@ap315]

Child owner here and she has painted some stormcast. She is now six and we play Stuffed Fables as a gateway to more complex mini games. She knows about thousand sons, although calls them thousand island sons, and hates Space wolves. Agree about co op anything at the beginning. Play together to start. Then encourage a positive approach to winning and losing.

[@Nilly-tube]

Thousand Island Sons made me laugh out loud. That's awesome, though.

[@NMahon]

Could you do a video on how to get friends into it? I've got friends who I feel would enjoy it but I don't know how to approach it

[@galdukat]

My kids love playing Kill Team and Age of Sigmar with me ages 8 and 6, my 4 and almost 2-year-old look at the table with eager desire to join in. It's time with dad so easy sell and they ask for another game weekly so we try and play once a week. Pizza and Warhammer is happening this evening actually!

[@J24-k8f]

When I was a young lad, I really liked airplanes, hot wheels, and tanks. I really liked models of them. Maybe ww2 fighter planes are a good gateway.

[@MountainCat1986]

Play Daslands with HW cars

[@mariomariolemieux982]

Good call. For me it was Testors models of classic cars.

[@labtec514]

There's also starter sets from Airfix that are more Lego esque than normal which I've been getting my nephew's for the last few Christmas/Birthdays

[@ianhutchinson8622]

I’ve run miniatures gaming clubs in schools that I’ve taught in for many years. I’ve used Kings of War which I think is a straightforward system to pick up and allows kids to choose a faction and take part in tournaments. I printed out images of units sized at 28mm and stuck them onto MDF bases. On the back I labelled each unit with its key stats for ease of play. Many schools have some sort of activities week in the Summer term so I’ve run Wargaming workshops as part of this process. For external provider you will have to go through Enhanced checks but the possibilities are there as most schools are desperate for quality extra curricular activities.

[@vynlevil]

Nice video, Uncle! I'm using Gaslands for painting toy cars (not playing with the ruleset) with my 4 yo-old son. Pretty effective since we got quite good results with quick & easy techniques (sponge, wash, drybrush).

[@nahsti8043]

My son is 4 so I order cheap soldier and tank toys off ebay or find them at my local shops and throw a base coat of spray on it and let him go to town with his paints so he can play with them how ever he wants while my big 1/35th models are left alone :) he loves painting and tanks

[@ADHDlanguages]

My daughter is 4 as well, and yes, she absolutely would not notice the difference between a perfect 28mm fig and her 1-72 models and dollar store horses

[@nahsti8043]

exactly then he takes them outside and into the dirt and it's no stress

[@nathandjohan1969]

I remember when i started when i was 12 back in 2012, with the iob set. Little old me had to paint so much skaven but it has been an amazing experience ever since

[@gregbrown3278]

I found that for my kids it was the idea of warhammer 40,000. We went to our local games workshop and the manager was amazing with the kids (i know it was for the sale) but he really took the time to be silly with the boys and i let them pick any unit they wanted. They picked necrons and we had so much fun painting them. We play really dumbed down rules at the moment but they love it. My boys are still very young so we will see

[@defcol]

My young lad is 7, nearer to 8. It's been 25+ years since i last play or painted or any if it but got back into it lately , so i have to basically re-learn everything. I'd like to spark his interest in it too without getting too bogged down in the rules , or slowing a game down to check the next steps etc.. and tips would be very welcome :)

[@Uberdemon0666]

My son expressed interest in GW games and started collecting. Took him to Liberation Day and he built and painted his first mini. We played one AoS game. Bought Blitz Bowl and Space Marines. Fun fact: If you buy the Necron Start Collecting box you have Necrons for Space Marines. You will also have enough Immortals for a Kill Team! Putting the Necrons together now. Can't wait to paint them!

[@Yashu1105]

Months ago i introduced my son into wargaming via Lego Star Wars Figures and strongly adapted and simplified 40k rules. He really enjoyed it. Then he always asked when we play the next round. So ist showed him my Lotr Miniatures. Now my five year old painted his first mordor Orcs last weekend. My expectations were very low and I was truly impressed how good he got the Job done. Next stop our first Saga Lotr Adaption game

[@nocturnesforge7054]

I have my 7 year old daughter painting , started with the easy build primaris and the g.w hobby/paint set and a couple of issues of Warhammer 40k conquest magazines . There is so much support today and guides and accessories for painting as well as lots of paints in general that makes getting youngster into the hobby . When I started you had basic colours and had to mix , there wasn’t any thing as a shade/wash paint really (bar snake bite leather) and there were no step by step guides like today it was just here’s your models here’s your limited paints there is some box art to work to , of you go .

[@justinreed679]

When I was a kid, Heroquest and mutant chronicles: seige of the citadel were my gateway to mini gaming. Uber fond memories of those games.

[@lewisarthur6778]

Great video, currently im in high school (UK) and my IT teacher plays so we started up a Warhammer club. Currently there is only 7 of us (we are 15-16 apart from our teacher). But we are hoping to get some of the younger kids to join that have just started high school. Also my local games workshop has a school league set up and my school is on there so we can now compete against other schools in the region and if we win we can go for the UK national competition.

[@imjusttrolling4358]

I’m getting my 10 and 12-year old into this. The younger one just wants to put it all together and paint, the older one actually asked me to get him the Codex’s for the armies so he could read more of the lore (and put it all together and paint them). I am leading the charge with my own set of Fantasy err.. Age of Sigmar armies - kids prefer 40k. I think it’s mainly because of how much they love Starcraft (the video game).

[@korth9107]

My son is 5 and i started wargaming for the first time with him as a counting exercise. He loved it and wanted more and more. So i stop DnD and got into wargaming to teach him. He loves it. We use cheap army men sized knights and skeletons for our armies.

[@alritchie2162]

My 9 yr old and I like painting and playing and I got him interested by digging out my old Heroquest board game. It’s a very simple game but has been a nice stepping stone to more Games Workshop stuff. Now looking to move onto Warhammer Quest.

[@ValkGame]

Isn't Space Marine Adventures only available from Barnes and Nobel? And only in the States it seems - I couldn't order it here in Canada through their website.

[@gadushholl3469]

I am late on this .. but great that you mention Song of Blades and Heroes! Very good choice ! I bought several pdf books from Ganesha.

[@paulknox505]

I recently pointed at something for someone and out-loud said “pachow” Your fault, lol.

[@brennefleisch]

The PC W40k games really peaked my 7 yr olds interest, so we are taking up miniatures now and slowly learn the full tabletop game. Orks are just an easy sell, colorful and fun.

[@bothygollach]

I’d recommend Burrows and Badgers. My son (8) is busy painting up a warband and it’s managed to get my wife into her first wargame. He already plays a few games, 40k, Age of Sigmar, Tanks, Heroquest and kill Team. The change to 8th edition 40k was the biggest thing to get him playing more. It made everything far easier and more intuitive.

[@paddysparlor]

Who would thumbs down this? Anyway my son is barely two and he loves minis. I’ve even let him “paint” a model I already had too many of. More gamers, more better

[@MRaichelson]

As far as kid-friendly game options go: I'm a big fan of "Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack" a mecha skirmish games with some super light rules (available for free as a PDF or in print) where the default assumption is all your mechs, terrain, objectives, etc. are going to be built out of Lego bricks. It includes a bunch of example designs in the book, but anything you can build (assuming you can keep it close to the same scale) is pretty much a viable unit to use for the game. (There's also "Mobile Frame Zero: Intercept Orbit" to satisfy your need for interstellar ship combat.)

[@watryn840]

I'm a kid and I have been painting for 3 years now.

[@yoeptoep1730]

Zyan Holz how old are you?

[@watryn840]

15.

[@KyleLigon]

I have a 3.5 yr old son who i have been "teaching" to paint miniatures. He loves little model dinosaurs and other toys and he immediately fell in love with my minis. Luckily i have LOADS of old mono-pose space marines and gretchin and so forth that make great painting subjects, and he doesn't mind doing one coat of paint over another, and another and... He keeps asking me to paint more, so i think I may have got him hooked! Next step is to take him to the FLGS and have him pick out a bones model or two to take home and paint.

[@Sammy6751]

Hi I have a 10 year old boy and I got him started playing WARHAMMER 40K when he was 7 years old. I took him to the GW shop and asked him what he wanted to play as and explained to him what they are or do. He chose CHAOS! oh my Emperor give me strength hahaha. But I also told him start small with 1 troop choice of chaos marines. then taught him side by side the process of building and painting. And later on he got in to the hobby of painting and building. I suggest start small in hobby and gaming. For example I started gaming doing a house rule game I made up called it (SQUAD OPS) It was using 40k models and small narrative to the game it was 1 team of 10 for both sides and we had the same stats and no power ups or special abilities.Only (deployment,moving,shooting,wounding and saves.) Keep it in easy mode with the rules and kids will play more and more until he or (she) get in to the table top gaming idea of being fun. Because if you go heavy battles or complicated rules I guarantee you they wont get immersed in any kind of game of table top. And now he owns 30 chaos marines 20 pox walkers 30 chaos cultist 1 bloat drone 1 hell brute 1 chaos predator 3 chaos HQ's (HE LOVES NURGLE) And he also owns NECRONS and random Bones (reaper) miniatures he practiced and painted with long ago and yes he has his both armies painted. (of course I helped) But yes everyone start small and keep getting the stakes high when they show more aggressive and tactical game play. And who knows maybe you created the biggest nemesis or team mate in future battles. Thank you and have a nice day keep on gaming!!! :)

[@Ingethel-]

A month ago whilst painting some skellies, my son asked my if he could do some painting. So we sat down I showed him all the AoS races (I’m 42, I’m old school warhammer) and we went through what he thought was ‘cool looking’. He wanted to paint undead ‘like Daddy’ until we came upon the Seraphon. He practically wet himself at the thought of painting dinosaurs. I took him to our LFGS and planned to introduce him to the manager who is a friend of mine and pick up some cheap Seraphon box for him to mess around with. My friend, once I explained why I was there made a huge fuss of my boy and ‘gifted’ him a Skink Star Priest to paint, on the condition that he brought it in to show him once it was painted. My boy proudly took it home and painted it all gold, because he’s 3. I showed him what washes did to the gold. I then showed him dry brushing. I’m now doomed to have a 3 year old addicted to plastic crack haha The point of this story is that kids of any age can get fun and enjoyment out of painting and modelling and ultimately gaming. And the community as a rule will support and foster that.

[@Bacxaber]

My approach would be introducing them to Dawn of War. That's how I got into 40k. A videogame is easier to get into than a laborious tabletop game, but once they're interested in the lore and whatnot, you reel them in.

[@AristotleOfGreece]

I've always (as a general means of introducing others to Warhammer in particular), followed the "rule of cool". Just starting, can be really daunting, and I've found helping someone find something they like to look at etc., makes it a lot easier. I think every hobbyist can agree it's very hard to paint models that you don't like the look of.

[@mih2]

These hooked my kids: Tanks (Flames of War); it is very accessible and can be simplified very easily & contains the hobby element too. FFG's X Wing is a hands down winner & Imperial Assault was great for introducing skirmish. Kids now branching into 40k & Bolt Action.

[@patrickmcelveen387]

I had my son playing X-Wing when he was 5. Just focusing on movement and using just the stats on the cards. Measuring and rolling are really what you are after at first. Oh and working in not picking up you ship and going Whoosh! on a whim. 😁

[@Direwoof]

I started playing warmachine when I was 11 back in 2007 and I still play today off and on.

[@ericdeutsch2449]

It's funny you mention that I just came from the convention last weekend or if there was a middle school teacher named Alan shirt and he took his entire middle school class to a miniature work in the convention and enter them in a big tournament he also had them play different games gM's volunteer games just to teach them about miniature wargameg granted it was mainly flames of war and team yankee but still getting younger children in to wargameg is absolutely awesome and the kids had an absolute blast

[@mariomariolemieux982]

Dungeons and Dragons was my gateway game. I started with painting up just my character model. Also, HeroForge really lets you customize your mini to a Bethesda level of detail, that really hooked me. Once I was painting, I fell into 40K because I needed an excuse to paint more.

[@demonthault]

Hey Uncle Atom, can you make a "How To Play" video for A/SoBH? Then we parents can watch the video with the children we own and get them pumped on the game.

[@zackbob6]

Been getting my family into board games over the past year. Just got a resin printer so next up is tabletop skirmish/war games!

[@f1rxf1y]

Guild Ball was a great gateway for my sister when she was 11.

[@J24-k8f]

I will be getting my niece into it soon hopefully

[@bandit1172]

All my dad needed was some badass looking minis

[@russmurphy3645]

I feel I got into wargamming because I loved Legos as a kid and I loved the building, then I started playing games with my brother. Eventually he dropped it, but I kept loving the customization and all

[@daveryan2148]

I play advanced song of blade and heroes with my 5 year old. Just enough addition and subtraction for her. Her tactics tend to be unorthodox... But hey she wins sometimes. She picks which minis to use and I do the bookwork making the warband for her and give her what options she can chose and I handle the rest. She has fun! First girl to ever play a skirmish game with me as well...

[@graigneville1067]

Another important point is even if they decide not to participate they wont think that war gaming is nerdy or weird. Or maybe they will think it’s nerdy and weird, but will accept it anyway and appreciate the creativity and skill that goes into it.

[@Cinomod6066]

I would say the most important part would be to find a game that's already close to their interests. They like sports? Blood bowl/blitz bowl or guild ball. They like syfy stuff? Maybe some low point infinity or theres a new space hulk video game coming out tho that might be a but scary or so. Just imo. Find something they already like a build upon that.

[@joehough838]

I have played Warhammer Quest, first edition, as a introductory game. There is a lot of 'stuff' for both wargaming and RPGs. Ospery's 'Rampant' games are great too.

[@strongcheese5903]

Jokes on you, I got my DAD into war gaming.

[@naphaneal]

don't have kids of my own either, but I play a lot with younglings in my local GW store. in my opinion, put them right in the game from the get go, but don't swamp them with too much information, such as rules, lore, fluff, phases, etc. they lose interest pretty quick, which is counterproductive. this simple strategy works for me: setup a table, put on some scenery and make up a couple of mission objectives, make up a cover story. take a couple of minis: standard troops, two factions. boil down the rules to movement and shooting phases (no fancy psionics, cover, yadda yadda). no shooting while moving or after movement. no wounds, dice roll: 1-3 miss, 4-6 hit. every hit is mortal and the unit is killed. mission is won, if own troops have control over 2/3 of the objectives or enemy troop is wiped out, otherwise lost. as for painting and building: teach kids how to use clippers, files, and the mold line remover, which should be enough IMHO. if you feel confident enough: teach kids how to use the hobby knife. if the kids in Masterchef Junior learn knife skills at the age of two (allegedly), why not hobby knife skills? be sure to have a medic/first aid kit handy at all times, though. show them, how to remove parts from the sprue, deburr moldlines, glue together (careful when using superglue), paint them (how to hold paint brushes, how to thin paints, cleaning procedures, etc.) ALSO: teach them to clean up their workspace everytime! a clean environment is a safe environment. they as well learn how to organize themselves. I usually have a couple of old minis (mostly pewter ones from online auctions) which need to be paint-stripped anyway, and I tell them about, priming and layering. the more fancy techniques they learn with time. models are finished, when primed and coated with one layer (usually a very thick one. again: metal minis are very forgiving, use them to your and their advantage). it doesn't matter if they leave spots unpainted. as long they understand the basics, they're fine. also, do not restrict them in their style of painting. if their model is painted pink with dark green stripes and orange polka dots, it's okay. (metal models are forgiving and easily stripped :D) let them experiment with colors and painting techniques. as Bob Ross stated: "We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents." with time they decide, if they want to stick with the game or not.

[@evileyeball]

I am going to introduce my child (comming in february) to miniatures games the same way I was introduced to miniatures gaming With Games Workshop/Milton Bradley's 1992 Crossover Board game Battlemaster... A big mat on the floor Empire Vs Chaos Sure the game is not super balanced but My friend Adam and I had so much fun as children playing the game so when Ebay came around I got my own set and one time we combined the 2 sets and did a huge battle.... It was super great.

[@tabletopminions]

I’ve still got my copy of Battlemaster in the basement. It’s fun, and great for kids. Thanks for watching!

[@nerdfatha]

I have a 10, 5, and 1 year old. I have been playing D&D with my older 2 for the past few months and a variety of board games throughout their lives. In D&D I have played with different game types (investigation, puzzles, dungeon crawl) the most recent one being more of a skirmish game. I do think i could get my 10 year old daughter into a full wargame, but of course my 5 year old son would want to join in. He is less for playing a game correctly by the rules and just wants to play a story (which is why D&D works rather well for him) . I have had the both help me paint terrain, and again, my daughter really gets into it, and my son just splashes paint around. It's very much a hit or miss/ trial and error. Every kiddo is different.

[@c4darkmane616]

this subject has long been a passion of mine, 1st as an older brother who conned his younger brothers into it knowing full well that after a while i'd inherit their models... but largely my core reason has been to create new players, as a Cadet instructor and scout helper i've run games activities, via work i've done for Wizkids, Wizards of the coast, Privateer Press, WWX, Asmodee and a few other companies, i've found a way to make any game work for kids and over years this skill has finnessed to the benefit of my own kids. As a parent and a gamer its about knowing your child's tastes and grooming the games to them, so your daughter likes my little pony and you wanna ply 40k, Suddenly the Ponies are Tyranids and their cutie marks are Bio mods. Rules wise start of small and each game introduce another rule. My son has been faster to take up rules and read, my daughter likes the stories and painting both started gaming around 3, my son had fairly good grasp of X-wing at 4. Last Christmas we played My little Pony RPG and by the 3rd adventure, chainsaws, Zombies and mutatied ponies had become largely accepted. When demoing to children that are not my own, you break the game right down and tell the kid the objective, you need to get the bad guys or you need to rescue the sneaky pete Lord of the Monkey farts. and rather than a lecture before the game allowing the child to day dream back to last nights fortnite game where he quiet probably beat me, put them straight into it and turn by turn give them their options and before you know it they are coming back to play again and you have to spend the rest of the event semi babysitting the child.... the same can be applied to adults with learning difficulties or other mental health impairments , i'm not saying be little them and treat them like a child, but feed it to them piece meal. I also dabble in mental health work and used to take various clients to tournaments, clubs and conventions, it did wonders for them and also helped break the stigma of mental health. good gateway games for kids i found were Tsuro and Labyrinth these don't need stripping down of any rules.

[@c4darkmane616]

also don't push the games on them, my parents said "they'll never play games or be geeks because children rebel against their parents", i listed off all the things they did with us that i liked and still like today, but they had a point certain clothes or activites my parents would almost force down my neck, and those i'd rebel against. so with that in mind i used to play games in front of the kids but not let them join in, it was a bread crumbs process and one where they begged me to play, i also let them meet other kids that play games, currently once a month one of my local games clubs runs a kids club which is aimed at being a bit more family friendly. don't get frustrated or cranky if they want to stop half way through or if they don't get something. do enhance the experience so when their playing with u bring out the sweets so they associate gaming with fun things (yeah it could lead to obesity, but just watch it and i'm sure all will be good) lastly and maybe its just my kids, but they really like watching duncan on youtube.

[@michalcross9013]

You don't actually need to prime Reaper Bones. I'd actually recommend not too as the cheap plastic reacts, and stays wet, with undercoat sprays (except Army Painter Black).

[@andrewclelland8809]

Speaking of jamming the brush into the cup, what are your thoughts on the paint puck?

[@kristianbennedbk922]

I’ve been thinking about using LEGO minis with a system like SBH.... for learning the mechanics of wargaming. My son is 4 and already into painting... But he likes LEGO as well... so maybe a winning combo.

[@drewzod9181]

Perfect timing 😍 this is the video I needed!

[@RobRubinate]

Funny that you mention Blitz Bowl I bought this recently as a game to get my girls into miniatures and board gaming in general. Only problem is that the minis are covered in spikes so they hurt their fingers. Very cool to connect though

[@ratmaster2000]

Do the rules allow for different teams? I'd like to run an undead (Werewolves,zombies,etc.) team, using some of my wizkids and bones mini's:)

[@RobRubinate]

@@ratmaster2000 I don't see why not...as long as they're teams of 6 each. Just use the cards that come with it

[@ReallyBigBadAndy76]

X-wing and Heroclix are both pretty easy to introduce to the kids to miniature gaming without painting. My kids have a moderate interest in painting and like to see the things I’ve done. They’ve each painted a reaper bones mini but Aren’t nagging to do more. I’m willing to let them take their time and not force it. But both are pretty interested in X Wing.

[@cheesdog]

Just saw this video. Kids love stories. My own (6 and 9) already love playing DnD because I turn it into a fun story. That get's them familiar with spacial thinking and miniatures, and now I am going to introduce them to the idea of just controlling more than one little dude on the board.

[@Exodiant]

'' I'm not a... 'child-owner' myself... ''

[@McCormickSpiced]

one of the easiest things i have found to teach a young child about the painting aspect is showing them how less is more, after that other things get easier

[@themadmoderator8465]

we always played board games. especially coop games as well so you can help younger one. but kids love board games. and if your playing something they will want to have a go as well

[@5punkybob]

I gave my nephew a small Elday army about 8 years ago (he was 13) and now he wins local competitions. I have done well :) Now I need to get my 33yo wife and 5yo daughter into it :P

[@michaelbetz9294]

If your kids are into the Marvel movies / universe Heroscape made a Marvel expansion. My 5 year old wants to be Cap or Spidey, movement is simple, the dice are easy to understand with skulls and shields, and the minis are prepainted and washable... useful because of the "sticky and don't know why" factor.

[@maxxon99]

My experience with my kids was that at very young age, like pre-school, kids have a lot of difficulty to understand the concept of game rules at all. Like that they need to wait for their turn to do something. So it would probably be better to start with something else to teach the basic concepts of playing a game first -- taking turns, rolling dice, moving pieces, following rules. It doesn't matter what the rules are, as long there are rules. P.S. My son also thought it was a good idea to simulate combat by bashing the figures together -- good thing I gave him the old MageKnight ones first...

[@jacobb.9181]

As a teen How do I get myself into wargaming? Like, it costs so much money I don't have. I don't want to ask my parents to order something super expensive either.

[@2smallbroswarroom140]

As a tween all you need to start is to head to a convention, local game store or find a club in your area. I’d recommend the Warrhammer recruit edition starter set, 1. Because it comes with everything needed for play, 2. Because it’s cheap as heck like 40 bucks I believe.

[@darkstorminc]

First games my 8 and 11 yo played: Zombicide Black Plague (soon to have Green Horde ready) amd Munchkin Bites. Got Age of Sigmar Storm Strike and building now. Hoping kids will enjoy it. My son should at least. My advice though is take them to your FLGS. They might see and play a game that interests them. Besides a tablet or computer...

[@SachsenMustang123]

My daughter started painting at the age of 3.. ok, the miniatures, mostly horses, sometimes a spacemarine, look kind of interesting now (pink or gold).

[@briangilgan]

Where do you even buy Blitz Bowl and Space Marine Adventures? They aren't even on the GW website. There are some claims that they are sold through Barnes and Nobles, but that doesn't seem to be true, either. Blitz Bowl is listed but not available and SMA isn't there at all.

[@Nilly-tube]

I got mine from Barnes & Noble in the US. I believe it's US and Germany only.

[@edwardclay7551]

My daughter started painted minis at the age of 3 she is now 7.