Kids say the darnedest things

[Grimfoe]

Anyone else play with young kids? I've been out of the hobby for about 15 years while my wife and I went back to school, started our own business and (of course) had children. I have 3 kids, a 13 year old daughter and two boys, 9 and 7.

Thanks to Dawn of War, all three kids became interested in 40K. I started playing Space Hulk with them, and then started playing 40K. It's a blast. I'm not sure how many folks at the LGS would appreciate them showing up, but we have a lot of fun at home.

I love the personality they attribute to each model as the game goes on and from game to game.

My daughter, Melissa, is old enough that she's just a gamer. She's cried a little of a loss here and there, but who doesn't feel like crying after failing their 3rd terminator save in a row? (She plays CSM)

My favorite quote: She misspoke one time when she first started playing CSM. Ever since, the commander of her army is "Donovan," the despoiler.

My elder son, Paul, is the best sportsman you'll ever meet. He only cares about fielding stuff he thinks is cool and will try to win, but couldn't care less if he lost.

My favorite quote: When trying to settle on a marine chapter, we discussed all the different special characters and what each chapter did: "Dad, there's no point in taking a Marine Commander if he doesn't have orbital bombardment."

My younger son, Matthew, is the consumate competitor. Every sport he plays in is full speed all the time. He's also the one that will sit and paint with me for hours. (he's a horrible painter)

My favorite quote: Paul shot and killed Matt's Warboss. As the tears welled up in Matt's eyes he said, "Now we're going to kill everything you have on the table." As if the orks were willing to negotiate before that happened.


Anyway, I don't mean to blog. I'm just trying to demonstrate how much fun we have when we play. The child's perspective on the game is a blast.

Do any of you play with younger gamers? Any quotes or stories to share?

[Bedroom General]

I run a games club at my school. Best thing I ever heard was a 13 year old "veteran" telling me that me using Abbadon was a "noob" choice! Took a while for my eyebrows to climb back down, I've been playing since 2nd ed! Mind you he beat me, so he may have had a point.:)

[SotonShades]

Its surprising how cool kids can be when they aren't screaming little brats. A while back there was a walker game in my local GW and this little kid, maybe 8 years old, was using his dad's space wolf dreadnought. Being by far the most experienced player on the table I took him under my wing to help teach him how vehicles worked and advice him what to do.

Not only did his basic Dred out live all of my 5 Dreadnoughts (including Venerables and a Chaplain) but he managed to kill nearly as many of our opponants as I did, until 2 blood angels dred magna grappled him out of cover and their last 3 dreads assaulted him all at once. he's been back in store a few times since, and always has that dred in pride of place in his army :)

[GrenAcid]

Great to hear that guys but I had only bad experience with younger gamers(I mean with teenagers), and didn had a chance to play with anyone below 14....

[Grimfoe]

That's awesome. Abbaddon is only for Noobs!

I'll try that on my daughter, maybe he'll stop killing so many space wolves. That guy is a beast to take down even for the wolves.

I try to get kids into 40K and get them to enjoy the game properly. Get their faces away from the computer and TV screen.

We have my son's 10 year old friend coming over tonight to play. Hopefully, they'll be more amusing than annoying.

[gwensdad]

I haven't gotten Gwen to play yet, but she has painted:
an old scout sarg
some marines (which she shared painting with another child), and oddly made a marine look more Nurgle-y than I've ever been able to.
some grots
some goblins

She also loved the GIANT SQUIG episode of Ace of Cakes and talked for awhile about squigs.

She's 7 now. Not sure if she can (or should) handle a a small game yet.

[Lemt]

I don't play 40k with young kids, but my local Magic the Gathering club has some 14ish kids that are a blast to play with. At first they lost terribly, but we've taught them how to play better and now it's not such an easy fight. And we big guys are no slackers either (we place fairly well in large tournaments), but they win more often than you'd think.

[fuzzbuket]

I'll try that on my daughter, maybe he'll stop killing so many space wolves. That guy is a beast to take down .

i am seriously worried!
but honestly people are soooo negitive of young people! just cause i wear hoodies dosnt mean im a ned (non,educated,delinquent), and we can be humerous.


-fuzz
p.s. IG is for noobs.

[Cherub]

my oldest two kids are 4 and 2. And because they see me paint models all the time one of thier most favorite things to do is paint. Im not saying they are any good or anything (im teaching my 4 year old to drybrush atm) but its a blast sitting with them painting. My 4 year old even has his own models for fantasy and loves to play, all he cares about is pushing models around and rolling dice. Its a blast, I love gaming with him.

[Xas]

i am seriously worried!
but honestly people are soooo negitive of young people! just cause i wear hoodies dosnt mean im a ned (non,educated,delinquent), and we can be humerous.


-fuzz
p.s. IG is for noobs.

is reading comprehension so bad nowadays?

even when a girl fields abbaddon HE is still a male charackter and doing the killing, not the generaless that fields him :)

[Wolf Brother Hellstrom]

I have a daughter who is three and a son who is only one. My daughter is always climbing up to the table and says "you paintin your little guys" i hand her a cup of water and a brush and she pretends. I love the time together. my son is too little he just wants to eat them but I cant wait till they get older and can actually play and participate. My daughter has been eyeing up my dark eldar because they have "little girls" in them. If she only knew how deadly those "little girls"(wyches) are!!

great thread

[Demonus]

+1 for the thread! I love the Orks willing to negotiate line hehe. My son isnt too interested in 40k (hes 14 and more into Xbox and girls atm) but he has come and played with me in the past. Usually I just give him a portion of my army and let him roll dice.

Once he joined a friends army and rolled against me. After rolling nothing but 5s and 6s, I left his arse at home!

[MajorSoB]

This is a most excellent thread. I started my son playing when he was 10. He loved playing and hanging out with the guys. He became good at playing and painting, but more importantly he developed social skills and learned how to interact with real live people. While work and college has taken him away for now I think this hobby had a good influence on his life when he was growing up.

Young takers are important to this hobby. GW cannot continue without new blood being constantly injected into its player base. New gamers represent the future. With this is mind it is very important to take the time to demo a game to a curious noob who may become the next great player at your FLGS. I have seen l plently of veteran players that are "too old and too good" to waste their time playing a new younger player. Its too bad because they are missing out on all the enthusiasm and excitement that a new gamer brings.

Thanks for this thread and all the wonderful replies.

[Orminah]

Haha. Adorable. I want to be able to bring the wonders of gaming to kids one day.

[Lunar Camel]

This is great!

My sons are 3 and 18 months. My 3 yr old loves looking at my scenery I build. He examines them and says, "Nice house daddy. I want to live there."

My youngest hasn't gotten there yet, he just tries to eat the models. But hopefully soon they'll start to try and play.

I love that people are trying to teach the young-uns good sportsmanship. I think thats what they younger generation needs to learn and not be sore losers. (I know some adults who haven't learned that yet)

[xomntec]

This was a very cool post, but I'm having a hard time getting over the idea of "Donovan the Despoiler"

or I guess alternately, imagining Abbadon's folk guitar songs.

[GrenAcid]

my son is too little he just wants to eat them

He will be great `nid player;) +1 for thread

[gwensdad]

UPDATE: Tonight Gwen looked at my scratchbuilt Thunderhawk and asked to build one for herself.
Then she asked to build a life-sized one, then "downgraded" to a cat-sized one.

I think I'm going to cry now.

[eldargal]

That is sweet. I made some power armour for my cat once, he didn't like it though. So I made some for my pet bullfrog and he loves it. Maybe I should make him a Thunderhawk, I coudl hang it from the ceiling...

[Lockark]

My favorite quote: Paul shot and killed Matt's Warboss. As the tears welled up in Matt's eyes he said, "Now we're going to kill everything you have on the table." As if the orks were willing to negotiate before that happened.

I LOVE this quote so much. All I can pitcher is a ork shaking his fists at the sight of his dead war boss.

XD

[Mystery.Shadow]

This is an excellent thread. I don't have any kids (that I know of). But I do intend to teach them the ways of 40k!

And now, something for your enjoyment. Something I found trolling the internet:

http://i.imgur.com/0gT7W.jpg?0.04691445458649934

[lobster-overlord]

My 2 and 4 year olds love to paint (anything in general mind you).

So my 2 year old came up to me while painting and grabbed one of my brushes and started playing with a yellow paint, then grabbed an old mageknight mini I had nearby (no, I didn't play/collect that atrocity against gaming, but I did buy some of the "Unlimited" series that were unpainted...)...

I had a repainted yellow wood golem when she was done...

Fun times. I can't wait until they actually want to understand what it is they're messing with.

John M.

[Grimfoe]

Thanks, so much, for all the positive feedback. It's nice to hear that not ALL gamers hate the next generation. LOL. I've loved hearing your stories and it's encouraging hearing that there are others trying to indoctrinate the young.

We had another battle tonight with my boys and a friend of Paul's. Once again, the Greenskins took it to the Crimson Fists.

Matt had some touch and go moments until Ghazghkull was able to call his Waaagghhhh! Matt lost 15 boys to one round of shooting to the Sternguard. He felt a lot better, though, when Ghazghkull tore Pedro Kantor in half.

We made it all the way through without any broken models too! That's rather rare.

Of course one of the sternguard was chipped in the "after battle."

That's when the boys talk me into letting them play with the minis without rules but with sound effects. That's a real test of a father's patience, let me tell you.

[Grimfoe]

This is an excellent thread. I don't have any kids (that I know of). But I do intend to teach them the ways of 40k!

And now, something for your enjoyment. Something I found trolling the internet:

http://i.imgur.com/0gT7W.jpg?0.04691445458649934

you must have posted this while I was writing. Awesome comic.

[Da Gargoyle]

The quote that stays with me over the years, (My eldest is now 23 and IG), in his Chaos days, paraphrasing an old tire add, If you only meet him once in a life time, it's Abaddon.

[scadugenga]

Love this thread.

My wife, of all people, witnessed the coolest thing at Adepticon while I was shopping on Sunday.

She overheard a dad and his maybe 10 year old son. Dad was on the phone, doing the "uh huh, uh huh" bit. The son was glued to the one half of the conversation he could hear.

Dad puts away the cell phone.

Son starts saying "so, what'd she say? Can we, I mean can we? Will she let us?"

Dad replies "yup, mom just said we can go pick out a new army."

Kid fairly explodes in excitement. Dad and son go off into the vendor area to the sound of the son extolling the virtues of all the various 40k armies that he thinks they should choose from.

Now that...that is what this hobby should be about.

I can only hope I get to have the same conversation in about 9 1/2 years with my son. :)

[Corvus-Master-of-The-4th]

Awesome Thread people. I am a memember of my School League at school, and it's fun to teach the younger kids how to play xD... But yeah I am not exactly old enough to teach kids of my own. But I'd love to when I am (quite a lot) older :L

[Lockark]

At the LGS I've became the Defacto head of the kids that visit there regularly. Since I'm the only older regular that will listen to them, and help them out with modeling/gaming questions, and have games with them. Most of them are late middle school/early high school aged so they don't really say anything amazingly adorable.
XD

[GrenAcid]

UPDATE: Tonight Gwen looked at my scratchbuilt Thunderhawk and asked to build one for herself.
Then she asked to build a life-sized one, then "downgraded" to a cat-sized one.

I think I'm going to cry now.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HfG9wGRacNM/TFBVqLtmu4I/AAAAAAAAAHA/zUxBP7BgYK4/s400/YouCanDoIt.jpg

[Duke]

I Have to comment on this thread...

I have two sons. 5 and 3, they love watching/ playing and painting 40k, thought the paint ends up more on everything around the model and not the model itself, lol.

Every so often my oldest wants to stay up late and play warhammer, we take whatever old models I have lying around and make sound effects and roll dice... He ALWAYS wins.

My youngest always drops whatever he is doing when he sees me get out my models, it's great! At first my wife wasn't sure about it, but after a while she came on board...

Duke

Ps: this thread is a perfect example of why the Lounge stands above other forums. +1

[Rusty Nail]

Love this thread.

My wife, of all people, witnessed the coolest thing at Adepticon while I was shopping on Sunday.

She overheard a dad and his maybe 10 year old son. Dad was on the phone, doing the "uh huh, uh huh" bit. The son was glued to the one half of the conversation he could hear.

Dad puts away the cell phone.

Son starts saying "so, what'd she say? Can we, I mean can we? Will she let us?"

Dad replies "yup, mom just said we can go pick out a new army."

Kid fairly explodes in excitement. Dad and son go off into the vendor area to the sound of the son extolling the virtues of all the various 40k armies that he thinks they should choose from.

Now that...that is what this hobby should be about.


This almost made me well up, geez!!!

My son who is 7 when he saw my 25th edition Battletech box set asked if we could have a game, (we've played Spacehulk before), went through one game with the quickstart rules, now on to the 6th or 7th game with the full rules and he's just kicked my *** all over the shop, I have never seen him so happy as he knew I wasn't giving him anything he just plain outplayed and outrolled me!

[Duke]

Ahhh the dreams of the parent: to have his kids be better than they are... And then to kick your face in with an 8' tall super soldier!

Duke

[Zeitkraft]

Man, I'm still (hopefully) about a decade-ish out from having kids, but I hope to God that, when I do, they will be be interested in doing a hobby along with their father.

Got a few stories to share.

I remember playing when I was 9 or10ish and my parents buying me the third edition SM/DE starter box as a valentines day present. I was so excited. I would go and play with my one friend every Friday night after school. Problem was my mom eventually stopped letting me go because she thought it wasn't appropriate for kids my age to be playing against 20some adults at a hobby shop. I thought that was the end of the hobby for me.

Freshman year of college I picked the hobby back up and have since gotten to play against a handful of "young bloods" in my area. Needless to say, the kids around here have moxy, and make decently hard lists, all things considered, that give me a run for my money. Yeh, Honour Guard with Pedro really take it out of TWC, especially if they're in a Land Raider.

On a final related note, back in high school the theater group did the play Les Miserables. We had a little girl to play little Cossette. The girl who played little Cossette was ever so proud to tell us all about how she loved going to conventions with her daddy and that she was a level 12 dwarf fighter with an axe. All the guys in theater had to agree that that was pretty awesome.

Edit: Oops, forgot that that word could be taken out of context to men something bad. Had to use "moxy" instead.

[Brotherjames]

At out LGS a player has two sons 10 and 12 who play 40k (dad plays necrons and mainly sticks to WFB) and against others they are always respectful and great sports but the once in a blue moon they get dad to play 40k they are ruthless! Because dad doesn't know the SM codex I've seen them throw out all kinds of crazy things such as apothecaries giving 4+ invuls not FnP, and repairing viehicles on a 2+ when the tech marine has no servo arms lol

As for me I have a 4yr old girl and 11 month old son. My daughter alway likes to watch while painting and thanks to her I have a tactical rainbow coalition squad "paint this one purple, or blue, pink" and maybe when my son gets older he may be interested but they both like looking thru the Horus Heresy art book I have. My daughter loves the picture of Fabius Bile pre heresy (probably because he's in purple armour)

[BHound1981]

Two kids were arguing over some pointless rule at my local store when one of them says, "Man, I will beat you up!" to which the other kid looks back and simply replies, "you miss."

[Grimfoe]

Coolest school project ever! My nine year old (3rd grade) had to complete a "how to" project over the break. He picked up my copy of GW's "How to Make Wargames Terrain." He completed a Rocky Hill:

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/1303510233/gallery_33642_6044_58357.jpg
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/1303510233/gallery_33642_6044_10320.jpg
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/1303510233/gallery_33642_6044_96994.jpg
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/1303510233/gallery_33642_6044_25550.jpg

Sorry for the pic heavy post. He completed the entire project with only guidance from me. Did a great job.

Very proud moment for this Dad.

[Turner]

I have a good/long story.

I was at a tournament at the local gaming store when this little kid buzzes right up to our table. I was playing the only thing I ever play, (and own) my IG and I was facing off against an Ultra Marine player. I had this massive, massive foot slogging 2.5k army spread out everywhere with a single tank, and my pride an joy, my Death Strike Missile. Now, this thing looks like the description in the IG codex. The missile itself is on the modified chimera chassis but missile was hand crafted by a very close friend (for my b-day!) and is approximately, ohhhh, two and a half times as long as the tank it sits on. It has a nice big shark smirk you would see on the front of a WWII America fighter and on either side the Cobra Command symbol.

So anyways, this kid comes buzzing up to our table and is just standing there, head barely clearing the table. (5 maybe 6 years old?) He sees that I out number my foe by possibly 8 to 1. (he had guys in transports so it made it look a lot worse) Then this kid freezes and his eyes grow wide. Just as I finish my turn and give the old "you're turn" to my opponent the kid slow turns to the Ultra Marine player and says, "You have to beat him..." My opponent chuckles and replies something to the effect of how he'll try and that's the general idea but the kid presses onward, "No, you don't understand those are bad guys!" My opponent asks this little kid how he knows that and the kid curtly replies, "Everyone knows that the G.I Joes are the good guys and Cobra are the bad guys. If you don't beat him then he'll use that missile to hold the world hostage!" Then the kid zooms off saying something about the fate of the world and my opponent and I have a good laugh.

[scadugenga]

I have a good/long story.

I was at a tournament at the local gaming store when this little kid buzzes right up to our table. I was playing the only thing I ever play, (and own) my IG and I was facing off against an Ultra Marine player. I had this massive, massive foot slogging 2.5k army spread out everywhere with a single tank, and my pride an joy, my Death Strike Missile. Now, this thing looks like the description in the IG codex. The missile itself is on the modified chimera chassis but missile was hand crafted by a very close friend (for my b-day!) and is approximately, ohhhh, two and a half times as long as the tank it sits on. It has a nice big shark smirk you would see on the front of a WWII America fighter and on either side the Cobra Command symbol.

So anyways, this kid comes buzzing up to our table and is just standing there, head barely clearing the table. (5 maybe 6 years old?) He sees that I out number my foe by possibly 8 to 1. (he had guys in transports so it made it look a lot worse) Then this kid freezes and his eyes grow wide. Just as I finish my turn and give the old "you're turn" to my opponent the kid slow turns to the Ultra Marine player and says, "You have to beat him..." My opponent chuckles and replies something to the effect of how he'll try and that's the general idea but the kid presses onward, "No, you don't understand those are bad guys!" My opponent asks this little kid how he knows that and the kid curtly replies, "Everyone knows that the G.I Joes are the good guys and Cobra are the bad guys. If you don't beat him then he'll use that missile to hold the world hostage!" Then the kid zooms off saying something about the fate of the world and my opponent and I have a good laugh.

That...is perhaps one of the coolest stories yet. Sheer awesome in text. :)

@Grimfoe: Awesome pics! You have a talented little guy there.

[Grimfoe]

@Turner: Awesome story. That type of thing reminds me of why we play. We so often lose sight of that kind of thinking. But it's really cool.

@scadugena: Thanks. We had a blast working on it. It was great showing him how to do things and having him actually do the work himself. Especially something like this where it can look so nice when he's done. Pretty easy project, actually, but it makes a great place for him to start.

He claims he wants to make an entire board to match. A canyon board with a river in the middle.

That would be cool.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

@Turner: Awesome story. That type of thing reminds me of why we play. We so often lose sight of that kind of thinking. But it's really cool.

@scadugena: Thanks. We had a blast working on it. It was great showing him how to do things and having him actually do the work himself. Especially something like this where it can look so nice when he's done. Pretty easy project, actually, but it makes a great place for him to start.

He claims he wants to make an entire board to match. A canyon board with a river in the middle.

That would be cool.

Has the creative thumb already, I would so play on that board.

[eldargal]

Grimfoe, what a talented little chap! I was fourteen before I could make a decent look piece of terrain.

[Gobsmakked]

Young kids are the absolute best! My son has just turned 14 and he and I go to a local tabletop gaming club every month where I (47) am probably close to the average age and he is pretty much the only regular kid, and certainly the only one in 40K. He always is on his absolute best behaviour and likes to hang out with older players. He was the one who quit the local GW a couple of years ago because everyone else was such brats.

The first time we went to the gaming club together it reminded me of his first visit to the barber shop, when they put the plank across the arms of the seat because the kid is so small, and the kid doesn't dare say a word the whole time and just stares around in awe at all the grown-up men.

He started 40K about 5 years ago. He got some LoTR plastic figures for his birthday and then wanted to check out what else was available. When we entered the GW store, he took one look at the LoTR wall and then at the space muh-reenz with their cool armour and big guns, and that was the end of LoTR.

I am happy to report that he has firmly moved on to Eldar.

His sister, now 11, always wants to play so that she can "warhammer" him. She wants her own army of pink girl marines and tried her hand at painting a couple of years ago. One of his librarians was coated from head to toe in solid Blood Red, nothing else. "Voila Dad!"

[Emerald Rose Widow]

It is really amazing what a child can do with a little excitement and a little encouragement. I really hate it when parents stifle their kids creativity, you are limiting what they can do and teaching them that they cant do things on their own, they have to do it a certain way. It can be frustrating at times, but I respect parents that cultivate their kids creativity, even when that means a piece of art that doesnt look that good. If you teach a child that with proper imagination and a little effort they can do anything, your only setting your child up to succeed in everything they endevour. If that means they have a space marine that only has one colour on it, well then power to them. Plus hello kitty space marines are just a good laugh.