My Kids are dying to wargame, but games aimed at their age and ability level are dwindling, and the best ones to really hook them are out of print. What’s up with this?
On a lazy Sunday morning about a month ago a dream of mine came true. With an uncharacteristically blank calendar, I grabbed a box out of the garage that I had been saving for just the right moment. It was Battle Masters, a Milton Bradley / Games Workshop collaboration from 1992. Ten years previously I had spotted this “98% Complete” copy on eBay for under $100 and, gripped by irrepressible nostalgia, I grabbed it with almost no hesitation. It had the giant, vinyl mat (55×57 inches!), nearly every game piece, and all the miniatures still on the sprue. That afternoon I was walking with my girlfriend and told her about my impulse buy, confessing I had no better plan than hoping I would one day play it with my future kids. Being the infinitely generous and supportive woman she is, she gave me the kids to go with my game, and ten years later looked on, bemused, as the three of us clipped 33 year old models from sprues and assembled two huge armies on the living room floor.
And this got me thinking: Where are the games to bring kids into the hobby today? Assuming most gamer parents aren’t holding on to their oldest games (or re-buying them off eBay before their kids are even born, like a lunatic), what games are bringing kids into the hobby? I honestly don’t know. I spotted Battle Masters roaming the aisles at Toys R Us when I was 8 years old. That is also where I found Hero Quest and Dark World (which I think is a Canadian knock off of the former). These games came with loads of minis, gorgeous boards and terrain, and if you looked at the back of any of their boxes, you saw kids playing them.
The interesting thing is that these games did not need to be good, just accessible. Battle Masters is a terrible game. I know this will piss some people off and likely confuse everyone else, given the fact that I lovingly shepherded this game through two moves and and kept it unpunched for all that time (Ok, I assembled and painted the tower). It is incredibly basic, giving players almost zero strategic decisions. The game mat has a hex grid overlay and all units move a single space per activation (yes, mounted units included). Units are activated by drawing cards from a bespoke deck, and the board is crowded, making traffic jams highly likely. All units have a single stat, which tells you how many dice to roll for both attack and defense. You can count the number of meaningful choices you will make in a game on a single hand.
But here’s the thing: my 7 and 8-year-old boys loved it. If you are not a parent then you cannot understand how happily kids will play truly terrible games. Tic-Tac-Toe, War (the card game), freaking Mouse Trap. With this in mind, these older games put the money where it mattered. Battle Masters came with two full armies featuring a wide variety of heavily GW influenced minis. The Empire army has halberdiers (Men-at-Arms), bowmen, crossbowmen, Knights and Lord Knights (which feel more Bretonnian than Empire) and a canon. The forces of Chaos are highly amalgamated from the evil factions of the time, with knights, warriors and archers, but also orcs, goblins, wolf riders, beastmen and an ogre. Miniatures with shields get colorful stickers for them, with bright, sometimes gaudy designs. It took us about an hour to get everything set up, but the boys can (and have) set up subsequent games on their own. And with the rules being so incredibly simple, they can play it without my help and have already taught several friends.
Who is GW marketing to today? It’s not kids. Above are the only promotional images with people I could find on Warhammer.com. Wandering through Target, Walmart and local toy stores I cannot find miniature focused games aimed at young kids. Sure, Hero Quest has been remastered, but what else is there to bring young folks into the hobby? X-Wing was nearly perfect (my boys learned to play it with some help), but it’s out of production. Star Wars in general has excellent name recognition and cool factor, but Legion and Shatterpoint are way too complex for younger kids. I have high hopes for the upcoming Battle of Hoth boardgame, but knowing the Command & Colors system on which it is based, it might make a better bridge to actual strategy and tactical games than an introductory one.
Do you know of any games that are good for bringing kids into the hobby? My boys would love to play them! Sound off in the comments with any glaring omissions or suggestions.
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