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That watershed moment has arrived for my 8 year old. After a year of I'm-too-cool-for-it-but-show-me-how-it-works he has expressed a desire to collect his own force. Obviously I want to encourage him but I want him to "own" his interest and also try not overwhelm him so I'm picking up the following:

Storm of Sigmar box
Lord Castellant and gryph-hound
The Stormcast Eternal paint set
Ophidian archway

This gets him is own small force of eternals, the army he is interested in, his own paints and a piece of scenery to fight over. I'm also going to get a small, 24"x24", table or gaming mat for him.

I suppose my question is what direction to head in assuming his interest remains. Expand the forces to 400-500 pts while picking up or making more scenery? Pick up a couple of other races or factions around the same size/points? i.e. a box of spirit hosts with a banshee or a box of tree-revenants with a Branchwych.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
O

The Ophidian archway has some serious quality issues as does the Numinous Occulum. If you want a piece of the new scenery I'd recommend either the Baleful realmgates or the Dragonfate dias.

If you are playing small forces, I also suggest trying Bottle's Hinterlands Skirmish Campaign rules.

http://www.tga.community/blogs/entry/424-hinterlands-skirmish-campaigns-in-the-mortal-realms/

Well he is 8 years old right? First mistake you made was points. You said you don't want to head him in a direction and let him follow his own path. Guess what? You are directing him in the wrong direction. Your direction.

That said, you didn't say if he knows this is the points you are getting him or he understands or not. There are 3 ways to play AoS but you are only showing him one way. Why? Because you mentioned points.

If he wants points let him then. But guess what? I will bet you at 8 years old he doesn't care or UNDERSTANDS points. Let him choose what he wants. Will explain more in a bit, want to make sure my next question is correct.

Does he really want Stormcasts? At first I thought you were going to say what army to start with him, but then said you bought him Stormcasts and I am thinking to myself "you didn't say he wanted them so you already started him with something that is not his choice" and then later said that is what he wants. So not sure if he really wants them or another army. Just wanted to make sure he wanted Stormcasts.

That said, just let him choose what you want and say you can't afford it if he picks minis that are too expensive.

Now onto points. He is 8. He doesn't really know the meaning of "savings" for money so he will not really understand about points either. I am talking from experience here. While he might know about saving a penny or two, or more about a quarter here and there, he will not know how to save a $100 or $500 or know if that is a lot of money. So he will not understand 100 or 500 or 2000 points.

When my son wanted to start Necrons in 40K, I tried to give him the codex and show him the points and told him to make a list on what he wanted, he just said "I want to play these models" and I said "but you need to make a list" and I basically lost him there. Then it hit me, he doesn't UNDERSTAND what it means to really make a list, or why he just wants to play with cool minis. He just wants to roll dice. So he doesn't care about lists or what not. That is what Daddy is suppose to do.

When he grew older, he just lost interest in the game because the rules were crap. I kept him interested by using the Lord of the Ring rules into 40K. But now he has no interest at all at 15. List making? Forget it. Reading all these rules and books for 40K? Forget it.

But this is about Age of Sigmar. I just wanted to show you I am talking through experience of a young kid who started painting my minis at 3 years old LOL. Don't worry about points, just let your son take what he wants if you can afford it. I had to tell my son, NO a lot of times sadly because "Daddy didn't have money to buy it." and he understood. He was happy with what he had.

Modify the rules when you need to. Remember he is only 8. Let him have fun. Let him choose like you said. Don't make the mistake I made thinking he needed to learn "properly" at a young age so he wouldn't make mistakes.

Now I might be going of topic here now, but will say this. While yes it is about him having fun, let him learn how to loose properly. When my son was 3 and wanted to get into Daddy's toys and play, I let him play with me. He always won. He had such a blast. Then one day we were at a GW Headquarters store when they had them. He herd 2 nerds talking smack to each other. He was 5 or 8 or so at the time. He started talking smack to them on how "he is so great at 40K, he never looses". The look that 2 guys gave him like he was a little kid and didn't know anything pissed me off so much that we had to leave.

"Why are we leaving Daddy?" he asked. "I am about to punch them out for looking like you were nothing". It's ok if nerds talk smack and think it's fun but then when someone sees it and wants to be like them and then copies them and then they have the nerve to look down on him instead of trying to encourage him more just pissed me off to no end. What made these nerds think they were so great with plastic toy soldiers and were better than an 8 year old? If they can talk smack why can't a little kid then? Hypocrites. :p

Well that taught me that he needs to know how to win graciously, but also needs to learn how to loose as well. So he got upset when he lost his first game. He wasn't happy at all, but I told him "I don't complain when I loose all the time." and he went "no Daddy you don't" so now he learned how to win graciously and loose like a gentleman.

So I thought maybe I need to teach him how to play "properly". Worst mistake I ever made. The rules for 40K are so horrible, that my son lost total interest in the game, like I said before. He would only play when I make the lists, an do all the "paper work".

So while you need to make sure you son needs to know how to win and loose graciously, don't really worry about points and let him play what he wants. After all he is 8, it's about cool minis and dice rolling. Mathammer comes later and it's not for all people. Young kids shouldn't have to worry about mathhammer and that is what you will be showing him that can turn him off the game since he doesn't see that part of the game right now.

So don't worry about points. Just do what shows your son interest and just go in that direction. Great thing about AoS is that there is 3 ways to play. Unlike what happened to my son, when he just wanted to play, and I believed the internet crowd saying you need to play 40K with points and it lost my son interest.

If you son doesn't want to play with points, just play like how AoS was originally supposed to be played. Just take what you wanted and roll dice. So to keep your son interested in playing AoS just let him do what he likes.

Davor wrote:

Spoiler:

Well he is 8 years old right? First mistake you made was points. You said you don't want to head him in a direction and let him follow his own path. Guess what? You are directing him in the wrong direction. Your direction.

That said, you didn't say if he knows this is the points you are getting him or he understands or not. There are 3 ways to play AoS but you are only showing him one way. Why? Because you mentioned points.

If he wants points let him then. But guess what? I will bet you at 8 years old he doesn't care or UNDERSTANDS points. Let him choose what he wants. Will explain more in a bit, want to make sure my next question is correct.

Does he really want Stormcasts? At first I thought you were going to say what army to start with him, but then said you bought him Stormcasts and I am thinking to myself "you didn't say he wanted them so you already started him with something that is not his choice" and then later said that is what he wants. So not sure if he really wants them or another army. Just wanted to make sure he wanted Stormcasts.

That said, just let him choose what you want and say you can't afford it if he picks minis that are too expensive.

Now onto points. He is 8. He doesn't really know the meaning of "savings" for money so he will not really understand about points either. I am talking from experience here. While he might know about saving a penny or two, or more about a quarter here and there, he will not know how to save a $100 or $500 or know if that is a lot of money. So he will not understand 100 or 500 or 2000 points.

When my son wanted to start Necrons in 40K, I tried to give him the codex and show him the points and told him to make a list on what he wanted, he just said "I want to play these models" and I said "but you need to make a list" and I basically lost him there. Then it hit me, he doesn't UNDERSTAND what it means to really make a list, or why he just wants to play with cool minis. He just wants to roll dice. So he doesn't care about lists or what not. That is what Daddy is suppose to do.

When he grew older, he just lost interest in the game because the rules were crap. I kept him interested by using the Lord of the Ring rules into 40K. But now he has no interest at all at 15. List making? Forget it. Reading all these rules and books for 40K? Forget it.

But this is about Age of Sigmar. I just wanted to show you I am talking through experience of a young kid who started painting my minis at 3 years old LOL. Don't worry about points, just let your son take what he wants if you can afford it. I had to tell my son, NO a lot of times sadly because "Daddy didn't have money to buy it." and he understood. He was happy with what he had.

Modify the rules when you need to. Remember he is only 8. Let him have fun. Let him choose like you said. Don't make the mistake I made thinking he needed to learn "properly" at a young age so he wouldn't make mistakes.

Now I might be going of topic here now, but will say this. While yes it is about him having fun, let him learn how to loose properly. When my son was 3 and wanted to get into Daddy's toys and play, I let him play with me. He always won. He had such a blast. Then one day we were at a GW Headquarters store when they had them. He herd 2 nerds talking smack to each other. He was 5 or 8 or so at the time. He started talking smack to them on how "he is so great at 40K, he never looses". The look that 2 guys gave him like he was a little kid and didn't know anything pissed me off so much that we had to leave.

"Why are we leaving Daddy?" he asked. "I am about to punch them out for looking like you were nothing". It's ok if nerds talk smack and think it's fun but then when someone sees it and wants to be like them and then copies them and then they have the nerve to look down on him instead of trying to encourage him more just pissed me off to no end. What made these nerds think they were so great with plastic toy soldiers and were better than an 8 year old? If they can talk smack why can't a little kid then? Hypocrites. :p

Well that taught me that he needs to know how to win graciously, but also needs to learn how to loose as well. So he got upset when he lost his first game. He wasn't happy at all, but I told him "I don't complain when I loose all the time." and he went "no Daddy you don't" so now he learned how to win graciously and loose like a gentleman.

So I thought maybe I need to teach him how to play "properly". Worst mistake I ever made. The rules for 40K are so horrible, that my son lost total interest in the game, like I said before. He would only play when I make the lists, an do all the "paper work".

So while you need to make sure you son needs to know how to win and loose graciously, don't really worry about points and let him play what he wants. After all he is 8, it's about cool minis and dice rolling. Mathammer comes later and it's not for all people. Young kids shouldn't have to worry about mathhammer and that is what you will be showing him that can turn him off the game since he doesn't see that part of the game right now.

So don't worry about points. Just do what shows your son interest and just go in that direction. Great thing about AoS is that there is 3 ways to play. Unlike what happened to my son, when he just wanted to play, and I believed the internet crowd saying you need to play 40K with points and it lost my son interest.

If you son doesn't want to play with points, just play like how AoS was originally supposed to be played. Just take what you wanted and roll dice. So to keep your son interested in playing AoS just let him do what he likes.

Maybe drop the condescension. OP has stated his son had a preference for Stormcast and merely went on to ask afterwards that assuming the interest remains what direction to head in. He did not even explicitly state that he was intending to enforce points on his son and it's not for you to decide that his son won't be able to understand it anyhow.

OP I suggest once he gets into the Stormcast and gets a feel for modelling/painting side of the hobby as well as the gaming aspect that you take him to a store or go on the website and have a look through the other model ranges. He might decide that he wants to stick with Stormcasts and expand that force, or something else might take his eye. From that point you could sit down with him and help him plan his next project based on what takes his fancy. It's great you've passed the hobby on to him though, my 2.5yo daughter sometimes sits with me while I paint and I'm currently painting a Dark Elf Sorceress for her in the colors shes chosen. Such a beautiful thing.

alex87 wrote:

Davor wrote:

Spoiler:

Well he is 8 years old right? First mistake you made was points. You said you don't want to head him in a direction and let him follow his own path. Guess what? You are directing him in the wrong direction. Your direction.

That said, you didn't say if he knows this is the points you are getting him or he understands or not. There are 3 ways to play AoS but you are only showing him one way. Why? Because you mentioned points.

If he wants points let him then. But guess what? I will bet you at 8 years old he doesn't care or UNDERSTANDS points. Let him choose what he wants. Will explain more in a bit, want to make sure my next question is correct.

Does he really want Stormcasts? At first I thought you were going to say what army to start with him, but then said you bought him Stormcasts and I am thinking to myself "you didn't say he wanted them so you already started him with something that is not his choice" and then later said that is what he wants. So not sure if he really wants them or another army. Just wanted to make sure he wanted Stormcasts.

That said, just let him choose what you want and say you can't afford it if he picks minis that are too expensive.

Now onto points. He is 8. He doesn't really know the meaning of "savings" for money so he will not really understand about points either. I am talking from experience here. While he might know about saving a penny or two, or more about a quarter here and there, he will not know how to save a $100 or $500 or know if that is a lot of money. So he will not understand 100 or 500 or 2000 points.

When my son wanted to start Necrons in 40K, I tried to give him the codex and show him the points and told him to make a list on what he wanted, he just said "I want to play these models" and I said "but you need to make a list" and I basically lost him there. Then it hit me, he doesn't UNDERSTAND what it means to really make a list, or why he just wants to play with cool minis. He just wants to roll dice. So he doesn't care about lists or what not. That is what Daddy is suppose to do.

When he grew older, he just lost interest in the game because the rules were crap. I kept him interested by using the Lord of the Ring rules into 40K. But now he has no interest at all at 15. List making? Forget it. Reading all these rules and books for 40K? Forget it.

But this is about Age of Sigmar. I just wanted to show you I am talking through experience of a young kid who started painting my minis at 3 years old LOL. Don't worry about points, just let your son take what he wants if you can afford it. I had to tell my son, NO a lot of times sadly because "Daddy didn't have money to buy it." and he understood. He was happy with what he had.

Modify the rules when you need to. Remember he is only 8. Let him have fun. Let him choose like you said. Don't make the mistake I made thinking he needed to learn "properly" at a young age so he wouldn't make mistakes.

Now I might be going of topic here now, but will say this. While yes it is about him having fun, let him learn how to loose properly. When my son was 3 and wanted to get into Daddy's toys and play, I let him play with me. He always won. He had such a blast. Then one day we were at a GW Headquarters store when they had them. He herd 2 nerds talking smack to each other. He was 5 or 8 or so at the time. He started talking smack to them on how "he is so great at 40K, he never looses". The look that 2 guys gave him like he was a little kid and didn't know anything pissed me off so much that we had to leave.

"Why are we leaving Daddy?" he asked. "I am about to punch them out for looking like you were nothing". It's ok if nerds talk smack and think it's fun but then when someone sees it and wants to be like them and then copies them and then they have the nerve to look down on him instead of trying to encourage him more just pissed me off to no end. What made these nerds think they were so great with plastic toy soldiers and were better than an 8 year old? If they can talk smack why can't a little kid then? Hypocrites. :p

Well that taught me that he needs to know how to win graciously, but also needs to learn how to loose as well. So he got upset when he lost his first game. He wasn't happy at all, but I told him "I don't complain when I loose all the time." and he went "no Daddy you don't" so now he learned how to win graciously and loose like a gentleman.

So I thought maybe I need to teach him how to play "properly". Worst mistake I ever made. The rules for 40K are so horrible, that my son lost total interest in the game, like I said before. He would only play when I make the lists, an do all the "paper work".

So while you need to make sure you son needs to know how to win and loose graciously, don't really worry about points and let him play what he wants. After all he is 8, it's about cool minis and dice rolling. Mathammer comes later and it's not for all people. Young kids shouldn't have to worry about mathhammer and that is what you will be showing him that can turn him off the game since he doesn't see that part of the game right now.

So don't worry about points. Just do what shows your son interest and just go in that direction. Great thing about AoS is that there is 3 ways to play. Unlike what happened to my son, when he just wanted to play, and I believed the internet crowd saying you need to play 40K with points and it lost my son interest.

If you son doesn't want to play with points, just play like how AoS was originally supposed to be played. Just take what you wanted and roll dice. So to keep your son interested in playing AoS just let him do what he likes.

Maybe drop the condescension. OP has stated his son had a preference for Stormcast and merely went on to ask afterwards that assuming the interest remains what direction to head in. He did not even explicitly state that he was intending to enforce points on his son and it's not for you to decide that his son won't be able to understand it anyhow.

OP I suggest once he gets into the Stormcast and gets a feel for modelling/painting side of the hobby as well as the gaming aspect that you take him to a store or go on the website and have a look through the other model ranges. He might decide that he wants to stick with Stormcasts and expand that force, or something else might take his eye. From that point you could sit down with him and help him plan his next project based on what takes his fancy. It's great you've passed the hobby on to him though, my 2.5yo daughter sometimes sits with me while I paint and I'm currently painting a Dark Elf Sorceress for her in the colors shes chosen. Such a beautiful thing.

the fun part for him is he will be able to pick and mix what he wants, that got my kids friends fired up (and sadly caused our main battletome order book to get abused physically..poor binding )

alex87 wrote:
Maybe drop the condescension.

How am I condescending? What have I done wrong? I am speaking on my own experience giving it to him so he doesn't fail like I did. Or I should say make the same mistakes I did that made my son less interested in the hobby.

 Ossified wrote:

I suppose my question is what direction to head in assuming his interest remains. Expand the forces to 400-500 pts while picking up or making more scenery? Pick up a couple of other races or factions around the same size/points? i.e. a box of spirit hosts with a banshee or a box of tree-revenants with a Branchwych.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
O

To expand on my advice, my buying list after the storm of sigmar would be as follows:
AoS Starter set
Appropriate paints
Arcane ruins set (you can double the three arc segments as realmgates)
Garden of Morr (doesn't go too well with the playmat, but is a very cost efficient terrain set)
Shattered dominion playmat

You'll end up with the two starter forces and a good enough looking playground. By the time you've played enough variations with the available models and had painted them up you'll probably know what to get next and your son will have something on his mind too.

Hey folks,

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Yeah I'm open to the direction he wants to go in but I want to show him the variety and difference in ranges and let him chose. If he keeps with stormcast great, if not equally as great.

@Davor I know exactly where you are coming from and you raise some very valid points, thank you.

In the end I have gone with;
- Storm of Sigmar
- Lord Castellant
- Slaughter priest
- Spirit hosts box and Banshee
- Fyreslayer Hearthguard box and Battlesmith.
- Stormcast paint set
- Ophidian archway
- Mage Wrath throne

4 small forces which can be combined into 2 slightly less smaller forces with death and fyreslayers being open to either force from the full starter set, so they are not wasted if that is the way he wants to go. From here he can build up his stormcast force, get the starter, build up by boxes or get extra small factions etc... whatever he wants.

Glad for you, op!

I hope you guys have a great time.

If you allow me, I'd like to give my opinion, if you don't mind. Disclaimer, I will take my time to explain my points, so it can be a little bit long!:

- Storm of Sigmar is not that adequate. Is just a demo game.
But that's not the real problem; the problem is that even of open games you need to deploy every unit with a minimum of 5 (10 with the Bloodreaver, but it seems that you don't mind them atm), so I'd suggest you to jump directly to the Starter Set.

- Since you will stick with the Stormcast/Bloodbound models, try to get any expansion set for Silver Tower for leaders and heroes:

Mighty Heroes includes a Knight-Azryos/Venator (Venator is my personal favourite in the army), a Fyreslayer Auric Runemaster (since you are also looking for Fyreslayers too), a Slaughterpriest and a Tzeentch Sorcerer. That box is $95 AUD, almost 50% off. The Tzeentch Sorceror is not available anywhere else right now, and can be used for Arcanites/Slaves to Darkness.

Arcane Heroes includes a Knight Heraldor (Stormcast trumpeter), a Skink Starpriest and a Dark Elf Sorceress for more Order allies, and a Grey Seer and a regular Chaos Sorceror. At 80 AUD is almost 30-40% off.

- Now, technically you can play anything you want in Open Games, but if you introduce your kid later to matched system, then you will not able to deploy those Death units with Chaos.

I'd suggest you instead get Slaves to Darkness miniatures: the old Warriors of Chaos are by far the most flexible mortal Chaos army and regularly used to fill spots within Bloodbounds, Rotbringers, Arcanites and Slaanesh Hosts, and they can play on their own too.

I see you don't want to bring larger models yet, and the largest model from the Start Collecting! Slaves to Darkness is the Chaos Chariot.

If you still insist with the Death miniatures, any of the Start Collecting boxes are much better for small yet consistent and enjoyable miniatures to use.

And yes, obviously the SC! Stormcasts Eternals is a great expansion for the Starter Set. You can't never be wrong with one of those boxes.

Have a good day and thank you for increasing the community!

I'm still waiting for the Storm of Sigmar set and some other bits but we powered through and had our first couple of games today!

A Spirit host and Banshee vs mixed Hearthguard led by a Battlesmith. Playing the Fyreslayers the boy tabled me by killing the banshee in the first round with amazing/abysmal magmabolt rolling and then cleared up the spirit hosts in short order. We switched sides and I eeked a victory against his fine casting rolls to respawn his hosts.

What a laugh these "Box and Blister" games are.

Nice hope you have more fun in the future can't wait to see those models painted up.

That's great!

I'll still encourage to to get the Silver Tower Heroes bundles, all of them are good additions to any army and I'm sure your child will enjoy them all, and with great savings too!

And once again, thanks for increase the community.