Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

How do?

So this is a phenomena which despite having been going on forever, somehow feels new to me.

See, I'm 37 now, and many of my friends have begun to spawn. This of course is creating a whole new generdation (do you see what I did there! Aren't I clever!)

But how many others are out there? And do your kids show much interest in the Hobby? Not game system or manufacturer specific, this is a very wide topic.

I know one of my Chief Nerds is very interested in the MLP roleplaying, so his young daughter can join in with her friends. Kind of what Heroquest did for many of us.

If so, let us know, tell us about your experience as the wiseperson of nerdery!

I have to make card rhinos for my 3 year old as he wants to paint my tanks.

He used to be happy with an approximately shaped card box, but now I have to add panel details cos he likes to black line the cracks to add shadows.

Not only is he more conscientious of shading than me, he also picks way better colour schemes. His current tank is emerald and pink.

Is there a cannon chapter with this scheme? I want to steal it.

Get him to name it himself

Also, pics of the scheme pls!

My 3 year old loves looking at daddies models, and rolling dice with me. whenever I get something new through the post she has to look at it with me. I get the feeling as she gets older she will play games with me.

But then i'm an F1 fan because my dad watched the races religiously on sundays, so I grew up with it being part of my life.

The Boy is 11, and has recently started collecting/playing 40k. He’s been into CCG and board games earlier. He’d been interested in 40k for a while, but it wasn’t until I moved out that he started. Little bugger stole my paintbench and 4x8. (no room for those in an apartment, left them in the house)

So now On my every-other weekend visits we do some modeling and hit the FLGS for a game. He even wins some times; getting better. I need to lean on him to paint more. I just set him on my one-a-week plan, we’ll see if it sticks.

My little un's still a toddler. They're a bit too young, but the little tot loves to throw dice and come look at "Daddy's Tanks!".

My daughter and I played a Gorkamorka campaign from 5 until 8 or so. We played about once a month or so. She also made her own fort for it.

 zedmeister wrote:
My little un's still a toddler. They're a bit too young, but the little tot loves to throw dice and come look at "Daddy's Tanks!".

Yeah, they love tanks and horses the most! I got mine a super sweet castle with knights and catapult for 5 euros. Hopefully he'll grow out of it so I can play with it by myself .

@op: sure, will get some pics when I can. TBH the brushwork isn't much to look at; basically no brush control when you are 3!

Started playing with my son when he was 6. He's 26 now. Paints better and faster than I do, but I can still give him a run for his money on the tabletop.

My eldest started gaming when about 5, he's now 16. He participates in RPGs (and has run a few) and is my main opponent for 40K - and he usually beats me. He's very creative at modding models, but absolutely hates painting.

Younger son is autistic (and just turned 14), but loves the 40K models and his "orks", though I'm not sure he could handle a full game. He does plays in our RPG and brings a lot of (well-recieved) surprises to the table.

BTW, while our last RPG was D&D 5E, we're currently engaged in a My Little Pony RPG, and everyone has been enjoying the chaos tremendously.

Im now 47. I started computer gaming when I was 8 (we called it video games and it was either Coleco Combat or Atari 2600 games). I started TTG when I was 11 or so. Avalon Hill Starship troopers (chits), Platoon (chits then Italeri Vietnam US and Vietcong 1/72 models) and Steve Jackson's Car Wars (matchbox cars) and FASA Battletech (just chits we didnt have models then). I still have bits and pieces of those games. I still play computer games too.

I suck at TTG games. I love the dynamics, the banter, fluff, model building, painting and collecting. Its the rules that always leave me flummoxed. Always have, probably always will. I went to school to be a lawyer, wound up being a computer systems engineer, you'd think Id like the minutia of rules arguing, but I dont, I detest that crap. Despite this I come back for more (education and intelligence dont always meet).

That said, I am the father of 9 (nine) children, ranging from 18yo to 16 months, 6 girls to 3 boys.

They all play computer games (PC, web or Android or Wii or Xbox). The girls love RPG's (Fallout, Skyrim, TheSims) as a whole, some like the online shooting games like Roblox. The boys to a man love shooting games, any 40K licensed game (PC, console, Android) and they all love Minecraft.

The older ones (18, 15 yo girls) used to play Space Hulk when they were younger, until they hit their teens. The 15 year old loves to draw and paint, especially dragons. I got her a Reaper Bones dragon to model and paint. The twins (12yo) have played 40k TTG, the boy likes the models, building, painting and the idea of playing, as does his 10 yo and 6 yo brothers. Im using 8th edition to intro them to hobby formally. They have all played TT Space Hulk, all have liked it to one degree or another. The 10yo boy was 7 when he first played, cried when his termies were decimated in the hulk. Ive since given them some additional saves to keep the game interesting.

I got some "battle for Vedros" starter sets, one for the 10yo for his birthday, the other for the 6 yo for Christmas). The 12 yo boy will be getting his own Orks troops when he's done building and painting them (havent told him that part yet). They're my own orks that I never got around to building and painting.

The younger girls will probably follow their brothers into playing, The 9 yo girl has expressed interest in Tau and Tyranids, much like her older sisters did. Im hoping this will take with the younger set as they relate to their brothers more than their older sisters.

We've been making terrain from scratch, and that helps in drawing them in, as does videos on Youtube of 40k, and of course movies like LOTR and Star Wars.

Im not forcing them into it, but I am introducing gaming as fun!

Even if no one reads this far into my post, this has been strangely therapeutic as hell OP. You might become the Bob Ross of Dakka.

All just about coming up with interesting topics!

Also, Ross is my forename :p

My 2 girls 4 and 6 like to show people daddy models , I have loads in a cupboard , with the older one I have played silver tower which she loved.

My boy is two, and he loves daddy's toys. Even if daddy isn't super excited for him to play with his new Predator Executioner, I like that there's something I have to look forward to doing with my son

I am not a parent and i have no intention of ever having kids, but i do have nephews who have accepted that they have a kind of odd aunt who likes to play with toys too.

I spend a lot of time with them and helped raise one for the first four years of his life though, so I hope that fits in with the topic!

While the one is mainly interested in pokemon these days, we've had some fun messing around with my old fantasy minis, taking them on adventures and such. They're still pretty young, rules are for later. Board games are definitely favorites with them though, and of course minecraft.

I think it's a good thing, i grew up playing board games and avalon hill war games with my dad, and i loved that.

I am 48 this year.
I have two boys, one 13 and the other 11.

Oldest:
- Pokémon both computer, cards and 3DS.
- Yu-gi-oh card player.
- Minecraft modded PVP player.
- TeamFortress 2
- Path of Exile.
- No miniature gaming interest so-far.
- Hockey Player (defense / played some goalie)
- Karate.
- Huge fan of cursing at online players rather loudly... what is so funny is he cannot do that with VOIP: he chewed off the microphone on his headphones out of "habit".
- The dude would be the Barbarian of the group.

Youngest:
- Pokémon both computer, cards and 3DS.
- Yu-gi-oh card player.
- Huge fan of any Zelda game.
- Minecraft builder more than anything.
- Plays "Engineering" type games like Kerbal or Space Engineers.
- Plays disturbingly well "Just Cause 2".
- Plays Star Wars Battlefront. Identifies strongly with Imperials: "Good uniforms, disciplined, Rebel scum seem to run everywhere with no plan...".
- He has put together around 2 squads of Space Marines. I will be concerned if he starts painting them white.
- Karate
- The dude would be your "Paladin" of the group.

So YES gamer parent.
Every once and a while I have to set up local servers so we can host all manner of friends.
I get to practice my firewall skills very well.

The kids are watching TAMNT on TV lately, I just so happen to have a box set of those guys so I may be able to get them to play.

Started the kids a few years ago. The youngest (9) loves Imperial Assault, which is a pain to find the sets now as they are out of print. He also stole my Orks from me. Eldest (11) started to paint some marines, but has now claimed ownership of the SoB models I have

Games they have played, and would like to continue. 40K, Dust, Imperial Assault, X Wing, Armada.

Got them onto boardgames. A&A, Firefly, Talisman, Dead of Winter are all favoured.

Not sure about the RPG side of things. I may let one start on the WEG Star Wars (Original) if he can look after the books. Not intending on letting them anywhere near the Cyberpunk set. Need to see if its a fad or they really want to keep it up as a hobby.

Cheers

Andrew

me and my boy been gaming for 10 years together

My son, 18, is into 40k and has been for a number of years (we jointly build a couple of armies). He plays D&D (5e) with me and a couple of other guys on Friday nights. My daughter, 14, plays D&D with her friends and is a member of the table top gaming club at her high school (she has gymnastics on Fridays and thus misses the D&D game). They both play video games.

When they were much younger, we would play D&D over the summer to kill afternoons (B/X at first and later 3.x), as well as skirmish mini games. I have great memories of those games. Still have a picture a picture my daughter drew of a major npc from the 1st campaign we did (she was 5).

I got lucky, the apples didn't roll too far away from the tree. (My wife plays D&D as well, but is not so much into mini or video games).

 Easy E wrote:
My daughter and I played a Gorkamorka campaign from 5 until 8 or so. We played about once a month or so. She also made her own fort for it.

That is awesome!

My eldest son plays 40K (on his third major army), while we also play D&D with my daughter.

My daughter is 6, and while she shows mild interest, she is too flighty at this point to want to concentrate on learning or sitting still painting. And I'm fine with that, she's 6.

My son appears to be completely disinterested in my toy soldiers although he is very into lego and minecraft so maybe when he is a bit older I can corrupt him

My kids are a little too young to game (the daughter is 3, the son is 15 months) so they can't actually play a game yet.

However, my daughter always wants to see "daddies little men" and she always looks amazed when I show her unpainted to painted!

Maybe when she's older she can play...

I have 2 boys, aged 5 and 3. The five year old I've started on RPGs with a simplified version of DnD or Silhouette (Heavy Gear), and I built a large gaming table for 40k for him and me to play with. He has some ultramarines and I just bought some Tyranids for him to play with, We usually play small games with 5-10 soldiers on each side. Or 1 tank vs 10 soldiers, stuff like that. He is already starting to get the hang of certain tactics, like deciding to go left because he thought it was better if only 2 of my guys could shoot him there, instead of right where all 5 could shoot at him.

The three year old is a bit too young still (his nickname is 'the destroyer' because he will try to break anything he gets his chubby little hands on). But I am planning to get him an army as soon as he hits 5 and I am hoping for a solid decade+ of gaming fun with my sons.

My wife isn't into gaming, but she said she might try an RPG if both boys were playing.

Pseudomonas wrote:
My son appears to be completely disinterested in my toy soldiers although he is very into lego and minecraft so maybe when he is a bit older I can corrupt him

I think the current generation of kids are gonna find lego Nexo Knights as one of the pathways into 40k.

Only one of my 4 kids (the 11-year old) enjoys gaming. The other three will game half-heartedly and usually ask to quit before long, so I don't push. At xmas time, I usually go overboard on the gamer-kid and my wife handles shopping for the rest.

Good system.

Mine are too young still. My oldest will be 4 soon. I don't think she really gets the concept of the games, but she does like to paint miniatures like daddy. The first were actually little resin statues of Spider-Man and the Lizard. After she was done with those she picked out a Reaper Bones miniature to paint. I rarely have time to actually play anymore, when I do she sometimes like to roll dice, or just watch. I usually take pictures and take notes to put up on my blog, so she will also take pictures and scribble on my paper. I don't know if this will ever translate into any interest in actually playing, or even painting really.

Full disclosure, my kids are grown and in college or PhD land.

The Boy was an active 40Ker and card shark. We played together in multiple games, had a league of him and his friends, and played multiple tournaments together. He was Very good, and would now be thought of as TFG.

He would play with my old painted armies, some of which were older than the parents of his opponents. He was used to playing older opponents and as a preteen would play YuGiYo with Army guys driving down from Fort Hood and was officially known as "Little Dude." I have some pics somewhere of him standing in the middle of a bunch of guys in uniform, smiling away.

The Daughter, was the artist and she helped "paint" an army of mine.. It was IG (mostly tanks) decked out in glitter paint. We called it Nurgle's Mardi Gras Army and she would sit next to me and "help" me play. You haven't lived in fear util you see a bright pink and yellow glitter Leman Russ come onto the battlefield!

I am a gamer. I am a parent. So, yes, I am a gamer parent

On the subject of gamer kids and family, though, that is another story.

Back when I was about 4 or so (1993), my mom introduced me to Star Wars. She and my dad have been nerds without ever realizing it, as they were both fans of the original Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Twilight Zone, Battlestar Galactica, and other franchises in movie, television, and books. One of my earliest memories is seeing Reading Rainbow for the first time and saying "That's the blind guy from Star Trek!". I never learned classic nursery rhymes like other kids, instead I was reading War of the Worlds. My brother and I didn't have a chance...

Years later, I got into PC gaming and found Dawn of War, and that's what got me hooked on Warhammer. The combination of the setting, the gaming, the socializing, and the tactile nature of the hobby and immersive scenery just clicked with my brain (I was also big into Lego bricks when younger). That was almost 8 years ago that I picked up wargaming and tabletop gaming as my hobby for life.

Now, I am married with a step-daughter (9 years old), and daughter of my own (7 months old). I decided to ask my wife out after I caught her listening to old country music (like from the 50s and 60s) while playing World of Warcraft. My step-daughter has been in my life since then for about 4 years now. Once she hit about 6 I started showing her miniatures gaming, and I have been slowly adding more for her to grasp and play over time. She really likes the more "nerdy" boardgames like Munchkin or the D&D board games, and shows potential for being an RPG player later on. Right now, she is asking for models to paint, and what she lacks in talent she makes up for in enthusiasm.

My youngest can barely sit up on her own yet and is lacking teeth. She has a few more years

My wife enjoys tabletop gaming, but is more interest in various MMORPGs that she can play quickly after a stressful day. She enjoys the analog games too, but with some of the stressful things she has to deal with, she needs quick access to her outlet of choice. She keeps saying that she will play Warhammer with me someday though...

We'll come back to this later on. As it stands, in the dozen or so games I have played against my step-daughter, she has won most of them (about 90%). I take her to events occasionally and let her roll my dice, and I actually place in the tournaments. She brags about how she is my "good luck charm"

No kids here but my Nephew is 3 1/2 and loves my "bad guys" (how can anyone call Salamanders bad guys?).

He hasnt shown any interest in the dice rolling but he wants my Gravis Capt. & Primaris Lieutenant to sword fight.

I'm working on my Armies on Parade board and he'll just sit there and watch me work on it for an hour or 2.

Next we have to influence his 8mo brother.