For several years now, painting with my little girl has been a staple of our quality time together. Also, I've introduced her to some of my easier games, after she expressed an interest in playing them. Think Hero Quest and Space Hulk (light), with me adjusting the scenarios on the fly to suit the situation.
So yesterday, during one of our painting sessions, she suddenly told me she was (re)painting her figures, because she wanted to make a game. I misunderstood her, and asked if she wanted to use her own figures in one of our games, but no; she wanted to
make a game!
And with the seriousness of any five year old with a mission, she assembled her forces, asked me to lay out a piece of paper, and to my amazement, she started drawing out a grid. She had obviously paid attention during our Hero Quest games.
But not only there; she had also been observing a game of mine with large tree stumps (there are several threads on the LAF detailing these), so she gathered up as many toilet rolls as she could and declared that those were now trees, as the game was set in a forest.
Apparently, there was a witch (a Skull Pass Goblin), who required defeating, a treasure in the back of a dark cave, with a monster in it (drawn on the board, because she had not yet painted any monsters), several orks also dwelling there, and other features, such as large flowery fields, a waterfall, a lake and a bridge.
I was asked to help draw certain details, but most she did herself.
Then it was time to set up the figures. She told me she would write the book for the game later (she knows I reference several booklets during our games), but she might ask me for help, as she can't write just yet...
What followed then, was one of the most confusing miniature games I've ever played
For form, I brought in a couple of dice, but it turned out those were not really required, as her Elves, Orks, Soldier Men and assorted ladies from my lead mountain (all painted by her) ventured on their quest in a most chaotic (but highly logical to a five year old) fashion.
It became more playing with toys (including battles where minis were bashed together) in the end, but we had fun, and that's what most important! I was proud to see that she was very determined to make her own game, and I think she did a great job; I'm pretty sure she's a true little miniature gamer already...