Ideas for gaming with a 4-year old

[Timbor]

Hi folks,

I see a few folks here posting battle reports of games they have played with their littl'uns.  Well, my oldest will be turning 4 next month and I would like to try a game with him.  He has been watching me paint little men for a couple years now, and is fascinated with them, but has never gotten a chance to play an actual game.

I need some suggestions for some simple rules a 4-year old can understand.  I plan on setting up a little skirmish game, and this is what I have come up with so far:

- Movement sticks for measuring how far someone moves or shoots.  I am thinking identical movement for everyone, or maybe cavalry and big guys can move double everyone else.
- Shooting will have one range
- dicerolling - I think a single dice roll to determine all combat and shooting will be easiest.  Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?  I have lots of D6s and a few D10s I can use.  My idea is to have a couple classes of troops (elites/chaff) and an elite guy would kill any other figure on a certain role, etc.

Any suggestions would be great!

[dadlamassu]

In the games I have with my grandchildren (aged 4, 5 and 7) there are 2 classes of soldiers "Goodies" the ones that the kids have on their side and "Baddies" the ones on Grandad's side.  In addition we have tanks and trucks, dinosaurs, elephants etc.

Men on foot move the length of a red stick (a 15cm Spiderman ruler).  Almost everything else moves a blue stick (a Thomas the Tank Engine 30cm ruler)  Everything can shoot anywhere on the kitchen table so long as he can see it.  Laser pointers are great fun and very useful for this. 

Goodies get 2 D6 and kill on 5 or more.  Baddies get 1 D6 and need a 6 to kill.  Big guns get more dice.  Dinosaurs get 4 D6.

The 7-year-old can now handle simplified rules (he has played Saurian Safari and our own Skull Island games amongst others) and the younger ones. 

I advise letting the young chap's imagination design the game (a box of HeroClix type figures, dinosaurs, tanks, trucks etc  is useful!)

Keep it simple, If you make a rule up then remember it - because the young ones will!

[Oldben1]

I play a modified version of heroquest (you can print a lot of the cards from on-line sources, even the map).

My daughter is 5 likes to play.

[Mister Rab]

I need some suggestions for some simple rules a 4-year old can understand.  I plan on setting up a little skirmish game, and this is what I have come up with so far:

- Movement sticks for measuring how far someone moves or shoots.  I am thinking identical movement for everyone, or maybe cavalry and big guys can move double everyone else.
- Shooting will have one range
- dicerolling - I think a single dice roll to determine all combat and shooting will be easiest.  Any suggestions on how to accomplish this?  I have lots of D6s and a few D10s I can use.  My idea is to have a couple classes of troops (elites/chaff) and an elite guy would kill any other figure on a certain role, etc.

This sounds almost identical to what my nearly-five year old and I played recently.

First, each side made their moves - one movement range (I had a stick about 15cm long) for everyone, and anyone not fighting could move.

Then fighting resolved was simultaneously: peasants and goblins rolled a d6 each, knights and orcs a d10, the giant got a d20. Combat was split so that it was as close to one-on-one as possible (i.e. not two-on-two, never more than one on the outnumbnered side - harder to explain than to do!). Scores on each side of the combat were added together and the loser (or lowest score on the losing side) was removed. The giant had "a second chance" - basically a second wound.

Then on to the next turn. He came up with most of these rules himself and was happy to suggest "just this time" rules  special circumstances like being behind a wall. It was a blast!

We didn't have shooting, but I'd suggest having a range for shooting slightly greater than twice as far as your movement and make it a set dice roll, perhaps a d10 on the scale I've used above. It would be even simpler with two dice - d6 for the chaff, d10 for the skilled fighters or leaders. Big monsters could use more than one dice?

Have fun, and I'd second what dadlamasu said:

I advise letting the young chap's imagination design the game ... Keep it simple, If you make a rule up then remember it - because the young ones will!