Early this year I decided that I wanted to steer my eldest son, who is six, towards a hobby that didn't involve a screen. He'd developed a liking for Dan TDM videos, like many others of his generation, watching hours of the dude playing Minecraft. Add to this various games, TV time and a daily film, that screen time was mounting up in a big way. That was pretty much our fault – life gets so busy that it's far too easy to give the kids a tablet to look at or switch the TV on. Thankfully with an Amazon Kids subscription, I know my sons won't see inappropriate content due to the filters on there.
Still, the desire to introduce a screen-free hobby was building and I wracked my addled, child-fried brain to think of something. We'd tried art with some success, but that had become more of an evening activity. Then, one day during a tram ride here in Nottingham, we passed the headquarters of Games Workshop, and the huge Warhammer World complex beside it. I started telling him about their games and how I'd played them in the nineties, and he seemed quite keen on the mythos both of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.
I picked up some miniatures and paints to see what would happen, and that opened the floodgates. Here, months later, I am fully back in the worlds I'd played in as a teenager, and I've now introduced three kids to a hobby which occupies them with creative pursuits, tactical thinking, attention to detail and rich stories as well as a vibrant social aspect. The welcome we have received from the local gaming community has been nothing short of phenomenal.
I've been taking my son to Warhammer Nottingham for the Sunday Crusader Club, which has been nothing but a positive experience. The staff are a delight, both knowledgeable and friendly without being pushy or elitist, welcoming me back to the hobby while welcoming my son to it with open arms and a fully loaded Bolter at the ready.
The Crusader Club is a brilliant idea for kids who would like to get started with a new hobby, The first hour centres around building models, the second hour moves to painting them and then this is followed by some gaming fun where the staff pit a monstrous vehicle or creature against the amassed might of their own models. From what I have observed, this has helped my son greatly with patience, attention to detail, endurance, tactical thinking and more. It has also made his already vibrant imagination explode with scenarios, creatures and mythologies of his own, which has been a delight to see. When I enquired about the club, Dan at Warhammer Nottingham was brilliant at explaining the benefits of it and telling us about his own journey through the games and scene over the years. It seemed to tick all of the boxes with what we were looking for.
We play a game at home each night, small skirmishes that play into a loose overall narrative. We have building and painting sessions in his bedroom, which have been beautiful bonding experiences each time. We discuss the rules, look out for exciting ways to paint miniatures and generally have a great time out of it.
My own social life has improved since returning to the realms of Warhammer, with regular visits to Warhammer World and meeting up with friends to play or just compare minis. For example I recently met up with a friend who works for Games Workshop and hung out at Bugman's bar at HQ and played Age of Sigmar over food. It's wonderful that a hobby that some may see to be somewhat insular can make such a difference to lives.
If other parents have concerns about the violence and grim nature of battles in the Age of Sigmar or the 41st millenium, then I would love them to know that while there is violence galore, it is suggested rather than shown. This ain't video games. You're not going to see miniatures actually eviscerate each other. Of course, there are many Warhammer video games as well, which I would certainly advise sticking with the suggested age group.
But it isn't just the six year old and myself who have found it. We've also brought the 13 year old and 4 year old in our lives into it as well. Each of us gets something different out of the experience, which is just magic for me to see as a dad. Finding something that really does cross age groups with its appeal is like finding the Holy Grail of parenting pastimes.
For me, the building and painting are remarkably therapeutic, while the games are exciting and challenging and the associated fiction and tie-ins really enrich the experience. Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 scratch different parts of the same itch for fantastical adventures and they boasts some astoundingly talented creators.
For my son it's all about the building and exciting standoffs between Space Marines and Orks, or Necrons. Our 13 year old brethren loves the community aspect of it along with the gaming, and is making big leaps in his understanding of the rules and the building and painting as well. Our 4 year old battle brother has an interest in it which I'm really enjoying watching. He wanted to join in as he saw the rest of us painting and playing, and has since developed a love of being our official dice roller, as he has an uncanny ability to roll 5s and 6s. He is also a big fan of the portion sizes in Bugman's at Warhammer World!
When I started up with gaming again after so many years away from it, it was with the intention of reducing screen time for the kids a bit, yet it has become something that we all enjoy and all get something different from. Boxes of paints and enticing plastic sprues fill the house. Posters of Space Marines line bedroom walls. Issues of White Dwarf fill minds with mental lists of what we'd like next. This is so much fun.
In fact, yesterday perfectly sums up what this has become for our family. My wife and I along with all three kids drove to Warhammer World in the morning. I'd booked us a 40k table in the amazing games arena and written a scenario that the kids could join in with easily. Two units of Death Guard with a band of Poxwalkers had taken control of a stronghold containing a valuable teleporter beacon that would allow anyone who activated it to bring more armies directly to the desolate world we had landed on. This resulted in a squad of Ultramarines, my home-brew renegade marines The Iron Wrath and my son's gang of Orks and Grots (The Noisy Gitz) trying to wrench control of the stronghold from the pus-seeping tentacles of the Death Guard marines. Good fun.
That lasted an hour, which we followed with another look round the exhibition halls and then an epic lunch. We piked up some paint and bases for projects at home and headed off to a Halloween party. That evening we ended the day with the kids being shown how to play Shadespire by a friend and a brief 40k skirmish on the living room floor. Once the kids were asleep I sat and painted a Stormcast Eternal. In fact, I think I'll do another one now.
So yeah. It's good to be back. I'm looking forward to what the future brings with this.
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