"Dads! Opinions on Skull and Crown Wooden Wars please" Topic
10 Posts
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Stew art | 06 Oct 2020 3:15 p.m. PST |
A question for all the Dads out there… Short Version of post: have any of you introduced your children to Skull and Crown's Wooden Wars? How'd it go? Did they like it? Was it worth the investment? I'd like to hear your experiences please. Long Version of post: I'm a father; daughter #1 is 7 and son #2 is 2, and son number 3 is on the way in December. Daughter #1 has finally shown an interest in this silly hobby of miniature games. Initially she was turned off by the fact that miniatures for wargaming often carry weapons. "I don't like guns." She said. But recently I was doing a terrain piece when she walked into the hobbyroom and was very interested. So naturally, I am looking for an introductory war game for young kids, and then I remembered seeing lots of kids playing and having fun at conventions like Kublacon with Skull and Crown's Wooden Wars. If you don't know what these are; they are wooden soldier flats about 3" tall that you knock over by throwing little rubber balls. And while they do carry rifles, they are pointed up and the overall motif is very kid friendly. At the time I saw the games being played my daughter was too young so I didn't purchase any, but now time has passed, as it does. I think the concept is fun. I see lots of adults here on TMP saying that they would of loved something like this when they were a kid. I'm an adult and I think it's super cool. But I haven't see much out there on the internet tubes of parents saying how much their kids like it. I know you can't tell me IF my daughter will like it, because you've never met the little Terror (as she is known). But I'm just wondering if anyone else has had success with this. I purchased the rules and they are simple enough for her grasp easily. I have 2 reservations about going further: 1: The expense of the miniatures themselves. I figure bare minimum for an interesting game would be 2 units and one cannon per side, which runs close to $200. USD It's funny how I wouldn't hesitate to drop $200 USD for a game for myself, but then I know I would stick to it. : ) She might play it once though and refuse to play it again. She is a terror. (I do think she will like throwing the balls at the soldiers and maybe even painting / coloring them with a sharpie, especially if can make them pink, which I wouldn't mind.) 2: The miniatures are based on Naps, which I know nothing about have no interest in. I wish there were ACW or AWI versions. But I can live with this obvious design flaw. That last bit was just a joke. So any of you Dads out there have any experiences you'd like to share to give me encouragement? is she perhaps still a little to young? I want to stress that I SINCERELY not trying to disparage Skull and Crown Miniatures. I actually think its a great idea, and indeed I clearly remember the demonstration games and kids having a lot of fun. I'm not knocking the price either. Man has got to make a living. What I'm hoping is that someone will come along and say "I got this for my child are we are still playing years later and other war games besides. Worth every penny." -and as a quick aside, this is one of those moments where I am happy to be a TMP member, because otherwise I would have nowhere to ask. -Stew |
79thPA | 06 Oct 2020 4:56 p.m. PST |
Your concerns are valid. I like the concept, but I find them cost prohibitive. I went with 54mm plastics for the kids. They are cheap, and you can also get them molded in a variety of colors, so you don't even have to paint them if you don't want to. |
von Schwartz | 06 Oct 2020 5:14 p.m. PST |
Interesting, I'll forgive the fact that you forgot Grand Dads (smile). I have 4 grandkids, 2 boys 4-years old, 1 boy 7-years, and a girl of 11 (going on 21). I don't have much hope for the girl or her 4 year brother (too far away and my son has gone all swishy liberal on me), but the brothers 4 & 7 have showed some interest and we live nearby. This game sounds like it might be just the thing to spark some interest as they both love throwing things. Where is it available and how much? Like 79thPA I got them some 54mm plastic ACW, but the 4 year old wants horses and there was only two in the whole package and one already broke. He is forced to use my "Britains" 54mm metal cast of the Queen Mum on parade to even things out. |
Parzival | 06 Oct 2020 9:38 p.m. PST |
You can always visit the Junior General and go with print-your-self paper minis. juniorgeneral.org Absolutely free. But if you want the heft of actual minis, yes, the cheap plastic sets are the way to go. I did that for my own AWI "mucking about with toy soldiers" rules. link Since I did that post I also acquired some more figures, including some slightly better (but still plastic) figs. Maybe I'll get around to painting them… By the way, the best introductory war game for kids I have encountered was Milton Bradley/GW's Battle Masters. Easy to play, lots of fun, and great figs, though of course they're strictly fantasy (and are actually GW Warhammer figs). You can often find the rulebook, cards, dice and accessories cheap on eBay, but not the figures themselves (those will set you back a pretty penny). The battlemat may be harder to acquire, as it's a favorite among players of WW1 aircraft combat gamers for the large hexes and muddy terrain! But any decent hex grid will work. The rules are also free as a PDF download through Hasbro's customer service "parts and instructions" web pages. The rules are simple. It's played on a big hex grid featuring a single river and a handful of simple terrain elements. There's a command deck which shows the different units (or combinations of units) for each side. Flip the top card of the deck, and that's who moves and attacks. Infantry moves one hex, cavalry two. Some light cavalry move twice. A revealed unit may move and attack, or if possible, stay in place and attack. The special units are the ogre, which has its own action deck of 6 cards, and the cannon, which has a stack of cannon cards played one per hex in a random order towards the chosen target. Flip these cards and they'll show either a flying cannonball, a bouncing cannonball (ouch), or an explosion. If you don't flip an explosion until you reach the target, the target is eliminated. Continue until victory conditions are met (usually eliminating the other side, but not always). It wouldn't be all that hard to convert them to any setting you like— in fact, they wouldn't be at all bad for AWI, ACW, ECW, or any other "line ‘em up and march ‘em together" period. |
arthur1815 | 07 Oct 2020 8:13 a.m. PST |
I'll second the idea of using cheap plastic figures. When my son was small we played HG Wells's Little Wars rules with 54mm unpainted plastic troops and a Playmobil ACW gun that shot plastic projectiles, and had great fun. With my daughter, some years later, I played Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules (which I was using myself) with plastic RISK figures on a chessboard; she really loved beating me! IMHO, don't invest heavily in figures and/or rules until you are really sure a youngster is genuinely interested in wargaming. Neither of my children have ended up pursuing the hobby, alas! |
Stew art | 08 Oct 2020 8:43 a.m. PST |
thanks for the feedback everyone. sorry for the delay in responding; life interfered… anyway, I never thought of using 54mm plastics. that could be a good idea. anyone have a favorite manufacturer? and I can't believe that I excluded grandfathers. what a silly mistake; my apologies. @Schwartz: you can find the website here: skullncrown.com and it's the wooden wars napoleonics collection. the rules are very simple and more than affordable, it's the cool figures that tend to get pricey. though I don't know If I would call it prohibitive. I would wager that most 'units' in a miniature war game cost around $30 USD or more dollars, such as these do (each 2 figures is $7.50 USD, need at least 10 for a unit so 7.50 x 5 = 37.50). again for me, it's more the gamble of if it'll be hit or not. who knows. I'll think more about it. maybe Santa will provide a small sample as a gift.. -Stew |
jefritrout | 08 Oct 2020 3:15 p.m. PST |
Stew, As someone who has played Wooden Wars for a couple of years, it is a fun game. My daughter played for about a year, but then she became more interested in other things. I have used the wooden guys to play games with other kids and have run them at conventions on the East Coast. Lateley, I loaned them to a friend who has 4 kids age 12-5 to keep them occupied during the pandemic. They have enjoyed them greatly I understand. Santa does understand these things however. |
von Schwartz | 08 Oct 2020 5:32 p.m. PST |
Interesting, maybe Santa is paying attention. The Napoleonic Wars looks interesting for my younger ones, but the Killer Bunnies kinda tickles my funny bone. |
79thPA | 08 Oct 2020 5:33 p.m. PST |
Armies in Plastic and Hat Industrie. |
Stew art | 09 Oct 2020 8:45 a.m. PST |
thanks 79th, I'll look into it. your welcome Von Schwartz for the new expense. : ) and thanks Jefritrout: that's was the feedback I was hoping for. I am thinking that the collection can be used as you have stated; at conventions, family gatherings, future cub scout meetings, maybe school functions… and if daughter number 1 passes there is always son #2 and #3…I think I am just trying to talk myself into it. |
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