When I was a child I remember having sweeping battles on distant planets in huge bases. In reality it was Lego blocks in mum's sideboard with the sliding front doors...but those sliding doors in my mind's eye were just like the volcano doors in the Bond movie 'You only live twice'. For many hours I was happy playing with those Lego blocks...4 squares a jeep, 6 squares a tank, and those immense land battleships of 12 blocks or more! I think this, coupled with my natural curiosity of the past is where my hobby started for me.
Nowadays I see the same imagination in my lad. Trying to be fair and not forcing my interests on Will I tried my best not to force him into the hobby. However, you guessed it, I failed miserably! Just being around figures in a box, or paints and brushes on the kitchen table, lead William to ask "Dad, what's this for?" or "Dad, what's that man carrying?" Being a helpful Dad, it was only right and proper to tell him what was going on...
What has been interesting to me (Will is now eleven years of age) is how he has taken 'the hobby' in his own way. After a couple of encouraged projects Will found his own interests; his first being, to my surprise, Zulus!
Being the convicted 'Wargamer' I tried several simple rule sets with simple dice rolling for him. However he still enjoys the battle in his mind's eye without the need for charts or rule sets to guide him (the photo above is the current battle on the upstairs landing). Maybe that's what still inspires us all, it certainly is me.
If you like, I'd love to hear what inspired, and still inspires you to game, boy and man!
P.S. Wills is interested in doing some posts himself, so this could become a family affair!
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Think you're correct about letting your son 'discover' the hobby for himself. I played with hundreds of the ubiquitous 1/72 plastic figures as a kid. Moved on eventually to computer games but got bored with them. Rediscovered the hobby aspect a number of years ago and continue to enjoy it now.
ReplyDeleteOne of the few hobbies (or maybe the only hobby) that I know of where you can play with your toys and still (if you want) sell them for a profit.
Thanks Matt,
ReplyDeleteOne thing I love about our hobby is the number of cross-overs of interests you can have, and that you can return to an old subject with renewed passion, based upon a new set of rules, or latest sci-Fi film. The hobby is generous in allowing us to be 'gaming butterflies'.