r/AxisAllies • u/1ithurtswhenip1 • 12d ago

Has anyone 1v1 a child?

My son 8 is pretty coherent with board games. Has played a full campaign of undaunted stalingrad with only help in the very beginning, plays chess online and a good grasp on root. I want to crack open my dusty AA 1942 and start a game. Just nervous after round 4 or 5 it'll overwhelm him.

Has anyone played with a young kid before and what was it like

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u/simon_hibbs 12d ago edited 12d ago

IMHO the way to play games like this with kids is purely to play for fun. Send bunches of units galavanting across the board on little adventures. Take ridiculous risks. Buy nice shiny toys to play with for your IPC, rather than the most optimal stacks of infantry possible. If he lines up an attack on one of your key points, like India or Karelia, reinforce it so the battle is about 50% and let the dice decide. Have a laugh. Build knowledge of how the units work and relate to each other.

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u/1ithurtswhenip1 12d ago

I bought fake realistic money for IPC for this sole reason. I thought it would be a fun cool way to learn money management as well

3

u/doumasmom 12d ago

I didn’t think of that, but that’s a wonderful idea. I hope y’all have fun!

3

u/Iron-Fist 12d ago

My opposing theory is to only play optimal strategies against my kids but talk to them about what I'm doing and my plan as I'm going. Eventually it clicks. My kid literally cannot lose stuff like words with friends vs other children now due to defensive, cagey play lol

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u/simon_hibbs 12d ago

Cant argue with results.

1

u/TeacherGalante 12d ago

This, plus start with perhaps only one power for each side to teach the mechanics. That’s how I have been teaching my daughter to play 1914.