Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Alien Worlds with 6 years old

Looking for the game to play with my six years old son, I recently discovered a SF game called Alien Worlds by Echidna Games.

It is a very simple game, but it has possibilities for tactical decisions, and that is just what I was looking for.

Similar to SBH, it uses stick for measuring distances, but here it is just one stick that measures 1/6 of the playing field. Model can "leap frog" stick for ease of movement. Shooting is possible up to two sticks. For combat resolution player rolls 1d6, adding and removing one or two modifiers. There is no defense roll. Very simple, but still satisfying. My kid had a blast.
We played using pre-painted Star Wars miniatures.

In other news, my Boardgames collection is now richer by another solo game - it is Imperial Settlers by Portal Games.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this. i have their other rules LasterBlade and BattleBlade but they are d10 and was thinking of converting them to use d6 instead. It is good to know there is a d6 precursor. And you are playing with a 6 year old! I am starting to realise my children are a lot better with increasing a decreasing the dice rolled and counting successes (e.g. 5 and 6s are a hit). So roll 3 6 to hit, 2d6 if in cover. We have actually been doing this for years with our modified WarHammerQuest combat rules (my children were 5 and 7 when we started with WHQ). While I have been rolling d6s for so long I can add and subtract modifiers in my head without even thinking about it, I am (finally some may say) seeing the advantage of multiple d6s. So long as it is a small number being rolled! I am thinking of trying them out with 5Core skirmish or something like that as there are no modifiers to the dice roll, just the number of dice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've found with some kids, having an "opposed" or "saving roll" can put them off, because they get excited about a good roll, then it's "taken away".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Luckily not mine! We play WHQ with opposed dice rolls and they love the tension. But I am generally not fond of save rolls myself. Another reason to try out 5Core with them.

      Delete
    2. Quite agree. We are often playing Hero kids RPG that uses the count successes mechanics and my kid loves it.
      In 5Core measuring part may be a problem, so I think I will stay with sticks and go for Song of blades and Heroes next.

      Delete
    3. I would be using 6" sticks for 5Core. I tried SoBH with them but their is a bit of maths in the die rolls. They enjoyed it though!

      Delete
  3. Hi Aleksandar, I am the author of Alien Worlds. I love to read things like "my kid had a blast" - that's why we wrote it! Thank you for mentioning us on your blog!

    ReplyDelete