Dadhammer Junior!

So I got my kiddo the First Strike starter when he was about 4, and we've been playing some super-simplified 40k now and again.  Now that he's a little older, I felt like he needed a bit more structure, and something that he could read and reference for himself (rather than just doing whatever I said "the rules" were).  So I devised... DADHAMMER 40,000!

Dadhammer 40,000 is a set of warscrolls along with some really basic rules that kids should be able to follow along with themselves even if they can't read yet.

Below are the reference rules, and a sample warscroll (or dataslate if you prefer).  As you can see, I have done away with: weapon ranges, movement characteristics, strength, toughness, damage, armour penetration, bravery, points, and special rules.  The warscroll simply has a ranged weapon profile, and a melee weapon profile, and each weapon has a number of attacks (the white box with the dice), a "to hit" value (the green box with the arrow), and a "to wound" value (the orange explodey box).  My aim here was to capture the essence of playing Warhammer with as few rules as possible.  Also on each warscroll is a Save value (in the grey shield) and Wounds (in the red heart).

   

Since everything on the warscroll is a symbol or a number, I found that my Pre-K kiddo was able to follow along with it pretty well (although he has been playing games for much of his life).  The Turn card gives your child something tangible to reference telling them what to do; even if they can't read it yet, they can still reference the pictogram of what each phase means and what order they happen in.

Each faction in Dadhammer 40,000 consists of 2-4 warscrolls that condense the essence of the army.  I have foregone the larger units (Carnifexes, Mechs, and so forth) and focused on units that have come in various starter sets over the years.

    

So for example, a Tyranid army is led by a Tyranid Synapse, who could be anything from a Tyranid Prime to a Hive Tyrant; Gaunts, Genestealers, Spore Mines and so forth are all Tyranid Drones; and all of the middle-sized bugs from Warriors to Biovores fall under the Tyranid Warrior warscroll.

As another example, here are the Drukhari.  So as you can see, they are generally very simple, and will require a little bit of creativity to get everything lined up nicely.  The majority of armies, however, feature a leader warscroll, an infantry warscroll, and a third thing as appropriate for that faction.

    

To battle your kiddos with these warscrolls, I'd suggest just making sure that their army is better than yours.  It shouldn't be hard, just give them an extra unit or make your units smaller.  You'll probably still win.

Anyhow, click here to check them out!  I recommend printing them out at either 4 or 6 to a page, though they'd probably be fine at 9 to a page.