Anti-Scape Help

[The Deadliest Warrior]

My younger cousin is about 9 years old and wants to learn to play Heroscape with me. He really looks up to me, but he just refuses to let me teach him. He will dump out my 200 + figure collection and grab the figures he deems "cool". Half the time he has half of a squad and I am left with the other half, and he refuses to listen as I try to teach him. He won't use cards and he will get mad if I kill Spider-Man. I can't take it, and he won't listen.

I. Give. Up!

Don't get me wrong, I love my cousin, but I do not want to play 'Scape at all with him. How can I get him to stop caring about 'Scape/not want to play without hurting his feelings and withtout him knowing I don't want to play with him? I don't know if you guys could help, but any ideas at all would be appreciated.

Thanks,
- The Deadliest Warrior

[Fen_Hydra]

Originally Posted by The Deadliest Warrior

My younger cousin is about 9 years old and wants to learn to play Heroscape with me. He really looks up to me, but he just refuses to let me teach him. He will dump out my 200 + figure collection and grab the figures he deems "cool". Half the time he has half of a squad and I am left with the other half, and he refuses to listen as I try to teach him. He won't use cards and he will get mad if I kill Spider-Man. I can't take it, and he won't listen.

I. Give. Up!

Don't get me wrong, I love my cousin, but I do not want to play 'Scape at all with him. How can I get him to stop caring about 'Scape/not want to play without hurting his feelings and withtout him knowing I don't want to play with him? I don't know if you guys could help, but any ideas at all would be appreciated.

Thanks,
- The Deadliest Warrior

You could possibly introduce him to a different game that you might like to play with him that you would both enjoy.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head though.

[The Deadliest Warrior]

Originally Posted by Fen_Hydra

You could possibly introduce him to a different game that you might like to play with him that you would both enjoy.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head though.

Thanks for the idea, I will try it! But...

The problem is, he just wants to play 'Scape. He will drop anything we're doing if he so much as sees a board out on my bedroom floor. He'll even "embellish" it and make it bigger, and a huge bloody mess for me to have to clean up later.

Thanks for the idea anyway, I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

[BurnyFlame]

You should try playing with other people at the same time. Invite a friend over and play a normal game with your friend, and if your cousin wants to play, he has to follow the rules correctly. Otherwise he can just watch. If you can't find a friend, get an adult/parent who will play correctly, and that should keep your cousin better behaved.

Option two is simply talk to him. Really; sit down, and explain that you don't like the way he treats your game. Make sure he knows you are serious.

Lastly, it sounds like your cousin likes the figures themselves, not the game. You should introduce him to action figures so he has those to play with however he wants.

[phil413ican]

I would agree that introducing him to another activity that you can both do together would be a good idea. Its really about quality time. The more you invest in him the more he will feel you care about and value him as an individual. Especially if he already looks up to you. Getting on his level and doing something that is more appropriate for a 9 year old as opposed to yourself will go a long way.

[MrWookiee]

You could just refuse to play with him until he agrees to learn some semblance of the rules. You could also just hide your 'Scape when he comes over and say you gave it up. You may not want to lie to him, though.

[The Deadliest Warrior]

Originally Posted by MrWookiee

You could just refuse to play with him until he agrees to learn some semblance of the rules. You could also just hide your 'Scape when he comes over and say you gave it up. You may not want to lie to him, though.

That would be kind of hard, as whenever he would open my closet, two giant containers of 'Scape would stare out at him.

[mac122]

My son is 6. We play Scape together. I started out explaining to him that he had to be careful with the figures and the cards and that they had to stay on the table, not be placed around the room like his other toys. Also, I had some duplicate uniques from RotV and some incomplete squads. I gave him some of those, marked the underside of the bases and let him play with those as he would his other toys. It's worked pretty well.

The best thing you can do is set firm ground rules - it will be tough since he's not had them before. Explain to him that you would love to play the game with him, but he has to treat the figures carefully. You'll have to be firm and not allow him to get your figures out unless he agrees to listen to you and follow your rules. Stick to your guns. In the long run, he'll learn boundaries and you'll earn his respect.

[Cavalier]

Pure and simple: "<Cousin>, I would love to play HeroScape with you, but what you want to play is not HeroScape. If you want to play, by the rules and respecting my collection, then we can give it a try, otherwise, NO."

[The Deadliest Warrior]

Originally Posted by mac122

My son is 6. We play Scape together. I started out explaining to him that he had to be careful with the figures and the cards and that they had to stay on the table, not be placed around the room like his other toys. Also, I had some duplicate uniques from RotV and some incomplete squads. I gave him some of those, marked the underside of the bases and let him play with those as he would his other toys. It's worked pretty well.

The best thing you can do is set firm ground rules - it will be tough since he's not had them before. Explain to him that you would love to play the game with him, but he has to treat the figures carefully. You'll have to be firm and not allow him to get your figures out unless he agrees to listen to you and follow your rules. Stick to your guns. In the long run, he'll learn boundaries and you'll earn his respect.

Thanks, man! I think we have a winner!

Thanks for all your ideas, guys! I'll try out mac122's idea, but please feel free to post other ideas, in case I like another one better or if that one doesn't work.

[lefton4ya]

Or you could always play the game "Pew-pew-pew. Bang, Huh. Swoosh. Ahhh" with the heroscape figures. if he says he wants to play with the dice then say you have to roll the dice and move the figures the right way. If he just wants a battle, play the basic rules and houserule however he wants - as long as the rules are established BEFORE the game starts and you both play by them.

I just played with some 7&8 year-old kids and it did help that there were a couple older players there too. We started with some more basic ruleset and figures and explained along the way but sometimes it is difficult to say "you can't do that, I forgot about one more rule/situation" or start quoting the Advanced FAQ when all they want to do is play and have fun. But if you have kids that aren't even willing to use a whole squad when you tell them you can't well then your only option is literally play by the rules or "no-dice" meaning resorting to using Heroscape as action figures.

Also, check out the thread "How to teach 8 year old how to play scape"

[CapnRedChops]

How about you just play the way he wants to play?
What's so wrong about that?

When he's ten, comment about how grown up he is now he's in double digits, and ask if he's grown up enough to play the grown up version.

CRC