Am I smarter than an 8 year old?

It's been a beautiful sunny day here in that deepest, darkest West country and with little to do during the lock down I decided to set up a quick game to try out the new rules again. Then Sprinkling three: the revenge popped in to see what I was up to.' Ooh daddy, can I play?' he asked innocently. 'Of course' I replied thinking this was a great opportunity to try out the simple nature of the rules, you know, to see if Sprinkling 3: the revenge picks them up quickly or if he finds the whole thing too much. But before I go into that:

Let's all have a classic.

It's worth pointing out that the sight that greeted Sprinkling 3:the revenge was this:

I know my set up is less than pro level ( and that's being pretty generous) but there is something wonderful about being greeted by the sight of a table set up, deployed and ready to go. So I gave him the choice of forces and we got down to it.

He picked the ' army of darkness' (his words, good lad!):

Leaving me with the human defenders:

So the question is can I beat an 8 year old using a set of rules I wrote myself?......in a word, nope!

  Below are some pictures that tell the sorry tale of my forces unpicking at the hands of a boy 33 years my junior!.

 It started with my crossbows running when some skeletons looked at them funny....

Clemont Flatley my Giant was meant to charge in and pulverize his specter Phil, that went not so well....

 My right flank being turned into a killing ground!!.....

My knights failing yet again to make headway!.....

 The plan was to hit his center hard while defending the right....not the best decision in hindsight as i have designed the undead to be hard to dislodge, not very powerful in combat but not likely to die anytime soon....

A portrait of my leaders in peril!...

While still his center held!....

 While his Githounds went through the defenders on the right like buzz saws!!.....

A Giant, very much outnumbered!....

 As was the case to my rear too!....

One final sad piicture of my 'shock troops' retiring to lick their wounds!.

I have to say the game was a really great laugh and for his age the lad played very well. He hit me with a classic flank attack and ignored the temptation to send troops into the stalemate in the center. The rules were easy for him to pick up, he got the turn sequence and combat procedure down after the first turn and felt confident in moving and activating his troops. The 'pips' system gave both of us plenty to think about and leveled the playing field rather well. So a hearty well done to my youngest, a game very much enjoyed. I still think it was down to my masterful deployment mind....
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