Looking to intro my nephew to the hobby, advice needed

[Mysterion]

My daughter is still far too young to be introduced to the hobby, but I have a nephew who is 13, nearly 14. We play a lot of video games together, as well as some board games and tabletop football. He has shown an interest in my minis, my setup, and the WH setting, but he is instantly turned off from playing because of the maths element of the game. I have offered to ease him into the game the best I can, but maths is a topic he really struggles with, to the point of anxiety. 

 

I was wondering if anyone had been in a similar position and could offer advice on how to introduce him without overwhelming him?

[W.A.Rorie]

The Space Marine, Space Marine Adventures: Tyranid Attack, or  Dawn of War: Onslaught board games may be a good gateway.  The are more like a board game then a tabletop game.  Not sure if they are available in the UK unfortunately. 

 

With my kids, I just have them take a set points (Like 40 pts) and have them fight my 40 points with no terrain. I plan to add some terrain but keep it small points like this to get them familiar with it.  Also the data cards are nice for this. 

[Grotsmasha]

As @W.A.Rorie suggested, the smaller standalone games are a great intro, typivally playing faster 30-45mins per game, with minimal maths. The next step from there would be the Warhammer Quest Games. Blackstone Fortress for 40k, and Cursed City for AoS (there is the new Darkwater, but it is significantly more expensive vs. the two previous entries.

My favourites have been SMA: Rise of the Orks, SMA: Doomsday Countdown, WHQ: Blackstone Fortress, and Gretchinz for 40k, and  WH AoS: Crypt Hunters and WHQ Cursed City for AoS.  

[Brother Tyler]

I agree with both @W.A.Rorie and @Grotsmasha, though I'm going to focus my recommendation on the Space Marine Adventures games. My main reason for this is that the hobby aspect of these games is very light: five or so push-fit models (easy to assemble) in different colors (you don't have to paint them if you don't want to) and relatively simple components create a very low barrier to entry. This is especially helpful in using them as a gateway into the larger hobby. The only one of these games that I personally own is Rise of the Orks (you can see my review of the game here). The other games in the series are Labyrinth of the Necrons, Tyranid Attack!, and Doomsday Countdown (the adversaries are in the names, except for the last which features Chaos cultists). If I recall correctly, [some of] these games were available through a mainstream retailer in the UK, but I forget the name.

 

If your nephew shows an interest in whatever game you choose, painting miniatures is the next step. If his interest grows/continues, moving up to either Kill Team or Combat Patrol (or the fantasy equivalents if that's where his interest takes him) is the next logical step.

 

And a plug for my favorite WH40K gateway game: if you can get your hands on either the 2009 or 2014 editions of Space Hulk, those are a great progression from a simple boardgame into the larger tabletop miniature wargames. The miniature assembly is more complicated than the other boardgames, and there are more miniatures to assemble (and maybe paint). There is a lot of replayability in that game, as long as the difficulty [for the Space Marines] is acceptable. The game is long out of print, though, so you may find it difficult to acquire.