I just taught my son how to play Mage Wars. He is aged 11 and more into rugby, but he is pretty smart. Smart enough to beat his old dad in game three!
We ran three straight core set Apprentice games with him as BM and me as Warlock. He picked it all up in five minutes. Several questions through each game, but just playing through was all he needed to get to grips with it.
In the second game, he saw what a buffed werewolf could do, so in game three he pulled out the Grizzly and went to town. I wasn't playing deliberately badly, he simply played well, made good choices and cast a particularly effective Tanglevine at JUST the right moment.
I am a proud dad. Watch out Charmyna!
On a serious note, it really did take only ten minutes for an 11 year old to pick up and play the game. The Apprentice mode is just great. We got three games in in around 90 minutes. Get the word out and build the player base.
Very, very cool game.