"Lego Blocks as Unit Counters?" Topic

Not sure where to ask this question, but:

Have you used Lego blocks as unit counters in games where you used counters instead of miniatures?

Do you think they would be suitable for "Strategy & Tactics"-type brigade/divisional/corps wargames on a map?

Do you think they could be made to work as formation markers for typical horse & musket formations, e.g. skirmish line, attack column, road column, two companies form square, brigade in reserve, cavalry squadron, regiment in line?

I'm looking for a somewhat simple way to try out a bunch of horse & musket eras and rulesets, before I settle on an era and paint up a whole battalion. I have two other projects going, but I've always wanted to try to follow some large 18th century horse & musket battles with counters and a map. Maybe even refight a few.

Any help appreciated.

I'm thinking of just buying the basic Lego set of blocks.

link

I'd be surprised if this hasn't been done in the past. Lego isn't exactly THAT cheap but certainly less effort than prepping and basing miniatures.

Here are some links for inspiration. The infantry for the OGRE and Hover Wars Lego games in particular.

link
link

LEGO would probably work for all of what you mention. The terribly overcomplicated "Globoplolis" board game used LEGO knockoff pieces for stacking various types of things on various properties.

If you want to make sure you have the pieces you need in the colors you want, I'd recommend using "Bricklink". It takes a bit of getting used to the format, but you can buy bricks by type and color from dealers all over the world. If you do it right, you can get the bricks you need and beat the 5 cent per piece of the big bucket. Certainly you'll be able to beat the 8-12 cent per piece price of most LEGO sets.
bricklink.com/catalog.asp
Search the catalog for the brick you want and it will tell you who has it, in what quantity, their price per brick and where they're located.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the site.

@ordinarybass: Thanks! That's a great idea, because it looks like the player would want mostly 1 X 4 blocks and 2 X 3 blocks.

I did some quick math, but for instance Lobositz. At approximately 4 yards per peg. Austrian battalion: eight (8) 2 X 3 blocks, end-to-end. Prussian battalion: eight (8) 1 X 4 blocks, end-to-end. Prussian cavalry squadron six (6) 3 X 2 blocks, side-by-side. End is the short end. Side is the long side.

Based on frontages described here:

link

Yellow for Hapsburg Austria? Blue for Bourbon France? Red for Hanoverian Great Britain? White for HRE? Orange for Dutch Republic? I guess that leaves Green for Spain and Black for Prussia in the basic Lego colors. 8)

A person could play Risk on this map:

link

And fight out the battles with Lego blocks and Google Earth maps of fields, projected onto tablecloths and drawn in with sharpie. 440 pegs to the mile? I just realized I'll be using a tarp, my office floor and colored 1/4" gaffers tape. And a ruleset appropriate for 2/3/6mm figures.

Why not use paper armies? Free and easy…

Extra Crispy suggested:

Why not use paper armies? Free and easy…

That is an entirely reasonable (and much appreciated) suggestion. I might try that as well. But since I've already become obsessed with the Lego idea (ooh, shiny!), could you check my math?

I'm using the formation sizes from the Lobositz page at Obscure Battles, and Lego dimensions I got from the web.

I find the following:

Austrians

Infantry "Division" of Four Platoons in Four Ranks
8 yards X 25 yards
(2) 2 X 3 Blocks = 2 X 6 D x W

Infantry Battalion of Four "Divisions", or 16 Platoons
106 yards wide
(8) 2 X 3 Blocks = 2 X 24 D x W (end-to-end)

Prussians

Infantry "Division" of Two Platoons in Three Ranks
4 X 34 yards
(2) 1 X 4 Blocks = 1 X 8 D x W

Infantry Battalion of Eight Platoons
130 yards wide
(8) 1 X 4 Blocks = 1 X 32 D x W

Cavalry Squadron of Four Platoons in Three Ranks
12 yards X 50 yards
(6) 3 X 2 Blocks = 3 X 12 D x W (side-by-side)

Lego blocks are 8mm "deep" for a single-stud block. If 1 stud-depth equals 4 yards, etc. Correct figure height would actually be doubled plates, if vertical ("figure") scale is desired.

Several conclusions follow:

1) I now realize I probably can't fit Lobositz on the office floor at that command level. Quebec? Ticonderoga?

2) I may be a bit obsessed with unit "depth", figure-to-ground scale ratio, etc.

3) But the basic brick set and the Risk counters are the same six colors of plastic, and they match the Wikimedia Europe 1700 map colors so well!

4) Should've tried it before the rainy season.

5) Empty the garage entirely? Pave the whole lot?

6) Accepting the vertical scale difference, Monopoly houses as villages? 1/4" gaff tape for roads, rivers, streams, greenways, hedges, gullies, et cetera?

7) The variously-sized bricks in the basic bucket could be used to represent broken lines, scattered units, casualties and concurrent reduction in troop strength, et cetera. Ooh, shiny!

I'd be very interested to hear any additional advice, suggestions, or calculations, as this is all a bold new world for me. Thanks for the tutelage. Cheers.

Can't help your math as I know nothing about the period (just saw LEGO and clicked over) best of luck though. Sounds like you're chasing down a wonderful kind of possible insanity.

One last suggestion about LEGO though, if you're going to use pieces that are 1x2 studs or less, visit your local LEGO store. They might have what you want on their "Pick-a-Brick" wall. Filling a cup with LEGO isn't cheap, but for small bricks and plates it can be even cheaper per-piece than ordering on Bricklink and you won't pay any shipping.

If you know exactly what you want, some store employees will even check in back to see if they have any….

ordinarybass:

We've got a Lego store on the other side of town. I'll check it out. Thanks!

I'm considering getting some 1/2" colored tape to use for roads, borders, forests, rivers, streams, etc. Might have to bolster that with some wide blue and regular masking tape, but that should be a good start.

I measured off a 9' X 15' area (of floor space) in my office, that I can make empty by moving one table. If my math is right, Monopoly houses are not too far out of scale, and I can deploy a brigade by half-companies (battalion "divisions") into line. Assuming a ground scale of 8mm = 4 yards, or 2mm = 1 yard… I still only have about a mile-and-a-quarter by three-quarters of a mile. Musket range of 7-1/2 to 10 inches? I might use Risk figures for leaders/staff/command stands. 8)

Thanks for the advice/encouragement.

I've decided to scale-up, command wise, and make 1X2 Lego blocks work as battalions.

I'm using the diagrams from Nosworthy's AoV and the maps from Duffy's TMLoFtG.

I've gone for an Imagi-Nations campaign, as I'm currently reading Duffy's book (just up to Hohenfreideberg), and just finishing Nosworthy's (finally reached Part III, had to return the book and so buy a copy).

It looks as though Mollwitz will fit on a tabletop. I may have to play some of the larger battles on the floor. I may also try to go all the down to "platoon as 1X2 Lego" command level, as I originally envisioned. Math is fun.

I'm also running a Risk-like campaign map, and a Monopoly-like eco-war/kabinetskrieg board on two other game tables.

I ordered this as a poster, at 20" x 30", the size of a Risk board:

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And I rewrote everything in Monopoly to refer to mid-18th C. Imperial politics. I'll make a new Monopoly board by hand. The properties are strategically sensitive yet possibly ill-defended provinces, and the color groupings represent "spheres of influence". Players can even seek to control electorships, buy titles, foist off the cost of maintaining embassies on foreign visitors and the like.

Still using battalion frontage as musket range.

Bricklink turned out to be a wonderful resource.

My quest to make a wargame with generic gaming materials continues.

Using Monopoly as a campaign engine is not something I've seen before. I'd be inteersted to hear more about your concept, esp. how you circumvent the very dominant chance element in the game?