Mechabrick, LEGO Mecha board/war game

[YPU]

You read that right, took me a few times to make sure I had it right the first time. I just spotted it in the wayland games newsletter. The website says the rules will be made available for download soon. No idea what to say of this, I know there is another game with exactly the same idea, Mobile frame zero, and I know there are some awesome lego mecha designs out there, but I didn't figure this was becoming a market of its own. (Thanks kickstarter)

[Elbows]

Just looked at the Kickstarter.  It doesn't do much of anything for me (don't have/need Legos and they're crazy damn expensive) and I don't need the style game...interesting approach though.  Probably great for those with kids and those with legos at hand.

[OSHIROmodels]

This was mentioned on a Lego documentary around Christmas time but not much real info typically.

It seems compatible  with Lego bricks and has the appearance of a mech game in an urban environment. The catch is, to make a better city you need to buy more blocks for buildings although I believe there is enough there to play without extra purchases.

I could be wrong of course 

cheers

Hames

[Elbows]

This is kind of my issue...unless you're using alternate blocks, etc...building a gaming table out of Legos would be about the most expensive way you could possibly go about doing so...though you could easily destroy them which would be fun. 

[OSHIROmodels]

If I remeber rightly the mechs are about twice the size of a normal Lego figure, so it shouldn't be too bad 

cheers

James

[YPU]

You know I don't think it does anything particular with the fact its meant to use building blocks. I recall something about a small silly game that used play-dough or something like that where different game effect would allow you to impact on the opponents sculpt. I don't think this game has anything like that. Its written assuming your using brick based models and layout, but I don't think it does anything with that fact. You could just play it with normal minis. But then it might prove to be a rather simple game, so why aren't you using your brick mechs to play better mecha games?

Actually, there aren't that many generic mecha focused games out there are there?

[Elbows]

Nope, not many.

[Puuka]

Why not just use www.brikwars.com is you have them?

[The_Beast]

Always meant to find an old copy of LegoWars for my grandson, but Brikwars might just do the trick.

I will be watching this, especially for the rules, YPU. ANYTHING to get young Sidney interested in games. He IS a Lego Maniac, so anything official works. 

Doug

[YPU]

Nope, not many.

Decided to take a look at "wardogs" while I was on the topic. Really wonder where the generic mech focused gamers all went.

[eilif]

Interesting. I've not been following the LEGO fan community as closely recently, so I missed this.  The other LEGO based game "Mobile Frame Zero" I skipped after reports regarding the length of time it took to play.  The DIY all-brick-built designs of Mobile Frame Zero are pretty cool though, and dont' require too many bricks to build.
http://mobileframezero.com/mfz/
They're working on a star combat LEGO game now that looks tempting...

This is kind of my issue...unless you're using alternate blocks, etc...building a gaming table out of Legos would be about the most expensive way you could possibly go about doing so...though you could easily destroy them which would be fun. 

I think the game is aimed at AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO).  Most AFOL's already have more than enough bricks to build a suitable gameboard.  I do think it's pretty clever that they are releasing their own LEGO compatible figures though. That's certainly a new development.
http://www.mechabrick.com

Always meant to find an old copy of LegoWars for my grandson, but Brikwars might just do the trick.

I will be watching this, especially for the rules, YPU. ANYTHING to get young Sidney interested in games. He IS a Lego Maniac, so anything official works. 

Doug

Brickwars has a really fun and irreverent writing style, but the game itself isn't that fun, especially for kids. I played it with a friend from my LEGO club and it was fiddly and took way too long. 

For LEGO play, I highly recommend Song of Blades and Heroes.  I ran it for a couple of AFOL's who were not wargamers and they loved it.  It's rules lite nature just feels right with LEGO and the changeability of LEGO figs fits pretty well with the unit creation mechanics of the game (add heavy armor, put some armor on the figure, etc..)

You can see the games and the awesome layouts we played on here:
http://chicagoskirmish.blogspot.com/2012/07/song-of-bricks-and-lego.html

Decided to take a look at "wardogs" while I was on the topic. Really wonder where the generic mech focused gamers all went.

I think there are a fair number of options for Mech Gaming. In addition to Wardogs....
-Our club loves Mech Attack which puts a fairly Battletech-ish kind of battle in a game that plays in about 1/4 the time.
-Gruntz 15mm has a great system for Mecha construction and combat.
-CAV isn't generic, but it's definitely not a mainstream game

Even the battletech system itself is pretty generic in it's flexibility and creation mechanics.  We're not big fans of the system, but we've been enjoying the Alpha Strike rules.

I do think though that Mech gamers are few enough that they do tend to gravitate towards more established systems.

[Cherno]

Are the Mechs in the Kickstarter not modular at all or am I mistaken?

Anyway, here is some more inspiration:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=62514.0

Love this picture in particular...


Also, a comprehensive guide here:
http://zenseeker.net/BoardGames/LegoGames.htm

[eilif]

Are the Mechs in the Kickstarter not modular at all or am I mistaken?

They definitely look modular and are called "100% compatible" and clearly have plenty of stud points to attach LEGO pieces.  



Asside from the LEGO style studs, I don't know for sure if every peg, clip and pole metric is also the same As LEGO, but I suspect they probably are.

It's a good looking product that looks to have alot of thought behind it.

[Cherno]

You are right, I was mistaken. I only notices complete robots last time I checked

[precinctomega]

I bought into the Kickstarter.  The plastic pieces are high quality and very compatible with Lego.  The board is OK.  The game itself is really basic and unfinished.  There's lots of "if you want..." and "agree with your opponent" stuff.  I gave it a quick playtest with my older son (12) and he enjoyed it, bit they're wasn't a lot there to attract my attention.  However, I think the models and concept has a lot of potential.

Mobile Frame Zero was great, but set the bar too high for mech-building.  Mechabrick has the mech side of it sewn up but fails on game design.

Somewhere between the two is a solution.

R.