Or come across any other game like this based around Lego? I recently noticed this game and it caught my interest because one of my sons is a total lego-head. Interested in what it is like. In it's final form that is. I found the PDF of the initial draft on the web.

All I know is that it's by Vincent Baker and there has been at least one big thread about it over at Story-Games.

I seem to recall that there've been other games published that also provide rules for taking toys and fighting with them.

Oh, yeah, one of them is the free Sandbox Hill PDF over at AnimallBall: http://www.animalball.com/games.html

But if you're looking specifically for stuff to do with Lego, I just turned up a ton of links by googling on lego wargame. Might also try "game" instead of "wargame". Let us know if you find anything good.

Let me widen it then to any with any Lego wargame experience. The few I've come across and looked into further seem more concerned with stating offical stock Lego figure and vehicles (like, for example, the Star Wars licensed sets and such).

Back in the 90s there were several Lego wargames, one more WH40K using the space figures, another more medieval based on the castle sets.

The authors of the space one (Legowars?) tried to get it published and took it off the internet but I don't think anything else came of it. It may have reappeared since then. (edit: Looks like it)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legowars

It is my understanding that Legowars had originally largely disappeared from the net because Lego Inc. threatened to sue people back into the stone-age for unauthorized use of the word "Lego".

Brikwars reads more jokish than anything. I'm not looking for super serious, we are still talking Lego here. But it talks about breaking as many rules as you can get away with, not needing rules at all (includig a quote from Gary "I fudge rules even when I'm writing them" Gygax), and then goes on to have a bunch of rules. Um, yeah.

The draft Mechaton PDF on the internet is rough, but it is also short. It also has really simple self-regulating construction rules (all the dice from your attachments + initiative dice total 7). I was just concerned that the finished product is 28 pages. Even in A5 format that's a substantial jump in size. I was curious what all the new content was, hoping that the rules hadn't gone all fat and slobby.

EDIT: BTW MiniFig Death and MicroFig Death might have potential. They are (were?) stripped down versions of Brikwars for "when the sheer bulk of the BrikWars rulebook starts driving you out of your mind". But the links from the Brikwar site are broken. The closest I found on the web was BrikDeath which is self-described as "a mixture of BrikWars and Minifig Death". It certainly has less bulk. But it is still very much based around pre-fab mobs. Anything that isn't pre-fab person/creature must have a set of controls for a pre-fab to drive it.

I have yet to play Mechaton, but my buddy just bought it and I hope to play it soon.

I'll give up some impressions then.

Looking forward to that. Thanks Joe.

BTW I checked out Sandbox Hill and it's pretty cool. If only for the comments made by Super Safety Lawyer. :haw:  However, on Super Safety Lawyer's advice, I will not be encouraging my kids to smash toys with hammers or cut them up with scissors.  Even the MoAB would have to wait for outdoor weather here.

Hi Dwight,

I've played a bunch of Mechaton recently. I started with a con demo and was hooked.

At it's most basic, it's a wargame-lite. It hand waves a lot of stuff that would drive wargame strictarians crazy. I've also houseruled a couple of things -- rules about big robots, and when you can use your sensors and weapons -- but nothing major. However, there is tactical depth to the game. The scoring system is interesting, and the initiative system is just the best I've ever seen in a table top minis game (and I say that as an erstwhile designer of one).

I'd be happy to answer more questions if you have 'em. Hopefully, I'm going to play tonight!

-L

What was added in the tripling of the page count from the freebie draft on the web? I have gathered that it added a new type of dice, yellow for sensors and communications.  Does it provide some stock senarios now? More pictures?  How much of the extra content are new details to the rules? Or optional rules?

I'm definately looking for wargame-lite. A wargame without a lot of fidigity rules, details, and exceptions to remember and recall. I know that's almost anti-wargame from the common wargaming point of view of having a huge rules text that you manipulate and use to beat up your opponent with. But, well, that's what I'm looking for in this case. A lawyer my son isn't.

P.S. This is nothing that'll stop me from getting the game, but I am curious. The way it plays, do you think is it fairly important to have the different colours of dice to match up with the mech stat colours? I've got a huge pile of d6s, but I'm not certain sure I've got enough of all those 4 primary colors (white I do though). Figure about 2 dice of each colour per player?

Back at university the wargames society would finish off the term with an epic, Star Wars Lego drinking wargame which always went down well.  Mind you the rules were pretty simple (although it's been years so I'm damned if I can remember them now.)  The most important part, though, was that drinking one finger of beer from a pint glass would negate 1 point of damage.  Carnage inevitabley ensued.

I'm not convinced, Geoff, that the "years" are the main contributing factor in your memory lapse.

What about playing D&D/etc using LEGO to supplement counters/minis?

Dwight,

I never downloaded the PDF, so I can't compare directly. But the booklet I have has rules for building your mech, building your army, setting up the table, and fighting. It also has a number of mech design illustrations plus lists of the parts you need to build them.

It's a classic Vincent game: roll first, assign dice, then determine what it is you're doing. It works pretty well in this environment. There are five colors for your dice: red/attack, blue/defense, yellow/sensors, green/movement and white/all purpose. You roll multiples of some of the colors on your turn, and sometimes you roll a d8 in addition to your d6s. You also need d10s for initiative.

We tried playing with substitute colors for the dice and we found it was easier to get the right colored dice. It was confusing to consult the rules and then retranslate the color described into the colors of the dice that we were using.

We played a 3 player game last night and once again, I got pwned. My non-gamer friend is the only one who gets it. She doesn't have any wargamer baggage, so she just goes for the proverbial throat and wins. Meanwhile, I'm fighting epic 40K battles that I think will go on for 4 hours. Games last about 2.

Hope that's helpful,
-L

Quote from: blakkieI'm not convinced, Geoff, that the "years" are the main contributing factor in your memory lapse.

That may be a fair point

I do recall the 'Ewok Strike!' rule.  If you left the room for any reason (even trips to the toilet) then an Ewok Strike! was called down upon your troops.  That meant the 1 ft diameter template smack on the middle of your forecs and a LOT of drinking to avoid most of your forces being wiped out.  Oh, and the JJB (Jar jar Binks) rule; if you managed to damage him everyone ELSE at the table HAD to drink.  There were special Jedi rules as well and the rest of the rules basically involved differing movement rates and differing weapons.  AAs I say, details are inexplicably hazy .