Battle Lines Customizable Minifig Card Game

Austrailian based Minifig World has just released a really cool, new product - a customizable card game based on minifigs. Battle Lines is a two player card game based on the custom minifigs produced by Minifig World. Each character has a 'power' and 'defense' which are utilized in combination with equipment and weapons cards to do battle.

The more I look at these, the more I like them! Minifig World is the official reseller for BrickArms in Australia and New Zealand, perhaps will can return the favor and offer these through BrickArms to those of us in the US. Don't get me wrong, Minifig World appears to ship worldwide. In fact you can pick up their special Introductory package that includes two starter decks and a custom Noah 'Peeps' Dixon minifigure for $59.95 AUD (around $60 USD), or you can get a starter deck for $35.95 AUD.

There's quite a bit of detail about the game on the Minifig World site, while you're there you can check out the other items Minifig World has to offer.

Amazon Lightning Deals Hack

First AFOLs crack the 'enigma cypher' that is the Series 3 Collectible Minifigure braile codes, now we find a way to hack the Amazon Lightning Deals using Google Chrome.

From Bricks to Bothans (FBTB.net) is reporting that today's 12pm PST Toys & Games Lightning Deal is expected to be LEGO Games Monster 4. This is a great parts pack for minifigure heads including werewolves, goblins, devils, jack o' lanterns, vampires, and skeletons. It also happens to be a nice game for the little ones.

Amazon Lighting Deals are quite good, but they go very quickly. Have your mouse poised and ready later today.

(Via Amazon Lightning Deals and FBTB.net)

Detailed Pics of Empire Chess Set

Brandon Griffith has posted detailed pics of his Empire Strikes Back chess set that debuted at LEGOLAND California's Star Wars Days. Now you can see all the detail and craft that went into this amazing piece.

Brandon states that the set took him approximately a year to plan and put together, which means he's likely working on the Return of the Jedi set this very minute!

(Via icgetaway's Flickr stream)

Quick Hits: Big News Around the Minifig Nation

It looks like it's going to be one of those mornings...in a good way.

Eurobricks member Klaus-Dieter claims to have had a peek at the 2011 retailer catalogue. No pictures have been shared, so I'm couching these as rumors for now.

First up are early details on Series 3 and 4 of Collectible Minifigures. It would seem that Series 3 will debut in January 2011 and may include the following:

• Fisherman
• Ferrari driver
• Mummy
• Sumo Wrestler
• Female Dancer
• Samurai
• Hawaiian Girl
• Baseball Player
• Fantasy Elf
• Native American Chief
• Alien
• Male Singer
• Doctor/Surgeon
• Gorilla
• Snowboarder

The sixteenth figure was not seen. A Series 4 release date is set for April 2011, but no details on its contents.

There may be a new theme that mixes collectible trading cards and minifigures called NinjaGO. The details were sparse other than 'it has ninja minifigs' and 'it's not a historical theme'. TLG recently announced a collectible trading card game in conjunction with LEGO Universe, so this doesn't seem too far fetched.

Although I typically overlook City themes, it would appear the classic Space theme hinted at during Steve Witt's presentation at BrickFair will be a City subtheme. Much of the set descriptions sounded more like Earth-based command centers like NASA, instead of being set in space itself. There were also details about a new Police subtheme (how much crime actually happens in LEGO City?).

There were some additional details on 2011 Star Wars and Atlantis but they lacked a lot of information.

Also on Eurobricks member Omnicron had a more detailed review with pics of the BrickForge booth from BrickFair. There are more pics of the new 2010 product, as well as details around new production colors. The biggest news item was the The Forge and customizer Shmails will be combining forces to offer custom figs! There may even be a new website/store forthcoming to sell them. There's an entire set of pictures you can view of these new, limited-edition figs here.

More to come later today citizens...

(Via Eurobricks)

The Chess Set Strikes Back

So last year around this time, we were all in awe of a LEGO Star Wars chess set designed by Branden Griffith (AKA icgetaway) using New Hope as the greater theme. I actually posted an article about it back in April. I believe it debuted at last year's LEGOLAND Star Wars Days in California.

Star Wars Days just came and went this past weekend and Mariann Asanuma has pics of his latest set based on The Empire Strikes Back!

Similar to his last endeavor the set utilizes minifigures, micro creations, mini-vignettes, and even a brick-built, holographic head of Emperor Palpatine in the creation of the chess pieces. The big design element that just jumped out at me were the micro AT-AT's serving at rooks. Branden's Flickr stream doesn't have any more detailed pics...yet. Perhaps now that Star Wars Days are over we'll see them soon.

That's two years in a row now for Branden. Here's hoping a Return of the Jedi theme is on tap for next year.

Check out the rest of Mariann's coverage of the event (where she had items on display herself) on her Model Building Secrets Blog.

(Via Model Gal's Flickr stream)

LEGO Business Update: May 2010

The Bloomberg Businessweek website published a report on LEGO's performance to date.

A few of the highlights include the following:

• CEO Joergen Vig Knudstorp claimed, "The American consumer has returned". The US continues to be a key market for LEGO, generating nearly a third of its sales currently with projections that it will comprise 40% of TLG sales by 2015.
• TLG hopes to double US market share to 8% by 2015, but faces challenges in some US regions.
• Economic instability in the European Union has TLG concerned. The value of the euro dropping relative to the US dollar is another key reason for focusing on the US market.
• LEGO has high hopes for the US release of their board games and the Prince of Persia line.

More details in the article which you can read here.

LEGO Marvel Almost A Reality

(Picture from Comics Alliance)

The interwebs are all a bristle this morning regarding news that Traveler's Tales almost had agreement to develop a LEGO based Marvel game. The following comes from the blog The Lost Gamer:

Traveller’s Tales were “THIS close” to sealing a deal that would have allowed them to produce one of their LEGO titles based upon the world of Marvel Comics, Jon Burton, Director of TT Games and Head Designer of the LEGO series, has revealed today.

Such plans were however thwarted by an exclusive deal that Marvel had signed with Megabloks for the rights to Spider-man, meaning that the developer could not start work on converting some of the iconic Comic Book super heroes into LEGO form.

Burton commented earlier today, “We were THIS close to a Marvel LEGO a few years ago but Megabloks did an exclusive deal for Spider-man so that was that…”

Although there was no mention of sets corresponding with the game, we would have been able to see much of the Marvel universe in LEGO minifigure form.

I think its also safe to say that LEGO Marvel will only dwell in the halls of the Fantasy LEGO League until the Megabloks license expires.

LEGO Star Wars New Hope Chess Set

I posted this back in August when we only existed on Facebook. Considering our discussion yesterday about the Forestmen chess pieces and Classic Castle contest, I thought a re-post here on the blog would be worthwhile...

'icgetaway' developed this amazing custom LEGO Star Wars chess set which he's shared at various venues online and at Star Wars days at Legoland California (2009). There's a lot to like throughout the entire set. A detailed chess board with built-in storage. Custom chess pieces that utilize Star Wars minifigures and resemble mini-vignettes.

This particular set focuses on Episode IV: A New Hope. I can only imagine future works that span the entire Star Wars universe! Perhaps with the 30th anniversary of Empire coming at the end of May, 'icgetaway' might grace us with another fantastic chess set based on that film...

(Pictures from icgetaway's Flickr stream)

Forestmen Chess Pieces

One area where LEGO minifigures really work well is in the world of gaming. If you've ever rolled a D20 in a dark and sketchy basement with a few friends, you are familiar with the various avatars we've all used to help our imaginations take form. Although role-playing games immediately come to mind, another niche where minifigs seem to fit are custom chess pieces.

Classic Castle is currently running a monthly contest through April focused on chess. Aaron Dayman's entry uses minifigures from the Forestmen line to fill out one side of the board. I don't know if the bases would fit a standard chess square, but I love the design. Now that LEGO has launched their games division, it would be fantastic to see a series of chess sets in various themes.

I'm looking forward to seeing more creations coming out of this contest!

(Picture from Aaron Dayman's Flickr stream; originally found on The Brothers Brick)