Star Wars LEGO: Flying Bases

I'm in the process of building two, possibly four ultimately, armies of Star Wars LEGO figures that can be used to play wargames with. It goes without saying that quite a few of the models represent vehicles that have the capacity to fly and in order to use them in an aesthetically pleasing way as part of a tabletop game it's best to be able to suspend them in some way a few centimetres, if not inches, above the playing area

At first I thought I'd try using Games Workshop flying bases and small neodymium modellers magnets, a combination which works perfectly well for most of the flying vehicles one encounters as part of the Warhammer 40K universe. This method worked well but there was a problem with it in as much as in order for it to work properly you have to glue one of the magnets on to the underside of one of the bricks used to construct the vehicle, potentially 'spoiling' the brick. A 4mm diameter magnets fits perfectly into the stud receptors mind. A further 'issue' is that it is quite a fiddly process, requiring you to do a bit of trimming to the flying base before then gluing a second magnet on to the top of the supporting shaft

After trying this solution out four times I decided I wanted to try and find an alternative that firstly required no trimming, gluing or despoiling of bricks and secondly involved making use of LEGO bricks as a central feature of the design. I sat and pondered and then started to play around with some spare bricks in the spares box. Before long I'd hit upon a solution I was happy with, and that's one of the marvellous things about LEGO as a toy, the creative possibilities it affords, limited only by your imagination

I'm pleased with the outcome. See what you think

The starting point is a Games Workshop flying base

These three little bricks are all you need to turn it into a base that will support a number of the smaller LEGO vehicles

The cylinder fits perfectly over the top of the shaft and comes to a natural stop as the shaft begins to widen

The insertion of the sleeve piece facilitates the addition of a flat stud

Fit the small flat stud on the top and there you have it. This fits into the stud receptors on the underside of the vehicle

'In game' the flying base will stand directly on the tabletop

May the Force be with you!

Star Wars: LEGO

I've been a fan of LEGO ever since I was a child. It is, arguably, the greatest toy ever invented. Well, now I have two young children of my own and I am determined to get them hooked

So far, we've been buying them DUPLO, the bigger, easier to manipulate and harder to swallow, LEGO aimed at the toddler market and they both absolutely love it

Buying DUPLO for the kiddies has re-kindled my love affair with the little plastic bricks, so much so that I have recently started buying LEGO Star Wars sets, ostensibly in readiness for when my little angels are ready to graduate to 'the BIG stuff', but in reality it's for me to play with!

It never ceases to amaze me how, as soon as you start to dip your toe in the water of another toy soldier hobby offshoot [for that is what I think we've got here] you soon find yourself exposed to a new universe of almost limitless possibilities

Two or three sets in, I found myself toying with the idea [no pun intended] of creating some stat cards, adapting a set of wargames rules, and figuring out how to play miniature skirmish battles with the models. Not for a moment did I allow myself to think that I'd be the first person to think of doing this, but as soon as I started surfing the net for research purposes I found myself catapulted into a strange new world of custom minifigures, combat accessories and tabletop LEGO gaming!

This is the first post in a series I will be continually adding to as my embryonic collection of Star Wars LEGO combatants grows

I thought I'd end this post with a link to a fabulous website I came across, and to a tribute on the Home page paid to its founder. The man's name is Dan Jezek and the website he founded is BrickLink, essentially a one-stop shop for anyone keen to get their hands on anything LEGO, parts, sets, minifigures, accessories, you name it, more usually than not at prices far keener than you could expect to find elsewhere. In a word, it's eBay for LEGO, and so much more besides. Coincidentally, the day Dan passed away four years ago also happens to be my birthday

Cheers, Dan, for being the driving force behind such a marvellous site

Keep on Building!

Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game

Just a quick post to say that fairly recently I came across a miniatures game that up until then had completely passed me by

I'm afraid I don't even remember how, or under what circumstances, I finally got to hear about it but, suffice to say, it caught my imagination to the extent that even without playing it I went out and purchased it almost immediately, and then set about making myself a makeshift playing surface out of black foam board purchased from Hobbycraft. No sooner had I done that, I purchased a second starter pack over the net. Sounds crazy, but it's the cheapest way to buy three more ships to start building your star fleets

The game isn't new but I'm sure I'm not alone in never having heard of it before. A couple of mates of mine, both dyed in the wool Star Wars fanatics, also hadn't heard of it until recently

I'm not going to go into the details of how to play the game just now but it is a) very simple to get a grip of, especially if you're familiar with board games and war games of different sorts, b) good value for money given what's in the starter pack box and c) great fun!

I intend to throw a few more posts up about it once I've played it a few more times and bought myself some of the expansions. Until then, if you're new to it too, here's a couple of images to whet your appetite and a plug for Chaos Cards, a UK based company specialising in minis games and trading card games, who are selling the range of ships and accessories for very reasonable prices