Lego Dungeon Geomorph #3

If you follow the wide staircase that leads from last week's Lego Geomorph, it leads to up to a large, open area.  Here the cultist offer sacrifices of living flesh and gold to the Living Pit that they worship.  I've left an optional opening leading from this map, but I don't plan to extend my own maps in that direction.

I have got a couple of other sections in mind that will link up with the first two geomorphs.  When I've finished them I'll post a photo with all the sections stitched together.  If I have time I'll also sketch the whole map in the more traditional pen and paper format.

Lego Dungeon Geomorph #2

Following on from last week's Lego post here.  I broke down my first creation (a goblin dungeon base) so that I could build an adjoining section.  In this area a group of red-robed cultists reside.  They buy prisoners from the goblins so they have a constant supply of victims for the.... well that will have to wait until the next section which the wide staircase leads to.

Lego Heroica Update

I've kept an eagle eye out for news of any Lego Heroica releases, but it appears that there will be no new sets for 2013.  Last year, Lego released Ilrion (a set that adds a Vampire Lord, Giant Vampire Bat and Zombies to the Heroica lineup).  In the UK, this set is only available directly from Lego online (and probably at the 5-6 official Lego stores), so it is quite a rarity.

The other Heroica sets have largely disappeared from retailers and even Amazon seem to be no longer stocking some of them.  Based on my limited experience of the Lego market, it looks very likely that Heroica will be done and dusted by the end of the year.  If you were planning on picking up any sets, I would do so sooner rather than later, as once the sets reach what Lego collectors call End of Life (Eol), their prices on ebay and the Amazon Marketplace could really take off.  Brickset is a good site to use for further information on all the sets in the range:

http://www.brickset.com/search/?query=heroica

In addition to the Ilrion set, I also recently picked up a Heroica Storage Mat from ebay.  Whilst this is a nice item it fails in its main purpose (storage) as it can't hold the full set of Heroica game sections.  However, it does come with a very nicely made, fold-out game board that is perfect for setting all the Heroica games out for play.

LOTR Lego Coming Summer 2012

In December, Lego announced that they had secured a licence to produce LOTR themed sets.  The first sets, due this summer, will feature characters and locations from the LOTR trilogy.  Later in the year, we'll also get hobbit-themed sets to coincide with the release of The Hobbit movie.

Here are the provisional details of the first sets:
•9469 Gandalf Arrives – Minifigures: Gandalf, Frodo
•9470 Shelob Attacks – Minifigures: Samwise, Frodo, Gollum
•9471 Uruk-hai Army – Minifigures: x4 Uruk-hai with a siege crossbow, x1 Rohirrim Soldier, x1 Rider Of Rohan with his horse
•9472 Attack On Weathertop- Minifigures: Samwise, Frodo, Aragon, x2 Ring Wraiths
•9473 Mines Of Moria – Minifigures: Frogo, Gimli, Legolas, Boromir, x2 Goblins, x2 Skeletons, Cave Troll
•9474 The Battle Of Helms Deep – Minifigures: Aragon, Gimli, Legolas, Theoden, x5 Uruk-hai

I think these sets could be very popular with collectors and investors - and a few may even actually get played with as toys by children.

The other 2012 Lego releases which caught my interest were a Star Wars Lego game (Battle for Hoth), and four (possibly 5) further Heroica sets.  All of these look like Autumn/Winter products, but there's a chance they might be earlier.

Lego Heroica £14.20/$19.99 at Amazon UK/US

The main Heroica set Castle Fortaan (#3860) is on offer at both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

If you were thinking of buying a set pre-Christmas, now may be as good a time as any.

I recently received review samples of two of the smaller sets from Lego, and I have been playtesting them for a review which will appear in the next issue of Oubliette.  Both of the games I have played have been great fun, and my five-year-old daughter is now routinely picking up the box sets and demanding a game.  It is a fait accompli that she will find the other two sets in the range under the Christmas tree this year, and I am looking forward to playing with all four sets linked together, even if the likelihood is high that she'll thrash me.

Heroica - Heroes and Baddies

I'm hoping to have a review of Lego Heroica in the next issue of Oubliette, but in the meantime, here's an image showing the range of different micro figures included in the range. One of the sets (Caverns of Nathuz) also includes some giant bats (which are not micro figures).

I think they look great, and I'm already dreaming up D&D stats for the Golem Lord and his Golem minions. However, given that there are 4 sets, I'd hoped that there would have been a wider range of monsters included. Hopefully, the range will grow with additional sets next year. They could actually do some very small encounter sets with half a dozen new micro figures, and a few new weapons and treasure items.

Lego Heroica

When I saw the post about this game on Grognardia , I was intrigued.  There's a little more detail game on Brickipedia, but I think it will be a few months before we get much more.  The first four products in the line are:

• 3860 Castle Fortaan (basic set)
• 3857 Draida Bay (expansion set)
• 3858 Waldruk Forest (expansion set)
• 3859 Caverns of Nathuz (expansion set)

On Brickipedia, one of the expansions is shown priced at $14.99, which may not be final, but seems about right when you compare it to existing Lego games.  If that price is correct, I would expect the larger, basic set to come in at $24.99 or $29.99.  Sadly in the UK, it will probably cost the same amount in pounds.  Like most of the other Lego games, the scale uses tiny, micro lego figures, rather than the larger, mini-figures.  This may disappoint people who have an existing collection of mini-figures, but the smaller scale does help keep the sets at reasonable price points.