A while back I made a post about getting into WW2 gaming fast. Using Airfix figures, fast terrain and Donald Featherstone’s rules.
A lot of crumpled up newspaper, wooden blocks and spray paint, the original posts are here and here.
For a while I’d been browsing the internet and spying those cheap knockoff Lego minifigures of WW2 soldiers (most readily and easily available on Amazon, which you may or may not be okay with).
Skeptical of the quality but very happy with the price, I built up the courage to take the plunge. And I have to say I was surprised by how good the quality was.
I’m not versed well enough in Lego and I don’t own any official Lego minifigs, however from what I can remember from my childhood, these guys seem close enough.
I added some minifigure bases to my order so everyone could easily stand up (sadly they only cheaply come in black, green would have been ideal).
Weapons packs are also readily available, although I’ve yet to find any that suit Americans well, so my current American force is lacking the prerequisite BARs and Thompsons, and they are armed with bolt action rifles rather than Garands (Springfields?). I’ve got Stens and Brens aplenty… is that something to do with how readily available certain weaponry was in China, since the manufacturers are no doubt Chinese? I don’t know the war in China well enough.
But if you don’t mind proxying you’re good (although fancier WW2 Lego shops online do carry the guns you’d need, but can be pricey).
I even picked up a Sherman:
Which was in a grey and had six pointed stars rather than five pointed, but will do for now.
And a Tiger:
Many other tanks are available for various price points, between £30-£50, I just went for the cheapest, with the Sherman and Tiger coming together for £30.
Is it controversial to suggest wargaming with Lego figures?
Would this be a good way to get a kid into wargaming, especially a kid who likes Lego and isn’t particularly excited by the prospect of building and painting figures?
Or an adult… Lego seems to have boomed in popularity in recent years among adults especially.
My final question is regarding terrain, is a Lego board necessary, or do you think they fit well enough among traditional terrain?
Deathzap 
They look fine on standard terrain. Tom Mouat was using Lego Spacemen as WH40k proxies in the late eighties, providing some entertaining games. I will be taking your magnetic tiles idea to the Conference of Wargamers this weekend (duly credited, of course.)
Regards, Chris.
Amazing! 40k in Lego would be fun! Thank you very much! I think the magnetic tile terrain idea has been around before, but I’d never seen it, so I don’t think it originates with me. However I’m always happy for the exposure!
Have you had a look at the Brickskreig range? They are in 15mm, but have a good range.
I have, their stuff looks really cool.
Interesting post – I believe Lego fought “copies” for a long time and partly to control what you could buy globally and that excluded war themes. However they eventually had things like knights and pirates but still no guns. So the issue is that Lego traditionally avoided toy gun culture. Given they lost the right to control plastic moulded dots and holes I don’t think big matters anymore.
I am not sure it would encourage wargames for kids anymore than a bag of green army men?
I’ll have to gather some kids up and see. Most I know have a lot of Lego, and sadly no army men. So it’s the question if Lego just has an appeal regardless of theme, and so they might get into WW2 because it’s like Star Wars or something. Plus as an avid collector of crappy army men, in recent years I have noticed a decline in quality and an increase in price. Whereas with the knock off Lego you’re going in the opposite direction lol.