Zen Lego Page

LEGO, from the Danish words "leg godt" or "play well," is a brand of molded plastic bricks and other components that fit together to create an endless variety of structures and figures. The original patent on the LEGO bricks has expired, but LEGO now patents each individual set it sells. As such, other companies can and have created compatible bricks without violating Lego's trademark.

Tyco

Until 1995, Tyco sold a basic brick bucket containing 500 or 1,000 pieces that were compatible with LEGO bricks. They were available primarily in contrasting colors including charcoal gray and olive green, neon yellow, hot pink, violet, pastels and sky blue. These blocks resemble LEGO bricks, but the pegs on top say "Tyco" and the colors are not the same as LEGO bricks from that era. These bricks were marketed as superblocks. Tyco also released Duplo-compatible bricks.

Mini-Micro Blocks

Introduced by a company called Ritvik, Mini-Micro Blocks were released alongside Mega-Micro Blocks to be compatible with LEGO blocks. These blocks come in 1,000-piece containers, with the most common pieces being 1 x 2, 2 x 2 and 2 x 4 bricks. Although the Mini-Micro Blocks offer a tight fit, they are fully compatible with LEGO bricks. Mega-Micro Blocks are not LEGO compatible as their knobs are shorter and they do not offer the same level of friction for connecting blocks.

Tandem Bricks

Tandem Bricks is a California-based company offering LEGO-compatible building bricks. The largest available brick is 2 x 4 with a full height and is compatible with 2 x 4 LEGO bricks. Many Tandem Bricks are 1 x 3 flat pieces that are the same height as the 1 x 3 LEGO bricks. Tandem bricks offer similar colors as LEGO, but with a larger proportion of green bricks and gray flat bricks. The quality of these bricks is similar to LEGO, but the pieces do not fit together as well.

LEGO Clones

A number of LEGO-compatible building blocks have been marketed through the years with similar names. These LEGO "clones" do not typically survive for long on the market. Some examples of LEGO building block clones are ELGO, PEDLO and Blocks. Most of these blocks are almost perfectly compatible with LEGO, except for PEDLO blocks, which were taller than LEGO blocks and not fully compatible.

Mega Blok - Mega=Quatro; Mini=Duplo; Micro=Lego
Preschool Building Bricks (Duplo) and Interlocking Bricks (Lego) - Economical minfig sets
Best-Lock amazon
Click Brick
Blok Bots: Lego Compatible, but the minifigs are a different design
Tyco
Ligao
ELGO
PEDLO
Blocks
K'nex
Sluban - also has two other foreign exports
Liago
Banbao
Brick
Shifty
JCB
COKO (Chinese)
Coko (Korean)
Coco Block Toy Co. - manufacturer for 2009's best lock sets
Little White Dragon and Cogo - both from Chengdu in China - manufacturer for 2006-8's best lock sets - JustKidz sets
Belo
Wit Toy Co. - releases Wit, Bricks (not Brick), and Bela
Nilo (large baseplates only)
Tandem
Qubo
Built-to-Rule (by Hasbro)
C3 (by Art Asylum)
Sidan
Cogo
Enlighten - making clones since 1963, released Brick, Barbara, Military Century and 3 other names
Intelliblox
OXFORD
Torro from New Zealand
Block Men
Dadu from Saudi Arabia
Pebe from East Germany
Nintendo from Japan
Cobi from Poland
Kazi (Chinese) clones Lego patent protected parts

Anatomics
Uberstix
Sploids
Pixel Blocks

With adaptor bricks
Flexiblocks
Gearios
Better Blocks
TinkerToys ( with sploids as adaptor)

Small local companies:

BamBao (Taiwan?)
Byggis (Sweden)
ItaloCremona (Italy)
Jubilux (China?)
Kawada (Japan)
Ministeck (Germany)
Polly Hobby (Germany)
Tonka (?)
WOMA (China?)

BasePlates

Baseplates allow for a large area to build on and also allow for terrain for dioramas, game boards, or even battle fields for your minifigs.

nilotoys.com/acc.htm Nilo has 12" X 32" double sided playmats with "TRUE Lego" one side and "TRUE Duplo" on the other. They come in green and blue. 11.9"x32". It is 19x50 Duplo studs and 38x101 LEGO studs.

Nilo Toy $44, 2 PCS, including shipping & handling
akidplace.com $35 double
akidplace.com $65 4 piece Set
littlepeoplescove.com/n-110.html $37 double
woodtrains.com/nilblkm.htm $19 single

Best Lok These are thicker than Lego baseplates, so you can't mix the two well.

In the mid 90s the now-defunct Block-Men line also produced a 32x44 baseplate almost identical to the current Best-Lock offering, along with a pale gray plate and one in a Sand color nearly indistinguishable from LEGO Sand.

Duplo

See our Duplo Page

Star Wars

Something about Star Wars and Lego just go together well. Too bad there is a premium price for both anything Lego and anything Star Wars.

Lego Space Marines and Aliens for StarQuest

This section covers the use of Lego minifigs for use as game pieces for StarQuest.

The 28mm Heroic scale used by Warhammer figures is off to begin with, but Lego scale is even more off. That said, Lego Minifigs can make really fun and versatile game pieces. See our Mini Castle Page for a scale calculator and scale charts.

Note that a StarQuest square is exactly 3 Lego studs wide, so a 3x2 or 2x2 plate will make a fine base for a Lego Minifig. You can also glue a 1x2 plate to a miniature base, 1 inch game chip, washer, US 5₵ nickel, etc. and attach your Lego minifig to that. Minifig Stands are also available in Australia and in the US. Lego also has "official" minifig stands (Minifig Stand, Hockey Stand). Also note that different colored plates can be used both as a minifig stand and as an identifier for which squad your minifig is in.

brickshelf 393350 also see dakkadakka 222203

Custom Helmets such as these from Arealight can turn any plain minifig into a space warrior.

Brickarms, Sidan minifig and other Lego customizers have weapons for your minifigs and will allow you to outfit your minifigs more realistic looking weapons.

You can also modify you Lego minifigs with paint or decals (How To) to create the look you are trying to achieve. See flickr legodecals for some ideas of close to ready Star Wars and WW2 decals that can be easily modified with Imperial Eagles, rank, unit insignia, skulls, etc. Then go to MinifigCustomizationNetwork and MinifigCustoms for templates. Then search for what has already been made (Space Marines, Clones) and start customizing your minifigs. Paint, sculpting and gluing on Warhammer model bits are also options if you want Lego minifigs that look like they were designed by Games Workshop.

Marines (Clones or Mandalorian Warriors or Space Marine). Many of the Knight and Space minifigs will work fine for Space Marines.

Lego Android and possible Dreadnought

Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud (Jumper) 3794		1
Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Light - Type 2 (thick ring) 4081b		1
Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Arm Up (5mm) 88072 or (6mm) 4623		2
Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle on Side - Type 1 (free ends) 2540		5
Tile, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip 2555		1
Torso Mechanical, Battle Droid 30375		1
Arm Mechanical, Battle Droid 30377		8
Lever Small Base with Lever 298c05		2
	Lever Small 4593
	Lever Small Base 4592

Guns:
Minifig, Utensil Binoculars Town 30162		2
Minifig Gun Revolver/Minifig Weapon Gun, Pistol Revolver 30132		2

Base:
Brick Specialty 2 x 2 Round 3941		1

There are many ways to assemble a Star Wars Droideka Destroyer Droid from Lego parts and you can always purchase an official Lego Droideka. This doesn't really mirror the original StarQuest Dreadnought, but it fits in well with a Lego Star Wars version of StarQuest. It would also fit better in a low ceiling starship.

Dreadnoughts can be made out of all kinds of bricks and plates. A Clone Walker is an easy base to work with and can be had for almost nothing since these sets were bought out and horded by the many Clone Army builders who were stockpiling the clones and have piles of walkers to unload.

Lego Genestealers (Lord Greivious, Alien, Frenzy) are difficult to pull off, as the Genesealers are a step up from the Xenomorphs seen in the movie Aliens.

These alien nightmares were horrible creations that tapped into the deepest and darkest parts of the human psyche and combines many of the things that cause great fear in all of us. These bug like creatures climbed on the ceilings and hid in dark spaces, with sharp claws that can rip through metal and mouths full of long razor sharp teeth dripping with acid drool. You can't hurt or kill them because they are covered in armor and will bleed acid on you if you shot them; you can't outrun them as they are faster than you; and you can't hide because they can smell you and tear through anything you may seek refuge in. And as deadly and immortal as they are, they seek not to kill you quickly, but have their young slowly feed and mutilate on you from the inside out. Legos are just too cute to pull this off.

Troll (dreadnought size), Orcs and Gretchen

Chaos Marines can be made from many different Knight minifigs as is, or customized as you like.

shop.lego 853301 - here we have a two UltraMarines, an Orc, a Gretchen and an Android all in one pack!

Lego Links:

Brickarms - Weapons, gear and customs

minifigworld Weapons

Brick Link - possible marines, orcs and genestealers. Weapons, assault cannons and well - just about everything Lego

Brick Forge Halo helmets (Space Marine Helmet), body armor

arealightcustoms.com Custom Printed Star Wars Helmets and other gear

mmcb Custom Lego Clothing and holsters

brickshelf 47467 - Resin cast Space Marine Armor

brickshelf 293592 Orc Decals

photobucket xv.jpg Marine Decal

brickshelf 155133 Marine Decal

minifigcustoms 5450 Orc Decal

brickwars-sets Star Wars Sets

Starwars.lego.com Star Wars Lego Site

heroica.lego.com Heroica Lego Site

findmybrick Lego store

brickquest Briquest - Heroquest Lego style

Teardown.se 434 Article on Space Hulk and Lego Genestealers

flickr jerac brickshelf 163941 Well done Lego Space Marines and Orc, with dreadnoughts and vehicles. Scale is larger than minifig scale

brothers-brick mini-hellfire-dreadnought brothers-brick.com micro-warhammer-40k-diorama Micro scale Space Marine Dreadnought

fiveprime lego,marine Tags for marine and Lego

Mega Bloks

This Canadian copy of Lego, and other Lego compatible brick systems are available worldwide for a fraction of the cost of Lego merchandise.

Some of the Mega Blok figures look nice and are very economical when compared to Games Workshop miniatures or Legos. Some of these, such as the Halo and Dragon Universe series, are larger in scale than Lego minifigs, which are in turn larger in scale than the Games Workshop 28mm miniatures. You need to scale up your gameboard if you want these toys to "fit".

Lego Gameboards

You can do a lot with Lego.

Legos can be use to create all sorts of terrain. Spacecraft playscapes can be simple or complex and elegant.

Brickquest uses modular rooms and corridors similar to Space Hulk. The 4x4 Lego scaled spaces are larger than the 1 inch StarQuest gameboard spaces, by about 33%. So you will need a larger play surface for a comparable gameboard, while it will be somewhat easier to move and position your minfigs and/or miniatures.

Lego already has a game line similar to HeroQuest and uses a smaller scale with microfigs. This scale would allow for a more play area on a given table top while making gameplay more difficult. But if you are concerned about miniature detail, these microfigs can be purchased for very little.

Halo the board game uses a 3D setup that looks like large Legos.

brikwars 6053 Lego Space Station

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