We’re lucky at the moment to have a couple of really strong Lego-branded boardgames on the market, with both Monkey Palace and Brick Like Me providing great fun for all ages with genuine challenge and varied gameplay. But before we look at the current offerings, it’s good to know where we’ve come from, which ones are worth looking out for on the 2nd hand-market, and which to avoid. Let’s get that out of the way: there are so many games to avoid – the Lego Battle of Hoth is notoriously rubbish – and I have to give a special mention for the Bionicle game, a game so poorly designed it is possible to lose on the first dice roll of the game (which absolutely has happened to me). Roll and move does feature a lot in early Lego games, which still has its appeal with younger players, but there are still some great mechanics out there.
Lego City Alarm
Surprisingly, perhaps, one of the best games Lego ever made is still pretty easy to get hold of. Small and portable, it’s worth nabbing this cops-and-robbers classic if you see it, and not just for the excellent parts. Part of its success is that it isn’t a conventional roll and move: there are 11 buildings on the board, but the die is used to see if you can successfully steal from the building when adjacent or if the police move to it (with the helicopter symbol). Movement is handled by hidden tiles which you pick from: the police player has to select the same tile as the robbers to move to their location, however, the train allows either player to move anywhere; so whilst random there are more tactical elements. As the robber, you are often blocked and limited to what you can collect; fortunately, if you land next to the jail, you can free another robber, who is consider to be on a free white (train station) tile. It’s nicely asymmetric and a great way to introduce younger players to these kind of mechanics.
Minotaurus
This is often regarded as the best in the canon of Lego boardgames, and can still be found out in the wild. Guide your warriors through the maze, and avoid being eaten by the Minotaur. Simple? Well, not quite. Firstly, you’re competing against the other players to get 2 of your 3 warriors to the centre first. Secondly, whilst the dice has 3-6 on 4 sides, it has a Grey tile which allows you to add or move a blocking wall to (or already within) the labyrinth and Black which allows the minotaur to move 8. For more depth, you can also replace the “3” tile with a Green “jump” tile which, as you might expect, allow you to jump over hedges. So, yes, it is a roll and move, but far more satisfying than most, with plenty of tactical options and opportunities to annoy your opponents!
Chima
This is a bit of sleeper favourite, with Chima never having quite achieved the success of other own-brand IPs. A shame for a number of reasons, as it’s rather a good game with some fun area control mechanics and a dexterity element also. Whilst Minotaurus does allow you to build other mazes, the dice tower and 3D elements of Chima encourage an almost platform-game experience. Dice rolling determines how many warriors you can place, with 4 in a region allowing you to claim the Chi tokens there (8 chi winning you the game). However, there are other options including stealing Chi, wiping out everything in the region, or battling your opponent to wipe out their warriors. Added to this is putting Chi into the tower: agile placement can influence which region it lands in. It’s not strictly a dexterity game (tbh, I hate dexterity games) but it is a fun experience nonetheless.
Battle of Helm’s Deep
Now, the IP games are hard to get hold of on the second-hand market. High-profile IPs and decent gameplay? No wonder.
Probably the best of them – and arguably one of the best Lego boardgames ever – is the brutal asymmetric tactical game that is Battle of Helm’s Deep. It’s a tactical boardgame that is accessible to all ages, where you must defend the walls of Helm’s Deep or overwhelm them with Isengard’s hordes. It also has properly lovely components with the detailed, printed microfigures of Rohirrim and Uruk-Hai.
It’s a lot less random than other games, and splits move and fight into different phases. The Dice faces are 2 of each of Move 3/Enemy Loses 1 Health, Move 2/ You Lose 1 Health, and The One Ring which equates to Move 4 or Use Special Skill / Enemy Loses 2 Health. So, you are rewarded for being aggressive, though there is always risk. Warriors are defeated by losing their one and only health, whilst Leaders (who have 4, with a neat lego health bar) retreat if they lose any. Special skills are particularly interesting, with Leaders having abilities including additional movement or bonus attacks, archers firing using the rangefinder (very neat) for guaranteed damage, Berserkers moving and attacking for guaranteed damage, and so on. With 3 scenarios included and plenty of alternate options (I really love the little siege ladders!) this is a proper, “legit” boardgame battler.
Lego Batman
A wee mention for this. Again, lovely microfigures, of the Batfamily and the iconic Bat villains, are coupled with fun and innovative gameplay. The Joker’s lair sits in the centre of the board, with the Batcave at one end and both GCPD and Gotham Museum at the other. You roll to move your hero, the villain (who remains a mystery!) that’s trying to rob the museum or activate your gadgets – the batboat, for example, allowing you to move upriver and so much more quickly. Crucially, you can’t catch the villain until you’ve made it to GCPD first – you have to know WHO the villain is! – so it’s a race against time and the rest of the BatFam. It’s a straightforward, but really delightful game for younger players and, if you spy a copy, worth picking up.
NEW ADDITIONS
Brick Like This
We have had a few Lego not-Pictionary games over the years (Creationary *shudder*), but Brick Like This is, happily, a delight. Brick Like This has 2 or 4 players racing to build abstract shapes of varied difficulty – for example, lines between individual bricks may not be marked on a card to make it more complex – with different challenges thrown into the mix for bonus points. I like very much that the points are scored in studs (if you’ve ever played a TT Lego computer game!) and that the game is a challenge for everyone; my eldest (who I stress is an adult) is a huge LEGO fan but can still be beaten fair and square by a younger sibling or a decrepit parent. The team challenges add lots of party-game nonsense, whether it’s building with your hands never leaving the table or building blind to your partner’s instructions, and it’s a firm favourite in the house (as well as an excellent gift choice).
Monkey Palace
I have, of course, saved the best till last. Monkey Palace is a delight, tactical yet accessible, full of that haptic satisfaction of clicking bricks together whilst competitively placing components and constructing towering Lego architecture. Ostensibly very simple, it’s actually a neat engine builder, because the more you build, the better cards (with more parts) you can access. Your aim is to always build up, and always complete a staircase (so up and along). Your starting point (light green, dark green or gold) determines both your parts access and your finishing bonus, whether it’s placing a scoring leaf or the monkey to block opponents’ paths. With added twists including a bonus-point butterfly and negative-point frog, it’s charming and challenging and once again ticks the all-ages box. It’s a more conventional board game in many ways, and can be pretty ruthless, but that doesn’t mean its any less enjoyable for that. Highly recommended!
