Lazy Gamer Block Armies

It's been a while since my last installment of the Lazy Gamer's Guide. I had been discussing the principle of "going small" by using smaller miniatures and the options available for miniature gamers. Then I suggested another alternative - block armies. Let's discuss this topic today.

"Play a game with blocks?!" some may say in horror. Let me explain why it is a perfectly valid option for Lazy Gamers. A while back there was a post on The Miniatures Page (TMP) about the use of unpainted miniatures. I ruminated about the debate in a blog post, concluding that most miniature gamers on TMP appear to be high on the modeling aspect of the hobby whereas I was principally a gamer.

How I rate on the Gamer / Modeler axes

I suspect that most Lazy Gamers are like me; they just want to game and are not as interested in the "spectacle." (If the "spectacle" is important to you, you may as well just click away now ;) ). Well I found that block armies allow the lazy gamer to get to the game quickly with minimal preparations.

What do I mean by block armies? Instead of using miniatures for the units in my armies, I use painted wooden blocks. My blocks are small - 20 x 10 mm, 20 x 5 mm, or 10 x 10 mm pieces of 3mm thick wood that I got from Litko. You could, of course, make your own using bits of wood. I tried and found it difficult getting precise cuts. Litko does it for me efficiently and for a reasonable price. I just slap some paint on them and am ready to roll.

Infantry are the larger blocks, painted a solid color. I have recently added little bits of wood to act as flags. Light infantry are narrower blocks. Artillery are the smaller square blocks, with a cannon painted on them. Generals are square blocks with a flag painted on them (I'm using simple crosses for my Francesian armies)

Line Infantry, Artillery, Light Infantry, General

I am still trying to work out how to display cavalry in an aesthetically pleasing way. I was inspired by the blocks in the second picture of this post from Wargaming Odyssey. I used 2 smaller blocks on top instead of 1 (to signify heavy cavalry; I intended to use 1 block for lights). The top blocks obscure the bottom too much so I experimented with painting instead, However, I could not do a straight line. I am still experimenting with cavalry.

Two attempts at cavalry.

Anyway, in my eyes, one of the keys to making block armies work is the terrain. I personally think blocks look a little odd when used on terrain designed for figures. However, the original Kriegsspiel featured block armies maneuvering on a map, a look that I rather like.

A Kriegspiel game (from Wikipedia)

I have taken inspiration from Kriegsspiel and use a 2 dimensional map for my block army games. I picked up a Pathfinder flip mat and some dry-erase markers. I now draw out the scenario's terrain.

An example of a 2D battlefield

I think this approach gives a Kriegsspiel feel to my games (even if the map is not as detailed as a Kriegsspiel map). The other benefit is that it is incredibly easy to do; I do not have to spend any time building and painting terrain to play a game. It's the ultimate lazy gamer's battlefield!

Thus, I highly recommend block armies for the lazy gamer. The armies are very simple to prepare (especially if you order pre-cut blocks) and the map is a snap. It'll have you actually playing games in no time.

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Another aspect of going small is to reduce your battlefield.