Bluebright’s hit the scene with what have to be the funniest pair of battle reports I’ve read in a long, long time. The artistic use of minifig blood (and of hot lava) should serve as an inspiration to all players.

What’s more, he’s included time-lapse videos for each battle, which is also awesome.

	Bluebright’s Intro Battle #1
	Bluebright’s Battle of the Butts

After a seeming eternity away, word is filtering down across the AFOL forums that the Little Armory is coming back and bringing all its custom minifig weapons and equipment back to market. This is great news for anyone who missed them the first time around and whose minifigs are still looking for more ways to kill one another. Keep an eye on the Little Armory site for further bulletins as events warrant.

Little Armory Toys

Martin van Haeften and Brenny Pagniello write in with two new brick wargames. I haven’t had time to look at either too closely yet, but feel free to poke around their sites.

Martin’s LegoWar is an online multiplayer empire-building game that looks to be a web-based callback to Door games of old, for those of you who remember the days of old when we were still celebrating the miraculous advance from 300 to 1200 baud modems. The game seems to have completed several iterations and special in-game events.

Brenny’s Blok-Lok is a little closer to the kind of thing we’re used to seeing, a quick and easy minifig tabletop combat game pared down to bare essentials.

	Martin van Haeften’s LegoWar
	Brenny Pagniello’s Blok-Lok

Copied over from the Brothers Brick LEGO Blog:

Whether you host your own images there or not, Brickshelf is one of the cornerstones of the online LEGO community. As many of you visiting this blog will have noticed, none of the images hosted on Brickshelf are currently working, and if you’ve been to Brickshelf.com in the last few hours, you will have seen the following text – and nothing else – on the home page:

“Brickshelf has discontinued operation. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

They follow up with links to discussions across the Lego fan community, since this caught even the most insidey of insiders by complete surprise.

Update, July 19: Brickshelf is back online; it turns out the entire panic was part of a questionable publicity stunt to raise awareness of Brickshelf’s financial woes. However, this heightening of awareness seems to have been a completely wasted effort, as Brickshelf lacks any obvious method for taking donations.

	The Brothers Brick: Brickshelf gone for good?
	Brickshelf.com: Brickshelf has discontinued operation
	UPDATE 07/19: Brickshelf NOT gone for good: Kevin Loch speaks

For those who haven’t seen it yet, Kotaku’s got an exclusive concept trailer for the upcoming Lego Universe MMOG.

Kotaku exclusive: The LEGO Universe Trailer

The high point of this month’s Escapist magazine is a great article by Allen Varney. Entitled “LEGO Games – More ways to stack bricks than you can easily imagine,” it’s a quick overview of the wide world of Lego gaming, and a little of its culture and history.

BrikWars gets a fair amount of good press, but my favorite bit of the article comes near the end:

“And how long until we get collectible LEGO games a la HeroClix? Designing a good clicky-base miniatures army feels (metaphorically) like assembling a model – that is, putting together a little machine with lots of complementary, interlocking parts.”

Isn’t that the truth!

LEGO Games – More ways to stack bricks than you can easily imagine

My schedule’s been packed lately, but I’d be completely derelict in my duty if I didn’t make a note here about the fact that BrickArms just released a giant pile of new weapons that are simply unbelievable. You’ll all be especially excited to hear that we can finally get some minifig-compatible grenades.

Or, you would be excited to hear that, if that’s what I were here to tell you about. But the real reason I’m posting is because I want every one of you to go watch this clip on YouTube before it gets taken down. Merely witnessing it will make every one of you a better BrikWars player. It’s a quick clip from Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, and and it may represent the finest grenade-based attack of all time.

	YouTube: Sosuke vs the Karate Triplets
	BrickArms, the Modern Minifig Armory

Happy 2007 everybody!

I was listening to the All About Miniatures podcast today, and someone wrote in to say that BrikWars is the Wargames Unlimited group’s single best game. All right! We’re number one!

Although on closer inspection I don’t really think we have anything to do with Wargames Unlimited, I’m still happy to accept the accolade.

Meanwhile, over on Classic-Castle.com, Fryslayer has put up a new chapter in what’s becoming a series of comic-book style battle writeups, this time for “Attack of the Spiders.”

Lastly, I’ve got a new desktop graphic for everyone! This one’s a gryphon rider I painted up for an in-the-works mini-chapter on horses and other steeds.

	The All About Miniatures Podcast
	Wargames Unlimited
	Fryslayer’s post to Classic-Castle.com: “BrikWars – Attack of the Spiders”
	“Attack of the Spiders” BrickShelf gallery
	The Gyphon Rider (1280×1024, 180k)
	More desktop backgrounds on the Downloads page

I got a surprise package from Hong Kong last week – Red Bean (from the Minifig Customization Network and BrickForge) sent a custom minifig of the night elf pictured on BrikWars’ Scout card. Sweet! So I’ve dressed her up nice with a Dementor cloak and a BrickForge longbow and snapped a photo for a Scout card alternate version.

	Scout Card (Alternate Version)
	The Minifig Customization Network
	BrickForge custom minifig accessories

The Christmas rush has still got me working ninety- and hundred-hour weeks, so I’ve gotten behind on answering e-mails. The one question that’s piling up more and more in my inbox is about when and whether BrikWars will have a print or PDF version ready for Christmas.

The short answer is, probably not – I don’t have enough free hours in the next month to do all the necessary print layout work, and all the badgering of Wayne that I expect to make a part of that process. (Did I say badgering? I meant “consulting”). But I thought I’d talk about the plans currently in the works. I’ve laid out a list of the main bullet points and posted them to the Frappr forum.

Also, Fryslayer made a post on Classic-Castle.com a few months ago about custom wargaming banners. These have been the topic of much behind-the-scenes discussion over here, especially as an attractive way to show unit stats or even as special Squad-buffing equipment items.

	Plans for the BW2005 PDF on the Frappr Forums
	Fryslayer’s War Gaming Banners on Classic-Castle.com