Brikwars
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BrikWars is a miniatures wargaming system created for use with plastic building blocks and figurines. It is designed to be simplistic and flexible, with many optional rules, as well as allowing for many player judgement calls. Humor is found in the lack of the usual seriousness of wargames and the frequent use of quotes from various thinkers on war. BrikWars was created by Mike Rayhawk.
| “ | BrikWars is the plastic-brick wargaming system that throws the peaceful worlds of your favorite construction toys into wanton chaos and destruction | ” |
BrikWars uses minifigures as small soldiers, and terrain constructed from Lego bricks or random objects found near the playing area, such as cardboard boxes, shoes, CD-Drives, etc. Theoretically, this game can even be played with completely non-LEGO related objects, such as action figures or small crystal figurines.
BrikWars 2005 is the most current version of the BrikWars rules, and is greatly reduced in size and complexity from the BrikWars 2001 rules. The 2001 rules are now considered the "advanced" version of the 2005 rules, containing additional material that covers subjects excluded from the 2005 rules (such as adjudicating superpowers and magic).
The 2001 rules version as well as extra units can be found on the Supplements page. These rules are compatible with BrikWars 2005 and are used by many players to add supplemental unit and weapon types, such as flamethrowers or Mediks.
[edit] Play Mechanics
One feature of BrikWars is the application of CP (construction points) to each item. This enables players to set a budget to help battles remain fair. Another is an innovative creation system that bases vehicle costs on the size, speed, and armament of the object in question instead of having set attributes for specific vehicles, thus enabling a wider range of creations.
The player turn is grouped into movement and actions. Each unit has a certain distance that it may move on each turn. This distance is chosen by the player, and higher speeds increase the CP cost of the unit in question.
The most common action is attacking. Most actions require a unit to make a dice roll for "skill". The number and type of dice are set for the unit and are known as its "Skill Rating". For hitting with an attack, each weapon type has a Use Rating (fixed integer, not dice roll). Use Ratings for other Actions are determined as seems appropriate by the players.
When an attack successfully hits, both the attacker and the target player roll dice for armor, the number being determined by the Armor Rating or Damage of the unit or weapon in question. Most infantry units are killed by having their armor overcome once. Vehicles and structures are somewhat more resilient and may take multiple hits before being destroyed.
The rules also encourage players not to follow the rules as much as possible, as seen in the Law of Fudge. Mike Rayhawk encourages fun over obsessive rules-lawyering, to make the game as enjoyable as possible for all parties involved.
[edit] History
BrikWars originated as simply a name change of Lego Wars, which, at the time, was being sued by LEGO as part of their SAE (Sadism Against Enthusiasts) program.
The first version of BrikWars as a separate game from Lego Wars was written from 1995 to 1997. It was followed in 1998 by the first BrikWars edition to be released in HTML with illustrations.
The 2000 edition of BrikWars brought significantly more rules and mechanisms of mayhem. It was quickly followed by the infamous 2001 edition, which was created for the sole purpose of forcing players to eliminate rules and streamline the game.
The current 2005 edition was shortly preceded by QuikWars. Only 3 pages long, it was a godsend to people with short attention spans. The 2005 rules are praised as being very complete and allowing much flexibility within games for house rules. It is criticized as not having enough material for rules lawyers to work with, but no one except the rules lawyers cares.
