Brikwars
Encyclopedia
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
system by Mike Rayhawk, created for use with plastic building blocks and figurines. It is designed to be simplistic and flexible, allowing for its players' full range of creativity in creating armies, creatures, vehicles, and worlds out of construction toys
Construction set
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to construct complex systems...
. Although targeted primarily at adults, BrikWars is known for its straight-faced acceptance of the kinds of ridiculous scenarios and multi-genre mashups that arise naturally when children dump out their unsorted toybins on the floor. Much of its humor comes from satirizing
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
"serious" wargames
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
and their players, while flouting or deliberately misinterpreting conventions
Convention (norm)
A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom....
of the genre.
BrikWars uses "minifigs" (usually LEGO minifigure
Minifigure
A Lego minifigure is a small plastic articulated figurine available as part of the construction toy Lego, produced by Danish toy manufacturer the Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978, and have become hugely successful, with over 3.7 billion produced, and the figure appearing in a variety...
s or equivalent miniature figures from other construction toy brands) as small soldiers, and terrain
Terrain
Terrain, or land relief, is the vertical and horizontal dimension of land surface. When relief is described underwater, the term bathymetry is used...
constructed from construction bricks or random objects found near the playing area. While the game can be played with completely non-construction-toy related objects, such as action figures, stuffed animals, or tin soldiers, the rules lend themselves best to figures and structures which can be easily disassembled and reconstructed. These models might represent real or fictional-world forces and situations, but are just as likely to represent exactly what they are - toys
Toys
Toys is a 1992 comedy film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Joan Cusack, Robin Wright, LL Cool J, and introducing Jamie Foxx as Baker. The film failed at the box office at the time of its release, despite its impressive cast and lavish filmmaking. Levinson was...
engaging in arbitrary
Arbitrary
Arbitrariness is a term given to choices and actions subject to individual will, judgment or preference, based solely upon an individual's opinion or discretion.Arbitrary decisions are not necessarily the same as random decisions...
battles for toy supremacy.
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
Superpower (ability)
Superpower is a popular culture term for a fictional superhuman ability. When a character possesses multiple such abilities, the terms super powers or simply powers are used...
and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
). The 2001 rules version as well as extra units can be found on Brikwars.com's 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.
Play Mechanics
BrikWars is a turn-basedTurn-based strategy
A turn-based strategy game is a strategy game where players take turns when playing...
skirmish-level miniatures wargame
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
. Each player
Player (game)
A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games....
in the game controls forces custom-built from construction toys or whatever materials they have at hand, one such example would be plastic army men. The creations are assigned attributes
Attribute (role-playing games)
An attribute is a piece of data that describes to what extent a fictional character in a role-playing game possesses a specific natural, in-born characteristic common to all characters in the game. That piece of data is usually an abstract number or, in some cases, a set of dice...
according to the current size and features of the physical models at any given moment. Because constructable models can be easily damaged, augmented, or destroyed with the addition or removal of construction elements, a unit's abilities can vary greatly over the course of a battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
.
Players take turns, with each player moving and attacking with each of his units able to do so before passing the turn to the next player in sequence, until one player or team
Team
A team comprises a group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent subtasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team...
emerges victorious
Victory
Victory is successful conclusion of a fight or competition..Victory may refer to:**strategic victory**tactical victory** Pyrrhic victory, a victory at heavy cost to the victorious party**Victory columns**Victory Monuments**Victory personified...
. With rare exceptions, each unit is able to move once (a number of inches based on its "Move" statistic) and take one major Action (usually to make an attack, or to use one of its special abilities known as a "Specialty") in a given turn, in addition to any number of minor actions.
For determining the success or failure of actions and attacks, each unit is assigned an appropriate-sized polyhedral die for its Skill attribute, which it must roll against a set number determined by the difficulty of the act. When an attack successfully hits, the attacker rolls his weapon's Damage dice in the hopes of overcoming the target's Armor dice roll. Most infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
units are killed by having their Armor overcome once, while larger vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s and structures are more resilient and may take multiple hits before being destroyed.
The rules also encourage players to disobey the rules
Insubordination
Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying an authority. Refusing to perform an action that is unethical or illegal is not insubordination; neither is refusing to perform an action that is not within the scope of authority of the person issuing the order.Insubordination is typically a...
as often as possible, as seen in the Law of Fudge. The rulebook repeatedly encourages fun
Fun
Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure and, according to Johan Huizinga, "an absolutely primary category of life, familiar to everybody at a glance right down to the animal level." Fun may be encountered in many human activities during work, social functions, recreation and play, and even seemingly...
over obsessive rules-lawyering
Rules lawyer
A rules lawyer is a participant in a rules-based environment who attempts to use the letter of the law without reference to the spirit, usually in order to gain an advantage within that environment. The term is commonly used in wargaming and role playing game communities, often pejoratively, as...
, to make the game as enjoyable as possible for all parties involved.
History
BrikWars originated in 1995 as an extensive expansion of an earlier game entitled Legowars, a miniatures wargame invented in March 1991 by Eric O'Dell and R. Todd Ogrin. Legowars gained a cult following on local bulletin board systems before becoming more generally known on the Usenet newsgroup rec.toys.lego. The game featured space-themed combat between Lego minifigures, and was distinguished from other miniature wargames of the time by a strong building-brick construction theme allowing the customization of playing pieces. It was followed in January 1995 by an Internet-released sequel, Legowars II, which the authors had refined in the hopes of making the game more attractive for publication.In October 1995, the authors of Legowars received a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
order from the LEGO Group
Lego Group
The LEGO Group is a family-owned company based in Billund, Denmark, and best known for the manufacture of Lego-brand toys.The company was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen...
for their improper usage of the trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
ed word "LEGO
Lego
Lego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
." Their proposed renamed version, Butthead Toy Company Wars, never came to fruition, and several unrelated authors released their own variants, expansions, and alternate systems to try and fill the void. Of these, only BrikWars was updated and maintained for any length of time following its release.
This first version of BrikWars was written and refined from its release in 1995 until 1997. It was followed in 1998 by the first BrikWars edition to be released in HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
with illustrations.
The 2000 edition of BrikWars brought significantly more rules and game mechanic
Game mechanic
Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce an enjoyable game or gameplay. All games use mechanics; however, theories and styles differ as to their ultimate importance to the game...
s. It was quickly followed by the 2001 edition, which added so many rules that Rayhawk later admitted that it was made to spite
Spite (sentiment)
To spite is to intentionally annoy, hurt, or upset. Spiteful words or actions are delivered in such a way that it is clear that the person is delivering them just to annoy, hurt, or upset. When the intent to annoy, hurt, or upset is shown subtly, behavior is considered catty.The Underground Man,...
the most vocal and hardcore
Nerd
Nerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
BrikWars players, who demanded specific systems for every conceivable wargame trope without regard to their effect on overall playability.
The current "2005" edition, released in 2006, was shortly preceded by QuikWars. Only 3 pages long, it was designed for players without enough time, energy, or attention span
Attention span
Attention span is the amount of time that a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus one's attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals....
s for a full game of BrikWars.
The 2005 rules represented a major revision. The overall length was cut significantly, and many rules were removed or reclassified as variants. Most importantly, the in-game elements like unit types and weapons were defined in generalized
Generalization
A generalization of a concept is an extension of the concept to less-specific criteria. It is a foundational element of logic and human reasoning. Generalizations posit the existence of a domain or set of elements, as well as one or more common characteristics shared by those elements. As such, it...
terms rather than theme-specific ones. Periodically, since the release of the 2005 edition, minor rules changes have been added into the rulebook, such as a new automatic fire
Automatic firearm
An automatic firearm is a firearm that loads another round mechanically after the first round has been fired.The term can be used to refer to semi-automatic firearms, which fire one shot per single pull of the trigger , or fully automatic firearms, which will continue to load and fire ammunition...
system and a chapter about Horses (which is used as a general term to describe any steed or vehicle which only carries one person).
PC Game
A free open sourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
computer game based on BrikWars began development in December 2008, with the first playable version released late that month. It allows players to create custom armies and maps from building blocks and play battles against the computer or other players.