Gen. Knowledge

Hey Wes, You sure have a lot of ships and even more minifigs. Some of your ships looks like a scene of refugees fleeing a third world country. I hope that didn't offend anyone. Ever thought about combining some of your ships to make a much larger one? Tony

Well, it looks like even with my vote for the redcoats, blue is winning by a large margin. I personally use both the blue and red on the same team against the pirates, islanders, and the samurai. Long live the Empire! And now with the addition of the new pirate sets with new redcoats, I feel the tide may be turning on the blues. Tony

Very nice. How did you do the wave? I like the seagulls also. If you look at it from a distance, they look a lot better. How did you get the one in the first picture to fly? Tony

She really looks awesome. How much longer until she's seaworthy? Tony

The Port on page 21 What I like Soldiers with shakos Firing cannon Similar Imperial Guard theme Gold epaulets It's pirates and it's back! What I don't like Not enough soldiers to be a fort Buildings are too simple Alligator, get rid of it and add 2-4 more soldiers and while your at it get rid of the monkey and rat also, please. Overall concept. Why don't TLG make a fort that is similar to the castles (from the castle theme) in size? This looks more like an add-on to the Imperial Trading Post. I'll still be buying a few of these just for the soldiers. Tony

61c Check out this ship I found on eBay. HERE Despite all the different colors, she is a pretty ship. Anybody going to bite? Tony

The door and bars on the stockade seem to have a new texture to them also. Unless this was brought over from a castle set I am unaware of. Is the red used on the soldiers a darker red then the old Imperial Guards? Tony

Well, now we are 99.99% sure the 47 members that answered YES are correct. It looks like we have new Lego pirates in 2009. Tony

oo7, The torsos you used look a lot like the torsos used in the new Pirate sets. Are your's custom decals or did you get a hold of some new Lego soldiers? Tony

Anyone else disappointed that there are no sets that show more then 3 soldiers? If the picture on page 21 is the Soldier's Fort, why are there only 2 soldiers and 1 officer. It just makes it harder for army builders to...build armies. Well, I hope Lego will release a soldier pack. Tony

Hi tedbeard, I wish I could use "selective compression" to my army, but as you can see I'm obsessed/addicted at the moment with this project. I started off only wanting about 400 or so soldiers, and now it has grown to almost 1,000 (maybe even more by the time I'm done). I still need to build sets for my soldiers, but right now recruitment is priority number one. buying hundreds you say...lucky guy, I can't seem to find that many at any given time. Hello Manta, I don't want you to have to wait too long, so here it is. 1 - Brigadier General 1 - Colonel 3 - Lt. Colonels (1 - Battalion Commander (not shown), 1 - Chief Medical Officer, 1 - Company Commander (Dragoons, not shown)) 11 - Majors (1 - Head Chef, 10 - Company Commanders (7 not shown) 12 - Captains (9 - Company Executive Officers(5 not shown), 1 - Platoon Commander (Dragoons, not shown), 2- Senior Medical Officers(1 not shown)) 42 - Lieutenants (37 - Platoon Commanders (17 not shown), 5 field surgeons) 293 - Imperial Infantry (redcoats) with 88 en route. 120 - Imperial Foot Guards (blue coats) 98 - Imperial Dragoons (blue coats) with 100 en route. 68 - Imperial Artillery (firefighter torso) with 12 en route. 20 - Stretcher Bearers 10 - Field Medics 13 - Cooks with 17 en route. 12 - Imperial Home Guards 400 white torsos to customize. I won't be customizing the Imperial Soldiers or Imperial Guards (that would be wrong) Just creating artillery and home guards. ----- 70 total officers 634 total soldier with 217 en route for 851. 704 current total, 921 future total not including the 400 soon-to-be customized soldiers and officers. I also have about 100 or so Imperial Sailors and will be using some of the 400 custom minifigs as Imperial Marines. OK Manta I hope that was what you wanted. Tony

Very nice MOC. I like everything about it. Any plans for a bigger version?

Hello Black beard, Thanks for the comment. I do have weapons for them, but since they are being inspected by the general, they are not armed at the moment (there are clone spies out there, don't want him to be assassinated). All the soldiers except for the dragoons carry the WW Rifle. The dragoons carry the Brickarms M1 Garand. Depending on what Lego does with the New Pirate line (new muskets), I will probably be getting all the soldiers the M1 in the future. They look more like the Martini-Henry the British Army carried. I plan on doing a few MOCs of with these soldiers in the very near future. It would go a lot faster if people would stop outbidding me on eBay! Hi Teddy, Thanks for commenting. Unfortunately Lego does not make cows yet (except for Duplo cows) in minifig scale, so their only source of meat are the horses. But since they need the horses for transport, this army will have to be vegetarians for now. Thanks Chenben. Hi Mister Phes, I finally worked up the courage to walk into the local Lego store and picked up 5 of the 48x48 stud plates. I think I will go back for 3 more to form a square. It does make things a lot easier when I am trying to transport them up and down the stairs. I started with 5 Imperial Guards in mid June 2008 when I came back from Legoland, California. Like I stated above, if my fellow AFOLs would stop bidding so high for Imperial Guards and Soldiers I would be done by now. Plus I think Bricklink is running out of them too. And no, they are not cheap. I just hope Lego comes out with the new pirate line before I slip back into the dark. Hello Lt. Col. Thok, Your right about the naming. I shouldn't call it an army. I do call it a brigade because it is commanded by a brigadier general, but in reality it is only a battalion in numbers (1,000 soldiers). That is why there is a Lt. Colonel like yourself in command, with the Colonel and Brig. General attached temporarily for the upcoming maneuvers. Maybe I should call it a task force. Eventually there will be an attachment of Imperial Sailors and Imperial Marines to assist in future conflicts. I hope to get to brigade size with any new soldiers Lego releases. Let's hope they look more like the Imperial Soldiers and Guards then Armada. Tony

I really liked your ship from the beginning, but like it more with the updates. Great job! Tony

I gave it a 1/5 because it uses the word Flagship in the name. When I think of a flagship, I think of bigger, grander, and more crew members. This ship is more like a harbor sentry with it's single swivel cannon, small crew, and small size. This ship would have a hard time crossing the Mediterranean let alone the Atlantic. Just my opinion, and I'm known to be wrong...a lot! Tony

Armies In honor of the Lego Minifigs 30th Birthday, my 100th post, and I believe Citizenship, I thought I would share a picture with y'all of some custom minifigs torsos and a flag (not a very creative design) I came up with for my army. Now let's celebrate and have some birthday cake! --Edited-- Hello, I just bought some new baseplates so I thought I would take new pictures of my updated army. This is version 1.5, an update to my original post HERE. In the next few weeks I will be experimenting with torso stickers to create some custom minifigs for the officers and the artillery companies. I will also be expanding my army to reach battalion strength. Enjoy! Overall view of my army. My command staff with Brigadier General Knowledge in the foreground flanked by his Colonel on the left and a Lt. Colonel (Head Surgeon) on the right. behind them stands the Majors with blue epaulettes and Captains with yellow epaulettes. Medical Services Company in the foreground and Artillery Company in the background. (In version 2.0 the Artillery Company will be switched to the Logistics/Combat Support Company). F-Company (Imperial Foot Guards) I'm thinking about possibly forming a second company of Foot Guards, but I will have to wait and see what happens with the possible release of new soldiers. HERE Two companies of dis-mounted Imperial Dragoons. A and B Company of Imperial Infantry. C-Company of Imperial Infantry at half strength, waiting for reinforcements. Some of the Cooks. They are part of the Logistics/Combat Support Company. This is how I store them for now. I would include numbers, but I'm just too lazy right now. Wait for version 2.0 Tony

I really like this. Great job Infomaniac!

I was so excited from reading the title. But if you follow the link, it leads you to an Asian blogsite with no images to back up the names. I'm hopeful, but I'll still be recruiting the old Imperials for my army. If anyone is ready to give up their redcoats, just let me know. Tony

Here is a huge organized 73 minifig Imperial Soldier collection with 6 days left. CLICK HERE to place a bid! And some pictures: I wish I was in the market for Imperial Soldiers. I might have to bid on it just to have them around for future expansions. Tony

If you look at the description on the auction page, you will see that it states this is a Lego brand product. Click Here. Even though it is not. I believe that is plain fraud. My reason for initially posting this topic was so wouldn't be tricked into buying clone products when what I want are the originals. If they removed the leg assembly or torso from this example, how am I to tell if it is the real thing or not before I bid on it? People (myself included) are paying a lot for Lego pirates, and having these clones around makes things harder. That being said, Lego is not currently producing the pirate theme, so the other brick producing companies are taking advantage of it. It really only hurts people like us that collect these old sets and minifigs, but all the children that want pirate sets now only have the clone companies or Megabloks to fill their demands. I will be buying a clone set soon. I'm planning to do a small piece called "The Clone War" where my army hunts down the clones. Tony

Thanks for the poll Phred. And thanks for everyone's opinion. I have a slight color deficiency, so none of these combos seems that bad to me. Unfortunately the poll confirms my fear. I also like the white pith/white legs combo, but finding white piths for my redcoats is hard enough. I thought I could get away with the dark blue-gray pith with white legs for the bluecoats. I got the tan pith for my artillery company, but thought it might look good on the blue torsos. My goal is to have white piths for all my redcoats, high command staff, and logistics/maneuver support. so I only need about 400 more... Tony

Hello, I was just trying out some color combinations for my Home Guards. Which of these combinations looks the best? With white pith With tan pith With dark blue-gray pith All together I will be out of town this weekend, but when I get back, I will be posting new pictures of my updated army. Tony

Thanks Mister Phes! This is a great find. Complete Imperial Guards with shakos are as hard to find as white Pith Headgear for me. The only bad thing is that now it is public, there will be more bidders. Tony

Here is an example of what I am talking about. Click here to see the auction. The minifig is carrying a chrome cutlass and it's face and shoulders look a little off. The seller has LEGO in bold print above the picture. Isn't this fraud? Tony

Hello, Sorry if this has been brought up before. I've been biding on and buy a lot of Imperial Soldiers and Guards lately. And during my searches on eBay, I am always running across Lego clones/knock-offs. Would someone please post a detailed review with a side-by-side comparison of the original Lego minifigs and the knock-offs? I would like to see the torso and leg assembly removed and placed next to each other for comparison. I have seen some of the reviews on here, but none of the reviews dissect the minifig so we can see what they look like from the inside or separated from the rest of the minifig. I've been seeing a lot of Lego Imperial Soldier and Guard lots for sale on eBay, without accessories like hats and weapons (the only obvious ways to tell them apart for me). I've also been buying torso assemblies from Bricklink, and worried a knock-off might make it's way in those lots. I am also worried I may get official Lego torsos, but with printed Imperial sticker designs. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Tony