If your kids love Lego and they love army toys, then building a Lego Army seems the next logical step to take.
Unfortunately Lego does not make this easy for you, preferring to keep children playing in fantasy scenarios than realistic types of war game.
Luckily for you, the world of custom army Legos is quite vast. Here you can find a diverse range of Lego army soldiers, Lego army tanks and other vehicles and teeny Lego army guns to complete the look.
For readily available Lego military sets please check out our other post that details the army vehicles you can find in the Lego Creator range, the Toy Story Army Lego Men on Patrol set for youngsters and the Mega Bloks Probuilder military sets for older children and adults.
Obviously you can build anything you like with Lego bricks, but kids often need a bit of a helping hand to kick start their imaginations. An army of Lego soldier minifigures complete with weapons may inspire them to build some vehicles from scratch, or you could buy the instructions for custom builds to help them along or even custom sets complete with instructions and relevant bricks.
Whilst these custom army Legos are not endorsed by the Lego company, they are made using their bricks and will therefore work nicely with any existing brick collections.
So what Lego army sets can you find?
Army Men – Minifigs
Lego Army figures are available to replicate soldiers from the UK, Germany and the US. There are WWII and modern day soldiers from the marines and other branches of the military. They come in different colored uniforms, including grey, black, white, green and tan. They come with removable helmets, uniform detailing and may or may not come with one or more weapons. They cost from around $6 singly or you can buy them as part of Lego army toys sets, for example, a set of 3 minifigures at a base camp including weapons will cost between $35-40.
Things to watch out for when purchasing include how the uniform is printed onto the minifig. Direct printing front and back is the best as it will not rub or scratch off, but some may just come with army Lego decals on one side. You can also just buy the decals yourself to add to your own minfigures. These cost around $6 for 15 decals.
Click or HERE for a great selection of Lego army men for sale
As well as weapons you can buy individual helmets for your soldiers. These include modern combat helmets, brodie helmets, steel pots and German Stahlhelms. Most come in a variety of colors and cost $2 each.
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Minifig stands have two studs and are designed to keep your Lego soldiers upright in battle. Whilst not a necessary accompaniment, they can be well worth the $1 price tag.
Guns & Weapons
Precisely detailed using computer aided design, Lego weapons are amazingly intricate tiny toys for your minifigures. They are made from the same plastic as Lego uses so will blend perfectly. You can buy weapons individually for about $1 or in multiple weapon packs. From high caliber sniper rifles, to assault carbines, to grenade launchers and many more, you can really rev up your military with these pieces of minifig weaponry.
Why not stock up your tanks with some Lego grenades too. The iconic and highly detailed fragmentation grenade can be added to your arsenal to send your enemies fleeing.
For great value for money, why not treat your Lego soldiers to a weapons pack. These come in three colors, black, silver and cobalt blue, and include such things as precision sniper rifles, tactical PDWs, assault carbines. combat SMGs and bipods. The variety in these weapons ensures your army is ready for both close quarter combat and long range attacks.
Click HERE for a great selection of Lego guns
Tanks And Vehicles
Kits for building Lego military vehicles are available for World War I, World War II, and the modern military. Tanks are by far the most popular although a couple of fighter planes, jeeps and Humvees are also available. Tanks include those such as the Sherman and Panzer. You can buy instructions for building these custom tanks with your own Lego pieces or buy complete kits that comprise the pieces and the instructions.
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Tips For Improving Your Army Lego Sets
- Make sure you opt for distinctive attire between armies. This can be done with decals, helmets and weapons.
- Consider what era your war is set in and choose minifigs, helmets and weapons that are suitable.
- Assemble your Lego soldiers into squads, such as groups of snipers, close combat army men and artillery units.
- Identify some ranks within the squads, say one officer to every 5 infantryman.
- Make use of some custom Lego military vehicles.
- Build an army base with normal Lego for your army to defend.
- You will probably need at least 20 Lego soldiers and a couple of vehicles to achieve a realistic battle scene.