White army overview

Here is the red army showing the front pawns (with the centre commander pawn). The commander pawn holds a two handed battle axe and is armored. Behind them are the two wizard bishops and knights. At the rear are the two rooks.

Black Army overview

Here is an overview of the black army showing the black pawns up front with two black knights flanking the two black bishops. Behind them are two cave trolls which can be switched in for the black rooks. I thought it would be more interesting to have the black pawn army led by a single commander pawn (as the centre pawns are the strongest in a game of chess).

White Bishop #2 - Green Wizard

In this chess set the White army is in an alliance with the elves. (as observed by the rooks). Hence the second advisor / bishop to the white army is a wizard specialising in nature magic. Hence the green cape and wizard's hat. He holds an electric staff and a book of spells.

White bishop - Grey Wizard

The white army has wizards as their bishops. Representing the king's main advisor is the Gandalf minifigure. To replace his boring staff I have given him twin electric blue lightning bolts. They can be adjusted to shoot out in every direction.

Black Bishop #2 - The Necromancer

The second black bishop is certainly a menacing figure. He holds a bone staff with twin blades at the tip. His helm is borrowed from the Vladek minifigure. His cape is draped around him to give him a mysterious and intimidating appearance. His whole appearance reeks of evil.

Black Bishop - The Grim Reaper

The back bishop is the grim reaper. He is a skeletal figure with red eyes and holds the reaper scythe. Hooded with black wings and and a black cape he is a piece to be feared!

Black Queen and King - The Witch Queen and Merciless King

In the picture below you will see the black king and queen guarded by their two loyal bishops. 

Although they are custom made, some of the ideas have been borrowed from the giant lego chess set. The king's throne is almost an exact replica apart from a few minor alterations such as a tiled floor and slight improvements. The king's shield shows a red scorpion borrowed from the Evil Vladek minifigure. His throne is decorated with twin flames and tipped with red gems. The back of his throne has a window just like the queen's throne. He wears black armor and holds an aqua gem tipped staff. 

The black queen is a witch and she is wearing a black cape with a black hood. Her chest is armored and in front of her she has two carefully placed potions ready to consume.Her throne is shaped just like the queen's chess piece.

White Queen and King pieces

Here is the custom white king and queen. 

King has a golden helm, armor, sword and cape and a wizened aged look to his face. His shield is decorated by his emblem that his army also carries. He sits on his throne which contains an inverted cross.

The queen is also dressed in red with a golden crown and goblet. She holds a ruby red gem tipped staff and her throne is the same shape you would expect out of a chess piece. 

The throne required a lot of thought to design and are ofcourse custom made. If you compare the pictures of the queen and king chess pieces below you will see the cross representing the king piece and the spikes representing the crown of the queen. 

Custom White Rook

Here are the rooks for the white army. Although the towers are black the flags show the alliance between the humans (represented by the red flag) and the elves (represented by the green flag). 

The towers have black windows and the red stripe. Each tower is guarded by a soldier. On the left side it is guarded by an elf with a longbow. On the right side it is guarded by a human with a crossbow and kite shield.

Custom Black Rooks - Trolls or Towers?

For the Black Rooks I am yet undecided. The trolls seem like a good idea as they represent strength and stability like the rooks do in chess. However I have also made twin towers with skeletal guards to match the  towers of the white army. Both pieces are currently being used in the chess set.

The trolls both have giant clubs but surprisingly they keep their balance very well. To the figures I have added black teeth and horns on the side of their heads. 

White Knight #2

I am still working on this fella. Do not really know what to give him yet but he seems to look nice when he is holding the longsword and small shield.
Particularly like how his helm looks.

White Knight #1

Next is my first white night. I borrowed this piece from series 9. This guy is a custom modification of the heroic knight.

His helm has been painted to match the wings on either side. Also I have given him a red cape and red feather for his helm. The horse has red / grey armor and the unicorn horn will soon be painted bronze. I am still trying out different weapons but the double sided axe seems to suit him the most.
This is one of my favourite modifications. The helm opens nicely revealing his smiling face.

Custom Dark Knight Army

The first knight is "The Evil Knight" from Minifigure Series 7 . I have named him Lord Grom.

To this piece I have done a few tweaks. Given him an armored black horse and replaced the unicorn horn with a tooth. Also I have painted the horse armor black and swapped the knight's weapon with a more menacing one.

The second knight has a chrome axe and brickforge helmet. Unlike the first knight I have not added a cape to this one. The horse is again black with painted black armor. I shall be adding shoulder guards to this piece in the near future.

Custom Black Bishop #1

So here is my first piece. This is the bishop on the black side.

It represents an evil wizard of necromancer with a staff and cape.

I am considering maybe changing the main handle of the staff to ivory or bone instead of wood. There could be a few more improvements but it will be in due time.
He is definately one of my favourite pieces. The cape covers half his body and makes him look very sinister. Underneath is a white pale lego head.

My Custom Lego Chess Project - INTRO

I have never liked chess as a kid or as a teenager. It was just one of those games that looked boring and bland. A game for nerds. However in the past several years after buying my first iphone, I could not find a app that suited my needs. Ultimately I needed an game that required some strategy and would never get boring. A game that I could improve on over time and a game that would pass time while I was playing it. That game ended up being chess.

At first, I was VERY BAD at chess, and in some ways I still am. I remember losing to a group of kids while on a cruise. After 100 or so games I realised that chess was not so bad. In fact It became an addiction.

Now here I am finally wanting to get a customised chess board. Since I am into Fantasy and Medieval characters, I thought about buying the "Crusaders Chess" set.

However I want my chess pieces to be customisable and I preferred my pawns to be holding shields and swords. I just could not justify the one or two hundred dollars to get this chess set it. The pieces are nicely painted but will wear and crack and this was something I did not want.

While browsing ebay, I found this this amazing chess set! The Castle Giant Lego Chess Set.
Unfortunately this set was released in 2008 and is a limited edition set. It was priced at $200 back then but now fetches anywhere between $1500-1800. A fairly steep price for an Awesome set.

Here is another set that is readily available for $50. The Kingdom Chess Set. The pieces are nice but the chess board is small and untiled. This would mean for every move I would have to pull the piece off one section of the board and try to push it back on the desired square without the piece falling apart on me.

It was then I decided to build my own chess board using the "Castle Giant Lego Chess Set" as a template and even improving on the individual pieces.

Budget? $200-400