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