The Perfect Set Piece for Tabletop Gaming: Medieval Town Square
This year Lego released one of its best medieval sets - 10332 "Medieval Town Square." There are plenty reviews out there about that set but I want to talk about using it as a set piece for tabletop gaming with Lego!
Comparing this to the Viking Village (21343) that was also released in 2023, it's going to retail for about 100 dollars more BUT there are way more possibilities in using the Medieval Town for use in encounters and as set pieces to help tell your tabletop adventure.
Review
Both of these sets are very good; they are also very different. The Medieval Town Square is very modular. Since modularity is hugely important in creating excellent TTRPG encounters, anything that is not modular is difficult to work with.
The Viking Village is a great display set. While it is modular in that all three buildings and their bases separate; the bases are at odd angles that don't want to play nicely on boring 4x4 grids. The angles make the village quite interesting to look at because it breaks up the vertical/horizontal lines that rule traditional Lego builds (especially medieval ones) with lots of cool angles. Still, I haven't quite figured out how to utilize the Village in any of my encounters without building a more customized board/backdrop for it to live on.
Comparatively, the Medieval Town Square is amazingly modular. There are seven structures from the buildings themselves, to food stands, and a gorgeous tree/pond combo that are essential stand-alone elements. Additionally, each building can be placed at various angles since they are on hinges that swing out to reveal their interiors.
I have been having a lot of fun placing the buildings on my MITs boards and figuring out different quests that can originate from this sort of town. There's a shield maker, a furniture maker, a tax collector, a farmer, an innkeeper, and a town watchman who could all present interesting and fun side quests for your table. The builds could be used collectively all in one scene or they can be split up, maybe the inn and watchtower sit on a lonely hill somewhere? Maybe there's a farm that's having an issue with bandits? There's tons of scenarios to implement with in this set.
The main criticism I have with this set is that it's decal-heavy. Putting decals on 1x2 tiles? Really? In 2024? Yes. I don't mind it for larger items, I get it, but I hate doing it on the smaller tiles. Other than that it's really great!
Table Top Gaming
In figuring out ways to place it on my tabletop setup I learned quickly that it was much bigger than I expected. Each structure would occupy a 32x32 stud place quite happily. When I placed it on my 64x64 stud map, I realized quickly - I needed more space!
I'm also torn on whether to have some of the buildings unfolded to allow for investigation and other activities in the buildings to take place. The tavern is probably the best one to unfold because the farmhouse/weaver cottage/furniture maker is a little less charming when it's unfolded. It makes up for it by having the best exteriors - goat pen, beehive, vegetable garden.
Ideally, I'd also like to build a few more buildings to complete the town feel but on the whole, probably doubling my square footage is first on my priority list. I'd love to go from a 16x16 square grid to a 28x28 square grid, that way there can be more room for exploration and other shenanigans.
Upcoming Quests Inspired by Set
- The Shieldsmith's Stolen Shield - Bandits have stolen Shiela the Shieldsmith's prized shield that she was going to present to the King on his birthday - Track down the bandits in the Forest and recover this prized possession.
- Finding the String - The bard's lute has a broken string but his backup strings have also gone missing. Search the town and find his missing strings or figure out how to create new strings for him.
- The Taxman - help or hinder the taxman in his attempts to collect revenue from the town's citizens.
These are some examples of how I would use the set in an upcoming adventure. The are plenty of other ways to use this remarkable set and I look forward to learning about how you are using yours.