Lego Set 22 — Tokugawa

A detail that I like quite a lot on BattleTech, compared to other mecha-based settings, is the focus on combined arms warfare. Many such settings focus heavily on the mecha, to the point of sidelining other weapons systems completely. While I understand the appeal of giant robots, even on the business side of things, as a student of military history I feel that different weapons systems have different niches in the field of battle. In BattleTech, the vehicles are their own thing and exude as much personality as most ‘Mechs.

The Tokugawa is a wheeled battle tank produced by the Draconis Combine. The lore behind it is actually interesting, as it was a vehicle made to booster the armored divisions of that faction after the end of the Star League. But as technology dwindled during the constant warfare and conspiracies of the following centuries, it remained in production and in service just out of necessity.

When the Clans came barging in, the Combine decided to revitalize the production lines and upgrade the design with new technologies, making the vehicle finally live up to its potential. This guaranteed that the venerable workhorse would remain in service for a long time still.

This model took me around an hour to come up with and build in real life. At the time I wanted to add more vehicles to my lineup, but tracks are hard to make in a satisfactory way in Lego at this scale, so I decided to attempt a wheeled one. I had few smaller wheels, so given the design of the original, this allowed me to use some of the larger ones and come up with an interesting model.

Takes up around 38 parts, and it’s really simple to put together. Given how easy it all is, it is kind of surprising how good it looks on the table. Let me know what you think, and have a good one!