To be honest, it doesn’t seem like there’s much game left in either Lego line. However, since we’re already hooked, here’s what we discovered at Toy Fair…

Legends of Chima is getting a Transformers-like set called Bladvic’s Rumble Bear. The set, which ships in August at $40 retail, converts between a wheeled vehicle and a walking mech.

Also in August, Ninjago will take to the skies with Airjitzu Flyers. The basic $10 sets feature ripcord-powered helicopter like devices that allow Ninjago minifigs to fly (I mean in a controlled way, not like when you throw them at your brother). Six Airjitzu Flyer sets are planned, one each with Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, Morro, and Wrayth. One more flyer will be part of the Ronin R.E.X. flying gunship set (August, $50).

Two other Ninjago sets that caught my attention were the 658-piece Attack of the Moro Dragon (August, $70)—with its large dragon figure—and the 311-piece Condrai Copter Attack (March, $30)—in which Skylor will appear as the orange ninja.

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New Lego Legends of Chima sets this year are scheduled for release in two waves, the first to coincide with the launch of season 2 in March, and the second later in the summer, featuring a new Fire and Ice theme.

As Legends of Chima season 2 opens, Legend Beasts will be the focus both on-screen and in-play. Legend Beast construction sets—including Lion, Eagle, Gorilla, Crocodile, and Wolf—come with one minifig, 100-120 pieces, and will retail for $10.

A few speedorz sets will also be released in March. Among those, Web Dash (74 pieces, $13) features Sparratus of the Spider Tribe and a speedorz with six legs. A larger Sparratus’ Spider Stalker set (with, more appropriately, eight legs) is also scheduled for March (292 pieces, $25), as is Rogon’s Rock Flinger (257 pieces, $30).

Season 2 will also see the introduction of the Scorpion Tribe. For them, Scorm’s Scorpion Stinger is a large (434 piece) vehicle set with articulating tail, three minifigs, and retail price of $50.

When Legends of Chima returns again in August, there will be a new theme, Fire and Ice, and new orange packaging to match. Some of the sets scheduled for that wave include Vardy’s Ice Vulture Glider (217 pieces, $20), Sir Fangar’s Saber-Tooth Walker (415 pieces, $40), Laval’s Fire Lion (with oversized elephant figure, 450 pieces, $50), and Maula’s Ice Mammoth Stomper (with detachable vehicle, 604 pieces, $90). But the piece-de-resistance of the series has to be the 1,301 piece, Flying Phoenix Fire Temple ($120), which coverts from building to clawed flying-vehicle using lever-action and Technic-type pieces.

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Scrabble

The final game of the UK National Scrabble Championship was played between two former champions, Paul Allan and Allan Simmons. This time, Paul Allan clinched the title with the play of “bandura” (which is a Ukrainian lute) for a triple-word bingo worth 86 points. (For those trying to figure out how “bandura” is worth 86, the “d” was a blank, the “r” finished “tar”, and the final “a” was placed on the triple-word space and also finished “ta”.)

Chess

Chess continues to be played while the World Championship is underway…

In fact, other matches being played in India to celebrate the Championship included one for blind players, which was won by 16 year-old Sai Krishna, and the Women Grandmaster Tournament.

Ryan Harper of Trinidad & Tobago won the Umada Cup in Aruba.

FIDE selected 13th-ranked Peter Svidler for the open slot in the next Candidates Tournament, bypassing higher ranked players such as Alexander Grischuk (ranked 5th) and Hikaru Nakamura (ranked 4th).

While the FIDE Presidential Board approved plans for six Grand Prix events in 2014, agreements for only four have been signed so far. If the remaining two end up not happening, the two spots reserved in the next Candidates Tournament for Grand Prix winners will instead be selected one from the World Cup and one from the ratings list.

Backgammon

In the open section of the Capital Classic Backgammon Championships in Herndon, Virginia, the winner was Greg Merriman of Michigan.

At the Merit Open International Backgammon Championship in Cyprus, Sergey Erokhin of Russia took home the masters trophy and the team of Haris Christidis and Konstantinos Mitrelis from Greece the doubles trophy.

Collectible Card and Miniatures Games

Fantasy Flight Games’ World Championship Weekend was held in Roseville, Minnesota, where Alvaro Rodriguez of Spain claimed the title of Joust World Champion for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. Ryan Jones, though, was crowned Melee World Champion and Overall World Champion. In the Android: Netrunner tournament, the winner was Jens Erickson. Jeremy Zwirn, the 2012 champion of Netrunner and Warhammer: Invasion, this year won at Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game. Dennis Harlien triumphed in the tiebreaker for Star Wars: The Card Game. Oliver Franke of Germany moved up from his second place finish last year in the Warhammer: Invasion championship. And in the final game of the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game tournament, Paul Heaver battled back from a two-ship deficit and eliminated his opponent’s last ship with only one hull point to spare.

Rookie and new hometown hero, Luis Navas, won Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix Santiago.

Samuel Marti of Switzerland claimed victory with a blue-green deck at Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix Valencia.

At the Legend of the Five Rings Pacific Rim Championships, Edward Bareng claimed victory for Lion. Alexander Iarstev, playing Scorpion, was the winner at the Legend of the Five Rings South American Championships.

Go

For the fifth year in a row, a Korean team has won the International Amateur Pair Go Championship in Tokyo.

Draughts

The winner of the European Draughts Championship was Peter van der Stap of the Netherlands.

The winner of the Portugal Open was Guntis Valneris.

Other Games

The winner of the 24th World Perudo Championships in London (the game is also known as Liar’s Dice) was Dan Reade.

From a touring series, 14 youngsters were invited to participate in the UK Lego Chima Challenge Championship, where Reggie Pegrum (age 9, from Waltham Abbey, Essex) was declared the winner.

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Announcing a 13% revenue increase in the first half of 2013 (over the same period last year), LEGO cited strong sales in the Legends of Chima line as a major factor.

Legends of Chima has performed well in its launch phase and is already one of the largest LEGO product themes. We expect that the product line will continue to grow through the balance of its first year on the market. The theme has performed particularly well in Asia, where it has been a large contributor to the high growth.

According to Bloomberg, LEGO’s first-half revenue of 10.4 billion kroner ($1.84 billion) raises it to the position of number two ranked toy-maker in the world, above Hasbro but second to Mattel.

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LEGO plans four new constructable board games for this summer. One, a Legends of Chima board game, I wrote about yesterday.

A Batman board game has Batman and Robin racing around Gotham catching villains. For Lord of the Rings, LEGO will release The Battle of Helm’s Deep as a “customizable strategy game” (distinct from the construction set). And though they asked me not to take pictures of it, LEGO also plans for August the Story Mixer board game, which incorporates story-telling elements. The game includes about 20 constructed miniature objects (such as a rocket-ship, a piano, and a birthday cake), about a dozen pawns (half people, half animals), and a spinner. On their turns, players take a spin and then have to tell a story based on the combination of pawn and object.

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This year, LEGO launched a new franchise in Legends of Chima, centered around animal tribes and their ripcord-powered Speedorz. The Speedorz can be used to perform tricks, for racing, or in jousting-like tournaments over CHI crystals. Chima playsets will be accompanied in 2013 by an animated TV series on Cartoon Network, a free online CHIMA game, and a mobile game app.

Basic Speedorz tournaments proceed in two phases. The first involves two opponents running their Speedorz at each other over some piece of terrain and then rushing to grab a blue orb that should be knocked free. In the second phase, the person who grabbed the orb is given the lead in a War-like card game, with CHI crystals as the prize.

Chima Starter Sets (with Wolf and Lion tribe minifigs) are already available at retail, as are some of the basic action sets—including Ring of Fire and Boulder Bowling—and a variety of construction sets—including the Razcal Glider and the Eris Eagle Interceptor. The 609 piece Cragger’s Command Ship includes six minifigs, four CHI weapons, missiles, jet bikes, CHI crystals, and a ship with lots of teeth!

March will see the release of Ice Tower, Nest Dive, and Jungle Gates action sets. Each comes with one minifig, one Speedorz, two CHI weapons, five cards, six CHI crystals, and an 80-100 piece orb-holding obstacle.

Looking out to the summer releases, there’s the Skunk Attack set, which debuts the Skunk tribe, the Eglor’s Twin Bike set, which starts as a motorcycle but converts to a jet, and The Lion CHI Temple set, which comes with over a thousand pieces and seven minifigs. My favorite by far, though, has to be Gorzan’s Gorilla Striker, a 500 piece set due in August, which is essentially a walking mech for the Gorilla tribe.

Also in August, LEGO will release Legends of Chima Constraction sets, constructable action figures like the LEGO Hero Factory line, and a Legends of Chima board game.

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