How can I pass block settings in the layout field?

Use Case

I want to create an image grid using layout and the image block and I want to limit the amount of images per layout column to one image per column.

Question

The blocks field has the max that I’d use but I don’t see a way set this from within the layout field. I’d expect this to work:

layout:
  label: Photos
  type: layout
  layouts:
    - "1/1"
    - "1/2, 1/2"
    - "1/3, 1/3, 1/3"
  fieldsets:
    - image
  blocks:
    max: 1

No, there is no such setting and since you want this per column, not per layout, that setting wouldn’t make sense anyway.

Maybe it would make more sense to use a custom block types for the grid rather that the layout field?