They are one of many factions in the Wars of Ozz game. The rules were written by my good friend Buck Surdu (who also wrote the rulesets of Combat Patrol™ and Feudal PatrolTM . I have been wanting to get going on my Wars of Ozz figures – but first wanted to finish the figures and terrain for my Civilizations Collide games involving the Aztec/Conquistadores/Tlaxcalans/Maya. As I shared in my last post, that has now happened, so onwards to Ozz!
The game rules and figures are available from the following two places:
Of course, there are now many new factions for Wars of Ozz. Currently, I have Munchkins and Winkies (think orc-like dudes) and some pretty cool allies – which I’ll eventually post about here. However, first I am going to finish a Munchkin brigade. It will consist of two infantry regiments, a light cavalry squadron (on pastel ponies), and an artillery battery. One cool aspect of the universe of the Wars of Ozz game is the use of a lot of color (hence the pastel ponies and more). I find, like I did in my Mesoamerican projects, that having a lot of color can be a lot of fun.
Here, the units in Ozz are made up of mass armies – this is not skirmish gaming. There are wizards and witches, so some magic, but the game is primarily black powder type warfare. The gaming engine of Ozz has also been used as the basis for WOOD (Wars of Orcs and Dwarves) for mass fantasy battles. But let’s get back to my first regiment…
It is OZZ-101 – Zoraster’s Guard Infantry Regiment (hereafter referred to by me as ZGIR). The scale is 28mm and these are metal.
Zoraster is “the Wizard Supreme”, and created the Munchkin Army. As for ZGIR, it’s a tough unit, as one would expect of a guard unit, with excellent marksmanship and melee values. It is armed with muskets. It also has great resolve and elan values which help it in combat. It’s also the most expensive Munchkin unit. Of course, I had to start with this one…
It, like all infantry regiments in Ozz, is composed of 20 figures plus a regimental commander. There are 4 figures per 2″ square base, so five bases plus a commander make up a regiment. 16 of the based figures are of the same type, while the fifth base has four different figures – two standard bearers (with the Ozz flag and the regimental colors), a drummer, and another leader figure. This “command” stand fights like the others, but has an aesthetic effect on the tabletop of being nice to see. The regimental commander has his own base and can have special attributes, but its stand never engages in combat. It exists mainly for the attributes tab (on its MDF base) and also aesthetics. If the regiment dies, so does he.
I’ll share some WIP shots, then some eye candy of the regiment.
WIP shots…
I first cleaned up the regiment (filing, washing) then worked on drilling out a couple of holes on the two figures for the regimental commander to be able to be mounted onto his pony. I inserted a paper clip wire into the pony to match the hole under the commander. This also allowed me to mount the upper torso of the commander for painting on a screw on a specimen container.
The regiment as receivedAll washedInserting wire for mounting commander
Then, I needed to find a way to mount the other figures. The figures’ bases are less than 3/8″, and as mentioned will eventually be mounted on 2″ square bases. For the individual figures, I decided to use 1/2″ x 1/2″ square steel bases – both the 2″ and 1/2″ square bases are from Wargames Accessories.
Munchkins are small!Based and primed for painting.
I decided to use Citadel Contrast and Army Painter speed paints as much as possible. As these are mass units, I thought this would be fine. I want to get them into games!
The figures themselves are nice, but not differentiated much. The faces are all mustachioed, and all have a “puppy dog” look with an open mouth and tongue sticking out. Still, they have a certain character.
As it’s Mo’vember, I chose to vary the mustache colors. After priming, I gave them all a wash with Citadel “Nuln Oil” and then dry brushed them in white before adding any colors. As is my habit, I do list all the paints I used on these at the end of this post for those interested.
After priming and wash application.Started painting with the hats, skin, and facings.
I started working on these on 11/14 – by 11/22 I had made good progress. I found highlighting with Citadel “Doomfire Magenta” over its “Baal Red” was effective. The regiment has a somewhat British redcoat look to it.
The commander and his mountWhy not a pink pony?
Then I assembled the Regimental commander’s MDF base.
Gluing together the regimental commander’s base.Ready for their air brush varnish application.
While the base set, I matte varnished the figures in preparation for mounting on the 2″ square steel bases.
The ZGIR post-varnish needed its standards attached and also basing completion – to include flocking. The flags are available on the Wars of Ozz Facebook page as downloads. I cut out the flags after printing them out on cardstock. I glued them together on with PVA and bent them to get a wind-blown look. As for mounting the figures, I drew a pair of lines with a sharpie on the steel bases corner-to-corner. Then I took a blank 1/2″ x 1/2″ square steel base and aligned it in the center of the 2″ base, using the lines to align the 4 corners of the 1/2″ base. Then I traced over the little base in pencil, such that I could going forward use the corner of the little traced square and the sharpie lines to orient the bases. I believed that flocking with the figures all affixed to the 2″ square bases would be too difficult. Therefore, I glued on two figures, flocked, then the third, then flocked, then the fourth. All this time I flocked the spaces where the figures would not be. This way I was able to apply the flocking effectively to give some depth of grass. In this case – I used three different flocking products from Army Painter sequentially with PVA to give this depth to the otherwise bland steel bases.
Cutting out flags.Mock up of the lining up of the figures using the lines.Sequential flocking!
These sound similar, but they are not. Clockwise from the left, I sequentially used Battlefields Grass Green, followed by Battlefield Field Grass, followed by Battlefields Field Grass. Confusing, but it worked as you see below.Close up of flocking.
Now on to some eye candy with a new background!
Eye Candy
Zoraster’s Guard Infantry Regimental Commander
A look at 2 stands…
A look at the command stand…
A look at the whole regiment…
Zoraster’s Guard Infantry Regiment in modified line. The regimental commander here is in the back of the command stand.Side view with the regimental commander up front.Here, the commander is put in back as the regiment is about to enter melee…A different orientation – still in line with 4 stands abreast and the other stand just behind. All 5 stands could be in line – but not if I want a group photo!
I managed to finish the regiment on 11/22 – so 8 days. This post had to wait for Thanksgiving (and for me to overcome a bad cold). I enjoyed painting these and am moving on to the rest of my Munchkin brigade.
Thanks for looking, and always please let me know what you think of this new project in the comments section.
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
For all of my previous posts on Wars of Ozz games, figures, units, and other related projects – please see this page.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THIS MUNCHKIN REGIMENT:
Gorilla Glue
Paper clip wire pieces
1/2″ x 1/2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#16)
Poster tack
Vallejo Premium Primer “White”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Bad Moon Yellow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Volupus Pink”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Crusader Skin”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Grim Black”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Magmadroth Flame”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Gore Grunta Fur”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Holy White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Karandras Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aggaros Dunes”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Hardened Leather”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Dark Wood”
Vallejo Model Air “Armour Brown”
Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Martha Stewart Crafts “Pale Bronze”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Pallid Bone”
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Olive Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Doomfire Magenta”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Regimental MDF base from Old Glory
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
Pardon the pun, but this post marks the completion (for now) of all of my figures for my Spanish Conquest/Mesoamerican games. Many of you have been following my progress in this blog on my various Aztec, Tlaxcalan, and Conquistador figure projects over the last few years. To all of you, thank you so much for joining me on this long journey!
My first post was back on April 25th, 2020. Since then I have researched the period and written the period supplement for the Feudal PatrolTM rules by Buck Surdu. That supplement is called Civilizations Collide. It is free to download at that link. I have built multiple scenarios for gaming the period and eventually hope to have that available as a supplement as well. Until then, I have been running these games at multiple conventions, gaming events, and club meetings.
Just this year, I have run 18Feudal PatrolTM games for this period at various of these opportunities. Most of these have been documented in this blog. I have posted on this blog no less than 58 different times on my Civilizations Collide projects and the games I have run (this post will be #59). All of those posts are catalogued here.
Project Background
The last piece of the puzzle that I wanted to fill in figure-wise was the Maya. To that end, last December I sourced 34 figures from Gringo 40’s in the UK to assemble a good-sized force for gaming. After the spring conventions, I honestly thought I would be onto getting these done quickly. As the title of this blogs is “Life, Golf, Miniatures, & Other Distractions”, well, that did not happen.
As it turned out, the weather this year was superb for golf – and I really got in a lot of rounds – close to 80+ rounds of golf since April. I still wanted to get the Maya done. So, in the summer, I decided to start. My goal was to try to get them done quickly and move on to other projects such as Buck’s Wars of Ozz rules and figures. To that end, I thought I’d use Citadel Contrast Paints and Army Painter Speed Paints that I had just received in conjunction with mass airbrushing to knock out the 34.
Not so fast as it turned out…
A couple of our blog buddies Azazel at Azazel’s Bitz Box and maenoferren22 at Bogenwald Random Painting and Terrain Making had discovered and shared on their respective blogs unsettling reports that Army Painter Speed paints had a reactivation problem – that is they bled out under other colors when exposed to wetness – such as another paint applied on the model. This news put a slowdown on my adoption of the Speed Paints – and for certain my Maya progress. The last thing that I wanted to deal with was a problem that would potentially ruin paint jobs.
Later Azazel did share this video with me that showed adding Citadel Contrast Medium to the Speed Paints negated the problem. I can say for sure that at least for me – this worked perfectly. Thanks Az! Also, there are a ton of YouTube videos on Speed Paint – many suggesting to treat them like you would use oils. But I digress.
So, On August 23rd, I set out to get started on the Maya. I did get held up time -wise by golf as I wrote, plus my Woodstock rehab project called to me. On top of that I had an issue with Facebook where some of my own posts on pages that I am the administrator got marked as spam! While this is no longer happening anymore now (knock on wood), it did at the time also make me less motivated to paint. Why? well this is because I do share my posts on Facebook on appropriate hobby pages as well as on my own, and if I could not share them well I was less motivated to work on them until the situation got fixed. Lastly, I started painting with the Maya novices – who are – well – anatomically correct and totally naked as you’ll see at the end of this blog. Painting naked dudes did not get me motivated at all. The rest of these were sporting loincloths, so in the end, I got through all of these figures as you will see.
A Little History
I will have a few scenarios for the Maya. Their history is long and quite convoluted. They did NOT refer to themselves as “Maya”. They additionally had no unifying identity or government. They existed before the Aztecs – and indeed struggled against multiple invaders well after the Aztecs were long gone. Th0ugh the last Mayan city (Nojpetén) fell in 1697, there were revolts against multiple central governments by Maya descendants up and through the 19th century.
Also, the correct use of the term “Maya” versus “Mayan” can cause confusion. Here is a link that helps. Basically – use Maya!
The Maya were located more in the Yucatan peninsula area, Southern Mexico, Honduras, and Belize. They did not really interact with the Aztecs – though if the Spanish had not shown up that probably would have been their next conflict. Cortes first ran into the Maya when he arrived and fought them at the Battle of Centla. The Maya settled with him and told him of the wealth of the Aztecs – and that took the Maya were off the Conquistadores’ radar – for a while. After the fall of the Aztecs, Cortes sent expeditions into Maya territory. Some of these never were heard from again.
Let’s move on to discussing the Maya figures…
They all came from Gringo 40’s in the UK. I wanted some elites, some veterans, and some green troops. I also wanted some warrior priests and leaders. The available 28mm metal figures available from Gringo 40’s is excellent. The figures are very nice sculpts as well.
Here is the breakdown of the 34 that I bought.
Figure M1 – “Mayan Charging with Dual-edged Obsidian Club”. Got 4 figures to use as veterans ( designated in my system as MV01-MV04).
Figure M2 – “Atlatl Thrower”. Got 4 figures to use as elites (designated in my system as ME01-MV04).
Figure M3 – “Mayan Archer”. Got 3 figures to use as veterans (designated in my system as MV05-MV07).
Figure M4 – “Mayan with Stone-Headed Mace”. Got 3 figures to use as novices (as they are naked – designated in my system as MN01-MN03).
Figure M5 – “Mayan Warrior in Headdress Advancing”. Got 3 figures to use as elites ( designated in my system as ME05-ME07).
Figure M7 – “Mayan War Chief”. Got 3 figures to use as leaders/captains (designated in my system as MWC01-MWC03).
Figure M8 – “Mayan Priest in Mask”. Got 3 figures to use as warrior priests (designated in my system as MWP01-MWP03).
Figure M9 – “Atlatl Thrower (a)”. Got 4 figures with longer hair than M2 to use as elites (designated in my system as ME08-MV11).
Figure M11 – “Mayan with Club Advancing (b)”. Got 2 figures to use as novices (as they are naked with longer hair than M4- designated in my system as MN05-MN06).
Figure M12 – “Mayan with Club Advancing (c)”. Got 3 non-naked figures similar to the novices to use as veterans (designated in my system as MV08-MV10).
Figure M15 – “Mayan Carrying Spears”. Got 1 figure to use as a novice (not naked – designated in my system as MN15).
Figure M16 – “Mayan Chief”. Got 1 figures to use as Tabscoob, a Mayan War Chief (designated in my system as TABSCOOB).
Most of these came with shields. A challenge with this project was that the figures did not really allow for much moving of their poses. Therefore, as you will see below, except for the M7’s (which had pose variability), I had to rely on different painting schemes, especially with regards to colors, and differently painted and shaped shields. I also flocked them slightly differently.
Still, tabletop differentiation and playability are important concerns to deal with when designing an army. To this end I replaced a few of the Gringo 40’s shields with Aztec extras that I had lying around from previous projects. I mixed up the shield shapes across the figures as you will see below.
Process of Assembling, Painting, Etc.
I assembled the M7’s – placing their arms in different positions. The atlatl’s provided for the M2 and M9 figures were too soft and bendy – as were the spears for the M5’s. I replaced all of these with wire spears cut to size. The M3’s needed their quivers to be attached, as did the spear bundle for M15. The latter two were addressed by drilling out holes with a pin vise, inserting paper clip wire, and affixing with Gorilla glue. I experimented with the flesh tones a lot (all of the paints and materials that I used are at the end of this post for those interested in that sort of information). After priming, I airbrushed a base coat, then worked on common colors across the range of figures. As the vast majority of the 34 figures were basically waiting for me to get them to the final varnishing and flocking stage, I did not have many blog posts to share with my readers – but hopefully this post will be a good explanation of why.
Used Excel to organize the 34All airbrush primedAirbrushed a base flesh tone across the groupCame up with a plan for the shields for varietyMaya CaptainTabscoobMaya VeteranMaya Novice
As for the shields, I did them separately – having googled some images that I thought would be appropriate. Unlike the Aztec’s shields, sources are far more limited. To a degree, I used artistic license here.
I drew images on the primed shields then painted them inThen I sealed the shields paint jobs with gloss varnish to preserve the colors.
Then I just proceeded to paint the figures, then affix the shields, then flock and varnish them. This only took me from August to November!
The Figures
I will now showcase the figures – with some details as appropriate. I am going from the highest ranking to the lowest ranking figures, not in the order that I completed them.
Tabscoob
Tabscoob was the Maya ruler that fought Cortes at The Battle of Centla. I loved painting this figure! The name of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and hence the hot sauce are derived from his name. This is figure M16.
Maya Warrior Chiefs
There were three of these M7 figures. They will act as Warband Leaders in the games. Note the three different color schemes and arm positions.
MWC01
MWC02
MWC03
ALL MAYA WARRIOR CHIEFS
Maya Warrior Priests
I envision these as having the same role as the Aztec Warrior Priests in the games. They can help with Morale, and can fight as well. I’ve share only the back of MWP01 as the others are similar. I really like the masks. These are all figure M8.
MWP01
MWP02
MWP03
ALL MAYA WARRIOR PRIESTS
Maya Elite Warriors
For the Elite figures, I had M2, M5, and M9 figures. The M2 figures (ME01-ME04) are armed with atlatls and have slightly shorter hair. The M5’s (ME05-ME07) have headdresses and are armed with tepoztopilli (thrusting spears). The M9’s (ME08-ME11) are armed with atlatls and have longer hair. Where the backsides are similar I only share one photo.
First, the four elite M2’s armed with atlatls.
ME01
ME02
ME03
ME04
ALL M2 FIGURES WITH ATLATLS
The next group of elites are the 3 M5 figures – armed with tepoztopilli (thrusting spears). I gave them different headdresses and shield designs, and was able to slightly alter the angle of each tepoztopilli.
ME05
ME06
ME07
ALL M5 FIGURES WITH TEPOZTOPILLI
The last group of elites contains the 4 M9’s armed with atlatls. They have slightly longer hair than the similar M2’s.
ME08
ME09
ME10
ME11
ALL M9 FIGURES WITH ATLATLS
Maya Veteran Warriors
My Maya veterans came in three types – 3 M1’s with macuahuitls, 3 M3’s with bows, and 3 M12’s with cuauhololli. On the bows, I attempted to make the quivers look as they had been made out of three different kinds of animal hides: ocelot, jaguar, and capybara.
First, here are the 4 M1 figures.
MVo1
MV02
MV03
MV04
ALL M1 FIGURES WITH MACUAHUITLS
Next up are the 3 bow-armed M3 figures.
MV05
MV06
MV07
ALL M3 FIGURES WITH BOWS
The last group of veteran Maya is the 3 M12 figures armed with cuauhololli (basically clubs). These figures are very similar to the Warrior Priests, other than the masks.
MV08
MV09
MV10
ALL M12 FIGURES WITH CUAUHOLOLLI
Maya Novice Warriors
And lastly, we come to the novices. I painted 6 up for my Maya forces. 3 M4’s armed with cuauhololli, 1 M15 with throwing spears, and 2 M11 with cuauhololli and longer hair. Only the M15 has a loincloth…so let’s just show 2 group shots…
ALL NOVICE FIGURES
All Maya Figures
These 34 bring me to a grand total of…
300 Figures for the Spanish Conquest/Mesoamerican Conflicts!
A nice round number!
Now Azazel or Buck Surdu (or many of you) could paint that many in a far shorter time – but 300 is a lot to for me be sure and I’m pretty happy that I finally have them done and ready to game. That total of 300 includes:
121 Aztecs
113 Conquistadores
32 Tlaxcalans
34 Maya
I am not counting brigantines or war canoes in that total by the way. I have them all in five 11-liter Really Useful Boxes – and there is a specific numbered individual spot for each and every figure. This allows me to quickly set up and take down games where the forces might change – especially at conventions. The boxes are lines with magnetic sheets and the figure bases all have steel underneath for safe transport.
Once again, thanks to you all for sharing this ride with me. It’s not completely over as I will be running many games going forward plus finishing the scenario booklet. One thing I’ve found is that my games are not the usual fare – which is great – it’s nice to bring something totally different to the tabletop.
Now I’ll get to start painting my Wars of Ozz figures. Thanks for taking a look and as always sharing your thoughts on this post in the comments section.
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE MAYA FIGURES:
I was fortunate to attend the HMGS Fall In® gaming convention last weekend (November 3-6, 2022) in Lancaster, PA. The Maryland-based Harford Area Weekly Kriegspielers (H.A.W.K.’s) were kind enough to adopt me (a Massachusetts-based Mass Pikeman) and invited me to be a game master in their dedicated gaming room at Fall In!. They are a great group of folks and I am very grateful for their hospitality! Lancaster is a 6-hour drive for me – but the trip was well worth it.
There were close to 400 games – or more too many to count – at the convention. The event was amazing and very well-run for sure. I played in two games, and ran 4 of my own. As this situation begs for visual inputs, I will have A LOT of photos and a couple of video links to share.
Click on the photos for a better view.
Thanks to Chris Palmer for some of these photos below as well. I hope that you find these enjoyable.
Thursday Night, Marines versus Japanese, a Combat Patrol™ Game
After I set up my first game on Thursday night (for Friday morning), Eric Schlegel of the H.A.W.K.’s ran a pick up Combat Patrol™ game Thursday night. It involved US Marines storming a Japanese island. I played on the Japanese side and the USMC overwhelmed the defenders and won. It was a fun quick game. Here’s a couple of photos:
Kurt Schlegel plans his landings. Greg Priebe looks tired…Opposite view of the tabletop
Friday Morning, “Raid to Satisfy Huitzilopochtli”, a Feudal Patrol™ Game
After a good night’s sleep, I arrived early to set up my Feudal Patrol™ game of “Raid to Satisfy Huitzilopochtli”. It’s a pre-Spanish Conquest fight between the Aztecs and their neighbors the Tlaxcalans. The Aztecs attempt to conduct a raid of a Tlaxcalan village to gain captives for slavery and blood sacrifice, and the Tlaxcalans fight back!
The game went very well – as you will see below. The Aztecs made a valiant assault across open terrain into a hail of Tlaxcalan arrows – and went into melee. The Tlaxcalans were ready and gave as good as they got. In the end, they Aztecs eked out a minor victory 34-27. The casualties were separated only by 3 figures out of 18 total on both sides. Both sides were totally excited about their prospects and the battle. Here’s a gallery of photos from that game:
The game set upA great group of happy gamers! (no fighting yet!)The game startsAztec Arrow Knight move up – and attract a LOT of Tlaxcalan arrowsRight flank fightThe big scrum beginsBig fight by one of the game objectives – the maize storage structure.Battlefield overview – lots of mayhem.All were realy engaged by the game!Final moments of chaos!
Near the end of the game, an official of the convention briefly interrupted the game – and to my surprise awarded me a PELA award (my first ever) for the time slot. PELA stands for “Pour Encourager Les Autres” which in English translates to “For Encouraging the Others”. These awards are defined by HMGS as going:
“to the games that best embody the positive traits of miniatures gaming, such as well-painted figures, great looking terrain, interesting scenarios, enjoyable rules, good sportsmanship, and an enjoyable time – events that do the most to “encourage others”.”
I was really shocked and honored – and as a cherry on the sundae I got a rousing applause from the players too. There were about 30 games in my time slot – so not a lay up to be chosen by any means. The award was a lovely Samurai figure on a plinth and a voucher for the vendor hall.
Yes, I’m happy! And honored!My award!
After picking up the morning game, I and Greg Priebe walked around the event before preparing for our evening game that we had collaborated on. Here is a gallery of just some of what was there- some truly amazing stuff.
Greg Priebe’s France 1940 (BEF)Dave Wood’s Wars of Orcs and DwarvesThis Japanese tabletop was amazing.This NYC gangster game was shockingly beautiful. It was electrified – lights everywhere, the steamer had a horn going, WOW. WOW. WOW!!!
I mentioned Dave Wood above – my West Point roommate – always good to see my good friend, my brother from another mother…
Me and Dave, USMA 1984
Greg and I then set up our game, Vikings vs. Aztecs!!!
Friday Evening, “Vikings vs. Aztecs!!!”, a Feudal Patrol™ Game
Greg Priebe and I had worked out this scenario over the phone and Zoom.
The Morin/Priebe CollaborationTenochtitlan set up for battle
Obviously this is not a historical recreation, but a “what if”. Greg had brought the Viking figures and I of course brought the Aztecs – and we co-GM’ed the game.
The game went well. The Aztecs, led by Acamapichtli, needed to prevent the Vikings, led by Carl the Jarl and Brunhilde the Shieldmaiden, from raiding and looting various structures – and of course casualties counted as well for both sides. In the end, the Aztecs majorly triumphed – partly due to the Vikings having probably the WORST luck of the draw in any wargame that I have seen in 20 years. That’s not to detract from the Aztec play – which focused on defense and won the day. However, I did not tally a score. Here’s a gallery:
Happy Gamers!Battle begins…Vikings advance…Aztecs go up in the temple…Aztecs and Vikings fight on the temple stepsThe Vikings reach the top of the Temple – but fail to kill the Aztec leader…The Temple is covered with warriors!Mayhem in Tenochtitlan!
It was a fun game nonetheless and the players on both sides displayed excellent camaraderie. Greg also gave me a bunch of Viking sprues so that I could have my own Vikings too. I do have some old school metal ones, but I will (someday), assemble and paint these up to run this game again. I just need to help out the Vikings!
We then cleaned up and I then set up most of my next day’s afternoon and evening games – as I planned on playing in Chris Palmer’s Ozz game on Saturday morning.
Saturday Morning, “Wars of Ozz: Attack on the Emerald City”, a Wars of Ozz Game
When I had visited Florida and Buck Surdu (as described here) I played a Wars of Ozz game at Recon. Buck’s Wars of Ozz rules and figures are available from Sally4th in the UK here, and in the US at a dedicated Old Glory Ozz site here.
As I have factions (Munchkins, Winkies, Greater and Lesser Pumpkinheads), I wanted to play another game to make sure that I understood the rules since it had been a while. Chris Palmer ran his outstanding scenario of “Attack on the Emerald City“. This involved Nomes (yes, Nomes), burrowing underneath the walls of the Emerald City and undermining its defenses/taking out a wall section. Meanwhile, Winkies, Giant Bears, and Skeletons are assisting the Nomes by attacking from outside the walls. Quadlings and Tin Men inside attempt to defend, while Munchkins defend outside.
In the game I was outside the walls with a medium battery of Munchkin artillery, two infantry regiments (Tik-Tok and Landwehr), and a small Munchkin cavalry regiment. I sent the cavalry to disrupt the Nomes coming after my teammates rears (that sounds wrong but you get it), and succeeded so that they could face the oncoming Winkies and skeletons and not get hit on two sides. This was successful but the cavalry was badly weakened and did not reform until the last turn of the game. My artillery ended up in a counter-battery duel with a couple of Winkie batteries – and was wiped out. Meanwhile, my two infantry regiments held their respective grounds and heavily damaged two attacking Winkie regiments AND wiped out a regiment of Giant Bears. Then, my cavalry reformed and drove off the Nomes on my side. So, victory! Here’s a couple of galleries:
The tabletopView of the walls as Chris (on left) GM’sNomes hole they attacked fromTop view of the walls – just beautiful.My forcesMy Munchkin cavalry and the LandwehrEric Schlegel (teammate) on my flank faced attacks on two sides with the Nomes coming upSkeletons and Winkies attack EricMy cavalry attempts a spoiling attack on the NomesNomes swarm out of their burrow into the Emerald City against the defendersWinkies and Bears move up to attack me……and then they were gone!Eric hold the line..Tin men and Quadlings drive the Nomes back into their hole.
This was an EXCELLENT game and motivates me to hurry up and get to my Ozz figures. Of key note, Chris Palmer deservedly won a PELA for this game the day before! Congrats Chris!
A PELA for Chris!!
As I had set up my afternoon game, after lunch it was time for:
Saturday Afternoon, “The Battle of Lake Texcoco”, a Feudal Patrol™ Game
I planned to run two of this scenario back-to-back. I had FULL tables for each iteration – and I’ll share each in turn. Greg Priebe was a BIG help at both games – thanks Greg!
The scenario is best summarized below:
In the first game, the Conquistadores sailed towards the Aztec war canoe fleet. The Conquistadores needed to fire their falconets and lombards into Tenochtitlan for Victory Points, while the Aztecs got their big points by boarding the brigantines. VP’s were also awarded to both sides for inflicting casualties. Some of the brigantines raised full sails – notably El Dólar (The Buck after Buck Surdu) & El Gregorio (The Greg after Greg Priebe). The other three brigantines are named El Perro de Guerra (The War Dog), & El Conquistador (The Conquistador of course), and El Marcos (named after, well, me). All made it towards Tenochtitlan but the Aztecs were able to board them all and disrupt them sufficiently. El Dólar ended up hitting an underwater obstacle at full speed and settled to the mud bottom, allowing the Aztecs to swarm over it. It’s cannon was unable to bear on the city, and no other ship managed a shot into the city. The Aztecs won a minor victory as no shot hit the capital – but killed a LOT of Aztecs. But the game ended with a score of 226-207 in favor of the Aztecs. Here’s a gallery of that game:
Set up Spanish sideAztec side set upThe afternoon gamersEl Dólar is boarded!Forces close in on each otherEl Dólar gets stuck and is swarmedEl Marcos is boardedA very active tabletop
The game was a success, and I reset it for:
Saturday Evening, “The Battle of Lake Texcoco”, a Feudal Patrol™ Game
After resetting from the afternoon, the play recommenced with a different yet FULL slate of gamers. In this game the Spanish were more cautious, and that let the Aztecs close on them sooner. Unlike the first game, the Conquistadors did get one shot off at Tenochtitlan from El Gregorio – but it missed! The final score was 290-172 in favor of the Aztecs. It did not help the Spanish that an arquebus misfired/exploded and killed that arquebusier, another arquebusier, and Alvarado (a key leader). It was nice to have several HAWKS in the game – especially Greg and Chris and Geoff. Here’s a gallery of round 2:
New crewsAztecs advanceConquistadores move up towards the cityI adjudicate!ElDólar gets boarded againEl Gregorio is boardedEl Dólar, El Perro de Guerra, & El Conquistador are all boarded!
Both games were well-received and I really appreciate the help in cleaning up from Chris Palmer, Greg Priebe, and Dave Wood as it was after midnight!
Videos links showing Fall In! 2022 and some of these games
There have been two videos on YouTube that I think are worth seeing if you want more shots of the Fall In! 2022 convention.
The second is from Little Wars TV, called “Fall In” 2022 Show Recap”. It is very well done and you can see a few seconds of me and my Lake Texcoco game at 10:50. Click here to see that video.
Thanks so much to the folks that ran the convention – it was outstanding. Special thanks again to the H.A.W.K.’s for bringing me in and making me feel welcome and a part of the group. Of course, to all who played in my games, please know how much I appreciated sharing my game with you.
Lastly, and as a side note, you may remember that I won a PELA. As part of that award, in addition to the miniature I got this:
So, I took my $12 voucher for my PELA and on Sunday morning after packing up hit the vendor hall. I decided to get some dice etc., and then saw a steel conquistador’s helmet. It called to me. Now it’s mine!
After a long drive home – I showed my wife. Somehow she was not very pleased! Oh well, sorry honey…still love ya…
Thanks for looking and to my regular followers I hope to post more figures soon as golf season has basically wound down.
Mark A. Morin 