Winkie Medium Artillery Battery (Wars of Ozz)

Last year I painted up a Winkie Light Artillery Battery (WLAB). I thought it was high time that the Winkies got a longer-range artillery battery to start 2024. They were sick of the Munchkins out-ranging them. To that end, I painted up a Winkie Medium Artillery Battery (WMAB) – the subject of this post.

As described previously in my posts on the Winkies, they are much more interested in fighting hand-to-hand in melee with a foe versus shooting a weapon at one. I posted this on the WLAB post last year – but it bears repeating:

Winkies (the orcs of Ozz basically) are not overly bright in general, and certainly are not very educated. According to the Wars of Ozz rulebook,

“…Winkie artillery is something of an afterthought. Numerous battles and sieges have shown the usefulness of a strong artillery arm, but it is simply not a glorious or honourable role according to the Winkie mindset. Few Generals are chosen from the ranks of the artillery. Chieftains’ sons would much rather be leading a regiment of spearmen or jaegers. The artillery requires too much thinking, the guns can’t compete with the workshops of the Munchkins, and there is too much heavy lifting to be glorious. Consequently, the commanders of the batteries are an eccentric lot. They range from brilliant to simply odd. Except for the master gunners, most of the crew are conscripts secretly happy to be well back from the front line.”

Wars of Ozz by John R. “Buck” Surdu, Section 2.2.2.5, page 25

The WMAB is SKU #OZZ-307. It, like the WLAB, has 5 figures plus the gun in total. I again used an MDF sabot base for all of the figures. The battery is 28mm in scale, and the figures are metal. It is worth 5 points – one more than a WLAB and the same cost as a regular Winkie infantry unit. It does outrange the WLAB. In the game, light artillery has a short/long range combination of 6″/18″ versus that of a medium battery like this which has a short/long range of 8″/24″. It can take 5 hits – represented by the 5 figures – though when it gets to 4 the unit is eliminated.

The WMAB has the exact same uniform colors as the WLAB. I started painting the unit in parallel with Evora’s BodyGuard Infantry Regiment. This is my fourth unit for Dave Stone’s “PAINT WHAT YOU GOT CHALLENGE 2023/2024” painting challenge that runs from December 26th, 2023 to February 29th, 2024. It’s also going to play a major role in many of my upcoming games for the multiple gaming conventions that I plan on supporting as a GM. At present, that support level is now at 25 four-hour games just through May across 4 different conventions in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire (TotalCon38, HAVOC, Mayhem, and HUZZAH!.

First, I’ll share some (well VERY few) WIP shots, then some eye candy of the WMAB.

WIP shots…

Regarding my painting, I mostly followed my usual process, except I did the gun first. It came out too coppery versus brass at first – and Army Painter “Talos Bronze”, while a nice metallic speed paint, is indeed very copper-colored. A switch to a craft metallic paint - Martha Stewart Crafts “Brushed Bronze” – did the trick.  I could have gone with steel, but I like the look of bronze cannon.

The crew was easy to do:

And here is the WMAB finished on its magnetized MDF sabot base:

Now for some WMAB…

Eye Candy

Group shot

The two Winkie artillery batteries are shown here below. As the crews are uniformed identically , I gave the WMAB red flowers on their bases to differentiate them from the WLAB bases’ yellow flowers.

The WMAB represents my penultimate Winkie unit at this time (I love that word but I hardly ever get to use it!). I do hope that you enjoyed seeing it and reading the post. Next up will be my final Winkie unit and yet another entry for Dave’s challenge – and soon. Thanks for looking!

And yes, I still have much more Ozz to come…

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 THE WINKIE MEDIUM ARTILLERY BATTERY:

1. Gorilla Glue
2. 1/2″ x 1/2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#16)
3. Artillery Battery MDF sabot base from Old Glory/Wars of Ozz Miniatures
4. P3 “Brown Ink” (ink)
5. 1 1/4″ x 1″ steel base from Wargames Accessories (#FOW1)
6. 1/8″ neodymium magnets
7. Everlast steel ABA 3/4″ washers
8. Elmer’s PVA Glue
9. Red Sharpie pen
10. Poster tack
11. Vallejo Premium Primer “White”
12. Vallejo “Flow Improver”
13. Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
14. Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
15. Vallejo Model Color “White”
16. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
17. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
18. Army Painter “Speed Paint – Talos Bronze 2.0”
19. Vallejo Model Air “Black ” (metallic)
20. Martha Stewart Crafts “Brushed Bronze”
21. Citadel “Cryptek Armourshade” (wash/shade)
22. Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
23. Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
24. Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
25. Reaper MSP “Pure Black”
26. Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
27. Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
28. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ork Skin”
29. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
30. Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
31. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
32. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
33. Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash/shade)
34. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Striking Scorpion Green”
35. Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Fluorescent”
36. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Striking Scorpion Green”
37. Vallejo Model Ink “Black Green” (ink)
38. Battlefront “Sherman Drab”
39. Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
40. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Basilicanum Grey”
41. Citadel “Retributor Armour”
42. Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
43. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
44. Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash/shade)
45. Army Painter “Speed Paint – Aztec Gold 2.0”
46. Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
47. Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash/shade)
48. Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
49. Pendraken 12mm dice frames
50. Army Painter “Yellow Flowers” (flocking)
51. Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Wild Flowers Primrose Tufts” (flocking)
52. Gamers Grass “Yellow Flowers” (flocking)
53. Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
54. Small stones
55. Army Painter “Lowland Shrubs” (flocking)
56. Twigs
57. Citadel “Blood for the Blood God”
58. Gamers Grass “Green Meadow Tufts” (flocking)
59. Pillow batting (for smoke)

As you may want to check out the Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them and the rules (and I make no money from this btw). The game rules and the figures are available from the following two places:

In the US Old Glory has a site – Wars of Ozz Miniatures.

In the UK go to Sally 4th.