HUZZAH! Con 2024 – Part 1 – my recap on Friday’s Wars of Ozz Games

The “HUZZAH! Con 2024” was held between Friday, May 17th and Sunday, May 19th, 2024 at the Doubletree by Hilton in South Portland Maine. The theme for this year was “HUZZAH 2024 GOES HOLLYWOOD”, so games with an association with movies or TV shows were categorized as theme games. I have run many games at previous HUZZAH! conventions, it is one of my favorite conventions. With that said, it was a no-brainer for me to submit Wars of Ozz games for the convention with its association with Baum’s books and the 1939 movie that they inspired.

As has been my (admittedly somewhat insane) habit this year, I submitted games to run in every time slot – that being two on Friday, three on Saturday, and one on Sunday, for a total of six 4-hour games.

I took a lot of photos worth sharing here – but to do so all at once in just one post seems a waste and probably overwhelming for you the reader (let alone for me trying to write such a behemoth-like tome).

Therefore, I will share my HUZZAH! Con 2024 experiences in three parts – one for each day. This post – part 1 – will cover Friday’s games – during which I ran one game in the afternoon and one game in the evening.

Friday Afternoon – Learn To Play Wars of Ozz

I had 6 player slots available for this game – and it quickly sold out. It was listed on the registration website as follows:

Wars of Ozz Battle – Learn to Play Wars of Ozz

Take part in this big battle set in the horse & musket/black powder fantasy world of Ozz. This is definitely not Kansas anymore.  Various factions, including Munchkins, Winkies, Gillikins, Impkins, Quadlings and others will fight for victory in this fast-paced and easy-to-learn fun game.  Beginners are very welcome.  Rules will be taught. Players are invited to bring their own 25-point brigades of official Wars of Ozz figures if they have them or they can use one of the several brigades that we will have available for play.  Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

I ended up using 21-22 point brigades – and the gamers were a mix of new players and experienced ones. There were 6 brigades facing off on the tabletop as you’ll see below. The forces were, from nearest to farthest in the photo:

Black side (on left side in photo from nearest to farthest):

• One Gillikin Brigade
• One Winkie Brigade
• One Harvest Brigade

Red side (on right in photo from nearest to farthest):

• One Quadling Brigade
• One Impkin Brigade
• One Munchkin Brigade

Victory is determined by scoring. One point is earned for each enemy base destroyed or routed off of the board. A half point is earned if an enemy base is routing and not rallied when the game ends.

In the end, the Quadling/Munchkin/Impkin alliance inflicted slightly more casualties on the Winkie/Gillikin/Harvest forces. The final score was 33.5 to 27.5. The black side’s loss of both their Dire Bears and the Winkie artillery (with Boom-Boom as well) were instrumental – and not evened up by the destruction of the Munchkin Aerostat by the Harvest forces.

Friday Evening – Attack on the Munchkin Border Post

I had 6 player slots available for this game – and it also sold out. It is a scenario design that is in the rulebook. I redesigned and reworked it for 6 players, and listed it on the registration website as follows:

The Munchkin Border has been quiet, but terrifying storm clouds are brewing.  The Munchkins are determined to defend their frontier by fortifying a series of small villages & positions along their border.  Shockingly, their unknown enemies are launching a surprise attack!  The local Munchkin commander has sent runners up to division to request reinforcements.  Will the Munchkins stop their foes?  Will help save the day?  Will the border be protected?  Beginners are welcome.  Rules will be taught.  All miniatures/brigades will be provided for play.    Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

In a town there is one brigade of Munchkins reinforced by Admiral Jinjur’s Female Pirates and Admiral Jinjur’s Personal band. A relief column in the form of a sister brigade of Munchkins is on the way. Attacking are four brigades – two each from the Winkies and the Gilikins. The Munchkins and Jinjurs are all in strong defensive positions. An additional rule for this scenario is that if the attackers are routed and cross the river, an additional base is lost.

Victory is determined by scoring here again. One point is earned for each enemy base destroyed or routed off of the board. If the attackers can drive all Munchkins from the town at the game’s end AND have at least one base in the town – they would earn an additional 6 points.

In the end the Munchkin players denied the attackers the bonus 6 points for the town. They also exacted a total of 21 enemy bases, but lost 30 in the process. So it was a victory for the Winkie/Gillikin team 30-21 in the end.

After the game, I reset and prepared for Saturday’s three games, which I will share in my next post. I do believe this last game was a runner up as best in time slot at the convention.

I do want to acknowledge the great help and assistance of Bradley Gosselin and Leif Magnuson in helping me set up and take down the games.

I also want to thank the Maine Historical Wargamer’s Association (MWHA) for running HUZZAH! and doing it so very well.

There are more surprises coming – and I will pace these posts out. Please let me know if you like the post (or if you do not) in the comments section.

Thanks for looking!

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.

As you may want to check out the excellent Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them and to get your own copy of the rules. 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.