HUZZAH! Con 2024 – Part 2 – my recap on Saturday’s Wars of Ozz Games

Welcome! This post is part 2 of my three-part recap – and will cover the Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening games that I ran on May 18, 2024 at the “HUZZAH! Con 2024”. (To read about Friday’s games in part 1 you can go here).

As a reminder, this convention was held between Friday, May 17th and Sunday, May 19th, 2024 at the Doubletree by Hilton in South Portland Maine. It is run by the Maine Historical Wargame Association, a fine group of folks.

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 ran 6 Wars of Ozz games here, and given its association with Baum’s books and the 1939 movie, they all counted as theme games.

Once again, lot’s of photos here – and some descriptions of them best as I can remember.

Saturday Morning – Learn To Play Wars of Ozz

This was yet another permutation on the LTP format that I have run before.  I had 6 player slots set up for this game – and had 4 players show up. To keep play more adaptive to the learning process, we played the game with each player just having one brigade – and left the other two brigades on the tabletop for the next game’s set up. The Saturday morning game 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 used 21-22 point brigades – and the gamers were a mix of 2 new players and 2 experienced ones. The forces were, from nearest to farthest in the photo:

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

• One Munchkin Brigade
• One Quadling Brigade

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

• One Harvest Brigade
• One Harvest Brigade

As on Friday, 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 still routing and not successfully rallied when the game ends.

At this point in the game, nearly every Munchkin and Quadling unit was either destroyed or running away. Therefore, scoring was unnecessary as the Harvest forces were totally victorious.

Saturday Afternoon – Heavy Meeting Engagement (Wars of Ozz)

I had 6 player slots available for this game – and ended up having 5 players. The scenario design is similar to the last game, but with 6 brigades in the battle (3 per side). I also swapped the two Harvest Brigades from the previous game, and added a third on the Black side. On the Red side, I added an Impkin Brigade. As for the scenario description, I listed it on the registration website as follows:

Several allied brigades from the sides of good and evil are coming to blows of the open plains of the world of Ozz!  Of course, who is good and who is evil is in the eye of the beholder!  Both side’s forces are equal in strength, but are their commanders?  That’s up to the players!  This battle will be a fast-paced one using the easy-to-learn fun game of Wars of Ozz.  Various factions, including Munchkins, Winkies, Gillikins, Impkins, Quadlings and others will fight for victory and glory.  Beginners are very welcome.  Rules will be taught.  All miniatures/brigades will be provided for play.    Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

All were experienced Ozz players. They were as teamed up as:

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

• One Munchkin Brigade (commanded by Brad)
• One Quadling Brigade (commanded by Brad)
• One Impkin Brigade (commanded by Bob)

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

• One Harvest Brigade (commanded by Leif)
• One Harvest Brigade (commanded by James)
• One Harvest Brigade (commanded by Steven)

Here again, 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 still routing and not successfully rallied when the game ends.

Notably in this game there were a number of critical spell failures – by the Harvest side – all of which redounded to their favor. One notable one was when a spell of Steven’s witch failed, but the result would cause the nearest inanimate thing to animate and leave the battlefield. This resulted in the Impkin’s slingshot deciding to head for the hills, leaving their crew dumbfounded. Another critical failure by James got him a unit of Dire Tigers added to his forces. These, and a few others were hilarious.

In the end, the Quadlings/Munchkins/Impkins were victorious over the forces of the Great Land of Harvest by a score of 24-15. It was a fun game and all enjoyed it. I believe this game also won the runner up award as the best game in the time slot.

Saturday Evening – The Battle for Toto (Wars of Ozz)

For the Saturday Evening game I had 8 player slots available for this game – and ended up having 7 relatively experienced players. The scenario design is my own, the Battle for Toto – and I have ran this a few times in the past. However, in the past I had a bigger table – so I modified it for playability here by deleting a few units and rearranging the deployments.

As for the scenario description, I listed it on the registration website as follows:

The Battle for Toto (Wars of Ozz)

“I’ll get you my pretty – and your little dog too!”

The two rival witch sisters – Evora (a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the East) and Arella (a.k.a. The Wicked Witch of the North) have both learned that a force of Munchkins has taken refuge in a small town near the border of the Great Land of Harvest.  Moreover, their spies have also confirmed that the town also harbors other notable Munchkin-lovers – such as the Kansas Farmgirl and her friends.  These include the Tinman, the Lion, and the Scarecrow – and importantly Toto.

Both witches believe that possession of the little dog Toto will bring power and leverage over their enemies.  Plus, any opportunity to hit the Munchkins is always enticing. 

Unbeknownst to the other, the two witches have each simultaneously gathered their forces and allies to attack the town.  The two rival forces are converging from oppsite cornesrs of the tabletop.  Arella has a reinforced Gillikin brigade and has allied with two Harvest brigades under King Jack, the King of the Pumpkinheads.  Arella has recruited King Jack in her quest. 

Evora has a both a reinforced Winkie brigade as well as two large Impkin brigades as allies.

Will the two witches put aside their differences and join forces?  Or will sibling and tribal rivalries win the day and the two converging attackers try to take on each other for the right to assault the town?  And, will Toto be safe?

Looking at the photo below, Toto is secretly hidden in one of five buildings in the town, which has two Munchkin brigades in defence (one on the left commanded by Michelle and one on the right commanded by Vicki). Toto is represented by a secret card placement – and even I as the GM would not know where Toto is placed.

The Gillikins (Brad in the top left corner) are allied with two Harvest Brigades (Keith in the bottom right corner). For the Winkies – Leif was in the top right corner, and was allied with the two Impkin brigades in the battle bottom left corner (commanded by Sam and Matt). Understand that there is no obligation for these rival bad guys to fight – but they can decide to do so (and the Munchkins would just love that).

Victory is determined by scoring, but the points awarded are different.

For the Munchkins, one point is earned for each enemy base destroyed or routed off of the board.

For the attackers, one point is earned for each Munchkin base destroyed or routed off of the board. However, 1.5 points are awarded for each base of the opposite attacking force that they take out.

Additionally, possession of Toto by the Munchkins is worth 10 points at the end of the game. For the attackers, possession of Toto and getting him off the tabletop successfully is worth 10 points at the end of the game.

At this point in the games, the convention organizers stop all games to announce the winners of the raffle and the best in session awards. I was honored to win the “Best of Session” award for the Satuday night game slot! Huzzah!

Now back to the game!

The Harvest forces successfully got Toto off the board for the 10 points. The final scores were:

• Gillikin/Harvest (Brad and Keith): 31 points
• Munchkins (Michelle and Vicki): 25 points
• Winkie/Impkin (Leif/Sam/Matt): 11 points

What a fun game with a lot of twists and turns!

That wraps up Saturday – with only Sunday left to report on in part 3. And there are surprises (yes more) for Sunday, so stay tuned!!

To all my players -THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Again, I MUST thank and acknowledge the great help and assistance of Bradley Gosselin and Leif Magnuson in helping me set up and take down the games. Wingmen supreme!

I also want to thank the Maine Historical Wargamer’s Association (MWHA) for running HUZZAH! and doing it so very well. Thanks also for honoring me with your “Best in Session” award for Saturday night.

Don’t forget that there are more surprises coming in part 3 (yes I said that again!). As before, please let me know if you like the post (or if you do not) in the comments section. I’ll share Sunday’s game in a few days (hopefully).

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.