Epic Battles at Cold Wars 2026: A Recap

Back in early February, I attended the 2026 HMGS Cold Wars convention in Lancaster, PA. The theme was “Wild, Wild, West”. this is not one of my usual game themes, but as you’ll see shortly I adapted for one game anyways. As I write this now it is already mid-March, so I thought it was about time to finally got around to sharing some of the games I played in and ran in the H.A.W.K.’s room.

The H.A.W.K.’s are a great club from Harford County, Maryland. Two of my good West Point buddies (Buck Surdu USMA ’85 and Dave Wood fellow USMA ’84) have been members for years, and I have been fortunate enough to be their New England carpetbagging GM for a few years now.

Prelude to Austerlitz (Wars of Eagles and Empires)

Thursday night I jumped into a Napoleonic 28mm game run by Buck, “Prelude to Austerlitz”. It used his Wars of Eagles and Empires rules.

It was a fun game and I was on the Austrian side with two other young players (they were young anyways). The French players were not as aggressive as they probably had wanted to be, which allowed us to successfully defend the town.

The Wicked Witch is Still Trying to Get Dorothy’s Slippers (Feudal Patrol using Wars of Ozz figures)

This was a fun opportunity to jump in a Feudal Patrol game with my old USMA roommate Dave. Dave does a great job as a GM and even won a PELA award at Cold Wars for his Zulu game. Dave uses 28mm Wars of Ozz figures in a skirmish game using Feudal Patrol rules. I played on the Winkie side and we were able to take Dorothy down and get those valuable slippers!

After this game, I hit the vendors hall and got some lunch. Then I took the rest of the afternoon time to set up my Friday evening Wars of Ozz game. – “The Great Munchkin Heist“.

The Great Munchkin Heist (Wars of Ozz)

This was an epic back and forth Wars of Ozz battle, which really was great to see! Three brigades were on the attack (two Munchkin, one allied brigade, and an army reserve). The allied brigade was composed of two regiments of Jinjur female pirates, an Impkin slingshot battery, and a regiment of Frost Ogres (that Dave Stone will recognize!). The reserve came from the Land of Harvest – Great Pumpkinheads and regiments of eagles and owls. these allies hoped to share the loot with the Munchkins. Technological “secrets” were hidden in buildings throughout.

Three small but potent Nitpik mechanical men brigades and a small reserve force defended the formidable rusty steel walls of the Robotic Sanctum – a.k.a. the Industrial City. A small infantry reserve remained in the city, and there were rumors of a Nitpik relief force coming…

The Munchkin 1st Brigade advances on the left.

The Munchkin 2nd Brigade advances in the center.

In the center was the Munchkin Army Reserve of Harvest troops under the command of Zoraster the Wizard.

The Nitpik Medium Artillery defends the left flank, with Elite Axemen behind ready to deal with any penetrations of the walls by the allied brigade.

Defending the Nitpik center against the Munchkin 2nd Brigade was the Lemon Drop Legionnaires at the wall (also with napalm blasters) and the axe-wielding Jade Automata.

Defending the Nitpik right was the 3rd Nitpik Brigade. They had Morin’s Monsters with napalm blasters and a mechanical mini-swarm.

A side view of the start of the battle behind the Nitpik lines. The Mechanical mini-swarm is in the foreground, while the sole regiment in the Nitpik reserve – the Pink Nightmares – is in the back left.

The Allied Brigade moves up on the right.

The Nitpik Artillery prepares to fire at the Frost Ogres…

….who take casualties and rout in the face of withering fire.

Overzealous Lemon Drop Legionnaires take fire from the balloon and an unlucky reaction test causes them to jump over their protective walls towards the enemy!

This unlucky reaction subjected the Lemon Drop Legionnaires to Munchkin musketry at short range.

Munchkin Light Cavalry and Landwehr move up on the left flank..

The Munchkin 1st Brigade moves towards the gate – somewhat stymied by the ominous rusty steel walls – their solution…

…climb the wall !! Assault Munchkins! (or Ranger Munchkins?)…they were soon in the town searching for technological secrets.

The Munchkins commit the Great Pumpkinheads and Great Owls and bypass Morin’s Monsters.

A female pirate regiment breaches the right wall and faces the Elite Axemen.

The Munchkin Center is breached as well.

The Munchkins searched in vain for any technological secrets. They did manage to inflict slightly more casualties on Professor Nitpik’s forces, resulting in a narrow 18-15 point victory.

Little Wars TV actually showed a snippet this game on their Cold Wars video – you can see it at minute mark 12:31. My players look happy!

That wrapped up Friday – and Saturday I had two games scheduled. The first was a What a Tanker “what if” scenario between Vichy French and Italian armor. I had to cancel it due to lack of players. That allowed me more time to set up my evening game and to play in another Feudal Patrol game run by Buck. It was a scenario based on a William Tell TV show from the ’60’s that I have no memory of! It was fun, we freed the good guys from the Austrians, and had a good time.

Tell Me the Truth! (Feudal Patrol/William Tell)

Buck prepping at the game start. I spent a lot of time in the game moving that bee hive on the hill!

At last it was time for Saturday night’s game.

High Noon at the Cyber Ruins (Combat Patrol:WWII – modified for retro Sci-fi)

This was my “western-themed” game.

I was really looking forward to this one as I got to use all of my rusty wreckage and ruined buildings that I have posted about here in this blog. It did not disappoint. The battle was full of action, with jet-packing cowboys (Texican Space Rangers) and Space ‘Roos engaging the Retrovians (Roger’s own). (More about Roger here.) Ancient robots were found and lost, some even getting violent when found. Buck got to play and channeled his inner paratrooper in the attack.

The game set up for action. Retrovians are moving into the ruined city from the left, and Space Cowboys from the opposite side. Space ‘Roos come in as reinforcements.

Skip maneuvers his troops in the background while Bruce deftly had his sniper climb the transmission tower. Obviously the figure would not stay, so we used a rubber band.

Space Cowboys and Retrovians search for ancient robots.

Space Cowboys huddle in the wreckage from Retrovian fire.

The tripod “Bra’sheers” had a difficult tome getting over the walls. They did at points and instantly decapitated a few Space Cowboys with their claws.

A “Bender” robot was found – but was hostile and killed a cowboy and needed to be subdued.

Some of Leif’s Space Cowboys got on the wall in a conga line only to take Bra’sheer machine gun fire.

The conga line of death before machine gun fire…

Retrovians getting into the city in any way they could.

Buck jet-packs his Space ‘Roos and ambushes Bruce’s Retrovians, wiping them out. He was practically giddy in this game with how successful his tactics were.

Retrovians seek revenge with sonic cannon and sniper fire.

Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos continue the search.

In the end, the Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos alliance found 3/4 robots and successfully held on to them. All casualties mounted. But the victory was clearly in the hands of the Space Cowboys and Space ‘Roos!

After the game, with help, I was able to pack the car for a Sunday morning drive home. The temperature was well below zero Fahrenheit! With the wind chill it was -13 degrees Fahrenheit (or -25 Celsius for you metric types!).

Thank you to all at HMGS who made Cold Wars possible!

That wraps up this post – I still have a few that are in the queue , and I hope they are of interest.

I will be running these games again so see you at the next convention!

Next up? Some more terrain I think!

References:

Check these out!

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous convention/club/game battle report blog posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/club-convention-games/

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous Wars of Ozz posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/miniatures/wars-of-ozz/

For a consolidated list of links for any of my previous sci-fi/retro sci-fi posts, please see this page: https://markamorin.com/sci-fi-retro-sci-fi-projects/

Creating More Mechanical Men for Professor Nitpik’s Army

Convention season has arrived! So, I needed to finish off a few regiments in anticipation of several games between now and June. This time, I needed to augment my forces of Professor Nitpik and his Mechanical Men. Click the link to learn his back story.

Luckily, my first group of mechanical men miniatures for 2026 is now done. By group, I mean 41 figures for my Wars of Ozz games.

The Mechanical Men would need help in 2026 defending against marauding Munchkins. They would also need help chasing them down as they attempt to steal technological secrets. I chose to build and paint up two regiments of axemen (OZZ-511). Additionally, I chose two regiments armed with napalm blasters (OZZ-539 – not sharing a link as the picture is incorrect on the website). I also had a mechanical wizard, Androit (OZZ-543).

Luckily Buck Surdu has changed the basing rules for these such that a regiment has 10 figures, not 20. They still do come in 20 figures though! This is why I was able to turn each SKU into two regiments of each!

These were completed in early January, 2026. Therefore, they all qualify for Dave Stone’s PAINT WHAT YOU GOT 2025/2026 Challenge.

I wanted to give these bad bots a colorful metallic shine. To that end, I experimented by mixing Vallejo “Metallic Medium” with Army Painter Speed and Citadel Contrast Paints. I even tried this with a few of the 1.0 versions that have a reputation for “bleeding”. I am happy to report that no bleeding occurred with this combination.

The group all cleaned up and ready for assembly and priming.

Here you see the two regiments of axemen in progress. These regiments would be “The Jade Automata” and “The Pink Nightmares”

The two napalm blaster regiments would be yellow-themed (“The Lemon Drop Legionnaires”) and orange-themed (Morin’s Monsters). Buck edited his flags for me and named that last one so I just had to give that moniker!

Napalm blasters painted, before washes added…

Below the axemen in progress:

They have gun metal arms and legs, but colorful torsos for Ozz! The Metal Medium and contrast/speed paint combination worked well.

The command bases of the 4 regiments with their nice new battle standards.

I also painted up Androit, plus 4 crates as game markers for the games to come. These represent stores of Professor Nitpik’s technological secrets.

First Androit:

And the crates – I think I got these from Armorcast years ago.

Crates of unknown technological secrets from before the Last Great War…

How about some eye candy (they do already look quite sugary, no?)

Completed Eye Candy

Morin’s Monsters

The Lemon Drop Legionnaires

The Jade Automata

The Pink Nightmares

(Apologies to Ralphie.)

Androit The Mechanical Wizard

Group Shot

I also posted a short video on Instagram showing these mechanical men up close:

View this post on Instagram

As I write this I have just returned from Cold Wars in Lancaster, PA. These miniatures debuted in their first game, “The Great Munchkin Heist”. In upcoming posts, I will share that game and some photos from Cold Wars.

Below is the flyer for that game.

The game went exceptionally well and I look forward to sharing it in a post in the near future. I also intend to share more apocalyptic terrain that I made it for this and another scenario. I also hope to do a 2025 roundup post as well…again, I said hope!

AND I hope to see some of you soon at conventions!

Final Notes and Links

Want to learn more about Ozz and its world? If you want to check out the excellent Wars of Ozz figures’ range, there are two places to get them. You can also get the rules there. (I make no money from this.) The game rules and the figures are available from the next two places:

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the next two websites:

As for the paints I used here – the list is extensive. But my memories are not always – so they are as much a resource to me as to you. Given that I have so much wreckage on the mechanical men’s bases, it does add to the variety.

If interested, here you go. If not, thanks for looking at these bots. Until next time…

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE TWO REGIMENTS OF NITPIK AXEMEN:

Polystyrene sheet
Gorilla Glue
PVA Glue
Popsicle sticks
2″ Square War Games Accessories Steel Bases (21)
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Vallejo Mecha Primer “White”
Vallejo Thinner
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Familiar Pink”
Vallejo “Metal Medium”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Striking Scorpion Green”
Popsicle sticks
PVA Glue
Vallejo Model Air “Concrete”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
Army Painter Warpaints Metallics “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Steel”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Polished Silver”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Moon Yellow”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Blue”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Green”
Vallejo Model Air “IDF Sand Grey”
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Pure Black”
Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
Army Painter “Green Tone” (wash)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Astrogranite” (texture)
Citadel “Astrogranite Debris” (texture)
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo “Satin Varnish”
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Juweela 1:35 Bricks
Wood shards
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Pendraken 12mm dice frames
Nitpik flag design from Wars of Ozz Facebook page (printed on card stock)

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE TWO REGIMENTS OF NITPIK MECHANICAL MEN ARMED WITH NAPALM BLASTERS:

2″ Square War Games Accessories Steel Bases (21)
PVA Glue
Popsicle sticks
2″ Square War Games Accessories Steel Bases (21)
Vallejo Mecha Primer “White”
Vallejo Thinner
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Zealot Yellow”
Vallejo “Metal Medium”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Fire Giant Orange”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Createx “4011 Reducer”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Steel”
Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
Turbo Dork “People Eater”
Army Painter Warpaints Metallics “Gun Metal”
Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
Vallejo Model Air “Black Metallic”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Polished Silver”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Moon Yellow”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Blue”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Green”
Vallejo Model Air “IDF Sand Grey”
Secret Weapon Washes “Yellow Snow” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Sunshine” (wash)
Army Painter “Red Tone” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Red Black” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Ruby” (wash)
P3 “Red Ink” (ink)
Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Astrogranite” (texture)
Citadel “Astrogranite Debris” (texture)
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo “Satin Varnish”
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Juweela 1:35 Bricks
Wood shards
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Pendraken 12mm dice frames
Nitpik flag design from Wars of Ozz Facebook page (printed on card stock)

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON ANDROIT THE MECHANICAL WIZARD:

War Games Accessories Steel Bases (FOW1)
PVA Glue
Popsicle sticks
Army Painter Warpaints Metallics “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Mecha Color “Light Steel”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Color “Red Leather”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Vallejo Model Color “Light Brown”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Aztec Gold”
Turbo Dork “People Eater”
Vallejo Model Air “Ivory”
Army Painter “Soft Tone” (shade)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Astrogranite” (texture)
Citadel “Astrogranite Debris” (texture)
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo “Satin Varnish”
MDF Base
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Juweela 1:35 Bricks
Wood shards
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Pendraken 12mm dice frames
MDF placard and printed label

Crafting Rusty Walls and Transmission Towers for Retro Sci-Fi and Wars of Ozz Gaming Adventures

Imagine an industrial cityscape – an apocalyptic one. One that shows that “something really terrible happened here”. Now add 300 years to it and an arid desolate climate with a lot of rust. Lastly, add mystery – “what am I looking at?”, and you are here.

These were the thoughts that I had last month as I prepared to create and build components for such a wasteland ruin. As my 2026 “convention season” was nearing, I needed to build terrain for my tabletop games. For games of Wars of Ozz^TM, my goal was to build terrain pieces for Professor Nitpik’s Industrial City (aka the Robotic Sanctum). I also wanted to get back into some retro sci-fi games using Buck Surdu’s Combat Patrol:WWII^TM gaming system (with my modifications). One of the games I envisioned for that would be using Archive “Space Cowboys”, my converted “Space ‘Roos” defending against an invasion of blue-skinned “Retrovians”. Click those links to learn more about those forces – and more about them in a future post. For now, I needed more rust than just my rusty generators and my ruined chemical plant.

I’ve been retired now since 2019. I got laid off of my last job when the company I was working for pulled the product line off the market. Never found a replacement gig. Back to the product I was selling – it was a pharmaceutical autoinjector device. We had dozens of electronic trainer devices we handed out to potential customers. These trainers acted like the real thing except without any needles or drug inside. After the layoff happened, I had a bunch of them, and was told by my former employer to just throw them away. They had a unique shape, like a cross between a card deck and a tapered brick. The outer layer was plastic, with a label glued on to it. I was running retro sci-fi games, and thought these would be good for making walls. I saved them, and they waited to fulfill their destiny until December 2025!

To make sure what I wanted to do would work (and to learn from any errors), I went with a prototype. I used an Exacto blade to remove the outer label. Then, I sanded the exterior to make it rough. To attach multiple units together, green stuff was the solution. After that hardened, I coated the outside of the attached trainers with PVA – followed by a dusting of chinchilla dust on the glue. When that combination had hardened, I primed the combinations with black primer.

From this point, I used corrosion texture paint(let that harden), then used a number of rusting paints and pigments. I really liked the results and moved on to making two large batches of different combinations.

Corrosion texture paint applied and drying.

First half-batch of walls after being rusted up.

I ended up with 27 sections = a total of 17.8′ worth of rusty wall.

And here they are in total finished up mid-December.:

With the walls done, it was time to get some verticality for the tabletop. And get them done BEFORE Christmas.

I thought transmission towers – rusty ones – would be great in that role. I found a railroad terrain kit on eBay. It was HO scale. It would go well with the other pieces of rusty fun. These were “Walther’s Cornerstone Four Transmission Towers”.

Assembly was a bit fiddly but manageable. It was not immediately clear to me which sides were front or back – but by the fourth iteration I got it down. Luckily, plastic cement covers any mistakes in assemble. I did find using rubber-shoed alligator clips to hold sections together while the cement set to be VERY helpful.

…the second was off (again figuring out which side went where was a bit confusing). Alligator clips to the rescue!

Rusting them up was similar to the walls – basically minus the use of the corrosion texture paint. The lists of what I used for these and the walls will be listed at the end of this post.

View of one from a slightly different angle.

As you can see these are just plastic models and vulnerable to damage in transport! Unlike the walls, which went into a cardboard wine bottle box with some foam padding between levels, these needed a sturdy solution. They required something strong. I decided to modify the original box to accommodate the greater height needed when the models were lying down. I used more foam padding on the box bottom, and foam board to extend and strengthen the box as you see below:

Top view of the original box modifications with a sheet of green foam padding on the bottom. The sides and corners were reinforced by adding foam board set with hot glue on the insides.

Side view – here you see the added height with the foam board.

The original box top fit like a glove – and is significantly stronger than its original configuration.

That’s about it for this rusty old post. I hope it inspired you to rust up some stuff yourself!

As I teased, I will be sharing how these fit into both of the tabletop set ups for 2026. I’ll also be sharing some of the new 2026 units of mechanical tin men that will find these structures as part of their apocalyptic homes. Until next time.

For all of my previous posts on terrain projects, please see this page. For all of my previous posts on sci-fi projects, please see this page…for any of my previous posts on Wars of Ozz, see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE RUSTY WALLS PIECES:

Old autoinjector trainers
Green stuff
Chinchilla dust
PVA Glue
Vallejo Surface Primer “Grey”
AK “Corrosion Texture”
Citadel “Typhus Corrosion” (Technical)
Citadel “Ryza Rust” (Dry)
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Brown Iron Oxide” (pigment)
Vallejo “Natural Iron Oxide” (pigment)
Vallejo Model Air “Rust 73.117” (pigment)
Vallejo Model Air “New Rust 73.118” (pigment)
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Model Color “Dark Rust”
Vallejo “Natural Umber” (pigment)

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE RUSTY TRANSMISSION TOWER MODELS:

Walther’s Cornerstone Four Transmission Towers (HO Scale)
Tamiya “Extra Thin Cement”
Plastruct Bondene “Styrene & ABS Plastic Solvent Cement”
Alligator clips
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Surface Primer “Grey”
Citadel “Ryza Rust” (Dry)
Vallejo “Old Rust” (pigment)
Vallejo Mecha Weathering “Light Rust Wash” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Weathering “Dark Rust Wash” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Weathering “Rust Texture Matt”
Vallejo Model Color “Camouflage Black Brown”
Vallejo Model Air” Concrete”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”

The Munchkins Have an Air Force!

Way back in July of 2023, I built and painted a “Munchkin Aerostat” for my Wars of Ozz games. It is a special unit that only the Munchkins have. I know that when I have had it on my tabletop it has always grabbed the attention of any passerby. You can see my post on that blue beauty here.

Since golf season ended, I have been preparing for many convention wargames. I will be running WWII (modified What a Tanker games), retro sci-fi skirmish games (using modified Combat Patrol TM WWII rules), and of course games of Wars of Ozz.

For Ozz, this year, I am focusing on the ruined “Robotic Sanctum – a.k.a. The Industrial City” of Professor Nitpik for my scenarios. There Nitpik toils away making armed automatons of tin – (Tin Men) to defend his city from outside raiders. Supposedly he is over 300 years old and the last survivor of “The Last Great War” that brought the post-apocalyptic world of Ozz to be. He guards his secrets jealously from all those who would raid his technological secrets.

With this in mind, my two scenarios involve the Munchkins and some allied troops perpetrating such a raid. One game will have the Munchkins attacking the city. The other will have the Munchkins trying to escape the wrath of Nitpik and escape to home. Oh yeah, the robots are in hot pursuit in game number 2.

These two games will necessitate my building and painting more units and more terrain. I will be sharing those efforts here in the next weeks.

To augment the Munchkins’ forces, I decided to add a second Aerostat – and form a true Munchkin Air Force. As I wanted some color differentiation from my previous model – I went with Boston Bruins colors of Black, Gold, and White for the balloon, whole keeping the Munchkin crew in traditional blues. The model is 28mm in scale.

Assembly and Painting the Aerostat

I basically followed the same process as I used on the last model. Having a blog post to review certainly proved useful in that endeavor! First step was not short as the balloon is made of foam. There were some (more than I’d like but fixable) cavitations similar to what you see in resin. I covered all the balloon lines and cavitations with green stuff – and reinforced the structure as you see below.

Lots of sculpting with green stuff. The metal parts of the model are in the background.

The basket is metal, and easily glued together. Once again, I used my 1987 matchsticks (that I purchased while stationed in West Germany) to give a more realistic look to the bare metal basket’s underside.

The basket’s underside with added matchsticks.

Still in my hobby supplies – now for nearly 40 years!

The model comes with wire to attach the basket to the balloon. Once again, I decided to employ a better mounting. A polystyrene and green stuff sandwich with inserted screw eyes worked well before – so I used that again.

Cutting out the disks from the drilled-out polystyrene. I sanded off any rough edges, then added the green stuff and the screw eyes to make the “sandwich”.

I affixed the sandwich to the balloon’s bottom with PVA – letting that dry overnight. I then drilled out though the sandwich (as perpendicularly as possible!) to make a path for the acrylic rod base support. This allowed me to prime and paint easily by using an old paint brush inserted into the balloon on one end and my airbrush cleaning bottle on the other.

As for the base, I used metal support braces, small rocks, and green stuff to secure the acrylic support rod as vertically as possible to a piece of 4″ square polystyrene. Once the green stuff cured, I added pigments and pigment binder to the base.

Then I painted the crew and the basket.

The crew have small tabs under their feet that correspond to little pre-drilled holes in the basket floor. Unfortunately, some of those did not make it off the popsicle sticks – but I was still able to use Gorilla Glue to securely mount them in the basket.

Crew in the balloon basket. Note the hole in the center for the support rod.

Painting of the balloon itself went fairly easily. I also flocked the base as you see below so that it would be completed before my rigging.

New balloon and base next to previous model for comparison.

It was then on to rigging with twine – which is my least favorite thing to do with models. I made it work such that the basket was more or less level. Then I coated the twine with PVA, let that dry, then painted over that to make the twine look like rope.

I was done!

Here are some eye candy shots – as it is a model with no front or back – you’ll see a few shots of the total model as well as some crew shots. I did post a video on Instagram as well (a bit bright on the lighting):

View this post on Instagram

Eye Candy

And now some closeups of the crew:

Here now – the Munchkin Air Force assembled and ready to go after Professor Nitpik’s secrets!

And as they will need to travel -to these conventions- matching Really Useful Boxes…

I finished this model right before Christmas. This is my first Wars of Ozz modeling post since April! Wow! More will be coming. I also will have Nitpik forces AND terrain for his apocalyptic world. Come see this and join the fun at COLD WARS, TotalCon 2026, Cold Barrage 2026, HAVOC XL 2026, and Huzzah 2026 “The Revolution”.

I hope you found this interesting – if so (or if not), let me know in the comments section! And join me at a convention or two!

Final Notes and Links

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the next two websites:

Below you’ll see the list of paints and the like that I used on this Aerostat project. As I mentioned, I often use my old blog posts to help me remember what I did – and sometimes even what I should NOT do. Anyways, they are not likely as useful for you as they are for me, but that’s why I post the lists.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE BOSTON BRUINS-COLOR THEMED MUNCHKIN AEROSTAT:

Polystyrene sheet
Gorilla Glue
PVA Glue
Popsicle sticks
Matchsticks
Green stuff
Small screw eyes
Twine
Small stones and talus
Chinchilla dust
Vallejo Mecha Primer “White”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Vallejo Premium White Primer
Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Dark Wood”
Vallejo Model Color “Black”
Army Painter Warpaints Metallic “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Model Color “Red Leather”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Crusader Skin”
Citadel “Contrast Medium”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Pallid Bone”
Martha Stewart Crafts “Pale Bronze”
Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Imperial Fist”
Vallejo Model Color “Light Flesh”
Vallejo Game Air “Somber Grey”
Vallejo Model Color “Sepia” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Sky Blue”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Turquoise”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Talassar Blue”
Citadel Contrast Paint “Baal Red”
Vallejo “Natural Umber” (pigment)
Vallejo Pigment Binder
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte”
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Gamers Grass “Yellow Flowers” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Pink Sunset” (flocking)

Mechanical Mini Swarm with Pulse Blasters (Wars of Ozz)

And now little bots from the apocalyptic ruins of the Industrial City!

This unit is a part of Professor Nitpik’s Industrial City Army. This regiment is composed of 40 mini-mechanical men (robots), deployed on five 2″ bases. The figures are metal and 28mm in size.

I have described my work on the good Professor’s background and army in three previous posts that you can check out:

I decided to go red on gold again. I really liked the effect I got on the artillery battery.

After priming – a good airbrush application of Createx “Pearl Red” on April 15.

The pearlized red works well with pearlized copper. I faced a downside. It was unbeknownst to me that my spray booth filter needed cleaning before I started. As a result, my basement had some residual fumes after painting, which I otherwise never see. Luckily I always mask up when airbrushing.

Finished hand brush painting these on April 16th, to include a wash.

The regiment does not have a regimental commander. However, I thought it would be good to give them a standard. So I took a wire spear from my unused Aztec bits, and a nut. With some green stuff, I crafted an ersatz standard pole.

I then varnished all the bots with a gloss coat. This allowed me to handle them and better mount them on the bases without causing any damage.

I mixed and matched the bots into different places on the bases. I also drilled out one bot claw and base to hold the standard. Next came a generous flocking of Army Painter “Black Battlefield”. I also added rusted bits and brick rubble before adding pigments.

After a matte varnishing, the last step was to add the standard!

That’s a wrap on this regiment – and for my Ozz painting for a while. I will be starting a new project in support of my upcoming HISTORICON 2025 games. Yes, I will still be running Wars of Ozz games – BUT I’m branching out a bit after painting over 1,000 (1,040 to date) Ozz figures…

Hint – I’ll be plowing new ground – but not totally new ground…yes, TANKS! But for which period and theater…hmmm….do you have a guess?

I will get back to Ozz painting sometime this year, so I can finish off my forces.

Here’s the Instagram link for a video that shows the command stand:

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Final Notes and Links

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the next two websites:

Below you’ll see the list of paints and the like that I used on this project. They are more useful for me when I need to recreate a color scheme in the future. They are not likely as useful for you as they are for me. I have had to refer back to a post more than once. This happens when I need to recreate a color theme. It also happens when I need to repair a unit. In any case, that’s why I post the lists.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE MECHANICAL MINI SWARM WITH PULSE BLASTERS REGIMENT:

Popsicle sticks
PVA Glue
War Games Accessories Steel Bases (number 16)
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Createx Wicked Colors “High Performance Reducer”
ComArt “Opaque Carmine”
Createx Airbrush Colors “Pearl Copper”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics Effects “Blue Flux” (effect)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Aztec leftover wire spear
Steel nut
Green stuff (kneadatite)
Army Painter “Black Battlefields” (flocking)
Citadel “Gehenna’s Gold”
Gorilla Glue
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Juweelinis “Diorama Mix” – various metal scrap, tires, bricks
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Vallejo Acrylic Varnish “Gloss”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Premium Color “Matte Varnish”
Pendraken 12mm dice frame
Card stock
Wars of Ozz flag from supplement
Black Sharpie Pen
Brown Sharpie Pen

If you have any questions or feedback – go for it in the “Comments” section! Thanks for looking as always!!

HAVOC 2025: Exciting Wars of Ozz Games Recap

HAVOC XXXIX (aka HAVOC 2025) was held on the weekend of April 4-6, 2025 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. It is the annual tabletop wargaming convention for Battlegroup Boston (BGB). There were 36 4-hour games scheduled at the event. I ran 5 games of Wars of Ozz (one game on Friday, three on Saturday, and one on Sunday). Overall I think I had 27 players across my games.

The Wars of Ozz games that I ran were titled:

Friday evening: Munchkins versus Lions and Tigers and Bears – OH MY!
Saturday morning: Battle for the Magic Mushrooms & the Ancient Crystals of Power
Saturday afternoon: Rear Guard Action – The Pursuit of the Fleeing Gillikins
Saturday evening: The Desert Wars of Ozz
Sunday morning: The HAVOC XXXIX Wars of Ozz Tournament

Running so many games is indeed a challenge. I wish I could have posted about the other conventions I attended in February. These included COLD BARRAGE (3 games), TotalCon (10 games), and COLD WARS (3 games). These were done on three consecutive weekends in a row! So my apologies- blogging took a back seat. I hope to upload some photos of those events on Facebook. Yes hope.

For now, let’s take a look at each game at HAVOC 2025. Russ Dunaway had kindly supported my efforts with some prizes and giveaways that you’ll see.

Munchkins versus Lions and Tigers and Bears – OH MY!

The Munchkins are fighting the Gillikin’s Lions and Tigers and Bears (OH MY!). This is a quick session of Wars of Ozz suitable for all ages, new players and experienced ones. Will move very quickly!

The set up. There were 3 Munchkin brigades (left side) versus 3 Gillikin brigades (right side). Each Gillikin Brigade was dominated by units of Dire Lions, Dire Bears, and Dire Wolves. The Gillikins had only 1 regiment with muskets. However, the Munchkins had artillery and excellent musketry. All brigades were small – 11 to 13 points each, with each side worth 35 points.

The Gillikins assault the Munchkins directly with their regiments of dire beasts. One regiment of musketry moves to move around a town to hit their right flank (at bottom of photo).

The Munchkin Sharpshooter Regiment takes up position behind a river, flanked by a medium battery.

The Gillikin 1st Infantry and the Mystic Crone (a witch) make their move to flank the sharpshooters. The town screened their approach.

Colonel TikTok’s regiment was on the medium battery’s left. They watch as the first Dire Bear regiment approaches…their fire halts them…

Both the Tigers and Bears take hits coming in. The Munchkin infantry takes heavy damage. They hope one of the two artillery batteries will act quickly!

Alas, a Dire Bear regiment dispatches the Munchkin Light Battery. Their gun is left behind to be torn asunder.

The medium battery is now threatened! It too would be destroyed…

All the Munchkins had left was an intact infantry regiment. That unit was on the far left flank and had been successful at holding off Dire Lions and Dire Wolves. Meanwhile, the sharpshooters position was finally taken by the Gillikin Infantry (commanded by Dan Eustace). Dan’s flanking maneuver had been one of the keys to their final victory. The final score was 13-11 in favor of the Lions, Tigers, and Bears of the Gillikins. Dan was awarded a set of the Wars of Ozz rules for his efforts!

Battle for the Magic Mushrooms & the Ancient Crystals of Power

The world of Ozz is nothing if not magical – and there are many talismans & powerful weapons that spring up everywhere. In a remote section of Ozz, a wonderful magical find of a field of Magic Mushrooms near some rare Crystals of Power – has led to an Ozzian “Gold Rush”. Here, several Ozzian nations are scrambling to take seize & control of them. Factions have teamed up & are ready to fight to get these valuable resources and deny their capture by their enemies, but what will happen? Beginners are welcome. Rules will be taught. Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

I set this game up for 8 players. I ended up with two brigades being unused and two players acting as a team. So, 6 brigades competed here against each other. Here is a video of the set up:

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Players checking out their forces at the start.

Charles moves his Impkins towards the objectives. They are menaced by Professor Nitpik’s advance to their left, and the Gillikin’s advance to their right.

Carter’s Pollywomp brigade moves towards the objectives, while Gillikins and Quadlings try to catch up.

The Nitpik cavalry takes flanking artillery fire from both the Impkins and the Gillikins – and routs away!

In revenge, the Elite Axemen move towards the Impkin infantry, who form line.

Meanwhile, the 1st brigade of Gillikin’s Tigers seize a cache of crystals. They are shot at by Nitpik artillery, and rout – dropping their crystals. Their compatriot Lions grab a stash of mushrooms and hope to escape with their booty.

Across the table, Carter deftly deploys a blocking force of Pollywomp infantry against the approaching 2nd Gillikin brigade. The Quadlings try to sneak through the woods unmolested.

Carter’s block worked – and his cavalry seizes crystals while his infantry grabs mushrooms.

On the other side of the table, the Tigers recover quickly. They grab mushrooms dropped by the Lions, who had been routed. The Gillikin’s skeletons grab the crystals previously dropped by the Tigers.

At that point the game ended due to time. Crystals were worth 10 points and mushrooms 5. Carter’s (on the left) Pollywomps and Tim and his wife’s Gillikins were tied for the win(they played together). Carter chose a Zoraster the Wizard miniature for his win, and the couple got a set of the rules.

Rear Guard Action – The Pursuit of the Fleeing Gillikins (Wars of Ozz)

This is one of my favorite scenarios.

The Gillikins have recently been defeated by the Munchkins and their allies in a major battle. The remnants of the Gillikin forces are desperately trying to withdraw to the safety of their lands. The Gillikins Empress, Arella the Witch, has her Summoning Bell to call up the Undead to join her troops in retreat. Their Munchkin enemies – as well as their Nitpik and Impkin allies – are in hot pursuit. Can the Gillikins make it to safety, or will the Munchkins prevail? Beginners are welcome. Rules will be taught. Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

Brad moves his Nitpik troops towards the Gillikins.

The fleeing Gillikins and their Summoning Bell move forward towards safety.

Slow-moving Munchkins do their best to catch the Gillikins on their left flank.

Brad’s Nitpik cavalry wipes out a skeleton regiment and moves to hit the bell. The bell would not survive the encounter.

Meanwhile, the Gillikins had successfully exited multiple regiments off the table. The Munchkin alliance had destroyed many Gillikins as well. The Munchkins moved to block the road to safety, leaving a Dire Bear regiment’s remnants to be destroyed.

The game ended in a tie! 26 bases were saved by the Gillikins and 26 bases were destroyed by the Munchkin Alliance! What a nail-biter!

The Desert Wars of Ozz

Ozz has vast deserts, but they are not uninhabited. In fact, several races such as the Whim Whim and their mortal enemies the Temujicans vie for supremacy over these sandy tracts. Join this sweeping desert battle to control the deserts of Ozz and their hidden marvels and treasures. Will you be successful and prevail over your enemies – find out! Beginners are welcome. Rules will be taught. Players under 13 only with a playing adult.

This Saturday night game was set up to accommodate 8 players. I only had 4 – so I scaled it down. The game’s objective was control of a single oasis. The contestants were a Temujican Brigade and a Gillikin brigade versus 2 Whim Whim brigades.

Brad moves his Whim Whim up, while teammate Mark and opponents Mike and Richard watch.

The game became a mini-slugfest. In the end, the Temujican/Gillikins controlled the oasis for the win!

The HAVOC XXXIX Wars of Ozz Tournament

This was the final game of the convention.

At this tournament, players will be tested to see who is the best general in the Wars of Ozz. This is a playoff of evenly-valued brigades. This will be fast-paced. New players and old are welcome – but experience is a BIG plus – and there will be glory for the winner (and possibly prizes)! Do you have what it takes? Find out!

I can accommodate 8 players here, but only had 5. Each gets a 21-22 point brigade from a different faction at random. Each enemy base taken out is worth a point, with routed ones being worth half a point.

So based on a die roll, 4 players went into round one with 1 player getting a bye.

Each round lasted two turns. The winners in round one were the top three brigades so 1 player was eliminated. The player with the bye would face the strongest survivor from round 1. Bases would be made even in that match. Round two would reduce 4 players to just 2 players for the final championship. Lost bases would be lost forever and not make it into subsequent rounds.

Here is a video of the set up (not all brigades were used as described previously):

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These were the match ups in Round 1:

Pollywomps (Gregg) versus Gillikins (Eric). Gregg defeats Eric.
Gillikins (Rich) versus Nitpik (Brad). Rich defeats Brad.
Bye – Ken (Winkies)

After round 1, Rich graciously asked Brad to command his Gillikins in Round 2. Gregg and Eric were left to a rematch with their damaged units. However, Gregg was able to raise a number of Undead units with his spellcasters to offset his losses.

In Round 2, the match ups were:

Pollywomps (Gregg) versus Gillikins (Eric). Gregg defeats Eric again.
Gillikins (Brad) versus Winkies (Ken). Ken defeats Brad.

This set up the final round between Gregg’s Pollywomps and Ken’s Winkies – to the DEATH.

After a tough fight, Gregg’s Pollywomps came out on top! Congrats!

To the VICTOR! Gregg received the trophy – which I had made with a Dire Lion figure donation from Russ Dunaway!

As a side note, there will be similar prizes awarded at HUZZAH 2025.

Thanks to all at Battle Group Boston for a great event and to Russ Dunaway for his support. Thanks to ALL the players.

Special thanks to Brad Gosselin for being an outstanding wingman for the ENTIRE convention…you rock buddy!!

Next up is MAYHEM, where some of these games will be run – then HUZZAH!

Thanks for looking – and feel free to share this post and or comment!

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

Nitpik Mechanical Men Artillery Battery (Wars of Ozz)

Artillery for the forces of Professor Nitpik’s Mechanical army!

This medium artillery battery will play a prominent role in my Wars of Ozz games. It will be featured in upcoming gaming conventions (HAVOC, MAYHEM, and HUZZAH). The artillery battery consists of 6 crewmen and the gun. It is 28mm and metal, SKU OZZ-541. Assembly was required for the gun and to attach the mechanical men’s heads.

Amazingly, this unit for the army of Professor Nitpik is personally significant. It marks that I have now painted 1,000 figures for Wars of Ozz. I started back in November 2022 with Zoraster’s Guard Infantry. What a journey!

In my last post you saw my cavalry additions. I already had painted up an infantry unit of axemen before Nitpik had his own faction. So, artillery was the next logical addition.

This post will be brief. I did not take as many photos as I normally would. I am trying to shorten my posts going forward. I said “trying”.

Conventions beckon so time was short.

The pieces of the battery filed and washed.

I primed everything in black to include the MDF sabot base.

The gun came with a gun shield. The shield was perfectly flat, but thin and malleable. It looked to me less like a black powder-era weapon. It resembled more an anti-tank gun like a WWII German Pak 38. So, with that inspiration, I shaped it to be curved as well.

A German Pak 38. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_cm_Pak_38

I added a lot of rubble pieces to the sabot base. I also used pigments and washes to create a sooty and oily look. As with Nitpik’s cavalry, I used pearlized red and copper airbrush paints here.

Below are shots of the battery. In the end, I think I achieved a retro sci-fi/”Iron Man” look to the unit. I may continue this theme for future Nitpik units. All of the “eyes” were painted with fluorescent paints – though that might not be so obvious in the photos.

Here is a video for your viewing pleasure:

OZZ-541

I hope you enjoyed this post. Next up (after conventions), will be more of this faction. Plus…I have a plan for a new WWII tank project…

Final Notes and Links

Want to learn more about Ozz? If you want to check out the excellent Wars of Ozz figures’ range, there are two places to get them. You can also get the rules there. (I make no money from this.) The game rules and the figures are available from the next two places:

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the next two websites:

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THIS NITPIK MEDIUM ARTILLERY BATTERY:

PVA Glue
MDF Base
War Games Accessories Steel Bases (FOW1)
1/8″ neodymium magnets
Gorilla Glue
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
War Games Accessories Steel Bases (Number 1)
Alligator clips and stands
Poster tack
Specimen jars
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Createx Wicked Colors “High Performance Reducer”
ComArt “Opaque Carmine”
Createx Airbrush Colors “Pearl Copper”
Tamiya “Titanium Silver X-32”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Tamiya “Chrome Silver X-11”
Vallejo Model Air “Black Metallic”
Vallejo Model Color “Off White”
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics Effects “Data System Glow” (effect)
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics Effects “Neon Yellow” (effect)
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics Effects “Blue Flux” (effect)
Citadel “Spritstone Red” (technical)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Army Painter “Black Battlefields” (flocking)
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Juweelinis “Diorama Mix” – various metal scrap, tires, bricks
Popsicle stick shards
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Vallejo Acrylic Varnish “Gloss”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo Premium Color “Matte Varnish”
Pendraken 12mm dice frame

If you have any questions or feedback – go for it in the “Comments” section!

Mechanical Cavalry on Mechanical Horses (Wars of Ozz)

Professor Nitpik is back and has his own Industrial City faction for the Wars of Ozz. I painted up his infantry in 2023. But now he has his own faction with new troops, stats, (and new spelling). Right before TotalCon 39, I finished 11 figures for the cavalry regiment and three brigade commanders.

The figures are metal and 28mm. The SKU for the cavalry is OZZ-540 “Mechanical Cavalry on Mechanical Horses”and that for the brigade commanders is OZZ-544 “Mounted Mechanical Leaders”. The mechanical horses have a flame-breath weapon and the riders have short-range ray pistols (very short range).

Interestingly, as a new faction they have a totally new chart with new Resolve and Elan results – to include “Reboot” and “Caracole”. The former makes the mechanical soldiers pause and gives an enemy a free hit on them. The latter results in a cavalry charge that stops short of contact with all figures firing their pistols at the enemy.

As I have been DEEP into convention prep this month, I am just going to be brief here and show you some WIP and the finished products. For these, I chose a lot of pearlized airbrush and craft paints. I also decided to make them sooty, oily, and grimy over their shiny metal coats.

Using my airbrush I applied the pearlized copper as an undercoat over the primer. For the riders, I used a pearlized red. The brigade commander riders got pearlized blue, yellow, and purple paints. The mounts for all were painted identically.

Next, I added various metallic craft and airbrush paints – mostly also pearlized. Then, I assembled them all.

Below you can see that progress before varnishing. Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” provided a nice spilled/burned diesel sheen. Here are some close ups:

I varnished the figures with a gloss and a matte coating. I mounted the figures on their steel and MDF bases. Then, I added flocking material to “rubble up” the bases. This approach shows the ruins of the Industrial City from where they originated.

I like these railroad diorama rusted pieces.

I flocked these with junk. Then, I added pigments to the base rubble. This gave them a dirty and sooty look. Lastly, I added painted pillow batting exhaust fumes.

The 010 “Pumpkin Roaster” Mechanical Cavalry. So named because of their victory over the Great Pumpkinheads in a past battle.

The three brigade commanders were completed similarly, and given their abilities as you see below..

Lastly, here is a video of the unit and the brigade commanders:

Video of the brigade commanders for Professor Nitpik (OZZ-544) and the Pumpkin Roasters Mechanical Cavalry.

Here is the Instagram link for the same video:

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These 14 figures statues also qualify for Dave Stone’s annual “Paint What You Got Challenge”. Check it out! I’ll say it again. Dave is a great guy. I guess he’d prefer “solid bloke.” He runs this every year between Christmas and the end of February.

These were a lot of fun to build and paint up. I hope that you enjoyed them and that you will share any of your feedback in the comments section.

Final Note

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the next two websites:

Below you’ll see the list of paints and the like that I used on this project. They are more useful for me when I need to recreate a color scheme in the future. They might not be as useful for you. In any case, that’s why I post them.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE PROFESSOR NITPIK MECHANICAL CAVALRY AND BRIGADE COMMANDERS:

PVA Glue
Popsicle sticks
Gorilla Glue
Alligator clips and stands
MDF Bases
2″ Square War Games Accessories Steel Bases (21)
War Games Accessories Steel Bases (FOW1)
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Createx Wicked Colors “Pearl Red”
Createx Airbrush Colors “Pearl Copper”
Createx Airbrush Colors “Pearl Green”
Createx Airbrush Colors “Pearl Plum”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Sky Blue”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo “Metal Medium”
DecoArt “Peacock Pearl”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Metallic Green”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Metallic Blue”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Martha Stewart “Duckling Pearl”
Vallejo Model Color “Off White”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Off White”
Vallejo Model Color “Brass”
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Brazen Copper”
Army Painter Speed Paint 2.0 “Polished Silver”
Army Painter Warpaints Fanatics Effects “Data System Glow” (effect)
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Blood Red”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Fire Giant Orange”
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Zealot Yellow”
Army Painter Warpaints Air “Neon Yellow”
Vallejo Model Air “Chrome”
Army Painter Warpaints “Rough Iron”
Vallejo Thinner Medium
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
Battlefront “Black”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo Thinner
Army Painter “Black Battlefields” (flocking)
Juweela 1:35 Debris
Juweela Metal Scrap Rusty
Pillow batting
Vallejo “Carbon Black” (pigment)
Vallejo “Titanium White” (pigment)
Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
Vallejo Premium Color “Matte Varnish”
Black Sharpie pen
Brown Sharpie pen
Nitpik flag design from Wars of Ozz Facebook page (printed on card stock)
Card stock
Pendraken 12mm dice frames

And the Ozzcar goes to…

After I finished my Scarecrow Girl statue, I was motivated to make some more as gifts for my fellow Wars of Ozz game masters. Those would be Buck Surdu, Chris Palmer, Greg Priebe, and Dave Wood. As we are collaborating on a massive “Ozzaganza” game at Cold Wars, I thought that was worth a go.

As it turned out, I could not reasonably source another scarecrow girl, so I hit my local Dollar store to see what I could find – and there were some beekeeper gnome statues. As in Ozz there are “Nomes”, I got 4 (at $1.25 each). These were prepainted as you see, and made out of plaster of Paris I believe.

The Nomes as purchased from the Dollar Store. My Scarecrow Girl statue is in the background.

As for bases, I found a packet of 6″ wooden disks on Amazon. As these were much bigger than my previous build’s base, I chose to make a statue/fountain combination for these. Luckily I still had some more Tropicana Orange Juice lids to use as plinths.

Getting the disk centers just right with a Tropicana orange juice lid, a ruler, and a compass.

Applied Apoxie Sculpt and used Green Stuff World Dutch Brick roller on outside rims, while leaving the top to look like a concrete rim.

Laid little tiny Juweela 1:32 terracotta bricks in two courses with PVA to surround the orange juice lid plinths. The bricks would be painted red.

Used bronze paint to change the Nomes to statues.

Painted the fountain bottom blue using a mix of colors. Then stippled Vallejo “Slime Green” around the structures and on the fountain’s bottom.

Got my ducks in a row! The set comes with multiple colored ducks that actually will glow in the dark.

Dry brushed the plinths to resemble aged granite, then added a dark wash to the Nomes. Mounted the Nomes on the plinths and added a tiny frog.

Mounted 5 ducks with PVA to each fountain, and then let dry. After that, I added the still water blended with inks to the fountains.

The brick rims got a treatment of pigments to fill in and give a better look to the mortar. The Nomes and plinths then were set into the middle and I filled the little gap with PVA. Later I would reapply the slime to the water’s edge and hide any remaining gaps, and varnish the brick rim.

That would finish the project. Now…

Eye Candy

I was able to to present three of these at Cold Barrage in Havre de Grace Maryland to Greg Priebe, Chris Palmer and Buck Surdu. The fourth will go to Dave Wood at Cold Wars and take prominent places of the Ozzaganza tabletop.

Greg, Chris, and Buck with their “Ozzcars”.

These 4 statues also qualify for Dave Stone’s annual “Paint What You Got Challenge”. Check it out! Dave is a great guy and runs this every year between Christmas and the end of February.

Next up (hopefully shortly) the only figures that I finished for February…

Final Note

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the following two websites:

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE NOME BEEKEEPER STATUES/ “OZZCARS”:

Dollar Tree Store Beekeeper Nome Statues
DEAYOU MDF Circle, 6″ Round, 1″ thick Unfinished Wood Block for Centerpiece
Plastic Tropicana Orange Juice lid
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Folkart “Brushed Bronze”
Juweela Scenics 1:32 terracotta bricks
Americana “Slate Gray”
Vallejo Mecha Primer White
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Panzer Grey”
Citadel “Cryptek Armourshade” (wash)
Citadel “Retributor Armour” Citadel “Cryptek Armourshade” (wash)
Secret Weapon Washes “Stone” (wash)
Army Painter Speed Paint 1.0 “Gravelord Grey”
Vallejo Mecha Color “SZ Red”
Vallejo Game Air “Red Terracotta”
Vallejo Thinner Medium
Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
Card stock
PVA
Glue Gorilla Glue
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo “Slate Grey” (pigment)
Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Blue”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Turquoise”
Secret Weapon Washes “Blue” (ink)
Vallejo Environmental Weathering Effects “Slimy Grime Dark”
RillyRellow Dollhouse Resin Frogs
Tindobewan Glow in The Dark Mini Resin Ducks
Vallejo Game Ink “Green”
Vallejo Game Ink “Dark Green”
Secret Weapon Washes “Green” (ink)
Vallejo Environmental Weathering Effects “Still Water”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Matte Varnish”

Wargaming Terrain for Wars of Ozz – part 3 – Magic Mushrooms, Ancient Crystals of Power, and some base rehabs

For part three of this series, I wanted to share some smaller Wars of Ozz games projects. These projects included making some game markers. These are for a convention scenario I will be running. The scenario is called “Wars of Ozz – Battle for the Magic Mushrooms & the Ancient Crystals of Power“. There will be 6-8 players, each controlling one brigade, all converging on the center of the tabletop. At that center will be the Scarecrow Girl that I spotlighted in part 1. She will be surrounded by the Magic Mushrooms and the Ancient Crystals of Power. The players’ goal is to secure supplies of these and get them off the table to their homelands. Naturally, all the other players will compete for the same objective. Alternatively, they might try to deny possession to their competitors. Here is the game flyer:

Naturally, I would need to have some markers or tokens to denote actual possession of either mushrooms and crystals. Therefore, I put some together – that would at least look like terrain. These were not difficult to make, cobbling together some bits from here and there. First, I saw some wooden miniature bowls at Michael’s that I thought would fit the bill. I got 12 in 2 packages, and based them on wooded disks atop steel washers. I primed them green.

I decided to paint one third of these copper, one third gold, and one third silver. Then I flocked them as I was also working on the trees you saw in my last post.

The next challenge would be to get small mushrooms and crystals to fill the bowls. To that end, I used multiple products to bling out the bowls as full of ancient magic crystals.

I used Gorilla Glue to mount them in various combinations for the crystal markers.

As for the mushrooms, I found some colorful little ones on Amazon. They serve the purpose. I can use them on unit bases too.

And these were done!

I hope that these were fun to look at. In the game, possession of these will cause detrimental effects to the holders! So I expect a free-for-all in the game!

Additionally, I did adjust two units’ bases. The Great Flying Apes had one base that still needed adjustment to stay upright. I added a support wire and camouflaged it with some tall jungle turf.

The other basing challenge I needed to rectify involved my regiment of Mushroom Creatures. I really like the regiment, but their big caps obscure their eyes from above. The issue is that players struggle to identify the actual facing direction of the Mushroom Creatures’ bases. The same little mushrooms that I used for the markers shown here were the solution. I added them to the front of each base – problem solved!

I initially thought that this series would be one with just 3 parts. Now it will be 4 as I have finished off a very cool set of terrain pieces. I made these as gifts that simply MUST be shared. Stay tuned for a bonus part 4 and see if you agree!

Final Note

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

And the new Wars of Ozz Supplement is available as a PDF download from the following two websites:

Below you’ll see the list of paints and the like that I used on the markers. They are more useful for me when I need to recreate a color scheme in the future. They might not be as useful for you. In any case, that’s why I post them.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For my earlier posts on Wars of Ozz games, view this page. It includes figures, units, and other related projects.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE MAGIC MUSHROOM AND ANCIENT CRYSTALS OF POWER MARKERS:

1½” wooden disks from Michael’s
Everbilt ASD 1½” steel washers
Gorilla Glue
Twinkle 7mm plastic rhinestones
TOHO glass beads from Michael’s
Recollections purple bling stickers
Make Market Miniature Bowls & Plates (2 sets) from Michael’s
Everbilt ASP washers
PVA Glue
Binder clips
Vallejo Surface Primer “Russian Green”
Citadel “Auric Armour Gold”
Tamiya “XF-6 Copper”
Tamiya “XF-11 Chrome Silver”
Woodland Scenics “Blended Turf” (flocking)
Exasinine Mini Mushroom Resin Figurines for Home DéCor (Style 1, Small)

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