Great Flying Eagles (Wars of Ozz)

For all of the factions that I have in the game of Wars of Ozz, I want similar types of troops. That is, all should have access to infantry, cavalry, artillery, and magic users. Additionally, I want all factions to have at least some access to flying units. While I can add my Great Owls to any faction (as they belong to none and exist as potential allies), I wanted the Great Land of Harvest to have their own flyers – and they do – SKU #OZZ-526, “Great Flying Eagles”. I recently aquired this unit and wanted to get it battle-ready for upcoming club and convention games. And assembling them and painting them is the best way that I know of to acccomplish just that!

In OZZ-526, there are 10 figures – with no regimental commander. All of these are cast in metal and 28mm in size. Despite the fact that they are fliers, they are treated as infantry in the game. The eagles are based 2 apiece to a 2″ square base – so five bases for the 10-figure regiment.

Similar to the Great Owls figures, the figures come in three pieces. The eagles, a flight stand, and a log flight base. After some minor assembly, the unit was ready to prime and paint. I also bent the wings to provide them with a more movement-like appearance.

WIP Shots

As received – note the bases and flight stands.

The Great Flying Eagles (as opposed to the walking kind I guess), assembled and mounted for painting. You can see the bends I made in the wings.

Painting went fairly smoothly – I did deviate from the American Bald Eagle in terms of eye coloration – as all of my Great Land of Harvest troops have haunting green eyes – so would these birds. I also gave the bases more color with regards to the mushrooms, moss, and mold on the tree branch bases. My flocking approach was to have them resemble more of a woodland ground scheme (with no flowers) than a field.

After painting and awaiting varnish and flocking.

A Great Flying Eagle regiment has excellent mobility with a base movement of 4″. Plus, like all flyers, they can fly over an enemy and hit them from the rear. The regiment has a solid Melee value of 7/10, and a good Elan value of 6/10 as well. Where they are average is at Resolve (not running away from a fight) – with value of 5/10. The unit costs 4 points which is pretty cheap, and they can serve as allies to another faction per the rules.

Now, I for a brief show of some flying eye candy. As the figures are pretty uniform, I am sticking with larger group shots for this post.

Eye Candy

Side shot of the eagles in column formation.

As with many Ozz units, these birds were fun and very quick to do.

As a bonus shot, last weekend they saw their tabletop debut on the side of the Impkins as an ally. They routed a Gillikin Infantry Regiment – shown below routing from the eagles. The Gillikins were driven fom the field of battle by the eagles.

Even with a base loss, these eagles decimated this Gillikin Regiment.

Next up will be some thing new for my Ozz armies – lot’s of individual figures for leadership and magic!

And yes, I still have 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 FIGURES FOR THIS GREAT FLYING EAGLE REGIMENT:

Gorilla Glue
Everlast 3/4″ steel washers
War Games Accessories 2′ square steel bases (#21)
Poster tack
Vallejo Premium White Primer
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Battlefront “Sherman Drab”
Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
Battlefront “German Camouflage Black Brown”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Garaghak’s Sewer”
Citadel “Contrast Medium”
Reaper MSP Colors “Pure Black”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Bad Moon Yellow”
Citadel “Ushabti Bone”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Ghillie Dew 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Burnt Moss 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Malignant Green 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Familiar Pink 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Raging Sea 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Purple Swarm 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Poppy Red 2.0”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Imperial Fist”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Brownish Decay 2.0”
Army Painter “Speed Paint Medium 1.0”
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
Citadel “Tesseract Glow” (technical)
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Pendraken 12mm dice frames
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Citadel “Stirland Battlemire” (texture)
Gamer’s Grass “Strong Green XL” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Green Moss 2mm” (flocking)

Again, as you may want to check out the Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them (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.

Savage Apple Trees (Wars of Ozz)

It’s been a while since I posted anything about painted figures. As I mentioned in my last post, October 2023 found me busier than I have been for quite some time. In addition to finishing up my Ozz terrain and a storage box for it, I managed to finish off two Wars of Ozz units for use at HMGS Fall In!®. This post is about the first one – the Savage Apple Trees.

In the 1939 Movie, The Wizard of Oz, most of us may remember Dorothy and the scarecrow being assaulted by grumpy apple trees as they picked apples.

The apple trees attack – from the 1939 MGM movie, ***The Wizard of Oz***.

Close up of a grumpy apple tree- from the 1939 MGM movie, ***The Wizard of Oz***.

In the Ozz world, these apple trees are part of the forces of the Great Land of Harvest. They are listed on the Wars of Ozz miniatures site as OZZ-523, Savage Apple Trees. In the game, they have both melee abilities and missile attacks (thrown apples of course). Additionally, they have the opportunity for secret deployment on the tabletop on a predetermined section of woods. This does give them the advantage of showing up unexpected on an enemy rear or flank.

Another advantage is that they are less affected by musketry (but not cannon). Their main disadvantages are twofold. First, the ranges for thrown apples is slightly worse than carbines – with only 4″ for short range with a maximum of 6″ for long range. Second, they also move relatively slowly as befits a tree unit. They are listed in the “Allies and Mercenaries” section on the website, and in the rules are listed under the Great Land of Harvest.

In the game,they are average melee troops, with Melee values of 5/10, Resolve values of 6/10, and Elan values of 6/10. They are even just average apple throwers, with a marksmanship of only 5/10. On the plus side, the unit is relatively inexpensive at only 4 points. As trees, they can pass through woods without any penalty, though still are slow.

The figures are all large enough to fit 1 figure each on a 2″ square base. They come 5 to a unit, are 28mm in scale, and are metal. All needed assembly and foliage attachments. There are two types of branches that can be added, plus the branches on the main trunk. Additionally, there is a base for each tree and 50 apples that can be mounted on the trees or scattered on the bases. Each figure, once assembled, can have its branches bent to allow both nesting of the completed figures in a formation (without hitting a neighboring tree base) as well as to give some degree of individuality. There are no faces on the trees.

WIP Shots…

The Savage Apple Trees after cleaning up of any mold lines and a good washing.

The challenge of their assembly needed a bit of planning on my part. Initially, I decided to assemble the trees, then paint them fully, then add foliage. For attachment of the limbs and bases, I first went with green stuff – but that proved to be ineffective – as the subsequent act of bending the tree branches for nesting detached a few trunks and branches. Ugh! So, I went back to drilling out and pinning the component branches and bases and gluing with trusty Gorilla Glue. I was also able to mount the trees onto their steel 2″ bases for painting – which helped with my validating their nesting arrangements to a large degree.

The next step was to paint the assembled trees on their bases and the extra apples on a plate, which was pretty straightforward.

Early painting. The extra apples are on the plate.

Later painting – I found that I needed to bend the limbs and branches here much more than shown here to facilitate nesting in a game formation. Even though the green stuff had cured, that bending led to repair and pinning!

WIth the branches and apples rebent and repaired for nesting prior to the addition of foliage.

After painting, it was on to varnishing and adding foliage and flocking. As for the foliage, I had gotten some good experience with the repair of the Impkin Artillery (slingshot) that I discussed in my last post.

Additionally, IRO’s help after reading his Bolt Action blog post discussing trees and terrain and his comments helped me immensely, particularly with how to affix clump foliage. If you don’t follow his blog, you should! Thanks Luke!

Based on what I learned from IRO, and what I saw in this You Tube video, I ended up using three types of glue/adhesive. First, I applied Woodland Scenics “Hob-e-tac” to the painted branches and let that dry clear per the instructions. Then I added small bits of mid-green foliage clumps one at a time by pinching them onto the Hob-e-tac. I then let that dry, then followed that step with more Hob-e-tac on the nearby branches. As the foliage grew, I added sprays of Woodland Scenics “Spray-Tac” as well as sprinking little apples from Woodland Scenics “Fruit Apples and Oranges”, and let that dry. In between, I’d also add a few lines of PVA onto the foliage clumps so as to create stronger bondsand “bridges” between the foliage clumps that I was building up. This was tedious as I needed to let the different glues on the foliage dry and harden before moving on to another step. Also, when you use the Spray-Tac, you need to wash out the nozzle and its assembly. As a side note, my nozzle assembly came apart during this process which was a pain to reassemble – so beware! I still do like the Spray-Tac as it dries matte.

The last step was to flock the bases. For this, I added some grass, some scattered random metal and Woodland Scenics apples, some pieces of clump foliage, and some twigs. I have been adding Pendraken 12mm dice frames to my units as well (just one as any unit only needs one).

Eye Candy

They saw their tabletop combat debut last weekend at HMGS Fall In!®. I hope to share some photos of that convention in an upcoming post. I can even see using these in mass fantasy battle games of Wars of Orcs and Dwarves.

I hope that you found this somewhat post interesting and maybe even helpful. Most diorama builders are probably laughing a bit at my challenges here – as they are more used to using the foliage and associated glues than I was.

Next up is Professor Nitpick and his Mechanical Tin Axemen, then a Fall In recap!

And yes, I still have more 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 THESE SAVAGE APPLE TREE FIGURES:

Savage Apple Trees

2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#21)
Green Stuff (kneadatite)
Poster tack
Gorilla Glue
Vallejo Grey Surface Primer
Citadel “Contrast Medium”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Wyldwood”
Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Poppy Red”
Vallejo Model Air “First Light”
Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
Citadel “Skrag Brown”
Battlefront “Firefly Green”
Battlefront “Tommy Green”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
Vallejo Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Pendraken 12mm dice frame
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Woodland Scenics “Hob-e-Tac Adhesive”
Woodland Scenics “Clump Foliage-Medium Green”
All Game Terrain “Foliage Clumps-Medium Green”
Woodland Scenics “FS645 Spray-Tac”
Woodland Scenics “Fruit Apples and Oranges” (just used the apples)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Red Flowers” (flocking)
Small twigs

Again, as you may want to check out the Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them (and I make no money from this btw – I just love this stuff).

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.

Harvesters – Fearsome Scarecrows of the Night (Wars of Ozz)

As I promised in my last post…I now present to you some creepy and scary scarecrows for the Great Land of Harvest Army! These are from OZZ-507, “Harvesters – Fearsome Scarecrows of the Night”. They are listed in the “allies and mercenaries” section on the website, and in the rules are listed under the “Land of Harvest”.

There are 20 figures, all are metal and 28mm in size. They look like creepy scarecrows – and they do bear a strong resemblance to many of the Lesser Pumpkinhead figures. In the game, the Harvesters are infantry, but they are less affected by musketry (not cannon though). I assume that is because bullets pass through them relatively easily. They are based 4 to a 2″ square base – so five bases for the regiment. There is no regimental commander. No assembly was required for the unit other than the basing. They are reasonably good melee troops with a Melee value of 6/10, a Resolve value of 7/10, and an Elan value of 7/10 as well. The unit costs 4 points.

They are armed with a motley assortment of weapons – rakes, scythes, pitchforks, sickles, axes, hatchets, and even a hoe. As you will see below, I based them so as to mix and match the poses and the figure types such that no two bases of the five were identical. I needed to get these done for a game and I got them in under the wire – and I will share a post on that game soon.

Harkening back to my Scarecrow figure from the Adventurers of Ozz, and my other Harvest figures, I gave these zombie-colored flesh and glowing eyes. Some of the figures had pumpkin heads but I still gave their limbs a zombie flesh treatment. Other figures had hoods or sacks over their heads, so the glowing eyes tied them together too. I made sure that their clothes varied in color as after all, these are scarecrows.

I wanted them to appear as if they were coming out of a grassy overgrown field, so my basing choices reflected that in terms of the mixed flocking you’ll see. I also wanted to hide their feet as I felt that would look more creepy in the grass. You can decide for your self if that worked. Lastly, for playability, I added a small stone at the back of each base for alignment – as it’s not easy to see which way is “forward” given the rabble-look in which I arranged these guys.

I started these in June and worked on these in July – and finished them up in July. Let’s see some WIP shots and some more pics below!

WIP Shots…

The Harvesters as received – organized by type. As you can see, there was a motley assortment of figures and weapons.

On washers for mounting and subsequent painting.

My rough plan and layout on June 26th. I would get delayed over the July 4th holidays!

July 8 celebration! We have the fireworks in our town the weekend after Independence Day – they save money and get a better show (more “bang” for the buck. My wife Lynn and our granddaughter Tabitha shown here after watching the parade go by our house. So, no painting!

Back at it on July 9 – dry brushing over a dark wash.

They waited for me to get back at them – a July 16 restart.

I was able to finish painting them on July 18th, as seen below.

After varnishing them and letting them dry, I mounted them on the bases and went to town on the flocking – and to hide the feet.

Eye Candy

Base 1

Base 2

Base 3

Base 4

Base 5

Group Shot

I hope that you found this somewhat late post interesting. Next, I hope to share a post of their first battle at the Mass Pikemen Gaming Club.

And yes, I still have more 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 THESE HARVESTER FIGURES:

Gorilla Glue
3/4″ steel washers
Poster tack
Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Pure White”
Citadel Technical “Tesseract Glow”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Runic Grey”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ultramarine Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Brownish Decay”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Gore Grunta Fur”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aethermatic Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Dark Angels Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Militarum Green”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Charming Chartreuse”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Oche Clay”
Tamiya “X-6 Orange”
Tamiya “X-20A Thinner”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Bony Matter”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Poppy Red”
Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Wyldwood”
Vallejo Model Air “Brown”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Camo Cloak”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Murder Scene”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Plaguebearer Flesh”
Vallejo Model Color “Black Green”
Vallejo Model Color “Neutral Grey”
Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
Vallejo Game Ink “Black Green”
Vallejo Model Air “Black (Metallic)”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
Battlefront “Dark Leather”
PS Model Color “USAAF Olive Drab”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Varnish “Satin Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Black Sharpie pen
2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#21)
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “12mm Tan Tufts” (flocking)
Army Painter “4mm Wilderness Tufts” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Autumn XL” (flocking)
Army Painter “Yellow Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Lowland Shrubs” (flocking)
Small stones (flocking)

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

3 Pumpkin Headed Generals and a Harvest Witch (Wars of Ozz)

In my previous post about King Jack and the Great Pumpkin Heads of the Great Land of Harvest, I discussed his leadership abilities – in that he’s the only one among the pumpkinheads who actually can speak to other races. I am sure that he must be able to communicate (in ways non-pumpkinheads can understand) to his kind like the Lesser Pumpkinheads, the Harvestland Artillery, and other Land of Harvest units and individuals. There must be something to the guttural moans emanating from the menageries of vegetable troops of the Great Land of Harvest that is a form of communication in some way.

But wouldn’t King Jack need some able-bodied lieutenants to help him to command his army? Plus, hell, he’d need some type of witch or wizard to even out his forces against enemies with their own magic users? And yes, I know he needs cavalry – which exists in that world – and I eventually hope to add them – but not right now…too many figures are already in the queue!

For these reasons, my immediate need pre-HUZZAH 2023 was to get a few subordinate general officers for my Harvest forces – as well as a Harvest witch. Having more brigade commanders would allow me to field several brigades (albeit smaller at first) of maniacal veggies. And a adding a witch would make playing that side more fun too.

Way back, I accidentally ordered two Zoraster the Wizard figures during the initial Kickstarter. I was able to trade my excess wizard with Greg Priebe of the Harford Maryland H.A.W.K.’s for a generic witch.

I have named her Lady Thistlethorn, the Harvest Witch. It’s a good a name as any. She’s an Ozz figure, and was part of the random wizards and witches for Ozz available as OZZ-513. Of course, Lady Thistlethorn will have her spells assigned randomly each game.

As for the three generals, they came from OZZ-531, “Pumpkin Headed Generals”. In the rules, they are listed as General Gourdvine, General Squashblossom, and General Crustfiller. Each has a single defined benefit and a random one – and all can serve as either brigade or army commanders.

The figures are not identified/associated with a particular name, so I chose to make General Gourdvine as the figure with the traditional jack-o-lantern head, General Squashblossom as the jack-o-lantern-headed figure with the carrot nose, and General Crustfiller as the figure with the burlap bag over his head (?). All 3 are mounted on skeletonized horses. The three are metal, 28mm scale, and came in two pieces (rider trunk and mount with the legs).

As with the Lesser Pumpkinheads, my goal was to use the basic colors of the Great Pumpkin Heads for these – and especially the yellow-green eyes. Once again, I also needed to show straw (like the stuffing of a scarecrow) coming out of the holes in their clothes and near their wrists.

For Lady Thistlethorn, I went with a black outfit with green facings – and a slightly different green for her skin. I am not fully happy with her, as the two green shades are too close, but in the rush for Huzzah 2023 prep, I decided that she was good enough for now. She’s a bit sexy with her thigh-high boots and leather bustier – and certainly I will get some more witches in the future.

I’ll share a few WIP shots of the PHG’s and the HW and then move onto the eye candy for both types. I will list my paints etc. at the end as I normally do for those interested (and for my own reference in the future should I need that information as often is the case).

Pumpkin Headed Generals

PHG WIP Shots…

Painting completed pre-varnish and pre-flocking.

Harvest Witch (Lady Thistlethorn)

Harvest Witch WIP Shots…

Now-named Lady Thistlethorn the Harvest Witch after cleanup.

Eye Candy

Pumpkin Headed Generals Eye Candy

General Gourdvine

General Squashblossom

General Crustfiller

Harvest Witch (Lady Thistlethorn) Eye Candy

Group shot

That’s the Pumpkin Headed Generals and Lady Thistlethorn, the Harvest Witch. They did all debut at Huzzah 2023.

Thanks for taking a look and for any feedback. The next post will round out my pre-Huzzah 2023 painting scramble. Hint:

And yes, I still have more 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 THESE PUMPKIN HEADED GENERALS:

Mounted Brigade Commander MDF bases from Old Glory/Wars of Ozz Miniatures
1 1/4″ x 1″ steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#FOW1)
2″ square steel base from Wargames Accessories (#21)
Gorilla Glue
Poster tack
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “Black”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Citadel “Tesseract Glow”
Battlefront “Black”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Dusk Red”
Vallejo Model Color “Black” (metallic)
Battlefront “Gunship Green”
Hataka “Beige”
Citadel “Mechanicus Standard Grey”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Striking Scorpion Green”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Bad Moon Yellow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
Tamiya “Orange”
Tamiya “X-20A Thinner”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Nazdreg Yellow”
Vallejo Model Color “Light Orange”
Vallejo Model Color “Clear Orange”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Model Air “Steel”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
Army Painter “Mid Brown” (wash/shade)
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash)
PS Model Color “US Olive Drab”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest Orange Tufts” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Orange Flowers” (flocking)
Small stones (flocking)
Small oak twigs (flocking)

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE HARVEST WITCH (“LADY THISTLETHORN”):

3/4″ steel washer
Gorilla Glue
Poster tack
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Citadel “Tesseract Glow”
Battlefront “Black”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Forest Sprite”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Striking Scorpion Green”
Citadel “Squid Orange”
Vallejo Model Color “Wood”
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Nazdreg Yellow”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Space Wolves Grey”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
Citadel “Waystone Green” (Technical)
Army Painter “Green Tone” (wash/shade)
PS Model Color “US Olive Drab”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest Orange Tufts” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Orange Flowers” (flocking)

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

Mushroom Creatures (Wars of Ozz)

In my last blog post I promised something “fungal” this time – and here it is – a regiment of Mushroom Creatures for Wars of Ozz!

This unit was yet another part of my painting scramble to get ready for HUZZAH! 2023. It joins my other forces for the Great Land of Harvest. The unit is composed of 10 figures to be based each on 5 stands, 2 per stand. Similar to some other Great Land of Harvest regiments, the Mushroom Creature Infantry Regiment is comprised of 10 metal figures armed – with differently-sized stone sledgehammers and hammers. The figures are of different heights, but did not need assembly as each figure came in a single piece.

The photo of the unit on the Wars of Ozz website served as a starting point for me for painting. I liked the spotted mushroom caps – but wanted to have a greater variety of colors. This is, after all, Ozz! Plus I had a lot of new Speed and Contrast Paints to try as I got the 2.0 set.

I varied the different models so as to create a variety of bases. I took the same approach with the colors so that no two bases would be the same. They are based in the game on five 2″ square bases without a Regimental Commander. Their melee value is pretty strong at 7 out of 10. Their Elan and Resolve values are the same as the other Harvest units at 6 out of 10. In fact, they have the same stats as the Great Menacing Hammerheads.

These also have a facial look of intent to do great harm to their enemies, but were pretty easy to paint up. Again, to match my other Harvest troops, I did paint the eyes with a glowing yellow-green (Tesseract Glow). I’ll share a few WIP shots and then some eye candy of the Mushroom Creatures regiment. I’ll briefly describe the painting process that I used with the contrast and speed paints. All of the paints that I used will be listed at the end as I normally do for those interested in that stuff.

WIP Shots…

The figures as received – very cool and pretty easy to paint up. I mounted the figures on 3/4″ steel washers, then onto poster-tack covered specimen jars for ease of painting.

I primed these white so I could get the best results on the mushroom caps (the most visible feature on the tabletop). That white also “absorbs” colors from Speed and Contrast paints the best. You can make out the penciled dots that I have placed on the caps – which I would line out with black and then regular white paint before adding colors.

Very simple to paint! I decided that the caps should vary, but that the rest of the figures colors should be relatively uniform.

Once painted, I airbrushed these with two coats of varnish sequentially – first a coat of gloss then a coat of matte. Then I flocked the bases with the same color themes as my other Harvest troops.

Who doesn’t love anthropomorphic mushrooms armed with stone hammers anyways?

How about some…

Eye Candy

As the figures are really uninteresting from behind , I decided to stay with frontal shots. Sorry to disappoint all you miniature mushroom figure butt fans out there…

Stand 1

Stand 2

Stand 3

Stand 4

Stand 5

Group shot

Similar to what I found with the Great Menacing Hammerheads, photographing these was difficult – this time due to the mushroom caps shading the figures. I think you get the idea of how they look in the group shot. From above they look quite fungal!

I did find that the contrast paints tended to have cracks/microfissures on wider surfaces like the mushroom tops when they dried and were “stretched out”. Adding a second coat was enough pre-varnish to fix that problem. Not my finest work, but I like them, and they will be just fine on the tabletop.

That’s all for the Mushroom Creatures Infantry Regiment. Like me, I’m sure you want a pizza now with mushrooms now! Well, I always do…

I hope that you liked this slice of Ozz wackiness as much as I did.

I currently have just 2 more Ozz blog posts in the queue and then I can get back to painting more stuff – so stay tuned.

My next post will make you consider – who would work for or under King Jack?

Thanks for taking a look and any feedback is always appreciated

And yes, I still have more 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 THIS MUSHROOM CREATURE INFANTRY REGIMENT:

Gorilla Glue
3/4″ steel washers
Poster tack
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Premium Surface Primer “White”
Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
Army Painter Airbrush Primer “White”
Battlefront “Black”
Vallejo Model Color “White”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Holy White”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Dark Wood”
Citadel “Mechanicus Standard Grey”
Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
Citadel “Tesseract Glow”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Purple Swarm”
Army Painter “Speed Paint Medium”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Dusk Red”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Familiar Pink”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Battleship Grey”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Caribbean Ocean”
Army Painter “Speed Paint – Beowulf Blue”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aggaros Dunes”
Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
PS Model Color “British Brown Drab”
2″ square steel base from Wargames Accessories (#21)
Army Painter “Light Tone” (wash/shade)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Gloss Varnish”
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
Army Painter “Battlefields Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest Orange Tufts” (flocking)
Gamer’s Grass “Orange Flowers” (flocking)
Small stones (flocking)
Small oak twigs (flocking)

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

In the UK go to Sally 4th.

Great Menacing Hammerheads (Wars of Ozz)

In my painting scramble to get ready for HUZZAH! 2023, I painted a number of regiments, leaders and individuals for my Wars of Ozz games. You may have noticed several of them in my last post. Most of these projects involved regiments from the Great Land of Harvest. One of them was the Great Menacing Hammerheads, SKU#528. The unit is composed of 10 figures to be based each on 5 stands.

The photo of them on the Wars of Ozz website intrigued me:

What exactly are these?

Great Menacing Hammerheads on ***Wars of Ozz*** website.

They are listed in the rules as part of forces available to the Great Land of Harvest. Still, again…

What exactly are these?

The rulebook is silent on this, except to suggest that these creatures may be one of many mutations that occurred after the Madness Bombs fell 300 years ago. I am by no means expert on the original Baum Wizard of Oz works that inspired the game. With a little digging on the old internet, I found a couple of clues. Apparently these do appear in the Oz books around the year 1900 – and are quite xenophobic and weird. There is an Oz Wiki site – and there I found this:

“They had nearly reached the first rock when they heard a rough voice cry out, “KEEP BACK!” “Who are you?” asked the Scarecrow. Then a face showed itself over the rock and the same voice said, “THIS HILL IS OUR HILL, THE HILL OF US HAMMER-HEADS, AND WE DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO EVER CROSS IT!” “But we must cross it,” said the Scarecrow. “We’re going to the country of the Quadlings to see its ruler, Glinda the Good Witch, so we must.” “BUT YOU MUST NOT!” Replied the voice, and there stepped from behind the large rocks the strangest man the travelers had ever seen. He was quite short and stout, standing no more than three feet high and had a big, oversized head, which was smooth on the top and as flat as a hammer. The head was supported by a thick, long, fat neck full of many layers of wrinkles. But the body had no arms at all, not even stubs.“―The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
from the Oz Wiki

A little more digging found these images from the original books:

It appears that their attack mode is a whipping-extending forward-head-butting action. How they button their clothes, tie their shoes, or perform acts of personal hygiene are certainly left to the imagination…

Another site (The Creature Codex)shows an interesting artist’s concept of these as monsters as shown by the photo below:

“Hammer-Heads” © Orion’s Bell LLC, by Daniel Silberberg.

These look more menacing and Ozz-like, but lack the “hammerheads”. As for why the Great Menacing Hammerheads (let’s call them the GMHH) are listed as part of the Great Land of Harvest forces, I am not 100% sure given the above. I can accept that given the previous quote and their alleged xenophobia, they probably would only fight alongside their nearest neighbor mutants? In any case, I happily bought them and proceeded to build and paint the regiment.

Similar to some other Great Land of Harvest regiments, the GMHH unit is comprised of 10 metal figures, and each is unarmed – save for their heads, which are different types of hammers. The figures are of different heights, and needed assembly insofar as each figure came in two pieces – a torso and a long neck/head combination. The figures reminded me a bit of malevolent sneetches – if Dr. Seuss had disarmed them…(sorry for that)…

Let’s move on to the figures shall we?

I needed to assemble the unit and affix the two pieces. I decided to channel my inner Roger and use green stuff and sculpt a type of sneetch-inspired ruffled collar on them which would also serve as a bond for the models. I varied the heads so that no two bases would be the same. They are based in the game on five 2″ square bases without a Regimental Commander. Their melee value is pretty strong at 7 out of 10. Their Elan and Resolve values are the same as the other Harvest units at 6 out of 10.

I wanted them to look wild and crazy – and certainly as “menacing” as I could. Their varied head positions helped with this as did varied base flocking. Lastly, to match my other Harvest troops, I did paint the eyes with a glowing yellow-green (Tesseract Glow).

As before, I’ll share a few WIP shots and then some eye candy of the GMHH regiment. I’ll start with assembly of the figures and then move to describing the painting process. I used a number of contrast and speed paints, but did also use highlights and washes. All of the paints that I used will be listed at the end as I normally do for those interested in that level of detail.

WIP Shots…

The GMHH Regiment assembled with the green stuff-sculpted “collar ruffles”.

After priming and some initial work on their flesh. I went with green flesh as they are part of Harvest forces.

Made their hammerheads quite metallic, and their bodies brown like a quail. The neck collars are fiery orange.

Close up of face and body work – left 4 figures…

I varnished these with a coat of gloss followed by one of matte. Then I flocked the bases with the same color themes as my other Harvest troops. How about some…