French Armor for Operation Torch: Renault FT-17’s

Vichy France had many different old or at least obsolete combat vehicles in their colonies. While more than half of Metropolitan France was occupied by the Germans, under the Armistice of 22 June 1940, Vichy was still obligated to defend its unoccupied lands as a neutral state.

As such, while Vichy was denied armored units, she was allowed to have integrated combined-arms units in the colonies – forces that had armored vehicles. These Vichy tanks and armored cars would play a role in Operation Torch in November 1942 against US forces in Morocco (and Algeria as well).

Abandoned / damaged Vichy French Renault FT-17 tanks are examined by curious US Personnel in Safi Morocco during Operation Torch – November 1942 – from https://www.reddit.com/r/WW2info/comments/17rn03o/abandoned_damaged_vichy_french_renault_ft17_tanks/

My last post covered two older (by November 1942 standards) armored cars used by Vichy forces – the White-Laffly AMD 80 and the Schneider AMC P16. Vichy also had tanks in North Africa, one of the most common was the WWI-vintage Renault FT-17.

For this post, I will discuss the venerable Renault FT-17’s that I built and painted up for my Operation Torch game of What a Tanker that I ran at HISTORICON 2025.

3,000 FT-17’s were built by France between 1917 and 1919. Indeed, she had so many old FT-17’s that the development and acquisition of newer tanks was negatively affected. Simply put, the French budgetary bean counters saw that the French Army had plenty of tanks available on paper, so why build too many more expensive ones? This would not bode well when May-June 1940 came around. Of course, French military doctrine was as least as equally to blame for the Fall of France (read BG Doughty’s The Seeds of Disaster: The Development of French Army Doctrine 1919-1939). After that debacle, Vichy did have many FT-17’s still in her colonies.

For my game, I had to have some FT-17’s. Historically, some were armed with the Puteaux SA18 37mm cannon, others with machine guns and even a very few with a short-barreled 75mm howitzer. For my game-design purposes, I decided that all should be armed with the 37mm cannon. I did have one completed 15mm/1:100 scale metal FT-17 from Peter Pig that I could rebase and use – it was described in my blog here.

To augment that, I purchased a 5-vehicle FT-17 platoon on eBay from jacobsminis (aka HobbyHouse&Miniatures.LLC). The tanks were nice crisp resin models. I ordered them on April 8th, and they arrived on April 14th. I started to work on them on April 28th (while concurrently working on all of the other vehicles for the project).

After washing the models, I drilled out and installed neodymium magnets in the hulls with green stuff. I also drilled out the turret bases to accommodate small flat-headed steel nails. These would work with the magnets in the hulls to both allow rotation and keep the turrets relatively secure. Priming and painting followed.

As I was working on many other vehicles, photo time got to be rare for me. Therefore, I do not have much in terms of WIP shots. I adopted the same airbrush painting pattern as I used for the Peter Pig model. The only difference was that I did not add a lot of mud to the tracks.

The main painting is done. You can see the turrets are semi-mounted temporarily on magnets and steel washers for painting purposes.

Then it was on to the decal and basing phases, which were like those that I employed and shared in my last post. I did end up with similar numerical decals on different tanks – but I did vary the sides and the other decals. Each one had a distinct name.

As an example, here is “MARECHAL PETAIN”. Each steel base is 1½” x 2″.

I’m sure that you’d like some better “eye candy”, so…

FT-17’s

“REIMS”

“MARECHAL FOCH”

“MARECHAL PETAIN”

“TYPHON”

“TOMBOUCTOU”

Group Shots

Below are all my FT-17’s, including the Peter Pig model on the front right. It has no name – but it does have mud!

Another view of the opposite side of the tanks – the Peter Pig model is on the bottom right here as well.

With terrible armor – yet the same 37mm gun as many other Vichy French AFV’s – these antique FT-17’s did indeed engage the US in battle in November 1942.

And an Instagram link for a video: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMwIOgMNcpD/

I do want to dedicate this post to my good friend Leif, who adores the FT-17 more than anyone else I know. When we play, it’s an easy choice as to which side he wants. He also helps me immensely at conventions – so this post is for you!

To all of you, thanks for looking! I will have share more Vichy vehicles soon. I eventually painted up 31 Vichy – and so far I’ve covered just 12 of them (6 FT-17’s, 3 White-Laffly AMD 80’s, and 3 Schneider AMC P16’s). More to come as I catch up. And there of course will be US vehicles. As always, if you want, I’d love to hear any feedback – feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

For all of my posts on WWII games and projects – there is a consolidated list of posts and their links located here.

Next up – Hotchkiss 35’s, 39’s, and Renault 35’s. Until my next post!

MATERIALS USED

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THESE FT-17 MODELS:

Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Green Stuff
War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 23 (1½” x 2″)
No. 19 x ½” flat head nails
Neodymium magnets (⅛” and ¼”)
Gorilla Glue
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Wooden Blocks, steel bolts, steel washers, nails, magnets, steel screws
Vallejo Model Air “Dark Brown”
Vallejo Primers “NATO Green”
Vallejo Premium Color “Yellow Ochre”
Hataka “Vert Fonce”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sea Grey”
Battlefront “Oxide Red”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo Mecha Weathering Effects “Dark Rust Wash”
Vallejo “Mecha Varnish Gloss”
Microscale Industries “Micro Set”
Microscale Industries “Micro Sol”
Microscale Industries “Liquid Decal Film”
Flames of War French Decal Set (FR940)
Peddinghaus-Decals 1/100 2181 “World of Flames French tanks early war”
Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Matte Polyurethane Varnish”
Printed labels on card stock
Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
PVA Glue

French Armor for Operation Torch: White-Laffly AMD 80’s & Schneider AMC P16’s

Having decided to run an Operation Torch game of What a Tanker at HISTORICON 2025, I had to get working back in March and early April. It was time to gather enough vehicles and paint them up. As you will see in these entries, it was not always easy, especially for some of the esoteric/rare Vichy vehicles.

This blog will, as I promised, catch you up on the myriad of US and Vichy French vehicles that I assembled and painted for that recent convention. If I had stopped to blog about them at the time, I don’t think I would have gotten everything done. I had not built any tanks in many years, so I was excited!

After the Fall of France, there were still French Army units defending the colonies. So let’s start with some of these Vichy French vehicles for November 1942.

I will start with two types of Old Glory models. Both are metal and 1:100 in scale (15mm).

The first one is SKU CD607, “White-Laffly AMD 80“. This vehicle was a twice-modified holdover from WWI, and it looks it. Around 28 were reworked in 1934. It was rearmed with three machine guns. One heavy machine gun replaced the Puteaux SA18 37mm cannon in the turret that its predecessor, the AMD 50, had. AMD stands for “automitrailleuse de decouverte” – basically “armored scout car” in English. By the time war broke out in Europe, all of these were in North Africa in the colonies. This was a common fate for all older French armaments.

The second one is SKU CD610, “Schneider AMC P16“. Like the White-Laffly AMD 80, this was a cavalry vehicle. Unlike it, its designation was AMC, or “automitrailleuse de combat” (combat armored car). 100 were produced. It had an innovative Kegresse suspension system that made it into a half-track. It also kept its turret-mounted Puteaux SA18 37mm cannon. This was the most common cannon on French tanks, so this gave it some anti-armor punch. Some P16’s did met the Wehrmacht in Germany, but many were similarly dispersed to the colonies before 1939.

The Old Glory Command Decision models as received. There were 3 of each type. I printed off some examples of paint schemes to start with them.

I got the models in April, and started work on them on the 26th. I did the usual drilling and washing in preparation for assembling and painting. I also used small magnets to affix the turrets. These magnets also serve to help to hold the brewed-up markers (also on magnets) that I use to indicate knocked-out tanks.

The White-Laffly AMD 80 models drilled and washed.

The Schneider AMC P16 models drilled and washed.

Metal miniatures don’t always cast perfectly. In the case of the AMD 80’s, the headlights were not great, but fixable.

Close up example of a missing White-Laffly headlight.

I used a little green stuff and they started looking old again!

I also used green stuff and to fill the cavities under the vehicles. I waited until the green stuff had hardened just slightly, then inserted screws as you can see. Once that had fully set, I had a nice way of setting up the models on wooden blocks for painting, as the screws would come out easily later.

I ended up with a typical French camouflage pattern on the AMD 80’s as opposed to the pattern in the reference.

The P16’s got a brown and green camouflage pattern.

The Schneider AMC P16’s got a darker green – shown here ready for decals.

To be efficient and productive, I worked on these (and others you will see shortly in future posts) at the same time. I ended up deciding to base these on steel bases so as to allow each type a label. Let’s face it, I can’t expect most gamers at a convention to recognize these old and rare types. Labels help. I just needed to explain to the players that the bases are irrelevant to targeting the vehicles.

Decals and labels applied, still needed an application of matte varnish, some tufts and their turrets!

I managed to finish these on May the 8th.

Eye Candy

White-Laffly AMD 80

Group shot of the three White-Laffly AMD 80 models completed.

Here is my Instagram White-Laffly AMD 80 video link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMtJSygOJqJ/

Schneider AMC P16

Group shot of the three Schneider AMC P16 80 models completed.

Here is my Instagram Schneider AMC P16 video link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMtJ_a1OSg4/

Thanks for looking!

For all of my posts on WWII games and projects – there is a consolidated list of posts and their links located here.

I hope you enjoyed the post – there are several more entries coming soon! I’d love to hear any feedback – feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

MATERIALS USED

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THE WHITE-LAFFLY AMD 80 MODELS:

Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Green Stuff
War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 23 (1½” x 2″)
Neodymium magnets (⅛” and ¼”)
Gorilla Glue Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Wooden Blocks, steel bolts, steel washers, magnets, steel screws
Vallejo Primers “NATO Green”
Vallejo Model Air “Duck Egg Green”
Vallejo Model Air “Dark Brown”
Vallejo Mecha Weathering Effects “Dark Rust Wash”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Deep Green”
Vallejo Model Color “Dark Yellow”
Vallejo Model Color “Black”
Battlefront “Gunship Green”
Vallejo Mecha Color “Sky Blue”
Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sea Grey”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo “Mecha Varnish Gloss”
Microscale Industries “Micro Set”
Microscale Industries “Micro Sol”
Microscale Industries “Liquid Decal Film”
Flames of War French Decal Set (FR940)
Peddinghaus-Decals 1/100 2181 “World of Flames French tanks early war”
Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
Vallejo Flow Improver Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Matte Polyurethane Varnish”
Printed labels on card stock
Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
PVA Glue

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS AND FLOCKING USED ON THE SCHNEIDER AMC P16 MODELS:

Green Stuff
War Games Accessories Steel Bases Number 23 (1½” x 2″)
Neodymium magnets (⅛” and ¼”)
Gorilla Glue
Vallejo Surface Primer “Black”
Wooden Blocks, steel bolts, steel washers, magnets, steel screws
Steel ball bearings
Vallejo Primers “NATO Green”
Vallejo Model Air “Dark Brown”
Vallejo Mecha Weathering Effects “Dark Rust Wash”
Vallejo Model Air “Tire Black”
Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sea Grey”
Army Painter “Dark Tone” (wash)
Vallejo “Mecha Varnish Gloss”
Microscale Industries “Micro Set”
Microscale Industries “Micro Sol”
Microscale Industries “Liquid Decal Film”
Flames of War French Decal Set (FR940)
Peddinghaus-Decals 1/100 2181 “World of Flames French tanks early war”
Citadel “‘Ardcoat”
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Green Brown”
Citadel “Agrellan Earth” (texture)
Army Painter “Mid Brown” (shade/wash)
Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
Vallejo Flow Improver
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Matte Polyurethane Varnish”
Printed labels on card stock
Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
PVA Glue

Operation Torch: Planning My WWII Gaming Experience for HISTORICON

It’s been a while for the return of several blog-related things here.

First, this marks the first hobby post I have done in a while. The last one I did was on Professor Nitpik’s Mechanical Mini Swarm back in April. I also never got around to a recap of my games at HUZZAH in May (but I hope to at some point as I do have a good number of photos).

Secondly, I have not done any WWII-related hobby work since March of 2020 (wow 5 years!). After my last What a Tanker tank project, I did a lot with my Feudal Patrol Mesoamerican project (Aztecs, Conquistadors, Maya), and then Wars of Ozz. Luckily for me (and maybe you), I catalog and link all my posts by genre on multiple pages for easy recall. As an aside, for new readers, here are the links for all of these:

There are others as well, and these pages help me to remember how I did certain aspects of projects in terms of painting and assembly (and anything else).

Additionally, as many of you know, the US Army is celebrating its 250th Anniversary. The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society (HMGS) is celebrating that anniversary as its theme for this year’s HISTORICON gaming convention. As a proud US Army veteran, I just HAD to get a game or two together for it. As game submission was back in March, that might seem like plenty of time to get such an endeavor together. But I had HAVOC, HUZZAH, a Florida trip, my reelection, and golf in between then and now! Blogging took a back seat to actually finishing off any projects. Until now!

I usually try to create scenarios and run games that are not common or run-of-the-mill. For the US Army, there is a wide swath of stuff to choose from.

I ended up deciding on looking into the early days of WWII. I dug into Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. I further read up on the combat in Morocco, where the US and Vichy France actually fought for several days before agreeing to an armistice and coming over to the Allies’ side. I chose to focus on the Western Task Force under then-MG George S. Patton, that invaded Morocco in three places. My specific focus would be on Sub-Task Force Goalpost, which was led by MG Lucien Truscott, Jr. – and what really intrigued me, as I did my research, was his response to a Vichy armored counterattack. Apparently the Vichy French launched an armored counterattack with what they had to interdict one of the US landing beaches. Truscott sent all his armor (7 M5 Stuart tanks) and some support to stop the threat, which outnumbered him by more than 2:1. Now I had a game concept!

As for research, here are all the books I read and used:

Certainly a lot of Steven Zaloga here, and the Breuer and Osprey books were the most helpful. There indeed was significant armored Vichy forces in the North African colonies. In Morocco was a motley assortment of tanks (WWI -era FT-17’s, Hotchkiss H35’s and H39’s, plus some R35’s that had been hidden from the German and Italian Armistice Commission). Sources vary as to what was available, but certainly these types were in Morocco in November 1942. There also were multiple old armored cars dating back to the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Vichy also had naval assets there, plus any of their air force that had flown there to escape Armistice terms. A good number of Dewoitine D.520 fighter planes and others made up a strong air component for Vichy.

The US here did not have M3 Lee’s or M4 Sherman tanks available to stop he counterattack. Those were on large ships that needed a port to unload, unlike the M5 Stuarts. The US had the Stuarts, M3 GMC’s, M3A1 Scout Cars, and the weird stopgap M6 Fargo. On the other side, the US had F4F Wildcats and Avenger TBF’s. Offshore were these significant naval assets that I would also add to the game design. Interestingly, many French tanks were hit with impact-fused depth charges from the air – plus naval gunfire from the USS Savannah.

The US Army in November 1942 was seeing its first real amphibious landing and combat in the ETO, so I incorporated that with regards to their shooting abilities. The Stuarts had gotten their radios wet, and hence inoperable, in the landing – so that was another aspect I added. The French had a lot of very worn out vehicles, and I did add an aspect of mechanical unreliability to them as well.

With these equipments as my baseline, I resurrected my WaT rules. Sourcing all of the vehicles took time, and I will chronicle each of the types in successive posts. My thought is that its better to focus on each vehicle type with a short post than a massive one now that blurred the lines. Writing all of these will take some time, and I also hope to share a review of my HISTORICON 2025 experience. If you are at the convention, I will be in the H.A.W.K.’s room as below. While my games are “sold out”, you never know if space becomes available! Besides my two Ozz games on Thursday and Friday, I’ll be running the “Operation Torch: Vichy mounts a Counterattack” game twice on Saturday. Come by!

Here is a tease on the 31 French and 22 American vehicles that I have amassed and painted for the game since March. All are 15 mm/1:100 scale. They will get their own posts in the next few weeks (I hope).

I do want to join in a couple of painting challenges – like Fort Syllabub’s “Jagpanther Juni”, and Dave’s annual “Season of Scenery” at Wargames Terrain Workshop. With HISTORICON looming, my hope is to get these individual posts out as I can. It is golf season…

Plus I have MANY of my fellow blogger’s posts to catch up on – I have been reading them and there is some great work out there!

I hope I’ve piqued your interests! Let me know!

My WWII posts master list is again here for your enjoyment.

Until next post!

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

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:

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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A post shared by Mark Morin (@markamorin84)

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)

Wargaming Terrain for Wars of Ozz – part 2 – Cacti, Oases, and Trees

On the last time that I posted, I shared my Scarecrow Girl statue that I cobbled together. After Christmas, I was able to add even more to my scatter terrain with a myriad of pieces. In the case of this post, I’ll share how I built out and painted up desert/cactus pieces and some oases. I also did a bit of tree build and rehab work that I will share here.

It’s all for my Wars of Ozz games. I needed some more desert pieces – especially now as I have significant numbers of desert units from both the Whim Whim and Temujican factions. I did previously use some cacti from Hobby Lobby in my Mesoamerican games.

Two Christmas gifts from my Mom – cacti and trees (both kinds the types for model railroads or dioramas) – brought me an opportunity to go further. On a side note, she says I’m tough to get a gift for – to which I say I really don’t need any at my age – but I do appreciate her a lot and it was very thoughtful (she’s probably reading this too!). In any case they will outlast golf balls for sure…

The cacti were great for building some scatter terrain. Additionally, I needed to make objective markers for one of my desert games – and oases seemed appropriate for that purpose. Lastly, my deciduous and evergreen tree collection (which is mostly second-hand from a flea market) needed an upgrade badly as they were looking like victims of Agent Orange defoliant. So, Mom’s tree gift of three Hobby Lobby trees was another scatter terrain opportunity. I’ll discuss the cacti scatter bases first, then the oases build, and lastly the trees.

Cacti Bases

Cactus plants from JTT Scenery – I had two packages of 15 cacti.

The cacti are from JTT, and are plastic, and hence, they have that glossy look. I used a wash to knock off the glossy appearance and to give some depth to the plants’ striations. This was easy to do as the plants are set in the package into a styrofoam base. That base holds them loosely enough for applying a sepia wash and removing the cacti and bushes afterwards was simple.

After applying a sepia wash. The mounting styrofoam made this easy.

As for bases for the plants, I decided it was a good opportunity to clear out a bunch of different plastic and wooden bases from my collection. One was even the same as I used on the Scarecrow Girl statue. You can see them below – I ended up with 20 bases. All of them got appropriately-sized steel washers underneath.

Some of the bases I used – well 19/20 anyways! The other one was a wooden scratch-built base that needed a purpose.

I glued the plants to the base, then added the AK basing paste, let that dry, then added pigments. When that was set, I added flocking to match my Whim Whim and Temujican unit basing schemes.

When I sent my mother these pictures on my phone, she thought they were cookies! Below you can see all 20 of them in a Really Useful Box.

Oases

Some of you may remember that for my Conquistador/Maya game, I built some sandy scrub-like terrain pieces, that had a few palm trees. These did not look like an oasis to me – so I decided to make some that did. I found some model landscape palm trees on Amazon from OrgMemory.

The plastic palm trees would need (similar to the previous situation with the cacti), a sepia wash. To ensure that a sepia wash would adhere properly, I washed all of the palms in soap and water and let them dry. This would also let me figure out what sizes would be best to use on this scratch-build.

…and drying. Now I needed somewhere to put them and to determine the appropriate mix of types and sizes. The little prongs on the bottoms of the trees would help later with mounting on the oases.

While the palm trees dried, I used my scroll saw cut up four polystyrene sheets into random shapes for the oases’ bases (that rhymes?). Apoxie Sculpt was applied on the sheets to create the shapes of the terrain. In the end, I only used three of the four sheets. I’ll save the other for later use.

The polystyrene sheets cut into shapes for the oases.

The Apoxie Sculpt setting up and hardening as shaped on the three oases. It cures in 24 hours.

Once the Apoxie Sculpt had cured, I primed all three with a light yellow primer – and let that cure before adding the desert paste.

Here you see the AK dry desert paste applied and starting to dry.

Once dry, I added three different pigments (similar to my desert bases and scatter terrain), and let the pigments set.

The next step was to paint the bottom of the water holes a distinct turquoise in anticipation of adding the Vallejo Still Water product later. I wanted the water to really stand out color-wise.

Once all the flocking was in I added the Vallejo Still Water in – mixed with some Secret Weapon Washes blue ink.

I then mixed and matched the palm trees to see what worked. The cured Apoxie Sculpt was pliable enough – yet strong enough – such that I was able to use an awl to make the holes for the trees’ prongs you saw above to set in the oases. This allows them to be removable, which is a plus, while the holes stay strong for reinsertion of the trees.

Lastly, here is a video of them and a brief description by yours truly:

Here is the Instagram link for the same video:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mark Morin (@markamorin84)

These three oases are the objective markers for my game, “The Desert Wars of Ozz“. The flyer for that game is below. You can see the some of the cactus bases and the oases – though they lost some color on the flyer being in the back.

I will be running this game (or a similar one) at multiple gaming conventions this year.

Tree Builds and Rehabilitation

My tree collection that I have used for years was in need of rehabilitation. The other gift from Mom was a JTT product that you see below:

These were nice trees, but the foliage was a bit stringy in places. Plus I needed to wash the plastic limbs and trunks down with sepia and a darker wash. I assembled and mounted these three on large 2″ steel washers. Then I went to my tree collection and stripped off the stringier foliage on the older trees I already had. I applied Woodland Scenics Hob-E-Tac to the older trees and the newer ones. After the glue had turned clear, I used Woodland Scenics Light and Medium Green clump foliage to finish them off. There were 32 trees in all.

The stripped trees with the three new ones in the back – all with Hob-E-Tac drying.

As trees are just so essential to a tabletop, I was happy to have these in better shape for my games going forward.

That wraps up part 2 of this mini-series on terrain. I think I got a lot done here and it was fun. The cactus bases and the oases also qualify for Dave Stone’s annual “Paint What You Got Challenge”. Please, check it out – Dave is a great guy and runs this every year between Christmas and the end of February.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, as always, let me know in the comment section.

And part 3 (the last one) in this series will be coming soon…

Final Note

Want to learn more about Ozz? Well, if you do want to check out the excellent Wars of Ozz figures’ range – there are two places to get them and to get the rules (and 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 following two websites:

Below you’ll see the list of paints and the like that I used on these – and they are more useful for me when I need to recreate a color scheme in the future than maybe you – but in any case that’s why I post them.

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

For all of my earlier 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 CACTUS SCATTER TERRAIN BASES:

2 packages of Cacti/desert bushes from JTT Scenery (SKU 95666)
Homemade wooden hex base
1½” wooden disks from Michael’s
Games Workshops 3½” Plastic bases
Games Workshops 2½” Plastic bases
Unknown 1¼” Plastic bases
Unknown 1½” Plastic bases
Unknown 2¼” Plastic bases
War Games Accessories Steel Bases (FOW1)
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (shade/wash)
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Dark Yellow”
PVA Glue
AK Terrains Diorama Series “Sandy Desert” (texture/basing paste)
Small stones
Army Painter “Battlefield Rocks” (flocking)
Vallejo Thinner
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo “Gloss Acrylic Varnish”
Vallejo Premium Color “Matte Varnish”
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Pink Sunset” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “4mm Badlands Tufts” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Nightmare Tufts” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Scorched Earth Tufts” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “4mm Neon Orange Tufts” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Flaming Harvest Tufts” (flocking)

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

SIBE Automation White Polystyrene 8″ X 12″ X 1/8″ Plastic Sheet
Apoxie Sculpt
Vallejo Surface Primer “German Dark Yellow”
AK Terrains Diorama Series “Dry Ground” (texture/basing paste)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Light Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Desert Dust” (pigment)
Vallejo Thinner
OrgMemory Assorted plastic tropical trees
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (shade/wash)
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (shade/wash)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Turquoise”
Gamers Grass “6mm Light Green” (flocking)
Gamers Grass “6mm Dry Tufts” (flocking)
Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “4mm Neon Orange Tufts” (flocking)
Gamers Grass “Tiny Beige 2mm Tufts” (flocking)
Woodland Scenics “Prairie Grass”
Vallejo “Still Water”
Secret Weapon Washes “Blue” (ink/wash)
2″ Square War Games Accessories Steel Bases (SKU Number 21)

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

JTT Super Scenic 4″-5″ trees dark shade deciduous (SKU 92158)
Everbilt ASC 2″ steel washers
PVA Glue
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (shade/wash)
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (shade/wash)
Woodland Scenics Hob-E-Tac adhesive
Woodland Scenics Medium Green Clump foliage
Woodland Scenics Light Green Clump foliage

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