Not sure why (WordPress mystery) but this is showing up in August feed – reblogging here!
Tag: tabletop wargaming
2 Game Days of the Battle for Toto (Wars of Ozz)
I have been developing a Wars of Ozz scenario to use at upcoming gaming conventions, especially at Fall In!® in Pennsylvania in November. The genesis of the idea for it came to me when I painted up the Adventurers of Ozz figures. The Kansas Farmgirl figure (probably “Dorothy”😁 ) had a small dog in a basket on her waist – and there was yet an extra separate Toto figure in the group. Well, I decided that I could use the other separate Toto as an objective marker – which led to my wanting a scenario for that use. And here we are!
The scenario title is “The Battle for Toto” – I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!”. My flyer with the game description is below.
The scenario involves two converging – yet potentially opposing -attacking forces and one defender. On one side, are the Gillikins under Arella the Witch with two reinforced brigades. On the other side, under Evora the Witch, are the combined Winkie/Great Land of Harvest forces consisting of two allied brigades.
Meanwhile, a single reinforced Munchkin brigade is holed up in a nearby small town and some surrounding defensive cover outside of that town. Also hidden in that town – in an unknown location – is the Kansas Farm Girl’s little dog, Toto – the object of the game of course.
The Gillikins and the Winkies can choose to fight each other or collaborate and go for the Munchkins. To simulate the “sibling rivalry” aspect of the game, I allowed Victory Points for the two attackers differently. If the attackers took out a Munchkin base, it was worth 1 point, while taking out a sibling’s base was worth 1.5 points. While collaboration between the attackers is possible, I created an incentive here for sororicidal tendencies to assert themselves (never used that word before!). The point values for the game are shown below:
The biggest point value is possession of Toto at the end of the game at 10 points. Toto is placed randomly and secretly under one of the buildings using playing cards face down. Even I, as the GM, won’t know where Toto is.
I have GM’ed this game twice. I ran it at a Mass Pikemen game day back in July on the 22nd, and also at the Hobby Bunker Game Day event on August 26th. I took a few pictures but as always when you’re the GM it’s difficult to be a great photographer and run the game effectively. I always prefer to be an effective GM and as good a photographer as possible. Still, I think you’ll find these pictures interesting – and this post will be photo-heavy.
As is my wont, after each game, I tweak it a bit for the next iteration based upon player feedback my own observations. In both of the games here, I acted as the GM and the Munchkin commander. If I had more players, I would defer. As I would expect the Munchkins to take advantage of their initial hard cover, little movement on their part is expected. This leaves more game time for the attackers, as the Munchkin’s actions during their activation tends to be over pretty quickly for the most part.
A quick aside – I needed to determine a special order of play with three sides. Normally, in Wars of Ozz, for activation purposes, there is an activation deck of cards with 12 cards: 1-6 red and 1-6 black. They determine the order in which a side can activate a unit or individual based on a dice pool controlled by the brigade commander. The number of dice in a brigade commander’s dice pool corresponds to the number of units or individuals that the player controls. So if a 6 is pulled on a card – the player can choose a unit to activate with any available sixes on the dice. For this three-way game, to see who would go first, I needed to set up a special order of play. I used red cards for the Munchkins (which would let them go first on a red card) and odd black-numbered cards for the Gillikins and even black-numbered cards for the Winkie/Harvest brigades. Each turn, all get activated, it’s just the order of activation that is affected. For example, if a black 3 card was pulled, all Gillikin 3’s would activate, followed by Winkie/Harvest 3’s, followed by Munchkin 3’s. If the next card was a red 6, the activation order of play would then be Munchkin 6’s, followed by Winkie/Harvest 6’s (as an even number), followed by Gillikin 6’s (who only go first on odd numbers). As all 12 cards are played each turn – it does evens out.
I will share the pics below and give some descriptions – though it is far from a complete battle report to be sure. I just thought you folks would enjoy the photos and the flavor of the games.
Mass Pikemen Game Day – July 22nd
Here is the game as set up:
Close ups of the attackers are shown below at the start of the scenario – the Winkies are screening their flank with zilk cavalry, while the Gillikins are doing the same with a regiment of giant Dire Bears.
The Munchkins are in good cover – with Colonel Tik Tok and a medium battery both in defensive positions on the town’s flanks in a walled positions. In the town are a light cavalry regiment with carbines, the Munchkin Guard infantry, a wizard, and the Aerostat providing overwatch musketry. In reserve are the Great Owls. In this first game, I used 4 buildings in the town as possible Toto locations, so there was a 25% chance that Toto was in any one building.
Now, some play shots:
Very quickly, sibling rivalry did take over as the Winkie Light Cavalry got the initiative and attacked the Gillikin longbows once the Dire Bears moved forward and left them open.
This move also left open the cavalry’s flank, and the Dire Bears subsequently hit them on that flank. In short order, after a few rounds the Winkie cavalry was routed by the Dire Bears and was eventually driven off the board. The loss of this key unit would haunt the Winkies, but now there was definitely a 3-way fight on the tabletop.
At the town, the Munchkin Aerostat kept up covering fire from a safe location, as Harvest melee troops hit the defenders in waves. One such attack triggered the Munchkin Light Cavalry to charge out of the town and hit the Mushroom Regiment.
Similarly, Colonel Tik Tok was hit with multiple frontal melee assaults by the Great Pumpkinheads, the Carrot Creatures, and the Lesser Pumpkinheads. All failed to dislodge them from their walled position.
Meanwhile, on the Munchkin’s left flank, the Munchkin medium battery took a toll on multiple Gillikin units. The Gillikins sent out their Dire Wolves to flank the battery, and the Munchkins countered with their mobile reserve – the Great Owls.
With the main objective in mind, the Dire Wolves ran around the Great Owls to the town (Dire Wolves are FAST), where they prepared to search a building for Toto.
Similarly, the regrouped Mushrooms stormed a gap in the town’s defenses (left by the undesired sortie of the Munchkin Light Cavalry who kept charging away at other enemies). The Mushrooms prepared to search yet another building.
The next activation, the Dire Wolves found Toto – and carried him away.
The game ended, with the Gillikins winning, the Munchkins in second place, and the Winkies/Harvest in third. I think the points were Gillikins 28 (with 10 for Toto), Munchkins 19, and Winkies/Harvest 18.
After this game, I added some 12 mm Pendraken dice square frames to some of the Gillikin regimental commanders and to one base apiece of regiments that do not have regimental commanders. I got the Gillikin regiments from an estate sale in the UK. I had wanted to have a number of Gillikins, so they were not painted by me – but were quite good. I also made MDF placard holders for the Gillikin regiments with commanders and glued them to their bases as it would have been too impractical and time consuming to rebase the figures. This would make play easier because having the placards on the regimental commanders’ bases negates having them fall off during movement. I also updated some player charts to one piece of card stock. I was then ready for the:
Hobby Bunker Game Day – August 26th
Matt of the the Hobby Bunker store in Wakefield ran a game day on August 26th. I ran an Aztec game here last year but did not do a blog post on it, but it was well-attended. For this one, I volunteered to run the Battle for Toto scenario twice – once at 10 AM and again at 2 PM.
Unfortunately, turnout was a bit low, and we also started late, so I ended up running the game just one time across both time slots. That is to say, I kept the tabletop as it was at 2 PM and rotated in new players. It saved time as the game was still developing, and resetting the game was not a good option for the time we had left. In the end, it worked.
The game went similarly to the previous iteration – but not totally. I did modify some of the troops initial locations within the brigades, plus the table was of a slightly different size than I had in July.
Once again, at the start, witch sibling rivalry took over – though this time it was the Gillikin’s Dire Bears hitting first instead of the Winkies. And once again dice rolls favored the Gillikins and saw the Winkie Cavalry being routed and ultimately driven off of the board! (As Boston Bruins fans know – don’t poke the bear). Also, that cavalry rout went through several other Winkie units, disordering them and slowing their initial movements in the game.
Meanwhile, on the Munchkin’s left flank, the Gillikins moved up their forces into an effective attack formation with their musket-armed infantry in line (for better musketry) and melee forces in column (for better movement towards the town0. They detailed a small force to hold the Winkies at bay on their left flank.
After this movement, the Harvesters activated again, and were able to change formation and hit the medium battery – wiping it out completely.
The fight went badly for Tik Tok. The Regiment lost two bases and a third was heavily damaged. Even the Kansas Farmgirl took damage.
The Harvestland Artillery activated, and hit the Munchkins, eliminating yet another base, and routing the unit. Alas, the Kansas Farmgirl also took damage, and yes, again, sadly bought the farm…
Both Munchkin flanks had now been compromised – and as the Gillikin Goat Riders were in the process of routing the Great Owls, things were not looking up for the Munchkins. At 2 PM we rotated in new players to take over.
The Carrot Creatures decided to fire their bows at and then charge the Munchkin Light Cavalry. The Munchkin Light Cavalry’s Reaction test to that fire dictated that they would countercharge the Carrots – with impetus and double hits…the result was massive damage to the Carrots, who also quickly fled the battlefield in a hurry.
The Munchkin cavalry then took a reaction test, which made them continue to attack the nearest unit – which ended up being the Gillikin Longbows. The bowmen damaged the cavalry and broke up their attack with little damage. Subsequently, Evora successfully hit them in the rear with a fireball, taking out a base. A terrible Reaction test die roll then sent the Munchkin Cavalry fleeing.
In the end, Toto by chance was in the building searched by the Harvesters. The little dog was seized, and put under the control of Arella and the Gillikins.
The final scores were:
- Gillikins 37.5 (including 10 points for Toto)
- Munchkins 25
- Winkies/Harvest 24
Obviously, possession of Toto by any of the three sides would have resulted in victory. Yet again, the Gillikins won, but it was definitely a different battle. I like the scenario and will tweak it for Fall In!®. I am hoping to realign the forces a bit and add a few surprises. I will also have some new terrain and possibly a new gaming mat. The core of the scenario will remain as I think it works and I think is fun.
At Fall In!® I will be running the game in the HAWKS room twice – on Friday morning and also on Saturday morning. I will also team up with Chris Palmer on Friday night for another Ozz game – featuring the Harvest folks seeking seasonal revenge – “The Vegetables are Revolting”.
Thanks for looking at this longer post. Next up (hopefully by this weekend) will be a special post on the Challenge Ogres “Paint What We All Have” painting challenge organized by Roger from “Rantings from Under the Wargames Table” in conjunction with Dave Stone of “Wargames Terrain Workshop” . Dave sculpted the figures and Roger set out the painting challenge.
Any feedback from you – let me know!
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.
Frost Ogres (Challenge Ogres “Paint What We’ve All Got” Painting Challenge) for Wars of Orcs and Dwarves
Earlier this year, two UK bloggers, Roger from “Rantings from Under the Wargames Table” in conjunction with Dave Stone of “Wargames Terrain Workshop” set out a painting challenge poll. I think Roger came up with the idea of a painting challenge where we all would paint the same figure. Roger sent out a poll on what type of figure would be chosen, and Dave volunteered to sculpt it.
The poll results ended up with the selection of a common figure for us all to paint and share by the September in a “Paint What We’ve All Got” painting challenge. That figure selection ended up being an ogre: “Savage, armoured fantasy Ogre with a hand weapon”.
The genesis of this was Roger’s post on back on March 8th with the aforementioned readers’ poll. Dave’s March 28th post on the Challenge Ogre is here. Roger followed up on his blog here. Dave, who is a masterful sculptor and modeler, came up with the figure. The ogre figure carries a massive stone ax. He wears lots of bones on his wrists, and an animal pelt on his lower torso and a shoulder pelt. The shoulder pelt is festooned with multiple animal horns as well. Dave went with a Norse motif with the sculpt. Here is the original photo of the ogre sculpt from his blog:
Once the challenge was set, I contacted Dave Stone and ordered five of the figures, which arrived in the spring. Why 5? So that I could have an entire regiment of them!
I had no idea as to when I would get to painting them -until recently – when I had decided that this was a good opportunity to accomplish a few things. First, this would let me have a small “palette cleansing” (pun intended) chance to paint something a little different than all the Ozz stuff that I have been painting lately. I do love the Ozz stuff but variety is the spice of life as they say.
Second, painting up a unit of these would be useful for a game of WOOD (Wars of Orcs and Dwarves). WOOD is basically a similar set of rules by Buck Surdu using his Wars of Ozz engine for mass fantasy battles with a few changes.
Lastly, it was an opportunity to participate in an intriguing and fun painting challenge with fellow bloggers across the globe.
Again, the figures arrived sometime back in the late spring/early summer timeframe. Since then, I worked on other things that you’ve seen this blog. The packing Dave did of the figures was outstanding – they all arrived in excellent condition. After looking at the figures, I decided that I wanted to make them “frost ogres”, as they looked to me to be perfect for a winter environment. I debated between ice ogre and frost ogre. In the end I went with Frost Ogre. Yes, I know there are frost giants, ice trolls, and the like, but for fantasy stuff you can do whatever you want!
I gave them all a good scrubbing as I hate when paint does not stick well to resin.
As far as basing goes, I knew that I would have to base them on larger bases than the 2” x 2” normally used for Ozz and WOOD. The figures are too large otherwise. And the WOOD rules happily accommodates such a situation. After some consultation with both Dave Wood and Buck Surdu, I decided to go with 2″ x 4″ in terms of basing. Instead of taking 4 hits like a 2” x 2” base, each Frost Ogre base will take 8 hits. So this will be a mighty regiment of Frost Ogres.
The figures themselves were 28mm scale and resin with wire internal supports (nice call on that Dave). They required a little bit of assembly as both hands needed to be attached. I assembled the figures by using green stuff instead of glue to affix the hands and to attach the feet to the steel bases. I’m not sure if that was a right or wrong decision, but I always feel a little bit cautious with regards to resin figures in terms of what might work for glue. As I ordered them without bases, so I could base them appropriately for WOOD, I would need to deal with that aspect, too. Initially, I considered adding a few secondary weapons in their left hands. However, as those hands has wide open palms, I eventually passed on doing so because it just didn’t look right. I initially based the figures on 2″ x 2″ steel bases for painting – with an eye to then base them permanently on 2″ x 4″ bases.
While giving them secondary weapons would have given me a chance to differentiate the figures, I decided that I would differentiate them instead by altering the position of the hands as well as through painting. By painting, I thought that I would give each of the ogres a slightly different bluish, flesh color, as befits a Frost Ogre. I would also differentially paint their pelts.
I started dabbling with/working on them at different times since June while I worked on this, that, and the other Ozz thing. While I am definitely not a hobby butterfly (apologies to IRO, I have nothing against hobby butterflies!), I did want to finish more of the Ozz stuff that I was working on that I’ve shared previously. But, finally, it was time for a short break to work on these…but in the process of working on them, I accidentally tipped over and broke one of the figures horns on the shoulder pad. This ticked me off – as it was shattered and not easily repairable. I didn’t want to risk resculpting the horn as I knew whatever I did would never look as good as what Dave done originally. In any case, I think that damage just added to the figures’ differentiation because the horn looked like it was battle damaged in the end. You can be the judge when you see the final figures in a bit.
Below, you’ll see some work in progress, pictures, and then afterwards, I’ll show some eye candy with a new background that I printed off that I think shows off the Frost Ogres in a nice winter environment.
WIP Shots
My approach to painting was to manually prime these with some white Vallejo primer that was left over. It wouldn’t flow through my airbrush anymore, but was still useful. Then, I washed the non-flesh parts with a dark wash, and the flesh parts with a Reaper MSP blue liner. That blue liner had laid unused in my paint collection for at least 5 years. This blue liner, I hoped, would give me an appearance/depth of color underneath for the future flesh tones.
Subsequent to this, I would dry brush back over the blue and the dark with white.
Then I focused on the non-flesh areas of the models – horns, bones, pelts, and weapons.
Lastly, I would then go with colors over the white that hopefully would be speed or contrast paints, washes, and highlights that could help with the looks I wanted. I initially chose the five colors below for flesh tones:
All were fine, except for the Citadel “Briar Queen Chill”, which was really more of a ghoulish green. I applied it, as I though “chill” and “frost” went together. But, I was not very happy. It was not bluish in the least – it was green. As I did not want one figure to look like the Incredible Hulk, I just went over this green with a Citadel “Drakenhof Nightshade” blue shade, which gave it a nice, somewhat turquoise-looking color. Not being a GW guy, I really wasn’t aware of what a briar queen was! I guess it’s sort of a witch. Another item, I also used a 7,000 RPM paint shaker on these – and it worked great to get the pigments really shaken up. The Army Painter speed paints all have steel balls in them, but the shaker is something I highly recommend, especially for the paints that tend to settle out a bit. At $46 US, its pretty good – you just have to recharge it with a USB cable.
Back to the models. As I went “blue” with these, I made sure that the colors would vary.
One of the major challenges in this project was dealing with the left hands. On one figure (base one), I had assembled the left hand too low to the ground. So, when I adjusted the basing to the 2″ x 4″ bases it, I just used some green stuff to alter its pose. I added each Frost Ogre’s Wargames Accessories 2″ square steel base (which I had mounted the ogres to with green stuff initially) to a 2″ x 4″ polystyrene plastic base. Then, I added two more steel 2″ bases underneath for transport/storage and magnetic attraction purposes.
As for the snow flocking on the bases, I used several products. I started the gray Vallejo Ground Texture “Rough Grey Pumice”, followed by two Citadel texture paints (Mourn Mountain Snow” and “Valhallan Blizzard”. You can see all the paints that I use. at the end of this blog, for that special person who wants to know what I used, or for me because when I want to re-create an effect – or a painting scheme – I will never remember – unless I write it down. I also added a Pendraken 12mm dice frame to one figure, plus some rocks and oak twigs. And lastly, I sprinkled some Citadel “Snow” that had been in my supplies unused since 2015 over a light PVA on the bases.
Given that I used a number of contrast and speed paints in this project, and that I did not want to have any bleed, I did take a lot of time in between steps to let things dry. Or that’s just an excuse because I went golfing…
As promised, here is some:
Eye candy
Base 1
This is the base with the broken horn. Flesh tone is primarily Citadel “Frost Heart”. I gave this, the most blue figure, the dice frame.
Base 2
Flesh tone is primarily Citadel “Pylar Glacier”.
Base 3
Flesh tone is primarily Citadel “Briar Queen Chill” washed with “Drakenhof Nightshade”.
Base 4
Flesh tone is primarily Citadel “Aethermatic Blue”.
Base 5
Flesh tone is primarily Army Painter “Caribbean Ocean”.
Group Shot
Thanks so much to Dave and to Roger for the opportunity to work on these! I am sure that there will be others’ entries which will put these to shame – and I do look forward to seeing everyone else’s take.
Meanwhile, I hope that you found these interesting! I am very happy to have the unit ready for a game of WOOD, even though that game may be far off in the future. I do have a number of older fantasy figures that I do plan on painting and basing or just rebasing for WOOD going forward. But this was the first unit that I decided to give a shot at doing because of the wonderful painting challenge. Again, I’m really looking forward to my fellow bloggers take on these ogres as well, PLUS the bonus of seeing yours!
If you have any comments, as always, let me know in the blog comment section below. As for my next project, I think I am going to get to some more Gillikin beasts completed as well as finish off the Great Land of Harvest forces for Ozz . Appreciate your taking a look here!
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.
For all of my previous posts on Wars or Orcs and Dwarves (WOOD), fantasy battle 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 FROST OGRE FIGURES:
- 2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#21)
- Green stuff (kneadatite)
- Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
- Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”
- Poster tack
- Vallejo Model Color “White”
- Reaper MSP “Blue Liner”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
- Vallejo Model Air “German Green Brown”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Brownish Decay”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Fire Drake”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Battleship Grey”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Bony Matter”
- Army Painter “Rough Iron”
- Vallejo Mecha Weathering “Rust Texturing”
- Citadel “Typhus Corrosion”
- Citadel “Ryza Rust”
- Vallejo Mecha Weathering “Dark Rust Wash” (wash)
- Army Painter “Soft Tone” (wash)
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Satchel Brown”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Gravelord Grey”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Wyldwood”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Space Wolves Grey”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Ashen Stone”
- Citadel “Drakenhof Nightshade” (wash)
- Citadel “Ushabti Bone”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Frostheart”
- Vallejo Game Ink “Yellow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Pylar Glacier”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Briar Queen Chill”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aethermatic Blue”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Caribbean Blue”
- Plastruct 2.5mm PS sheets
- Gorilla Glue
- Vallejo Ground Texture Acrylic “Rough Grey Pumice”
- Citadel “Mourn Mountain Snow” (texture)
- Citadel “Valhallan Blizzard” (texture)
- Citadel “Snow” (flocking)
- Citadel “Blood for the Blood God” (technical)
- Pendraken 12mm dice frame
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Vallejo Varnish “Satin Varnish”
- Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
- Elmer’s PVA Glue
- Small oak sticks (flocking)
- Small stones (flocking)
If want to acquire the rules for Wars of Orcs and Dwarves, there are two options (and I make no money from this btw).
You can get the rules from Sally 4th as a book (here) or as a PDF (here). Also, Noble Knight Games in the US has them – though currently they are listed as out of stock (as of September 2, 2023). They are due to have more hard copies in soon – and that link is here.
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…
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)
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.
Gillikin Mounted Officers on Goats (Wars of Ozz)
With regards to my available troops for Wars of Ozz games, I have pretty much gotten some of the main factions. I have Munchkins, Winkies, and a lot of Harvest. This is fine – except for the Gillikins and the Quadlings. I do have an unpainted Quadling Brigade that I got from Greg Priebe that is in my painting queue. What I did not have – until recently, was a Gillikin Brigade.
Gillikins soldiers and forces are more known as “the Imperial Gillikin Army”. Gillikins are humans who have mutated into the goblin-like inhabitants of Ozz after the Last Great War.
They serve under Arella the Witch, also known as the mistress of Beasts. She is the witch sister of Evora, the ruler of the rival Winkies. Theirs is indeed a fierce rivalry. Arella has subjugated multiple tribes of Gillikins, and created her Army. It is composed of four branches: Infantry, Cavalry, Beast, and Sorcerer League. The Infantry Branch is composed of units fashioned mostly after those of the Munchkins. The Munchkins had previously defeated Arella’s attempt at conquest, hence Arella’s desire to up her conquest game by copying her rival. The Cavalry Branch is made up of goat-riding Gillikins. The Beast Branch is composed of giant allied (or subjugated) intelligent animal units – such as Dire Lions, Dire Tigers, Dire Bears, (oh my)…as well as Dire Wolves. The Sorcerer League is made up of various lesser witches and wizards.
I have the Lions, the Dire Tigers, and the Dire Bears in my painting queue. And, as discussed on two of my previous game posts, here and here, I have been lucky enough to have been able to borrow Gillikins from my good friend Chris Comeau. But, I really needed to have some of my own. However, my current unpainted Ozz lead hill is already at nearly 400 figures – and I did not want to increase its size – or wait to get Gillikin troops.
Enter eBay. Several quite decently painted units – and really whole armies have come up on eBay for Wars of Ozz in the last few months. It is my understanding that they are part of an estate sale – but I could be mistaken. In any case, I was lucky enough to win the auction for the forces (7 regiments) below:
- 2 Gillikin infantry regiments
- 1 Gillikin longbow regiment
- 1 Gillikin goat-rider cavalry regiment
- 1 Gillikin light battery
- 1 Dire Wolf regiment
- 1 Dire Bear regiment
They are painted quite nicely, and despite the fact that they were sent from the UK, arrived in pretty good shape. I did need to repair a couple, and the bears needed a bit of a rehab paint job, but they were what I needed…
EXCEPT…
I had no brigade commanders or an Arella figure! Back to help from great friends, Greg Priebe had an extra OZZ-405 “Gillikin Mounted Officers on Goats” – and offered it to me as he did not plan on painting them in the near term. There were three officers mounted on goats and suitable for use as brigade commanders. The figures are metal, 28mm in scale, and came in two pieces. As for Arella, I would borrow that from Chris and then he gifted it to me! More on her in a future post.
With a Mass Pikemen Gaming Club Ozz game in the near future, I wanted, no I NEEDED to finish at least two of the three for my newly acquired Gillikins. I’ll share below the WIP process that I took and some eye candy of the finished paint jobs.
WIP Shots…
For mounting, I went with popsicle sticks instead of my usual specimen jars with poster tack. This made painting each half easier – especially as the legs are already on the mounts. I brush primed them, then let that cure. The following day, I gave everything a dark wash, then after sufficient drying time, dry brushed over the wash with white.
I assembled them as shown below.
Then, I assembled the three MDF bases from Wars of Ozz miniatures. I use the round-edged front bases for brigade commanders and the rectangular ones for the regimental commanders – though that is reverse of what is on the website catalog. I find it to be an improvement, as the rectangular bases match up better against the units with square bases.
After the glue on the MDF bases were dry, I added a brown ink wash to the outside to minimize the cut marks. This worked very well as the MDF drinks that up. Then I mounted the figures and prepped them for flocking.
As previously, I varnished these with a single coat of satin followed by one of matte and let them dry. Once the varnish dried overnight, I glued the figures to the assembled MDF bases. And waited for more drying. And once that dried, I began serial flocking work.
Without further ado, here’s some Gillikin Mounted Officer…
Eye Candy
Officer 1
Officer 2
Officer 3
Group shots
I just got two of these into an Ozz game last weekend, but that recap will be in a few posts as I am a bit behind. Yes, I blame golf. Or rather my addiction to golf…stay tuned, I’ll get there…
Thanks again to Greg Priebe and Chris Comeau…and to Russ Dunaway and Buck Surdu for bringing this all to life. I’ll still need to get some witches for a Sorcerer’s League in due time…
I hope that you found these fun. Up next…some creepy and scary scarecrows for the Great Land of Harvest Army!
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 GILLIKIN MOUNTED OFFICER FIGURES:
- Green stuff (kneadatite)
- Popsicle sticks
- Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
- Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”
- Vallejo Model Color “White”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Ghoul Green”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ratling Grime”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Legion”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Bony Matter”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Sand Golem”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Luxion Purple”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “SZ Red”
- Battlefront “Black”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Charming Chartreuse”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Purple Swarm”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Imperial Fist”
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Green Fluorescent”
- Martha Stewart Crafts “Pale Bronze”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Hardened Leather”
- Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
- Hataka “Gris Claire Neutre”
- Reaper MSP Core Colors “Blackened Brown”
- Citadel “Ushabti Bone”
- Vallejo Model Air “Ivory”
- Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Broadsword Silver”
- Vallejo Model Color “Black Green”
- Vallejo Game Ink “Black Green”
- Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
- Vallejo Game Ink “Yellow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
- Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (wash)
- Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
- Gorilla Glue
- PS Model Color “USAAF Olive Drab”
- Paper clip wire
- P3 “Brown Ink”
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Vallejo Varnish “Satin Varnish”
- Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
- MDF bases from Wars of Ozz miniatures
- Wargames Accessories Steel Bases FOW#1
- Elmer’s PVA Glue
- Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Lavender Flowers” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest – Purple Flowers” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Dark Forest Plum Flowers” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “12mm Wild Tufts” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Lowland Shrubs” (flocking)
- Gamer’s Grass “Green Meadow” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefields Green Grass” (flocking)
- Gamer’s Grass “Wild” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Light Blue Tufts” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
- Small stones (flocking)
- Small oak twigs (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.
Munchkin Aerostat Corps – Hot Air Balloon with Crew (Wars of Ozz)
In building out my available troops for my Wars of Ozz games, I have focused on infantry, cavalry, and artillery units for the most part. I started with the Munchkins in this vein, then moved onto other factions as I have shared in previous posts in this blog. My Munchkin forces are excellent with musketry, but as far as mobility on the battlefield goes, well, they do have very small feet and do not move quickly…
Meanwhile, as you may remember, the Winkies (the oh-we-oh dudes) in Wars of Ozz have very mobile units, especially in terms of cavalry and the Great Flying Apes.
I decided that it was high time that I got the Munchkins some air power of their own. While I have in some games given them allies (like the Great Owls), there is one organic flying unit available to the Munchkins. It is OZZ-110 “Hot Air Balloon & Crew“. The model consists of a foam balloon, three crewmen, a basket, and some wires. In the game, it is called a part of the Munchkin Aerostat Corps” located at the Emerald City. The Aerostat Corps is commanded by Professor Wogglebug. Balloons in the game are 360-degree aerial sharpshooter firing platforms for the Munchkins. They are faster than the Munchkin infantry and their movement is described as semi-magical (not just by the wind). While they cannot under normal circumstances engage in melee, other flying units may engage them in melee. As befits a sniping unit, they just engage the enemy with harassing attacks of sharpshooters and bombs – from above. While there are only three figures in the basket, it takes 5 hits on the balloonists to eliminate the unit – the balloon itself cannot be shot down.
This post will be quite WIP photo heavy as this was a stiff modeling challenge for me to be sure. I started on June 20th and finished on July 3rd.
I bought the model a while back and decided after looking at it to delay working on it until I had a few more other Ozz units done. I really wanted to make it cool (in my own way) – and I could see this would take some effort – so it languished in my collection of unpainted Ozz stuff – daring me to take it on. It is 28mm in scale. The figures and the basket are metal, while the balloon is a foam casting. There is an acrylic dowel as a stand that goes into a metal flight stand base, plus some wires for attaching the basket to the balloon. The rules stipulate that the base should be 4″ x 4″, so I used styrene for that..
WIP Shots…
I had visions of trying to recreate the font on the balloon to match that of the movie, but I decided otherwise as this is Ozz not Oz, and the foam cast needed some TLC.
Now, I take on modeling challenges not expecting that everything would be perfect – and here is a good example. You have to be reasonable as what you buy is a starting point, not a finish line. Let me be clear:
I LOVE THIS MODEL!!!! I highly recommend it!
However, there were a number of voids that needed to be fixed, and I just channeled my innovative juices. I needed to address that – as well as how exactly would I mount the basket and more that you’ll see shortly. The figures themselves are really nice. So what to do?
Sculpt with green stuff! That would allow me to bulk out the sculptor’s intended design as well as make the balloon “pop”…ok sorry about that…
This took more time than I wanted but I did need to let one part cure before moving on and this was a 360-degree operation. Once this was done, the mounting options swirled around in my head. I did not like the idea of using the wires – plus I was hesitant to run the wires through the foam balloon itself. I wanted the look of ropes – and that meant something to tie the ropes onto – so I made an “oreo cookie” of sorts with styrene, green stuff, and screw eyes to fit the bottom of the balloon, and let that cure. Then I drilled lined-up holes in the middle of the cookie and the balloon for the insertion of the acrylic flight pole. Once these lined up, I affixed the cookie with more green stuff and made it part of the balloon itself.
After this had cured, I covered the outside with more green stuff to make it match the balloon body.
At this point I moved on to the crew and the basket. Because there were tiny prongs on the boots of the crew and corresponding tiny holes on the basket floor for their mounting, I took two approaches. One was to use a pin vise to drill tiny holes on three popsicle sticks to accommodate the boot prongs and secured the crew with a drop of PVA glue. The second was to modify the basket bottom with matchsticks so as to hide the holes in the basket bottom.
Back to the crew, I primed them then covered them with a dark wash (Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”. Once this had dried, a strong white dry brush application was made.
Returning to the balloon, I used my airbrush cleaning pot and an old brush handle to mount for priming and painting. As Munchkins love blue, I decided to follow the pattern of colors shown on the OZZ-110 “Hot Air Balloon & Crew“ picture on the website. I did have some trouble with one panel section that necessitated a repriming and repaint as the light blue contrast paint did not fully adhere – but that worked out fine (after a bit of repainting frustration of course). The basic sequence is shown in the gallery below.
Moving back to the crew and the basket – I painted each separately then assembled them. As I mentioned before, I wanted to use ropes (using twine) instead of the wires to connect the balloon to the basket. That required drilling out the four mounting holes on the basket and inserting two jewelry rings into each hole. The rings in each hole were then glued to each other with Gorilla Glue as shown in the sequence below.
As for the acrylic flight stand pole and the metal base, they were affixed to the styrene 4″ x 4″ base. I then added small stones and green stuff to support the pole as it was not overly supported by just the metal stand. I tried to level it out as best as I could.
The next section I dreaded doing, because rigging a balloon like this could easily come out horribly if not relatively level. I went slowly with the twine and measures out lengths carefully and tried to use appropriate knots.
I gave the twine a coat of PVA for stiffening, then gave them a speed paint hue to represent rope.
Then it was time to flock the base.
Eye Candy
First, the balloon in it’s entirety from three angles.
And three close-ups of the crew in the basket:
I really was happy to finally get this done – but wait – I need to transport this contraption! So, I took a 6.5 liter Really Useful Box, customized some foam padding, and voila!
This was a project that I am certain will be a lot of fun on the tabletop – until Great Flying Apes or similar attack – or the balloonists get shot up!
Next up – Gillikin stuff!
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 MUNCHKIN AEROSTAT & CREW:
- Green stuff (kneadatite)
- Plastruct styrene sheet
- Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Gorilla Glue
- Elmer’s PVA Glue
- 4 small screw eyes
- Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”
- Vallejo Model Color “White”
- Vallejo Model Color “Red”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Murder Scene”
- Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
- Battlefront “Black”
- Vallejo Game Air “Beastly Brown”
- Citadel “Auric Armour Gold”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Beowulf Blue”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Royal Robes”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Caribbean Ocean”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aggaros Dunes”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Crusader Flesh”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Aethermatic Blue”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Pylar Glacier”
- Army Painter “Tanned Flesh”
- MSP Core Colors “Fair Shadow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Magmadroth Flame”
- Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
- Martha Stewart Crafts “Pale Bronze”
- Vallejo Model Air “Wood”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Hardened Leather”
- Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
- Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
- Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo Varnish “Satin Varnish”
- Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
- Small jewelry rings
- Wooden matchsticks
- Cotton twine
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Skeleton Horde”
- Small rocks
- Vallejo Earth Texture “Brown Earth Gel”
- Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “Tan Tufts” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Light Blue Tufts” (flocking)
- Gamers Grass “Wild”
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.
Adventurers of Ozz (Wars of Ozz)
There was one group of miniatures that I did not get a chance to finish before my trip to HUZZAH! 2023 last month. It was the “Adventurers of Ozz“, OZZ-515. There are five figures in the SKU – the Kansas Farmgirl, The Tinman, the Lion, and the the Scarecrow – plus a little Toto-like dog.
These are all very useful figures to add as point roundups or just as themselves to add depth to a game. When attached to a unit, each figure (except Toto) increases different attributes of that unit. Speaking of Toto, the Kansas Farmgirl (think “Dorothy”) already has a small dog in her basket on the figure itself. So, after thinking of how to handle that duplication – I decided to make Toto as a separate game/objective marker instead of mounting him with The Kansas Farmgirl on the same base. I can foresee games with saving Toto as an objective perhaps.
As for the attributes, at 1 point of cost, each of the figures gives a special bonus:
- Kansas Farmgirl – adds one to the Resolve of an attached unit (Resolve is basically a unit’s capacity to stay in the fight and face the enemy).
- The Tinman – adds one to the Melee of an attached unit (Melee is fighting hand to hand).
- The Lion – adds one to the Elan of an attached unit (Elan is basically a unit’s desire to close with the enemy or rally after taking losses).
- The Scarecrow – adds one to the Marksmanship of an attached unit (Marksmanship is a measure of a unit’s accuracy with missile weapons).
I had really liked seeing the figures on the website – but decided to take a different painting tack on them than what you see there. I think mine are a bit more serious, maybe even dark. This was purposeful, as I wanted to be able to add them to any side’s forces, not just the Munchkin’s or Quadlings.
I also decided early on that they would get mounted on the round MDF bases from Wars of Ozz miniatures, and that I would get their bonus abilities/attributes printed off to be placed on the little MDF tabs that go on the MDF bases. This would give me flexibility in future games – so that if I wanted to make one of these a brigade or army commander for example – I could.
There was no assembly needed on these. As I have before, I’ll share a few WIP shots and then some eye candy of the Adventurers of Ozz. 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. As the 5 figures were very different, I used many different paints.
WIP Shots…
I airbrush primed them white, and then used some SWW “Heavy Body Black” as a wash. I had this wash for a few years, and figured I’d use it instead of another before it turned to sludge.
After the wash applications had dried, I dry brushed all of them with white except for the Tinman, who I dry brushed in flat aluminum.
After this it was on to painting each figure one at a time. First up is the Kansas Farmgirl. I did choose to paint her without a headscarf as I thought the brown hair looked better. And yes, those are “ruby boots”.
Then, I moved onto the Tinman – which was my favorite figure. Love the weaponry, the tailpipe, the face! Why he has a scarf is a mystery – but I made that an Ozz green.
My next figure was the Lion – who I decided to give a “royal treatment” to in terms of rich purples and blues.
As for the Scarecrow – he looked quite creepy to me. So I decided to give him zombie flesh tones and cloak him in dark shades of green with a yellow scarf . I love that all of the weapons are so multi-barreled and weird.
Lastly, Toto the objective marker!
I subsequently varnished these with a coat of satin followed by one of matte and let them dry. Once dry, I glued them to the assembled MDF bases. Once that dried, I began serial flocking work.
While the first PVA/flocking coat dried, I went to my computer and used PowerPoint to make the abilities tabs.
After the flocking dried, I had a pretty nice collection of Adventurers of Ozz!
On a side note, I had decided that I needed to up my photographic game. I had been using my airbrush spray booth as a photo booth, but wanted better. Therefore, I bought a moderately-priced photo booth that stores easily.
Plus here it is packed away:
So, how about some eye candy from the new booth?
Eye Candy
Kansas Farmgirl
The Tinman
The Lion
The Scarecrow
Toto (the objective marker)
Group Shot
Hopefully, I can get these into a game soon. And I hope that my booth helps my photography too.
These were a lot of fun to paint. I hope that you liked enjoyed the post and the figures. Thanks for taking a look and any feedback is always appreciated. Do YOU have a favorite? I’d love to know!
What’s next for me hobby-wise – well I am not sure – but I might be going airborne…or not…
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 ADVENTURERS OF OZZ FIGURES:
- 1.25″ steel fender washers
- 1/2″ steel fender washer (Toto)
- Gorilla Glue
- Poster tack
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
- Vallejo Premium Surface Primer “White”
- Army Painter Airbrush Primer “White”
- MDF round bases from Wars of Ozz miniatures
- Secret Weapon Washes “Heavy Body Black”
- Vallejo Model Color “White”
- Tamiya “Flat Aluminum”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Peachy Flesh”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Fire Drake”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Beowulf Blue”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Royal Robes”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Baal Red”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
- Vallejo Model Air “Gun Metal”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Wyldwood”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Hardened Leather”
- Battlefront “Dark Leather”
- Vallejo “Thinner Medium”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Tyrian Navy”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Broadsword Silver”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Nazdreg Yellow”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Cloudburst Blue”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Talos Bronze”
- Citadel “Spritstone Red” (Technical)
- Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (wash)
- Vallejo Mecha Color “Steel”
- Citadel “The Fang”
- Vallejo Model Color “Neutral Grey”
- Vallejo Model Color “Sunny Skin Tone”
- Citadel “Nuln Oil GLOSS” (wash/shade)
- PS Model Color “US Olive Drab”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Ancient Honey”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Flesh Tearers Red”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Iyanden Yellow”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Purple Swarm”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Ironjawz Yellow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
- Martha Stewart Crafts “Pale Bronze”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Plaguebearer Flesh”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Camo Cloak”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Shamrock Green”
- Vallejo Model Color “Wood Grain”
- Citadel “Tesseract Glow”
- Vallejo Varnish “Satin Varnish”
- Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matte Varnish”
- Elmer’s PVA Glue
- Army Painter “Battlefields Grass Green” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefield Field Grass” (flocking)
- Gamer’s Grass “Green Meadow” (flocking)
- Gamer’s Grass “Wild” (flocking)
- Shadow’s Edge Miniatures “6mm Light Blue Tufts” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefields Field Grass” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Battlefields Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Lowland Shrubs” (flocking)
- Army Painter “Meadow Flowers” (flocking)
- Brown Sharpie pen
- Small stones (flocking)
- Small oak twigs (flocking)
- Avery shipping labels
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.
Great Owls (Wars of Ozz)
It’s time that I round out the last group of Wars of Ozz figures that I painted and used in games at Huzzah 2023.
In my last post, I gave you all a hint at the subject of this post with the following great album cover:
It was my way at connecting the Great Owls, OZZ-530, listed in the “Allies and Mercenaries” section – as are all the Land of Harvest figures. Plus, I really love this album and the Who…who…who…
These Great Owls are not part of the Land of Harvest – but can be added to any side as an ally in a game. As flyers, they have an advantage in mobility and maneuver, plus while they are treated as infantry in the game, they may, unlike infantry, charge cavalry. Their ability to vertically envelop an enemy and hit them in the rear are also quite powerful. Their Melee value is 7/10, while Resolve (stay in the fight value) is only 5/10 and Elan (take the fight to the enemy value)is 6/10. At Huzzah 2023, I added this regiment to the Munchkin player’s forces. As the Winkies had the Great Flying Apes as flyers, that was also a consideration for me in play balance.
The figures come as a pack of 10 owls with stiff-wired flight stands and a log base. The stands are of different heights. All the pieces are metal, and 28mm scale. They are quite nice figures, and pretty straightforward to assemble and to paint. I went with a basic brown on the feathers, and black eye circles with red eyes. I dry brushed the bodies, and added a brighter yellow for the beaks and feet. Again, pretty easy.
WIP Shots…
As these figures are pretty much the same, I did not take photos of each stand like I normally would do. Additionally, I found it difficult to light and to shoot each one with an Ozz background as you can see below:
I mean, you get the idea, but I was not very happy with this situation. I did try my alternate photo booth – which is a cardboard box with cloth over it:
This photo came out better – and I was pleased that now on the Ozz website part of this photo is up as the “official” image for OZZ-530!
I have since bought a new light booth which I think will improve over the issues that I have been having. More on this in my next miniatures post…as my next one is likely going to be a golf post.
That wraps up the Great Owls and the units and individuals that I did for HUZZAH 2023.
Thanks for taking a look and for any feedback. Next, I will get to some characters with which you are ALL intimately familiar – except that this is Ozz and not Oz… Stay tuned!
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 GREAT OWLS:
- 2″ square steel bases from Wargames Accessories (#21)
- Gorilla Glue
- 1.25″ steel fender washers
- Poster tack
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Vallejo Mecha Surface Primer “White”
- Army Painter Airbrush Primer “White”
- Battlefront “Black”
- Vallejo Model Color “White”
- Citadel “Skrag Brown”
- Vallejo Game Air “Sun Yellow”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Magmadroth Flame”
- Citadel “Contrast Paint – Contrast Medium”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Pallid Bone”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Ruddy Fur”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint Medium”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Dark Wood”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Burnt Moss”
- Citadel “Hexwraith Flame”
- Army Painter “Speed Paint – Forest Sprite”
- PS Model Color “British Brown Drab”
- Americana/DecoArt “Honey Brown”
- 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 Plum Tufts” (flocking)
- Small stones (flocking)
- Small oak twigs (flocking)
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…
Harvest Witch (Lady Thistlethorn)
Harvest Witch WIP Shots…
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)
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.
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…
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)
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.
Mark A. Morin 