Month: October 2021

Wars of Ozz Game Last Weekend

I received an Email recently from Les, who is a fan of Combat Patrol(R) that he was going to be in Florida near where I live for a few days. We took the opportunity for him to come over and try Wars of Ozz for the first time. I had planned on a rather large game including Zoom and in-person players, but a number of people had to cancel at the last minute. We played a two-player Ozz game with Dave playing Nomes and Les playing Munchkins.

Initial setup for the game. The white tags are to help players participating via Zoom.

The scenario involved the Nomes and Munchkins vying for control of a key crossroad. It was a simple scenario to introduce Les to the rules. Each side had 25 points.

The Munchkin force had two Landwehr units in column along the road (M3 and M4), a medium artillery battery (M5), Sourdough’s Regiment (M1), and a regiment of light cavalry.
The Nomes begin to advance. Throughout the game, Dave played the Nomes very aggressively, which may have been his downfall — or maybe it was his dismal dice rolling. The Nomes had two blunderbuss units (N1 at the top of the picture and N2), two axe-armed units (N3 and N4), and a medium artillery battery.

As usual, turn one consisted mostly of both sides maneuvering into contact.

The Munchkins advance toward the crossroads.
Nomes advance aggressively…
… Then it got exciting.

Dave charged with his Nomes and gained some initial success against the Munchkin Landwehr, with their poor Melee attributes. The Landwehr counter attacked against he blunderbuss men. In FIVE consecutive Reaction Tests at close range, Dave’s blunderbuss men never decided to fire. The blunderbusses have an advantage at close range, and Dave’s poor Reaction Tests on his right flank probably contributed most to his eventual defeat.

On the other flank, the Munchkin light cavalry threw back Dave’s other Nome blunderbuss unit. They eventually rallied and took another stab at the cavalry, but not before the horsemen charged and routed the Nome artillery. Dave failed another Reaction Test and did not get of effective artillery fire before the horsemen closed.
A Nome axe unit did manage to route the Munchkin artillery as the center and Nome right got more confused.
This is right before the cavalry charge defeated the Nome artillery. In the distance you can see the Nome axe unit that routed the Munchkin artillery but never managed to take advantage of the situation to hit either Munchkin infantry unit on the flank.
The Munchkins have driven back the aggressive Nomes and resumed their advance toward the crossroad.
At this point, the Nomes had only one unit left. Although they technically held the crossroads, at the end of turn four, we called the game a Munchkin victory. The Nomes had no hope of holding the crossroad if we had played another turn.

Despite dismal die rolling by Dave, I think that both players had a good time. Les’ dice were about average, some good rolls and some bad. I don’t think Dave rolled less than 9 on a Reaction Test the whole game.

This was Les’ first experience with the rules, and he seemed to like them. He is working on his own rules for the American Revolution. I have sent what I think is the final draft of Wars of Orcs and Dwarves to the publisher for layout. Soon I will begin work on Wars of Eagles and Empires (for black powder era warfare). The initial rules will focus on the Napoleonic Wars, and I’ll be looking for folks to write supplements for other periods, such as the Seven Years War, Jacobite Rebellion, and AWI. I am talking to Les about writing that supplement.

Munchkin Attack on Gillikin Village

Last night, I hosted a Wars of Ozz game.  The game involved three 20-point Munchkin brigades attacking two 25-point Gillikin brigades.  The Gillikins were defending a village that the Munchkins sought to capture. We had two guys who were familiar with the rules, and one newcomer who quickly grasped the rules.  We played four turns.  We probably needed a fifth turn to come to a conclusion, but the consensus was that the Munchkins would have captured the town.

The starting locations of troops with the Munchkins on the left and the Gillikins on the right.
The center Munchkin brigade in its starting location. It consisted of Zoraster’s Guard, Sourdough’s regiment, a Landwehr regiment, and a medium artillery battery.
The Munchkin cavalry brigade on their right: two heavy regiments, one light regiment, and a light gun.
My two Gillikin cavalry regiments had early success pummeling a Munchkin Landwehr regiment, but then the tigers and Munchkin infantry mopped them up.
While the tigers had little hope of closing with my Gillikin cavalry, since both units were badly mauled, their charge against my cavalry was enough to rout the goat riders from the table.
The Gillikin infantry holding the town got involved in a firefight with a unit of Munchkin infantry. Despite the cover of the town, the Gillikins didn’t do well in the firefight. In the bottom right, you can see one of my Gillikin infantry units moving up to support the town.
The Munchkins brought up a batter and a second unit of infantry. The Gillikins decided to defend inside the town to avoid being cut down by Munchkin musketry. My infantry unit on the right and my cannon were able to knock out a base of Munchkin infantry, but when the infantry later charged, they were smashed by the Munchkins.
Initial dispositions of the Gillikins on our left. Wayne was quite aggressive with his goat cavalry while his musketeers and bowmen kept plinking away at the Munchkin cavalry.
Early maneuvers on the Munchkin right (cavalry brigade) and Gillikin left.
The fight on the Munchkin right heats up. By the end of the game, all three Munchkin cavalry regiments had routed thanks to aggressive cavalry action by the Gillikins on goats and the support of the Gillikin infantry in the woods.

As I said, the consensus was that the game would have been a Munchkin victory if we had been able to play one more turn, but it was a “school night,” and we quit about 2200.  The game was fun.

Science Fiction Crawler Type Vehicle

I recently ordered this vehicle from an outfit called RealityAtWork.  Even without instructions it assembled easily.  There were some really nice features about how this kit, all 3D printed, assembled with printed clips.  I like the way I was able to assemble it so that the roofs came off easily for play.

The trailer was optional.  The door/hatch came already assembled and hinged.  The ladder is supposed to go up and down, but it is a very tight fit, and after painting, it probably won’t move any more.

The figures in these pictures are 28mm figures.

This vehicle will be the centerpiece of a science fiction skirmish scenario using the under-development Star Patrol(TM) version of Combat Patrol(R).

The interior of the main portion of the vehicle.
The interior of the front portion of the vehicle.

And this is something unrelated, but I picked it up last weekend at Hurricon in Orlando.  Yes, we are holding gaming conventions here.