On Thin Ice - Wars of Ozz AAR

My second game of the convention was Wars of Ozz, another set of rules by Buck Surdu with Chris Palmer.

This was the opening scenario in a trio of campaign games from the "The War to save Yule" supplement, which added Christmas-themed armies. The Anti-Yule forces of the Ice Queen have Krampuses, Ice Trolls, Snow Men, Dark Elves, and other nasties, while the forces of the Lands of Yule have Elves and animated Toy Soldiers and Teddy Bears.  

Four Anti-Yule brigades lead the vanguard of the Ice Queen's armies into the Lands of Yule, surprising two Yule brigades by freezing the river that guards Yule's border. 

The Anti-Yule brigades scored a point for every unit (of any size) that escaped off the opposite table edge, while the Yule brigades scored two points for every Anti-Yule unit they entirely wiped out. Whoever had the most points by the end of the battle won and would help their side in the next game. 

The Anti-Yule brigade commanders that the best way past the Yule forces was through them. As the hordes of monsters marched across the ice, the thin line of Yule began to hurriedly deploy to stem the tide. 

Both sides began taking losses early on (over on our side of the table, at least...), with the Yule Elves and artillery scattering, but sending a unit of Krampuses running away in fear of the cannon as well. 

The unit of Teddy Bears were real troopers, fending off waves of Dark Elves and Dire Wolves with blasts of musket fire. 

As for my brigade, it wasn't doing so well. I thought that the burly Ice Trolls and the Christmas tree-hewing Mechanical Axemen would slaughter some measly Toy Soldiers and Elves. But the defenders of Yule sent both regiments fleeing, then eyed the Krampuses waiting on the far flank. 

And the Krampuses were soon routing as well! Sure, the Yule cavalry had taken a beating, but most of my brigade was on its way back across the river. 

Both sides were seriously depleted towards the end of the game. Instead of charging into the teddy bears again, I instead decided to sprint the Dire Wolves to the table edge, to help score some point. 

A glance over at the other side of the table showed some very fresh looking troops, eliciting some disbelief from the Yule commander whose troops were mostly exhausted from fighting off the anti-Yule brigades on his side of the village. 

Overall, the Anti-Yule attackers managed to get seven units off the table, while the Yule defenders destroyed three units. A 7-6 score meant that the Anti-Yule forces just barely managed to win!

This was a fun game, full of chaos thanks to how Wars of Ozz handles unit reactions. It's great to watch as your carefully planned attack falters as you lose control of your troops.

Unfortunately Old Glory wasn't able to attend this year, so I couldn't pick up the rulebook or another Munchkin regiment. Another online order, I suppose!

The Siege of the Emerald City - Wars of Ozz AAR

I was able to play in three full games while attending Fall In this year. Unfortunately my first two games on Friday were cancelled, and I slept poorly enough that I had to skip the first (I wasn't going to drive three hours to Lancaster on the same amount of sleep). 

So after wandering around for a few hours, I played in a siege scenario for Wars of Ozz, one of the newer sets of rules from Buck Surdu, miniatures from Old Glory, and setting from Chris Palmer (who was running the game). I'd seen the rules here any there online but hadn't had an opportunity to play, so I decided to jump in when I saw there was a spot open. 

Wars of Ozz takes place in a post-post-apocalyptic Earth that has ended up resembling the Oz of Frank Baum's imagination with a slight twist, like introducing 18th century technology.

Two brigades of Winkies with Skeleton and Dire Bear allies marched on the walls of the Emerald City. The defenders, two brigades of Munchkins, waited for the assault. 

Behind them, the perfidious Gnomes (or Nomes?), allies of the Winkies, had blown a hole in the walls of the Emerald City and came pouring out. Luckily, the Munchkins' allies, the Quadlings, had been garrisoned in the city and would counter the Gnomish ambush. 

I was commanding one brigade of Munchkins for the game, consisting of the named Zoraster’s Guard regiment, a Munchkin Landwehr regiment, a Heavy Cavalry squadron, and a light gun. 

I was facing off against a Winkie brigade which had a regiment of Skeletons, a regiment of close-combat infantry with spears, a regiment of Marksmen (the only Winkie regiment with guns), and a heavy gun. 

The Quadlings quickly advanced against the Gnomes, with two musket-armed regiments and a unit of Tin Woodsmen. To keep the Gnomes contained in the city, the Munchkins diverted a cavalry squadron to attack the Gnomish rear. 

The cavalry charge was successful, and the artillerygnomes were chases off. 

Meanwhile, the Winkies had moved their Marksmen to their far flank while their close-combat infantry concentrated on the center of the Munckins' defensive line. 

My Heavy Cavalry seemed reluctant to get stuck in the Marksmen, but they were at least keeping the musket-armed Winkies out of the fight. 

The Munchkin forces on the other side of the table were much harder pressed, dealing not only Winkie infantry but Dire Bears as well. 

The Quadling brigade was holding firm in dealing with the Gnomes, who had decided to continue pushing into the city rather than try and break out into the Munckins' flank. After taking a beating, the Gnomes began to rout back into the hole rather than run into any more of the Quadlings musket fire. 

My personal MVP for the game was this regiment of Munchkin Landwehr, who not only defeated the undead Skeletons but also held their nerve in the face of charging Winkies.

Wars of Ozz uses a very clever set of reaction charts that are different for each faction. A unit of Munckins, for example, is likely to fire upon a unit that fires at them, while Winkies are likely to surge forward into melee. This can be modified by the number of bases lost, or if a commander has joined the unit. 

There were several occasions when engagements (like the above) seemed to take a life on their own as units reacted to each other, devolving into a mess of melee, musketry, and eventually failed morale checks. 

The game ended with a victory for the forces of the Emerald City. While the Munchkins had been bloodied, they had rallied back into a defensive line while many of the Winkie units were routing. And the Quadlings were just waiting for the Gnomes to fully retreat before they could march out of the city to reinforce the Munchkins.

I had a great time while playing. The rules were easy to pick up and interesting to play, and the miniatures and table were fantastic. Chris ended up winning the "Pour Les Encourager Les Autres" award for the best game in the Friday night time slot, which was well deserved!

As no one plays in my local area, I only ended up buying a regiment of Munchkin Landwehr to paint for fun, in honor of the brave troops that served so well during the game.