WARS OF OZZ
◗ wargamesbuildings.co.uk ◗ £20 - £32
As you will have read in the last issue of this magazine, Wars of Ozz – produced by Sally 4th – is now a thing: you can play games based on the original Wizard of Ozz book by L. Frank Baum. I now have a copy of the rules in front of me and some samples of the miniatures themselves so I thought it would be an opportunity for a good look over to see what I thought and investigate elements that, perhaps, weren’t covered by the scenario and introduction last month.
The rules come as a soft back, A4 book almost 120 pages long. It’s perfect bound but will still lay flat. It’s illustrated in colour throughout but – leaving aside some rather well done graphics for unit organisation and some table top layouts – all of that is done with photographs of miniatures: and well painted and inspirational they are too!
The book starts with a double page spread of a contents list for the book and this was where I will have a gripe. The list has been generated by the computer’s layout package (I suspect: I’ve done the same thing myself on numerous occasions) but it remains unrefined: there really shouldn’t be several headings that have the same title (“The Army”and“the Army”or“the Infantry”and“the infantry”, for example) that refer to different sections of the same book. That’s unnecessarily confusing... But I will give it credit for being impressively comprehensive!
The game itself is described as “Horse and Musket ‘Fantasy” and is designed for solo, two player and team play. After an introduction, maps and a detailed history of the period, the rules proper with cavalry, infantry artillery and a magic system start at page 47. Included are also army lists and a painting guide (especially useful if you – like me – are one of a dozen or so people on the planet who have never read the book nor seen the film based on it...). As you will have seen from last month’s article it seems to be a fun to play, streamlined system written by the highly experienced John R ‘Buck’ Surdu. The rules are fairly intuitive and based around reactive game play designed to keep both players involved throughout but – again – have a look at last month’s article for more details.
Production values are pretty high: I’d have liked some glossier paper for the rules simply as it shows off the photos better but it’s all well done. But how do you play this game? Well, you’ll need figures, right? The game is supported with a huge release of over 70 packs of specific miniatures and they promise new factions and new releases for years to come. That’s quite a big deal to hit the shelves with!
To back that up they sent me four sets of 28mm‘scale’samples: I have the diminutive Munchkins (and that’s hard to admit with a straight face) who are one of several types of Neo-men who populate Ozz. The Munchkin Landwehr Infantry Regiment wearing bicorns (with a Command group) are 23mm or so tall and you get 21 in a pack for £32 (and that’s the same for most packs although the personalities and specialist items are differently priced). I’ve also got 20mm tall Gillikin Infantry; Quadlings at 30mm with separate heads; and 30mm Winkies.‘nuff said!