Friday, May 1, 2020

"Wars of Ozz" Big 4-Player Long Distance Discord Game

     This past Saturday the "Wars of Ozz" demo team (Greg Priebe, Zeb Cook, and I) got together along with "Wars of Ozz" UK Distributor, Chris Abbey, to play a long distance game via Discord, along with the rules' author, Buck Surdu, who acted as host and Gamemaster.
     We did the Meeting Engagement scenario from the rulebook, and each of us were assigned a force from one of the different main factions: Munchkin, Quadling, Winkie & Gillikin.


Gillikin Brigade

1) Brigade Commander, generic  0 point
2) 1st Regiment                           5 points
3) 2nd Regiment                          5 points
4) 3rd Regiment                           5 points 
5) Forrester Regiment                  5 points
6) Medium Artillery                    5 points

                      Total:                  25 points

Winkie Brigade*

1) Brigade Commander, generic 0 point
2) 1st Regiment                          4 points
3) 5th Regiment                          4 points
4)  Herku Regiment                    4 points       
5) Oogoboo Regiment                4 points
6)  Light Cavalry Regiment       5 points
7)  Medium Artillery                  5 points

                      Total:                  30 points

Munchkin Brigade

1) Brigade Commander, generic  0 point
2) Zoraster's Guard                      8 points
3) Col Sourdough's Regiment     6 points
4) Col Hardsole's Regiment        6 points
5) Col TicTok's Regiment           6 points


                      Total:                  26 points

Quadling Brigade

1) Brigade Commander, generic  0 points
2) South. Prov. Regiment             5 points
3) Cent. Prov. Regiment               5 points
4) North. Prov. Regiment             6 points
5) Light Cavalry                        5 points    (Note: We used a Munchkin unit for this, as Buck didn't                                                                 have a Quadling one, but we used the Quadling stats for it.)
7) Light Artillery                         4 points    (Note: We used a Winkie model for this, as Buck didn't                                                                   have a Quadling one, but we used the Quadling stats for it.)
  Total:                                       25 points

 * Note that through a math error the Winkies were assigned an extra Regiment.

    Buck set up a big 12'x5' table, and set the terrain as per maps generated from the rulebook. I was assigned the Quadling command, and faced off against Zeb as the Winkie commander across from me.  To my left was Chris Abbey with the Munchkins, and across from him was Greg with the Gillikins.  In the photo below you can see our initial set ups.  These were established using the random set-up generator from the rules. 
     This battle was so large, that I wasn't able to keep track of all that was happening, especially on the Munchkin-Gilliken front, and it was hard to get photos showing the whole table; so instead of my usual turn by turn reports, I will just show some photos below from throughout the battle. 
Initial Set-up

Opening moves; as the WInkies, in the foreground, launch their cavalry at my artillery.  Through a series of poor dice rolling, the cavalry had trouble coming to grips with the gunners, and were eventually decimated after several activations of point black cannon fire. 

The opening moves on the Gilliken-Munchkin front.  The Gillikens are in the foreground.

The Winkie cavalry still tries to come to grips with my artillery as their steamroller of infantry slowly advances.

Over on the other side of the battle, the Munchkins (on far side of table) begin to extend their lines in an attempt to outflank their Gilliken opponents.
The Winkies come to grips with my troops.  On the left of the photo, a Winkie infantry regiment is about to take out my cannon, succeeding at doing what their cavalry couldn't.  At the top right, two units of Gillikens pursue a broken Munchkin Regiment off the table, opening up my left flank to attacks from the Gillikens. 

Even as their right crumbles, the Munchkins (along top of photo) aggressively attack the rest of Gillikens, driving in the right of the green-skin line. 

As the game comes to an end, the Winkies have virtually driven my entire force from the table.

On the other end of the battle, the Munckins have badly mauled the Gillikens but with the loss of my force, it's too late for them alone to save the battle. 
     We managed to complete the game in 4 hours, which was pretty good considering we were all working long distance with just Buck to move all the troops.  Victory was based on stands eliminated, and in the end the Winkie-Gillikens had eliminated 27 of ours, to our side having eliminated 23 of theirs; a pretty close fight.