What if game rules were under thirty pages? That’s not sole privilege of OPR, you know. In this installment of This Came From The FLGS podcasting, I review zine-sized skirmish games: Space Weirdos for sci-fi gun-havers, and its more mature evolution Sword Weirdos for fantasy!
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Continue reading “Space Weirdos/Sword Weirdos | Fortified Niche!”Have you heard of these peculiar plastic bricks that the Danes have made? They are called “Lego” and you can use them to both erect structures and craft engines, and create whole worlds for miniature plastic figurines to inhabit. And what, pray tell, would happen if such a plastic brick game was inspired by Japanese woodcuts of fights in giant armored suits – or even space-faring vessels? Why, you would get Mobile Frame Zero* and its kin, Mobile Frame Zero: Intercept Orbit!
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Continue reading “Mobile Frame Zero/Intercept Orbit | Fortified Niche!”Star Wars hasn’t had much luck with movies lately, and the video game adaptations are a mixed bag. But, surprisingly enough, the miniature wargames are on an upswing! One of multiple such phoenixes arising from plastic ashes is Star Wars: Legion, the 28mm mass combat game from Atomic Mass Games, mostly known for a skirmish game tied to another terrible movie franchise.
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Continue reading “Star Wars: Legion | Fortified Niche!”Longtime listeners will know that I’m a big “1 miniature represents 1 soldier” fan. Naturally, it took the Something Awful goons mentioning Eisenhower all of twice for me to get very interested in the World War 2 wargame of commanding entire division, with battalion being the smallest unit on the table. Naturally.
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Try the Counterattack on the Mius TTS module.
Try the Operation Epsom TTS module.
28 hours has to be enough. Second (if not third) Flashpoint Campaigns game I’m getting off Slitherine – and the first one I’m [gendering] up to review. Because I promised the good folks online – nobody in particular really, just the general online population – that I’d do it. So here it goes: Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War is the best Cold War game you can play on this, the publication day of the article.
Continue reading “Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War review | Cold War Done Good”Would a Dungeons and Dragons miniature skirmish game allow you to hire its titular beast into your starting team? No! But Burrows & Badgers: Second Edition is totally cool with you hiring a badger – and is an excellent rule set besides.
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Continue reading “Burrows & Badgers 2E | Fortified Niche!”This review came about solely ‘cos I watched the Master of Command developer videos. Previously, I did’t know anything about the Seven Years’ War, nor was I an Armchair Historian follower. But I was mildly interested in Fire & Maneuver, his previous title, and liked what I saw in those recorded dev streams. This encouraged me to beg for a game key. It was graciously provided and I immediately ran into unforeseen problems.
Continue reading “Master of Command review | The other Napoleonic war”This is the third time I’m starting writing the Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon review anew. While I really want to call it “Polish Skyrim,” it is a lot more than that. It also does so many small things differently that its very easy to get lost in the weeds and balloon the review. But while it took me 67 hours to finish the game, it should take you a lot less to read my review. In short, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a good title already, but if you wait before buying it, it will get even better with patches.
Continue reading “Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon review | What costs a nation?”Glorantha is one of those settings that gets the video game treatment infrequently, but it’s always a good time when it does. Everybody has fond memories of King of Dragon Pass. But what about a 3D game set in Glorantha? I played the RuneQuest: Warlords preview version to see how that would look like.
Continue reading “RuneQuest: Warlords preview in 7 screenshots!”To explain why I don’t play WarmaHordes, I simply say “it’s as gamey as a card game, but with miniatures.” Imagine my surprise when I found a game that’s essentially just that – a CCG with miniatures! And you know what? Malediction is pretty good.
Listen to the Fortified Niche episode.
Continue reading “Malediction review | Fortified Niche!”
