Sharp Practice v2 | Fortified Niche!

Too Fat Lardies’ Sharp Practice v2 is so famous among historical gamers, you’d be tempted to no longer call it an indie. But this is my podcast, and it’s an excuse for me to have bants with the lads and try games I thought were interesting. I’ve declared all historicals (save for Flames of War/Team Yankee) to be indies, so here’s the Sharp Practice review.

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Mo’ fun with WoFun | Peninsular War 18mm Starter Pack review

Here at Fortified Niche, we’ve been fans of World of Fun Games as long as we’ve known of the company. Plexiglas standees solve the issues of both paper standees and regular miniatures! But our endless paeans always lacked a certain I-defintely-can-sais-qui: none of us had ever touched the stuff. This changed recently when WoFun kindly provided the awkwardly-named Start Pack Peninsular War 18mm – and threw in a few other frames besides. Does this mean I’ll turn my sycophancy to 11? Let’s find out.

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Space Weirdos/Sword Weirdos | Fortified Niche!

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!

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Mobile Frame Zero/Intercept Orbit | 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!

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Star Wars: Legion | 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.

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Eisenhower | 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.

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Try the Counterattack on the Mius TTS module.

Try the Operation Epsom TTS module.

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Burrows & Badgers 2E | Fortified Niche!

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.

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Malediction review | Fortified Niche!

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.

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ArcWorlde 2E review | Fortified Niche!

Whimsical fantasy! Not as often encountered as high- or dark-fantasy. But still, wargames of the type exist. We already covered and extensively praised Moonstone. Now, it’s our turn to do Arcworlde, 2nd edition!

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Centurion Abraxus Isidor, Loyalist Death Guard

When the XIV Legion mockingly left the Youngblood behind to “prove his tactics right” by pacifying the toxic world of Kuzmin’s Pendulum, Abraxus was just a Breacher sergeant. After years of spearheading attacks on insurgent strongpoints and fortresses, his heterodox praetor was promoted him to centurion. One of his first triumphs as a full officer would be the boarding of the cruiser leading the small traitor detachment came to retrieve the Death Guard forces from Pendulum short after Drop Site Massacre.

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