Fortified Niche

Put your wizard on a ram and round up some goblins, it's time to face Thud & Blunder, a fantasy skirmish wargame from The Ministry of Gentlemanly Warfare.  Find the Thud & Blunder rules here: https://theministryofgentlemanlywarfare.wordpress.com/thud-blunder/ Read the blog post here: https://www.barreldrill.com/thud-and-blunder-review/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog Cohost T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

For the first time in Fortified Niche history, the pod makes an interview! JcDent, podcast host, talks to David Phipps, the driving force behind the wildly-good Pulp Alley rules, about game design, inspirations, and the dirtiest word of all - balance.  Listen to the Pulp Alley episode here: https://anchor.fm/fortified-niche/episodes/21---Pulp-Alley-e1m8tik Find Pulp Alley here: http://pulpalley.com Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The podcast becomes the franchise owner of the Kittens in Techno Bowl, a retro console throwback American Football game by Brent Spivey!  Find the Techno Bowl rules here: https://bombshell-games.com/techno-bowl/ Read the blog post here: https://www.barreldrill.com/techno-bowl/ The TTS module we used: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2285074854 Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The podcast duo discovers they have a shared health pool in Rogue Planet, a skirmish game of whatever space adventure you'd like by Brent Spivey!  Find the Rogue Planet rules here: https://bombshell-games.com/rogue-planet/ Read the blog post here: https://www.barreldrill.com/rogue-planet-review/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

In the gothic gloom of the distant tomorrow, there is only a return to Grimdark Future, the rules light sci-fi miniature wargame we covered in episode #1 sans any playtesting!  Find everything you need to play Grimdark Future here: https://onepagerules.com/portfolio/grimdark-future/ Read the blog post here: https://www.barreldrill.com/grimdark-future-redux-fortified-niche-playtest/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Lead the disparate forces of mankind (or gorillas) against gothic space robots that are turning entire systems into bitcoin farms in AT-43, the sci-fi mass-battle wargame from twice-bankrupt Rackham. Yes, we reviewed a dead game!  Find fan-maintained AT-43 resources here: https://www.orderofgamers.com/games/at-43/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Our demon warlord is rounding up some Greys and mounting guns on technicals to withstand the assault of Xenos Rampant, the setting-agnostic sci-wargame from the minds of Daniel Mercey and Richard Cowen! Find Xenos Rampant here: https://ospreypublishing.com/us/xenos-rampant-9781472852342/ Read the blog post about Xenos Rampant here: https://www.barreldrill.com/xenos-rampant-playtest/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod boys don't have a Patreon, so they can't afford more than two bullets in Punkapocalyptic, a post-apocalyptic skirmish wargame by Bad Roll Games! Find Punkapocalyptic here: https://www.badrollgames.com/en/downloads/rules/ Read the blog post about Punkapocalyptic here: https://www.barreldrill.com/punkapocalytic-fortified-niche/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

In space, no one can hear you breach, bang and clear in Space Station Zero, a cooperative space dungeon delver from Snarling Badger Studios! Find Space Station Zero here: https://www.snarlingbadger.com/spacestationzero Read the blog post about Space Station Zero here: https://www.barreldrill.com/space-station-zero-review/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

For the one-year anniversary episode of Fortified Niche, the pod-lads sit down to talk about the most amazing pieces of game design they encountered over the 365 days of podcasting about indie wargames. Did your favorite game make the cut? Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew don leather jackets and load sawn-off shotguns to test out This is Not a Test, a post-nuclear skirmish wargame from Worlds End Publishing! Find This is Not a Test here: https://worldsendpublishing.com/products/this-is-not-a-test-official-rulebook-pdf Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Time to give those Frenchies/Brits/Colonials a proper thrashing in Muskets & Tomahawks second edition from Studio Tomahawk! Find Muskets & Tomahawks here: http://www.studio-tomahawk.com/en/mousquets-et-tomahawks/ Read the blog post about Muskets & Tomahawks here: https://www.barreldrill.com/muskets-tomahawks-2e/ Build yourself a Muskets & Tomahawks army here: https://mt.easyarmy.com Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Open up your HiRealMeetBobBeFrank app and swipe right on that mercenary contract in Reality's Edge by Joseph McGuire and published by Osprey. But don't forget to update your antivirus or someone may hack your knife! Find Reality's Edge  here: https://ospreypublishing.com/reality-039-s-edge Read the blog post about Reality's Edge here: https://www.barreldrill.com/realitys-edge/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Attention, all Nicheneers! Steel your nerves as our fortified duo faces the challenges of Pulp Alley - set by Phipps and Daughter themselves! Will this spell doom for our rebellious reviewers? Will they prevail - and keep their two fists? Only on today's episode of Fortified Niche! Find Pulp Alley here: http://pulpalley.com Read the blog post about Pulp Alley here: https://www.barreldrill.com/pulp-alley/  Use the ridiculously good Pulp Alley TTS module found here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2681844586 Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Both summer heat and the Covid pox tried to stop the lads from reviewing Infamy, Infamy!, an excellent large skirmish game by TooFatLardies for refighting the wars between Rome and the Gauls, the British, etc.!  Find Infamy, Infamy! here: https://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/infamy-infamy/ Read the blog post about Infamy, Infamy! here: https://www.barreldrill.com/infamy-infamy/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The podcasters command their unstoppable hordes of T-55As in Cold War Commander 2nd Edition, a fairly groggy game of modern warfare that actually plays really smoothly!  Find Cold War Commander 2nd Edition here: https://www.pendraken.co.uk/ncwc-2-rules-ncold-war-commander-2-rulebook-6949-p.asp Read the blog post about Cold War Commander 2nd Edition here: https://www.barreldrill.com/cold-war-commander-2e-fortified-niche-playtest/ Ask Cold War Commander 2nd Edition questions and get the army lists here: https://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/board,91.0.html Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

After drawing the Fortified Niche card, Player 1 selects a regiment of podcasters to carry out Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings, a rank-and-flank game where mercenary crossbowmen are shooting at unit of clone spearmen.  Find Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings here: https://www.para-bellum.com/getting-started/ Read the blog post about Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings here: https://www.barreldrill.com/conquest-the-last-argument-of-kings-fortified-niche-playtest Fiddle with the Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings army builder: https://armybuilder.para-bellum.com/tlaok Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The world's greatest detective gets nailed with an RPG as we play Batman Miniature Game, a good skirmish game featuring DC Comics' finest street-level heroes, villains, and mooks.  Find Batman Miniature Game here: https://www.knightmodels.com/en/batman-miniature-game/ Read the blog post about Batman Miniature Game here: https://www.barreldrill.com/batman-miniature-game/ Get the great Batman Miniature Game module for Tabletop Simulator here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2006760043 Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

Loyalty clashes with intrigue as House Podcast rallies the troops for A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game, the rank-and-flank game based on the books, not the TV series, that has a lot of tricks up its sleeves.  Find A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game here: https://asoiaf.cmon.com Read the blog post about A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game here: https://www.barreldrill.com/a-song-of-ice-and-fire-tabletop-miniatures-game-fortified-niche-playtest Get the absurdly good A Song of Ice and Fire: Tabletop Miniatures Game module for Tabletop Simulator here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2077621477 Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew whirl, leap, and pirouette into Carnevale Second Edition, the TTCombat game of skirmish fights on the magical Venetian canals.  Find Carnevale here: https://ttcombat.com/collections/carnevale Peep the Carnevale army builder here: https://carnevalegame.com/builder Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew combat-jumps into Infinity CodeOne, the high-speed low-drag little brother of the sci-fi skirmish gem Infinity by Corvus Belli.  Infinity CodeOne screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/infinity-codeone-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Infinity CodeOne here: https://infinitytheuniverse.com/games/codeone Peep the Infinity CodeOne army builder here: https://infinitytheuniverse.com/army/codeone Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The Baron's War by Andy Hobday has all the alternating activations, tokens, and online army builders you could ever want in Medieval England. Grab a sword and skirmish the horde!  The Baron's War screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/the-barons-war-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find The Baron's War here: https://footsoreminiatures.co.uk/collections/barons-war/ Peep The Baron's War army builder and blog here: https://www.warhost.online/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram Show editing by Serf McSerfington Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

ZONA ALFA: SALVAGE AND SURVIVAL IN THE EXCLUSION ZONE is referred to as just Zona Alfa by the players of this fairly rules-light skirmish game set in some anomaly-strewn Eastern European Zone. This episode features our new theme by Bevan Tanttu! Zona Alfa screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/zona-alfa-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Zona Alfa here: https://ospreypublishing.com/zona-alfa Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

The podcast plays Five Men at Kursk to ask questions like "why does the Sherman not have the 'Ronson' rule?" and "why aren't the Germans outright superior to everyone else?"  Five Men at Kursk screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/five-men-at-kursk-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Turnip28 here: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/174545/Five-Men-at-Kursk Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

To get into the weird and rooty atmosphere of Turnip28 - a Napoleonic-ish wargame - Cassa recorded all of his audio for this episode on a potato. Turnip28 screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/turnip28-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Turnip28 here: https://www.patreon.com/Turnip28 Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

In Black Powder Red Earth 28MM, you're an operator operating operationally... and then a Chinese drone stabs you from the sky. Black Powder Red Earth 28MM screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/black-powder-red-earth-28mm-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Black Powder Red Earth 28MM here: https://www.blackpowderredearth.com/28mm.php Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

Come on and slam, and welcome to the, er, rumble with Rumbleslam, the game of fantasy wrestling.   Rumbleslam screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/rumbleslam-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Dracula's America: Shadows of the West here: https://rumbleslam.com/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!     JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

The podcast posse blazes a trailer of destruction through the Weird Weird West by playing Dracula's America: Shadows of the West. Dracula's America: Shadows of the West screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/draculas-america-shadows-of-the-west-fortified-niche-playtest/ Find Dracula's America: Shadows of the West here: https://ospreypublishing.com/dracula-039-s-america-shadows-of-the-west Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!   JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

Podcast lads tactically renditioned Delta One Zero via a high-speed low-barbie email to the developer. So what did they kinetically ascertain about the game, other than it not being Infinity? Delta One Zero screenshots w/commentary on the blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/delta-one-zero-fortified-niche-podcast/ Delta One Zero: https://bonza-games.com/ Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!   JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

Massively famous podcast madlads are furnished with a review copy of The Silver Bayonet, written by one Joseph A. McCullough and published by Osprey Games. Over the hills and o'er the Main, To Flanders, Portugal and Spain, King George commands and we'll obey, Shooting werewolves and the fey. This is also the first episode where JcDent gives a small illustrated overview of experiences playing The Silver Bayonet on his blog: https://www.barreldrill.com/the-silver-bayonet-fortified-niche/ The Silver Bayonet: https://ospreypublishing.com/the-silver-bayonet Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!   JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

We take a critical look at Force on Force, a modern military miniature wargame that uncritically accepts any and all Western military adventures of the last century.  Force on Force: http://www.ambushalleygames.net/force-on-force-core-rules-pdf Follow the creators of Fortified niche on social media! JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

If you're ever played Mork Borg and thought "man, I'd love it if this was a very rules-light Mordheim-like," then Forbidden Psalm was made with you preternaturally presciently in mind. Forbidden Psalm: https://www.exaltedfuneral.com/products/forbidden-psalm Follow the creators of Fortified niche on social media! JcDent: Barrel Drill blog T-shirt store Cassa: Instagram

For the second episode, we have a look at Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age, a fantasy mass battle game most famous for the kingdom generation mechanic... and we discover the reason why you haven't heard anything else about it. Oathmark: Battles of the Lost Age: https://ospreypublishing.com/oathmark Follow the creators of Fortified niche on social media! JcDent: https://www.barreldrill.com/ https://bit.ly/grognardia Cassa: https://www.instagram.com/cassascreativeshots

For the inaugural episode of Fortified Niche, we take a look at the biggest small game: Grimdark Future by Gaetano Ferrara. It's streamlined Warhammer 40,000, but actually good! Grimdark Future: https://onepagerules.com/portfolio/grimdark-future/ Follow the creators of Fortified niche on social media! JcDent: https://www.barreldrill.com/ https://bit.ly/grognardia Cassa: https://www.instagram.com/cassascreativeshots