V for Victory | Fortified Niche

Of all the modern periods fit for pushing around historically-inspired toy soldiers, World War 2 has probably the most rulesets. But it’s still nice to see a new one published, especially when implements ideas that should be more mainstream. We’re talking about V for Victory, baby!

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Spectre Operations 3E | Fortified Niche

Spectre Operations – not Specter Operations – is now three editions old! Haven’t played the previous two, I was the perfect guy to give it a spin. The dev of the previous two e’s had split and so the game was written anew. What can you expect from the hardened operators and middling militias in Spectre Operations V3/3E/third edition?

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Midgard: Heroic Battles review | Fortified Niche

In the Christmas/New Year/holiday rush, one game got completely lost in the pipeline. Played and recorded, it languished ironically forgotten for something that won Best New Wargames Rules award in the yearly Wargame Illustrated vote. That’s right, we’re talking Midgard: Heroic Battles!

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Mantic Butchers review | Warp spawn

When I got the GCPS troopers I wanted to review, I also received a a frame of Kings of War/Firefight Butchers as well. I had no intention of touching anything Nightmares-related, but here I am. Behold, my experiences in making three very different Butcher builds.

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Bolt Action 3rd edition | Fortified Niche playtest!

Bolt Action is often used as an example of a 28mm historical game that can be used to ease-in fresh players of… less well-made games. This legacy continues with the latest iteration, Bolt Action 3rd edition.

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ignition:core | Fortified Niche playtest!

Video games, I’ve played a few. Miniature wargames that are meant to evoke the feeling of playing a video game? The pod has encountered them before. But only ignition:core goes after the ultimate prize: a Titanfall wargame.

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Kensei | Fortified Niche Playtest!

Look, we’ll never know how sonae fought in practice. Let’s just stop thinking about it. Maybe it will become easier if your Japanese fighting game isn’t set in Japan. Maybe it would be better for your miniature game to be set in the lands of Kensei: The Awakening… and to also feature zombies.

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Dystopian Wars | Fortified Niche review!

Unfortunately, we don’t get many games about uptopian warfare. Why aren’t we pushing around plastic fighting figures for a better future? But while you’re pondering this philosophical nugget, you can play Dystopian Wars, the steam/atom/???-punk game of naval combat before the missile age!

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GCPS Troopers review | Contrast control for victory

Mantic’s GCPS Troopers had been my white whale for a long time. When I had the harebrained idea to make a loyalist version of Renegade and Heretics some 11 years ago, I spent years looking at cheap Imperial Guard proxies. Mantic was supposed to be the chosen once, and GCPS troopers its spearhead. But I never liked the look of them on the store. So I finally Mantic nicely for some minis and they sent me a GCPS Troopers sprue to review.

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Combat Storm | Fortified Niche playtest!

Statistically, you either had or had played with toy soldiers as a kid. But the only person to set any sort of rules back then was an irate parent, laying down the law once the crying got too much. Combat Storm aims to bring a little class into what would otherwise be an ugly brawl by providing rules for your green or tan army men!

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