Fortified Niche

For this episode, former/sometimes pod host Cassa interviews game designer Jack Gassman of Force of Virtue fame, talking about putting virtue into rules, the influence of riding horses on game develop, and doing game design with unsuitable tools (Microsoft Word)

Force of Virtue is available here:

https://masterstrokegames.com

Jack can be talked at/to on the Force of Virtue Discord:

https://discord.gg/j4BGsVA56

Improve your algorithm by following the Force of Virtue Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/force_of_virtue

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

⁠https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social⁠

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠⁠Barrel Drill blog⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠BlueSky⁠⁠

⁠T-shirt store⁠⁠

Show editing by ⁠⁠Serf McSerfington⁠⁠

Show logo by ⁠⁠Kristina Amuan⁠⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew reminds themselves that there's nothing for them beyond the Volga as they engage Heroes of Stalingrad, a war game board game from Devil Pig Games.

Find the Heroes of Stalingrad rules here:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/248188/heroes-of-stalingrad

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/heroes-of-stalingrad-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew drills endlessly to fire three shots a minute in Sharp Practice v2, the Napoleonic/black powder large skirmish game for 40+ miniatures from Too Fat Lardies.

Find the Sharp Practice rules here:

https://toofatlardies.co.uk/product-category/sharp-practice/

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/sharp-practice-v2-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew readies rayguns and rapiers to take on Space Weirdos and Sword Weirdos, two "skirmish heartbreakers" – one for sci-fi, the other for fantasy.

Find the Space Weirdos rules here:

https://caseyg.itch.io/space-weirdos

Find the Sword Weirdos rules here:

https://caseyg.itch.io/sword-weirdos

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/space-weirdos-sword-weirdos-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod talks about friendship and feelings with their space slug wingmen before soaring out to fight in Mobile Frame Zero and Mobile Frame Zero: Intercept Orbit, Lego-based games of, respectively, mecha and space ship skirmish combat.

Find the Mobile Frame Zero rules here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ncq9yndckj5secxaincf9/Mobile-Frame-Zero.pdf?rlkey=7xca0owf9531zqr6ish0fme4y&e=1&st=4jffy0ja&dl=0

Find the Mobile Frame Zero: Intercept Orbit rules here:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ui7ig2t2s1xq5yui4orgl/Mobile-Frame-Zero-Intercept-Orbit-d3.pdf?rlkey=0iqplt0cn5uykfmylpuw9mdwm&e=1&st=kk3d8epo&dl=0

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/mobile-frame-zero-intercept-orbit-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew readies their electrobinoculars to observe the forces massing for Star Wars: Legion, a mass combat sci-fi wargame from Atomic Mass Games.

Find the Star Wars: Legion rules here:

https://www.atomicmassgames.com/swlegiondocs/

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/star-wars-legion-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Find Ženia's stuff h- awww, he doesn't have any links to share!

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod crew learns to accept battalion-level casualties to keep their divisions rolling forward in Eisenhower, "a tabletop game of the great battles of the European and Mediterranean theatres of the Second World War" by Sam A. Mustafa.

Find the Eisenhower rules here:

https://sammustafa.com/eisenhower

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/eisenhower-review/

Find the Counterattack on the Mius TTS module here:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3620238657

Find the Operation Epsom TTS module here:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3624269165

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod is hiring any woodland critter with fire in their belly and a blade in their hand for Burrows & Badgers: Second Edition, a "skirmish game of anthropomorphic characters" by Michael Lovejoy.

Find the Burrows & Badgers: Second Edition rules here:

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/us/burrows--badgers-second-edition-9781472864666/

Find the companion post here:

https://www.barreldrill.com/burrows-and-badgers-2e-review/

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The year saw Fortified Niche and pod crew face many challenges - and a few games! What were the good ones? Did the lads learn anything? Did Jc's audio quality have to be that bad? Can love bloom on the battlefield - or a miniature game podcast survive into the year 2026?

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog⁠⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Cassa:

⁠Instagram⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu

The pod forgets the concept of infantry as they rush their steel behemoths into the fray in Hypersteel Nightmare, a miniature skirmish game of brutal vehicular combat across the multiverse.

Find the Hypersteel Nightmare rules here:

https://hypersteelnightmare.com/product/hypersteel-nightmare-core-rulebook-pdf-only/

Don't look for the companion post, as this episode was recorded before Chain of Command 2E without me writing a companion. It's far too late for that now.

Support Fortified Niche on Patreon:

⁠https://www.patreon.com/fortifiedniche⁠

Follow Fortified Niche on BlueSky:

https://bsky.app/profile/fortifiedniche.bsky.social

Follow the creators of Fortified Niche on social media!

JcDent:

⁠Barrel Drill blog

⁠BlueSky⁠

T-shirt store⁠

Cassa:

⁠Instagram⁠

Show editing by ⁠Serf McSerfington⁠

Show logo by ⁠Kristina Amuan⁠

Show intro/outro by Bevan Tanttu