After the overview of Lucca C&G, now it is time to something more nearer to what we were doing in the fair. This is the wargame area, a drop in the ocean among so many things to see and do. Our macro-area is called Miniature Island. This is a partial view with our stand in the back (note the blue banner on the wall). I took this photo the afternoon of the day before the opening. Stands were still in set-up.

Our friends of Clan Conan were giving the last touches to their 3 scenarios. They are used for free playing with simple rules.

The director of Lucca C&G was involved with the set-up of his miniatures display. The day before of the event, the maker of this 400000 people madness was thinking about his miniatures! Saturday night, the day of 100000 tickets and another 100000 people around for free events, he was together with us for a dinner with wargamers.

This was the game with ancients by Clan Conan. They were using simple rules but the same set-up was utilised for some presentation of the new Centuria rules by Massimo Torriani, the winner of Conan prize 2014.

The Vietnam game. Look to the lady interested to wargames. The other game was about modern combat in Middle East, managed and build by my friend Narciso.

Big participation game with WH40k. The last year they were more vicious, indeed.

Inside Miniature Island there was our area called 3D Authors (Autori 3D): on the right, Massimo Torriani (Centuria) and Valentino Del Castello (Wild West Chronicles); in the half, I (Ferrum et Gloria) and Andrea (Power Legion and Harder Than Steel); on the left, Lorenzo Sartori and Marco Guarnieri (Lords and Servants); on the extreme left, another stand together with us by Gainsworth publishing company.

Italeri model makers, other Lucca comrades of us, on the left of this photo. A young couple watch what we are doing with our little soldiers.

Our area is the opportunity to test wargames by leading wargame authors of Italy. And to chat with them about wargame. It is even the situation to interact with people that don’t attend to wargame conventions and that discover this world for the first time.

Another area of Miniature island is the painters space. You can meet miniature painters that teach their art. Here my friend Luciano Molina.

Nano Nefasto is one of the top painters in Italy. Since last year I’m thinking to spend a lot of money for his art.

A sculpting contest. We are thinking to hiring Paolo Fabiani (on the first photo) for some future Kickstarter project. He is currently working with various miniature companies. Paolo and Nano Nefasto discovered in Lucca that they are working on the same miniatures for an international company: the former sculpt the miniatures, the ladder paint them.

And here one of our convivial dinner after the show, a group of wargamers that like to live their hobby (or work) with other people.

The 12th official DBA tournament in Rome for the Italian Championship, the 11th organised by me and my miniature club chaps, Legio Palatina. However during the years we go from 6 members to 2 members involved, indeed. But children and distances (London, Switzerland, Canino) made the difference. Maybe this will be the last official tournament in Rome because we are a little tired of the same old thing. Even if we like this same old thing.

The set was Popoli del Grande Verde, that is the SeaPeople migration wars in 1200 b.C.
If you want to know more on this championship go to:
https://www.dba-italia.org
If you want to know more on this special scenario go to:
https://www.legiopalatina.it/grandeverde
If you want to know more on Legio Palatina go to:
https://www.legiopalatina.it

A beautiful day full of friends. These events are just an excuse to meet friends playing with miniatures. I won 2 and lost 2, the norm. At the end of the day I won a prize with a draw, 40€ to buy something in the shop where we were playing. I chose these second hand WWII American soldiers. The next DBA tournament will be in Arezzo at the begin of October.

DBA 2.2 still lives! Another tournaments here in Rome organised by me and Diego. It was in the “open” formula, otherwise a match that don’t count for the Italian championship rank. Only few chaps were in the shop where we played because of the advancing Summer feel and family duties. However we had fun the same and we were more relaxed.

I wrote a complex scenario about Sea People period, with new stats and rules for HCh and LCh, and new terrain kind and displacement. Only 5 lists and almost all was well-balanced. I’m proud of myself… However I think to change something for the real tournament in September that we will play at the same shop but hopefully with 12/14 people. Here the dedicated webpage for the scenario: https://www.legiopalatina.it/grandeverde/

I reported only something of what happened in the days of Lucca C&G. Too much things to do and to see. And now more than two months are distant from this event. However I hope I showed you what this huge fair means. So you could be here for the 2014 edition. Now it is time to concentrate on our specific area of interests: wargame.

We were inside the Games pavilion, in an area called Miniature Island. Around us there were some miniature related stands, than demonstration tables (where I was), and in the inside the painters area.

This a horse & musket wargame by our room mate in the hotel. I give him a couple of precious earplugs to survive to Andrea snoring.

A simple Napoleonic game by Narciso, now in the Clan Conan, veterans of demonstration games in Lucca.

Their huge playable scenario: Iwo Jima! Inside the Suribachi some tunnels are dug. To simulate the terrain they used huge amounts of coffee grounds! And all was assembled in the small living room of Narciso. That smelled of coffee, indeed.

Unofficial Games Workshop Warhammer 40000 demonstration battle. A nice group of alcoholic chaps ran these trenches and 4 days of fighting.

The magnificent trio: Sartori, Torriani, Sfiligoi. Presently they are the pillars of Italy regarding wargame rules. Their work is recognised outside our national and linguistic borders.

Losi, the martyr of last year Andrea snoring. This year he slept in another hotel. Co-author of the modern version of the Torriani’s wargame engine. In the fair he dressed as a Taleban or a private contractor. No, he is not totally mad. : )

The action in the streets of Iraq.

I feel the need of some concrete walls like these ones for my games…

A complete view of the set.

The new wargame by Torriani’s team is setted in Western period.

The painters area. He is Nano Nefasto (ill-omened dwarf), a professional painter from Brescia. On the left the Ludica team.

Luciano at work, illustrating how to paint miniatures.

Some of the pieces in the painting contest called Trofeo Grog.

Private collection by one of the painters.

The Blood Bowl gladiator squad by Auricchio grow convention after convention, year after year…

Always miniature sculpted by Auricchio: a 15mm Hastings range. Yes, 15mm, not 28mm!!!

Sculpting contest, always for Trofeo Grog: some gladiators.

My left thumb and a WWII US marine by Seven Samurai sculpting team.

1-48 Combat is back as 1-48 Tactic. This is a miniature for the game with his twin in a smaller scale.

We were a very large team in that mess. Some faces were the same of the previous years, some are new. Every evening we took a dinner together in various restaurants, the only moment when we could chat. We are part of a community, we are wargame players.

I’m late, very late. But I want to show you something about my past experiences in conventions held in November. This time my report about GiocaPerugia 2013, the 16th and 17th of November.

The Perugia mini underground, almost a monorail. We arrived early in the morning by car. After we take this great public transport that penetrate inside the hill under the city.

In a lazy early and frozen Sunday afternoon, the main plaza in the city.

The main fountain of Perugia, that is in the main plaza of Perugia.

I took these photos during a pause. I thought:”Now they are two days in Perugia and I didn’t see the city centre!”. Well, I didn’t see the light of the day. Because the convention was held underground!

We were inside a real dungeon, a place 500 years old under a fortress. It is even used as a way with escalators to reach the upper part of the city. An ancient dungeon mixed with modern public facilities.

It was a little wet. Some water dipped down from the cellar. The rooms where was the convention are usually closed to public, so they have less maintenance attention. Because of narrow doors, inside the rooms the temperature was hotter than outside. We were natural ambient heaters…

Aster Wargame from Rome. All for your miniatures.

Perugia based miniatures vendor.

Always in the vendor area. On the right Chillemi, editions about military history.

The professor Gualtiero Grassucci from Latina with his wargame.

A wargame in a box with a gangster feel: Men of Honor!

Blood Bowl tournament.

A room with some boardgames. And a couple with a boardgame.

Another room full of boardgames for casual gamers.

And another room inside this dungeon, with some convention volunteers. More tomorrow on another post.

Full of events weeks. So the next posts will be dedicated to a retrospect of my past events among some new things. Now I want to show you something happened the 10th of this month: the DBA tournament in Terni.

The participants, from Roma (8), Arezzo (3) and Terni (1). We were in an hospitable miniature shop called “La Tana della Donna Nana” (“the dwarf-woman vault”, it is called from an Italian joke).

The smallest coup for the third place in the tournament. Another personal success in the last part of the season. Effectively I reached in the last three tournaments the 1st, 4th and 3rd place!

A classic DBA match that I lost: I vs Salini. This time was my very bad luck, a constant 1 result on dice.

My glorious Roman army versus vile Egyptians scum.

A classic DBA match that I win: I vs professor Mariani. This time a tie and a lot of personal boldness.

My camp. All roads lead to Rome.

One club partner of mine versus Gaul.

A couple of tables during the tournament.

Someone succeed to stop Gasbarri at the first match!!! However, after he won the other three matches…

This was the last date of the annual DBA Italian tournament, so we consigned the prize to Gasbarri as best Italian player, a fact that we know very well…

In the morning, while we were reaching the train for Terni, we saw this steam train. It was used for a special journey that day. We took a more standard train instead. And now we are waiting for the 2014 annual DBA torunament…

Another moment from the annual DBA Italian tournament “Dionigi Ioghà”. This time we were in Arezzo. A day trip to this Etruscan city, fighting with our 15mm miniatures. The theme was about Communal Italian Wars. We tested some rules from the beta of the new version. We used the terrain displacement and armies with 3 allies from another list. Well, I don’t like this terrain thing. You can obtain a casual terrain but some results are not practicable. About the allies, we would see the final list to give a verdict.

The people from Arezzo are unbeatable. Especially Marco Gasbarri. So the final result is fixed before the roll of dices. However is fun to discover who can reach lesser positions in the highest-ranking. The stars were right, so I reached the 4th position on 16 players. No prize for me, but honour for my Papal colours.

The usual fun, chatting with friends, competition, tiredness at the end the night at home. And here a photo of the lunch: soft drinks and cheap beer for traditional Pakistan and Near East food. In Tuscan country! A blasphemy…

My mates and I have organised the local DBA tournaments of the national championship since 2004. I was 9 years younger at the time. I can see myself year after year on the photos of these tournaments. Giovanni, the child in the photo, was just born when I started to play DBA.

This time we played in Solo Giochi shop at the north of Rome. It is far from my house so I stayed here only for two tournaments. It is a weird thing: I have an history miniatures shop in my city and I never “use” it. However the owner was very kind: the left over money that we raised for prizes was donated by him as gift certificate for shop items.

The usual group photo. Trophies and medals for few, smiles for everyone.