Archive for the ‘ lucca comics and games ’ Category

Lucca 2011: models

Someone think that Lucca Games is a fair for gadgets, boardgames or videogames, but there is a large attention to miniatures and modelling, you have to look better to realise it.

Here we have a heir of Blood Bowl: another ruleset, different miniatures, but the same result. I like this playing field, it has a a refined taste, with the square subdivision only suggested on the ground.

I like original ideas. These ones are skeletons on a tracker, but with a baywatch theme! Great!

Huh, the Doctor is in the fair. Old Black Tree miniatures brought to life in the painters section of the fair. They passed all the time painting. The next time I have to bring a miniature with me for them, just to have something well painted to remind the fair. This year there was a Sandokan miniature as miniature of the event, but I didn’t buy it, maybe because I don’t have plans for a pirate set. I’m stupid, I could buy it and have it painted just at the desk in front of Ganesha Games stand…

Cosimo Auricchio is the sculptor of TB Line miniatures. He is a free lance, a real artist, which sometimes sculpt even in 28mm format. Here you can see this skeleton pirate. Great miniature and great painter who highlighted the piece.

Cosimo sold dummies for sculptors, but there were others. I have not expectation on my skills as sculptor so I didn’t buy them. Narciso instead wants to try.

Inside Lucca Games there is Grogg, a coontest about modelling and painting. Here some examples of the historical type.

Do you want a bust of Thor? Every house must own its Thor bust. It is only 800 euros, limited production I suppose. Not so discreet.

WOG is the new incarnation of WOW. From the sense of wonder to an insult. Now Ares Games produce these aircraft for the popular game that was Wings of War, because Nexus Games went bankrupt. New production, some new fighters and bombers, a lot of bombers.

Preproduction models from China, that bomb us with cheap plastic toys.

Yamato in space. Huge ship, more than a simple model, it is big as a small torpedo…

Pikachu in a human form, as Japanese puppets imitate human forms. A play of mirrors…

Saint Seiya are puffs. I like only the temple in this scene, but a lot of people like these gold puppets more.

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Lucca 2011: food

What can you do when you have to eat and other 155000 want to eat too? You remain hungry. Dinners, the moment of main meal for a fair vendor, are a desperate search for a restaurant with empty seats. Years ago a pizzeria in Lucca told to Andrea:”we have ended wheat”!!! This year we eat always but the quality was not the best.

One thing that resolved our lives was ramen. I didn’t believe in this type of meal for Japan fashion victims but now I converted myself to ramen! The meal is very cheap but the price is cheap too. The great thing is that if you have hot water you can cook ramen in 2 minutes and so eat something cold. Moreover you have got a hot broth to drink, a great thing if you are dehydrated because the queue for water is so long. Volunteers sold ramen at industrial rates. At the end of the fair hungry people bought even ruined packs of ramen because it was running out!

A pause with ramen. After the first cup I remembered as use chopsticks, an art that now I can master.

We tried Barilla pasta to cook with microwaves. More than 2 minutes to heat it (5 at least), no broth, higher price, overcooked pasta, blobed sugo, a long queue. No more pasta for us, we are devoted to ramen now.

In the Japan Palace there was a Japan restaurant. This photo was taken at 9 in the morning, at lunch hour there was a total mess. Prices as the food was really brought from Japan that morning with a special delivery.

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Lucca 2011: walking around

Lucca is a wonderful city, it deserves a visit for sure. In autumn it is coloured with yellow, brown and green tones that it seems unreal. This moment of the year it’s ideal for a visit, even if there are other 155000 people that think the same.

Another part of the fair is the Japan Palace, far from the game pavilion, at north of the city inside an ancient palace with a tower, but you can reach it in 15/20 minutes. Here you can see it without people, 10 minutes before the opening. This is the part of the fair dedicated to Japan. Cultural penetration through anime and manga affected Italy very deep, and the strange thing is that Japan love Italy too. Well, we made a war together 60 years ago…

A handmade and illegal stand about helmets. Its name (“elmettaro” it is not an Italian word) denoted a Roman origin…

This is the illegal market outside the game pavilion. It is a good tradition of Lucca, that permits to people to sell their things on the grass, while police close its eyes. But last year there was a persecution, even for legal vendors that didn’t release bills. The beautiful thing of the photo is the sign:”It is prohibited to sell here!”.

I wanted to visit the fair and the historical island could be as a prison if you couldn’t move. So I divided myself with the duty to demonstrate games to people and the chance to visit the fair. I visited it in the first hours of the day, when people in the game area were scarce. An effort, even because after an hour from the morning start the streets were overcrowded, as you can see.

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Lucca 2011: videogames

Lucca Games is videogames too. Here is where the real money is on game market, not in boardgames or wargames. They had the biggest stands. And beautiful hostesses. Nintendo is always the best, with 10 girls 10.

A sexy videogame well pumped to the audience. Something to trill hormones of young players, with fast action and big breast.

Free games with computers from another planet. Thermaltake is specialised in refrigeration of computers. So you can mount monsters for playing games.

This is not for humans. I think that with the energy necessary to run this computer you can feed of energy a bakery shop.

Have you got a video card integrated on your motherboard? This one is triple card and refrigerated by liquid. And you have to be mad if you own it.

Extreme modding. Put your computer inside a tire. And play with it a videogame on car races.

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Lucca 2011: zen garden

Beautiful girl plays Zen Garden! I discovered that my game attracts girls as honey for bees. Maybe it is its elegance, the use of three colours (red, black, white), the small space used, the zen garden theme. My game is small, missing in the large fair, but people noted it.

I tested the new measurement stick and changed a foot soldier with naginata with a samurai only armed with a katana, but with a stronger value. I think that I tested it enough, now I must to write the rules on paper in a verbal form.

After some turns people could play alone. She is very smart and know Japanese language, but he won. Thanks to Roberto Bagna of Parte Ghibellina for his photos.

Narciso went to the fair the last day and brought to me some resin micro pagodas for the game. Now I have almost all the material to produce the copies of Zen Garden.

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Lucca 2011: ganesha games show

A view of Historical Island. The Clan Conan space is at the end. Ganesha Games area is very large. Lava erupts from the volcano at the Andrea’s desk.

My Zen Garden in the fair. You can see the new materials at the work.

A playing preview of Swatters, the new game with 15mm aliens vs humans. Almost completed, it will see the light in a few months.

Flashing Steel on the table! Look at the wonderful sea, waves seems real. Some games were setted with this new ruleset. Pity, it was available only in English, so none could buy it, because Italian version is waited in the following weeks.

Sergio was very very tired due to work, but he could show his new Large Battle Drums and Shakos. A real success. His terrain was awesome, there was even a perfect vineyard.

He could explain the basic mechanics of the game with the throw of some dices to put spice in this. Some people wanted to buy it but you have to wait some weeks again. The book is in the editing phase.

Mighty Monsters, here presented in the Italian version and called Mega Mostri, results as a big hit in the heart of audience who reminds the lost sagas of Godzilla and its enemies.

Andrea presented the game with a volcano scenario and a lot of gashapon to show what we are speaking about. Children were attracted by these little figurines, adults were amazed finding their monster hero from younger time at work. And some child know the videogame of Godzilla and could name the monsters.

Scarred for life with Godzilla name!!! He is a hardcore Godzilla collector. However some people buy the ruleset ONLY because it is about kaiju, they don’t play wargames, they wanted Godzilla! I sign even an autograph on a copy, because I participated in the creation of the game!

Some happy customers playing with Mighty Monsters. Have fun with kaiju! And in the future you will have fights with giant robots from Japan too!!! Mazingaaa!!!!! And I have got a Patlabor large gashapon set to play a scenario with robots against a monster, as in Patlabor 3!

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Lucca 2011: historical island

Inside Lucca Games we were a little part of the convention called “Historical Island”, a space where you could play wargames with miniatures. A large part was for Clan Conan, where there were participation games. Our part was called “Autori 3D” and I was in the programme under Andrea Sfiligoi section, as a sub-author. Historical Island people were all in the same hotel, so in the morning we did breakfast together and spoke about wargame world. Saturday was held a public debate on wargames organised by Lorenzo Sartori, with Andrea (Ganesha), Sartori (Impetus), Conan (Clan Conan), Torriani (Operation WWII), Cavatore (GW & Mantic). I filmed it almost entirely.

Along with our space there was a showcase with some scenarios and a place where very good painters showed what you can do with miniatures.

There was even 1-48 Combat with some new pieces for this game. I spoke about it before. Search my blog for it!

This is the beautiful terrain for the demonstration game of 1-48 Combat. Under there is the preview of Baroque, Impetus for Renaissance.

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Lucca 2011: lucca games

The convention is scattered all around the city of Lucca, inside pavilions. It is called Lucca Comics and Games. You saw in the previous post some comics and gadgets, now you can see the game part. This one is the queue at the entry to the games the morning of Saturday. I had the staff pass, so you can well understand what it can means.

Another view of the games pavilion on the other side, that one with the walls and ditch. That part outside the pavilion is where is the illegal market. In another post I will explain it.

This one is the stage for a videogame called Just Dance 3. It is a great opportunity to see young exhibitionists that move themselves along the music. The girl that managed the game was really crazy using dirty and insidious talking to move the people. For five days.

Painters exhibition. At the end they sell the paintings with an auction sale to aid sick children at hospital.

During Lucca Games there are some awards to the best games. This one is Rattus, awarded as table game for families, but it is card driven and with a theme based on pest deaths. A game for a happy evening in the family? Some people added an envelope with money (Monopoly like money, we are in a game fair) for the judges.

This is the iron man after Zerloon blog, in the fair for Gioconomicon as web journalist for the game area. Part of Gioconomicon staff brought me home the last day. Thank you! : )

Torture of Macaluso, a bloody pagan rite of hunt at the end of Lucca Games, to save us from the rain and bad results.

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