An expedition of the Ganesha Games team (I and Andrea) towards Rufina, a wargame convention on the hills at the east of Firenze. Inside a villa.

Our vendor stand.

My display game.

This is my biscuits tin arena with cork walls. Small but very beautiful. And with a little of drama added.

On the right side of the villa the open area for wargames.

From Macerata this scenario with Englishmen versus Indians.

Fight on the sands to determine the right name of God.

Italians in Africa to build an empire.

The theme of Salute 2015: Agincourt.

A radio controlled tank in 1/6 scale.

A model of Italians in Africa in 1942. During this convention there was even a modelling show.

A diorama with Russians.

Naval modelling.

A beautiful German ship.

A german submarine with interiors. Have you ever watched Das Boot?

With Autumn, Romics came. This is the second annual edition of the Roman convention about comics and cosplay, with games added. We haven’t a table because people is not interested in wargame but cards games as Magic. Sometimes you can spot Warhammer. Cultural issues are not contemplated, all is about comics and gadgets vendors. Cosplay is the only thing that provides huge hordes of people (more than 100000 presences?) in this far land outside Rome. But to be free from the crowd we visited the fair only the first day, Thursday, so we couldn’t see lots of naked girl around.

Japan is worshipped in every form. Here one of stands with Japanese blades (but made in China and sold though San Marino state). At the end a ramen shop. However this Romics edition will be remembered as the one with 28 people intoxicated by rotten sushi sold in the fair.

A vendor specialised in coloured wigs. Yes, we are in a comics fair…

“Mommy, I want the RedSkull bust!”. And the vendor eats a panino with roasted pork (porchetta).

Some toys prototypes. Ma.K.s!

This time was present the local 1/6 action figures maker called Kaustic Plastik.

A new gladiator set in the box was presented as preview.

Their 1/6 real metal helm collection. I bought the secutor one and one of the legionary types.

And now another kind of action figures. Big breasts here.

Other fine imports from Japan.

And if you don’t understand, more Japan porn for you…

We met our friends of Elara, sci-fi editors. And after we visited the film area, where we viewed a trailer of the upcoming Doreamon film. It is like the anime but in 3D. I want to watch it!

In the late afternoon, under a raining sky, we proceeded toward the Ikea near my house to buy a new large bookcase for Andrea’s miniatures.

It’s Ferragosto (feriae Augusti) time again! The day of the year established by our emperor Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus Augustus to rest! And this is even the day to celebrate Summer. And Summer is bikini time too! As in previous years something on this topic, just like my Blood Bowl team painted by Filippo Simoncini…

And more. A clip from a great Japanese film about girls and machine-guns:

Buon Ferragosto! : )

Gladiators in 1/6 dimension are one passion of mine. I own two of them but the high prices keep me away from new purchases. In the meantime two new products are on the market. The first one is a delicious dimachaereus (a fighter with two curved swords) by ACI, the best maker for this kind of figures. Moreover it is almost historically correct. The only evident (and common) mistake is the metallic junction at the elbows. And the points of the swords aren’t inside as sabers but external as hooks. But you can just turn them and all is fine. The right sword could be more long than the left one, but you can be satisfied the same. Quality of the finish is awesome indeed. Available in two versions that are different as colours of metal parts. A really great piece!

I’m less pleased by the other gladiator by CMTOYS. It is simple: it is neither a gladiator as fight category, nor a Roman as dress. It is sold as “Roman Gladiator Coach”. I think it is a transposition of a character from that TV series that I dislike called “Spartacus”. A fantasy item, then.

I’m losing weight. After some years of constant little fat accumulation (too many pizzas…) I was out of my target weight. Moreover I have other problems as colitis and kidney stones. So I decided to stop this situation with a real diet. After two months I lost more than 4kg. It is not so much but it is a result. Now I weight a little less than 78kg and I want to reach 73kg. The goal is to obtain this result just before Lucca Comics and Games convention, together with a printed copy of Ferrum and Gloria in my hands. And after my example even Andrea is following a diet! A healthier way of life is necessary to gamers…

On the same topic is what concern my lead mountain. I weigh all my unpainted miniatures and I found that they are almost 2.3kg. I have a few more in the post, so I could say that the total amount is 2.5kg. Comparing my fat to my miniatures I understand what those 4kg I lost really are! I reorganised what I still have to paint, bonding the figures within a same theme, taking notes about the pieces, packing all in labelled boxes. I wish to start a diet for my miniatures too. It is a non-sense to own a lot of miniatures that you can’t utilise because they are unpainted. So I want to hold purchases back, keeping my lead mountain under control. I want for it a weight loss. I can obtain it as I can lose fat.

With the Football/Soccer World Cup looming I developed a way to play OGAM with football models. Football is like a religion with worldwide followers, with a God (the ball), legends (football players) and mortals (football fans). I chose iconic players with great skills and character.

The Football 308 points
Q 2 C 4 ambusher, combat master, free disengage, superspeed

legends

Pelè 106 points
Q 3 C 3 unique, shooter (L), good shot, danger sense, legendary shooter

Diego Armando Maradona 106 points
Q 3 C 3 unique, shooter (L), good shot, free disengage, legendary shooter

George Best 110 points
Q 3 C 3 unique, shooter (l), good shot, drunkard, very difficult target, fire into melee

Éric Cantona 96 points
Q 3 C 3 unique, shooter (m), good shot, hammering blow

Roy Keane 94 points
Q 3 C 4 unique, shooter (s), dashing, hammering blow

Generic Golden Foot 80 points
Q 3 C 3 shooter (l), good shot

Generic Goalie 80 points
Q 3 C 2 invulnerability, rare (1)

José Mourinho 66 points
Q 3 C 2 unique, carrier, confound, smithy

mortals

Hooligans (OO or CO) 23 points
Q 4 C 2 dashing, fanatic

Pay-TV Subscribers (OO) 12 points
Q 4 C 1 fanatic

But how to build your army? Here some suggestions.

Subbuteo football players.

Eureka Miniatures’ football players:
https://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_126_708&sort=3a

Armorum & Aquila’s football players:
https://www.aandaminiatures.co.uk/categories/?c=20

Warmacre’s hooligans:
https://www.warmacre.com/shop/category/modern/

Ainsty Castings AGGRO’s hooligans:
https://ainstycastings.co.uk/index.php/cPath/69/osCsid/ccb1b0541dd44c08bad9771708da9a0c

Offensive Miniatures’ hooligans:
https://www.offensiveminiatures.com/catalogue.asp?RID=7&CID=3

A new kickstarter by Oathsworn Miniatures. This time for a Odin on Sleipnir in 28mm heroic scale. This one will be the first of a new miniature line about gods. They are planning to propose more gods for Of Gods And Mortals. In the first stance phase they will produce Norse gods as Thor, Loki, Hel, Tyr. And legends as Geri and Freki, and Huginn and Munin. After something about Greeks, Egyptians and Celts.
Pledge at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/oathsworn/project-pantheon-1-odin-lord-of-asgard

I want to add more 28mm Chinese miniatures after the past proposal for adequate pieces to play with A Fistful of Kung Fu, published by Osprey this February. Around there are some beautiful minis that maybe you don’t know. Let’s start with NorthStar again. For their In His Majesty Name, always by Osprey, a tong is ready to be adapted to our game.

In the world of pulp fiction some exotic stories are setted in the far Orient. Pulp Figures produce YangZee Gangs, with henchmen, masters of evil and city life.

A range by Hasslefree Miniatures is dedicated to Chinese and Japanese martial arts, ancient and contemporary, with some incursions in fantasy. Who needs a gun when his fists and kicks are weapons?

More traditional are these Chinese pirates by Eureka Miniatures, useful to add hordes of yelling warriors to your wargaming table.

A good source for Chinese miniatures is the Boxer Rebellion. Traditional, exotic and pseudo-military dresses, and the use of guns, swords and lances are ideal to create particular armies. These are part of the Redoubt Enterprises range.

If you want bags of figures of the Boxer Rebellion can buy tons of lead by Old Glory Miniatures UK.

So you have the rules and you can have even a large choice for your miniatures. The only thing to do is to buy what you need and start to play.